11 November — Fyodor Dostoevsky was born in a hospital for the poor, the son of staff physician Mikhail Andreevich Dostoevsky.
10 December — Nikolay Alekseyevich Nekrasov was born in the village of Nemirov, Podolia Governorate.
Fyodor I. Tyutchev brilliantly graduated from the philology faculty of Moscow University.
This year Alexander S. Pushkin finished the poem “The Prisoner of the Caucasus”; it would be published the following year. He also began writing “The Fountain of Bakhchisaray,” work on which he would continue until 1823. He visited local residents’ homes, studied the Moldavian language, went to a Romani camp, and visited the stockade to speak with prisoners. He associated with General Pushchin, founder of the Masonic lodge “Ovid,” and with officers who came for topographical work. He met Pavel Pestel and held metaphysical and political conversations with him. Nikolay Rayevsky kept urging him to take history and geography more seriously. He did not kill anyone in any duel. When Pushkin spoke about politics, he was asked to switch to French so the servants would not understand.
10 January — Bellingshausen and Lazarev discovered an island they named Peter I Island; on 17 January they discovered the Alexander I Coast and then proceeded farther northeast. There they discovered many more islands until they had to turn north. On 5 March the sloops anchored in the roadstead of Rio de Janeiro. Two months after thorough repairs, they sailed for home and arrived in Kronstadt on 24 July. Over 751 days they covered 92,256 km, discovered 29 islands and one coral reef. Having sailed around Antarctica, they completed a circumnavigation in high latitudes that had previously been unexplored.
In February, at a Moscow congress, the Union of Welfare announced that it was ending its anti-government activity and dissolving itself. This was done to eliminate unreliable and irresolute elements. At the same congress, a new charter was drafted and divided into two parts. In the first, for new entrants, it states that the society pursues philanthropic aims. In the second—for the initiated—the real aim is set out: limiting autocracy in Russia.
It was decided to influence the troops in the spirit of the secret society and prepare them for any eventuality. To manage and direct affairs, special councils (“Dumas”) were established—initially four: in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Smolensk Governorate, and Tulchin. The Tulchin branch would become known as the Southern Society, and the St. Petersburg branch as the Northern Society. Members of the Southern Society, led by P. I. Pestel, were republicans. Under Pestel’s plan, peasants were to be freed with land, partly confiscated from large landowners. In the Northern Society, supporters of a constitutional monarchy (N. M. Muravyov and others) predominated. Under Muravyov’s plan, peasants were freed without land and allotted two desyatinas per household. Later, Ryleyev would gain the main influence there.
5 May — on the island of Saint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean, Napoleon I, former Emperor of the French, died. He was initially buried on the island near Longwood; however, in 1840 his remains were transported to Paris and interred at Les Invalides.
In March, Napoleon’s condition worsened to the point that he no longer doubted his imminent death. On 15 April 1821 he dictated his will. His last words, spoken in delirium, were “Head of the army!” (La tête de l’armée!). He was buried near Longwood by the Torbett spring, overgrown with willows.
There is a version that Napoleon was poisoned. However, this version currently finds no confirmation. A 2007 gastroenterological study, on the contrary, supports the very first official explanation: stomach cancer. According to the autopsy, the emperor had two stomach ulcers, one of which was perforated and reached the liver.