al Russian ways of life could be a bitter handicap, and the sooner Russia caught up with the West the better. The Slavophils, influenced
             by the German romantics, opposed westernization and idealized Russia's distinctiveness."[3] One of the brightest events of the dissident movement of the 19th century was the Decembrist revolt in December of 1825, when a group of Russian army men tried, without success, to abolish Tsarist rule by refusing the oath of
             allegiance to a new Tsar, Nicholas I, and forcing him to abdicate. "The Decembrist conspirators were of liberal inclinations, and their background was Russian freemasonry and the Russian army."[4] That revolt can be seen as he first sign of the major revolution to follow and that is why it is important despite its failure. It was the first attempt to change the existing order in the Russian Empire. The revolts after it were also unsuccessful until World War I, which served as a powerful catalyst for deep change.
             The Bolshevik Revolution was supposed to bring changes to many a
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