Decimania: brutal punishment in the army

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

In ancient times, before the execution, the military unit was divided into groups of 10 people. Lots were drawn in every ten. For example, nine black stones and one white one were put into the bag. And the one who pulled out the white one was destined to die. The condemned did not grumble, he believed that the gods decided his fate.

Then nine “lucky ones” beat their comrade-in-arms to death. In this case, neither title nor merit was taken into account. Thus, a person atoned for the guilt of his unit. Sometimes the officers themselves were the executioners. First, the one who drew the lot was flogged with rods, and then the head was chopped off. Those who escaped execution were left outside the camp in full view of the enemy and hardly fed. There they remained until they proved their bravery in battle.

For the first time, according to historical chronicles, the decimation was carried out in 471 BC. by the Roman consul Appius Claudius Crassus. Then every tenth legionnaire of the unit, which lost the battle with the Volsk, was executed. The comrades-in-arms with their own hands beat the condemned to death with sticks. I must say that the consul himself was not averse to equipping him with a club.

The next was the Roman commander Mark Licinius Crassus, who thus executed his soldiers for the fact that they were defeated more than once in battles with the rebels of Spartacus.

More than 4 thousand legionnaires were killed during the day. Even those who fought on the side of Spartacus were amazed at such cruelty. But decimation, apparently, strengthened discipline in the legion, and Crassus, whom the soldiers feared more than the enemy, soon defeated Spartacus.

A fair question arises: why did the legionnaires not resist such an execution? The answer is simple: in Rome, rulers and gods were practically on the same level. The emperor was revered as a god, and his military leaders had the status of priests. They often made sacrifices or wondered before the battle. Failure to comply with the will of God threatened disaster not only for a specific military unit, but for the entire Roman Empire.

A new era dawned, and in 18 year, when the consul-suffect Lucius Apronius was governor in Numidia, a rebellion broke out there. To suppress the rebellion, Apronius raised Roman legions. But one of them, in the opinion of the consul, was not diligent enough in this matter. He ordered a demonstrative decimation. And soon the rebellion was suppressed.

Another case of decimation, known as the "Suffering of the Agaun Martyrs", occurred during the reign of Emperor Maximian, who took part in the Great Persecution of Christians. The Theban legion, in which there were mainly Christians under the leadership of Saint Maurice, refused to fight with fellow believers. Maximian resorted to decimation of the legion. Then more than 6, 5 thousand soldiers were killed, including Mauritius itself. I must say that soon Maximian was strangled for this cruelty …

Antiquity has sunk into oblivion, and decimation has been forgotten in Europe for a long time. However, in eastern countries it was used even in the 19th century. So, in 1824, the ruler of Egypt, Muhammad Ali, shot every tenth soldier of the first regiment (45 people) for desertion.

Russian revolt

In Russia, decimation was introduced by Peter I. This is known from the records of the Scotsman Patrick Gordon, dated 1698. Gordon was the inspirer and participant in the suppression of the Shooting Riot. All the ringleaders were executed, but this was not enough for Gordon. To discourage rebellion in the future, he ordered the execution of every tenth captured archer. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, the condemned went to their deaths calmly. Having crossed themselves, they laid their heads on the block …

The tsar appreciated the psychological impact of decimation on the people and arranged it again when Kondraty Bulavin roused the Cossacks to revolt in 1707. The leader insisted that he was loyal to the king, and advocated only for the old faith. However, the flight of the Cossacks was considered desertion and every tenth was executed.

However, Peter decimated not only soldiers and rioters. On the shores of the Gulf of Finland, poachers began to massively cut down the forest. To preserve it, at the behest of the king, every tenth offender was executed. And so that others would not think to do this, on the banks of the Neva and Ladoga there were gallows for a long time as a reminder of the impending retribution for disobedience.

Soon, Peter I decided to legalize decimation and introduced it to the Military Article of 1715, as well as to the Naval Regulations. According to the law, decimation was carried out if the military surrendered a fortress or a ship to the enemy voluntarily, while fleeing from the battlefield, etc.

After Peter, this method of reprisal was remembered during the reign of Catherine II. In 1774, General Pyotr Panin, who led the campaign to defeat the Pugachev army at Cherny Yar, applied decimation to the prisoners.

This cruel tradition continued in the Russian army into the 19th century. In 1812, decimation was spelled out in the Field Criminal Code. Every tenth conspirator who tried to lure a soldier to the side of the enemy, or every tenth soldier of a military unit who refused to obey the order of the commander, was subjected to it.

In 1868, general responsibility for war crimes was abolished and personal responsibility was introduced. But, as it turned out, not forever.

Soviet legacy

During the Civil War, the tradition of decimation returned to the army. But this was not done by the "bad" White Guards, but by the "good" Soviet bosses. In 1918, Leon Trotsky, who headed the People's Commissariat for Military and Naval Affairs, resorted to this ancient execution.

On August 29, the army of General Kappel, which was much larger in number than the part of the Red Army stationed in the Podviyazhsky area, launched an attack. Most of the Red Army men of the 2nd Petrograd regiment were practically untrained. With no military experience, they quickly spent their ammunition and fled the position. However, they managed to capture the steamer in order to get to the rear on it.

But the detachment of the commissar of the Volga military flotilla Markin prevented them from implementing the plan. All deserters were arrested. By order of Trotsky, a hastily assembled field court sentenced the commanders and every tenth soldier of the regiment to death. According to the People's Commissar, "hot iron was applied to the decayed wound." The number of those executed was 41 people.

Trotsky's "hardened iron" was repeatedly "applied to the wound." In 1919, during the battles on the outskirts of the Botkin plant, the red cavalry under the command of V. M. Azina received an artillery resistance from the Whites and retreated. The commander ordered to shoot every tenth. It is not known whether the execution took place. Perhaps the mere promise of decimation was enough for the cavalrymen to attack the artillery the next day.

In the same 1919, the red commander Nikolai Kuzmin, known as a supporter of tough measures, applied decimation to the 261st regiment for the fact that soldiers repeatedly left positions in battles with Kolchak's army. A little later, Trotsky, in the defense of Petrograd, again arranged the execution of every tenth soldier from the retreating units. Decimation was not legalized in the USSR.

Finnish lottery

According to the principle of decimation, the Finns shot 80 Russian prisoners of war,”a soldier in February 1918. Historians call this tragedy "Huruslahti lottery" - after the name of the river where it happened. There are two versions of it. According to one of them, the fate of each was decided by lot, and according to the other - by a military tribunal.

Execution of goodwill

History knows cases when legionnaires themselves asked for decimation. So, in 48 BC. the soldiers of Gaius Julius Caesar fled during the battle with the army of Gnaeus Pompey the Great. After that, they turned to the commander with a request for a demonstrative execution: they believed that in this way they could atone for the shame.