# The Petrashevsky Circle (1849)

URL: https://history-russia.com/timeline/1849-the-petrashevsky-circle
Categories: main-event

Members of the Petrashevsky Circle, who discussed socialist ideas, were arrested in April 1849. In December they were subjected to a mock execution before being told of sentences of penal servitude. Fyodor Dostoevsky was among them. The same year Russian troops helped crush the Hungarian revolution. Dostoevsky spent four years in a Siberian prison camp. The episode showed the harshness of Nicholas I's regime after the 1848 revolutions.

## Why it matters
The episode showed the harshness of Nicholas I's regime after the 1848 revolutions.

Ruler at the time: [Nicholas I](https://history-russia.com/rulers/nicholas-i)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Petrashevsky Circle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrashevsky_Circle)
- [Wikipedia — Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fyodor_Dostoevsky)
- [Wikipedia — Russian Empire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Empire)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica topic lookup — The Petrashevsky Circle](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=The+Petrashevsky+Circle)
- [Wikipedia — Timeline of Russian history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Russian_history)