General P. D. Kiselev and the Second Army HQ at Tul'chin, 1819-29

Pavel Dmitrievich Kiselev (1788-1872) ranks among the most outstanding Russian statesmen of his age. During a long life he served three emperors as military commander, key administrator and distinguished ambassador. But early in his already brilliant career he risked losing everything through potentially compromising friendships with several of his staff officers who were Decembrists, in particular with Pavel Pestel', the republican ideologist of the Southern Society. By exploring Kiselev's ten years as chief-of-staff at Tul'chin from I8I9, the article seeks to clarify the extent of these links, Kiselev's motives for them, and the danger they posed to his standing at court.