A.S. Griboyedov, poet and envoy, died during the destruction of the Russian mission in Tehran. By chance, I.S. Maltsev survived and became the only witness to his death.
In June 1826, after being released from investigation in the Decembrist case—when his involvement in the conspiracy could not be proven—Alexander Griboyedov returned to diplomatic service.
From 1827 he was tasked with overseeing relations with Turkey and Persia. After the end of the Russo-Persian War of 1826–1828, Griboyedov took an active part in drafting and concluding the Turkmanchay Treaty of Peace, favorable to Russia. And after it was signed, to ensure fulfillment of the treaty’s terms, in April 1828 he was appointed Russia’s ambassador (“minister plenipotentiary”) to Persia.
In Tehran, Griboyedov’s main task was to compel the shah to carry out the articles of the peace treaty and, in particular, to pay the indemnity resulting from the Russo-Persian war.
As ambassador he pursued a firm policy: “...Respect for Russia and for its demands—that is what I need,” he said. Under the terms of the same treaty, Armenians were allowed to leave Persia freely for Russian-controlled Armenia. Therefore, beginning in January 1829, Armenians who wished to return to their homeland found refuge at the Russian embassy. Among them were two Armenian women and an Armenian eunuch who had fled the shah’s harem. Despite the risk of dangerous consequences, Griboyedov, acting on principle, allowed them to take shelter in the embassy. This incident became the cause of agitation among Islamic fanatics, who began anti-Russian propaganda in bazaars and mosques. Hatred toward the ambassador in court circles was also inflamed by English diplomats, who strongly disliked the strengthening of Russia’s position in Asia.
As a result, reactionary circles in Tehran, dissatisfied with peace with Russia, set a fanatically minded crowd upon the Russian mission. Consequently, on (30 January) 11 February 1829, a mob of rioting fanatics attacked the Russian embassy and slaughtered everyone inside.
This event entered history as the “massacre at the Russian embassy in Tehran”—the mass killing of Russian embassy staff by Islamic fanatics. During the massacre, the head of the diplomatic mission, Alexander Griboyedov, also perished. His body was so mutilated that later he was identified only by the scar on the left hand he had received in a duel with Yakubovich. Historians describe the circumstances of the destruction in different ways, since all who fought were killed and no direct witnesses remained. According to the testimony of Persian dignitaries, about 100,000 people were gathered near the embassy that day. The ringleaders quickly lost control of them.
And although the mission’s escort of 35 Cossacks offered resistance, the forces were unequal. Of the entire Russian embassy, only the secretary Maltsev survived, having managed to hide. According to his notes, as a result of the attack 37 people in the embassy were killed and 19 attackers died. Griboyedov’s wife, Nina, upon learning of her husband’s death, lost her child from grief. Griboyedov’s body was transported to Tiflis and buried near the Church of St. David, in accordance with the writer’s own wish. Later Nina erected a chapel on her husband’s grave, and inside it a sculptural monument bearing the inscription: “Your mind and deeds are immortal in Russian memory, but why did my love outlive you?” The remains of the 35 Cossacks who defended the mission were buried in a mass grave in the courtyard of the Armenian Church of St. Tatevos in Tehran. The massacre at the Russian embassy caused a diplomatic scandal. To settle relations with Russia, the Persian shah sent an official mission to St. Petersburg headed by his grandson, Khosrow Mirza. The envoys brought not only official apologies to Russia for the death of its envoy, but also—by way of compensation for the blood that had been shed—among the rich gifts they presented to Nicholas I was the famous “Shah” diamond, one of the most precious stones in the world (today it shines in the collection of the Diamond Fund of the Moscow Kremlin).
22 June — the first diamond in Russia was found west of the Urals.
At the end of June, the first book by the twenty-year-old N.V. Gogol, Hanz Küchelgarten, printed under the pseudonym V. Alov, went on sale. The book remained on sale for about a month, attracting no demand; instead, negative reviews appeared in Moscow Telegraph and Severnaya Pchela (“The Northern Bee”). Gogol, accompanied by his faithful servant Yakim, went around the bookshops, collected the copies, and burned every last one.
N.V. Gogol tried to join the stage as an actor. The audition was conducted by A.I. Khrapovitsky, who found him unfit. On 30 April he wrote to his mother: “You were not mistaken, dear Mama, I truly was in great need at that time, but in any case it is all nonsense; what harm is there in going without dinner for a week or so.”
M.Yu. Lermontov began the poem The Demon.
A.S. Pushkin, together with Baratynsky, was elected a member of the English Club, which he treated ironically. In April he asked for Natalie’s hand and received an indefinite answer from her mother.
The Russo-Turkish War was concluded by the Adrianople Peace Treaty in September. Anapa was annexed, and all the mountain peoples passed to Russia. The mouth of the Danube and the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus went to Russia. The Akhaltsikhe region was reunited with the rest of the Georgian lands that had earlier become part of Russia. Autonomy was granted to Serbia, Moldavia, and Wallachia; independence to Greece.