How the Battleship Potemkin Turned Out to Be the Saint Panteleimon
Classic film buffs will likely remember the famous silent historical-revolutionary film "Battleship Potemkin," shot by the brilliant Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein at the first Goskino film studio in 1925. Subsequently, the film has repeatedly been recognized as the best or one of the best films of all time, based on surveys of critics, filmmakers, and the public.
However, today's video lecture will not only talk about the events of the sailors' mutiny on one of the Black Sea battleships fleet The Russian Empire in June 1905. While we omit the details of the uprising itself, which are more than spectacularly depicted in the film, we will discuss the events that remained behind the scenes. More precisely, what happened after, according to the plot of Eisenstein's film "Prince Potemkin of Tauride," he passes through the line of ships of the Black Sea Squadron, whose sailors refused to open fire on the battleship with the red flag flying from its mast.
In 1905, the battleship "Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky" (Eisenstein's film's title is deliberately limited to "Potemkin") was the most modern ship in the Russian Navy. It was commissioned in May, a month before the mutiny. The vessel was the last battleship in the shipbuilding program to revive the Black Sea Fleet after its defeat in the Crimean War of 1853–1856.
After leaving the Odessa port, where the crew was unable to obtain provisions and water, the battleship headed for the coast of Romania. The Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky, escorted by destroyer No. 267, arrived in Constanta on June 19, but local authorities also denied the mutineers fuel, food, and water.
The situation on the ship was becoming critical. Early in the morning of June 22, the battleship docked at the port of Feodosia. Gendarmes and regular troops were already awaiting its crew. The mutineers then decided to return to Romania.
Upon returning to Constanta, the mutinous crew surrendered the ship to Romanian authorities, asking for political asylum in exchange. They were accepted as military deserters, which freed the sailors from forced deportation to Russia and guaranteed their personal freedom.
Two days later, a squadron of the Black Sea Fleet arrived in Constanța. The following day, Romanian authorities returned the battleship "Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky," and it was towed to Sevastopol. Beforehand, the ship's priest held a prayer service and sprinkled the ship with holy water to exorcise the "devil of revolution."
In Sevastopol, the battleship was repaired and renamed "Saint Panteleimon," after which it continued serving in the Black Sea Fleet. Incidentally, the ship's priest's prayers were of no avail. The ship was "imbued with the spirit of revolution." As early as November 1905, the renamed battleship was again involved in a mutiny—the crew joined the mutinous sailors of the cruiser "Ochakov."
Many of the destroyer and battleship's sailors remained in Romania. They enjoyed popularity there, and some even opened their own businesses, using the Potemkin-Tavrichesky brand. Later, one of the mutiny participants, mechanic Ivan Beshov, founded the Beshoffs chain of eateries in Dublin. Today, it's one of the most renowned chains of budget seafood restaurants in the Irish capital.
All of the battleship's crew members and the sailors of destroyer No. 267 who returned to Russia were put on trial. Trials of those who participated in the uprising and chose to return to Russia continued until the February Revolution of 1917. A total of 173 people were brought to trial, and several death sentences were handed down, but only one was carried out—the execution of Afanasy Matyushenko, one of the uprising's leaders.
Tried separately, Matyushenko was hanged on November 2, 1907. The others' sentences were commuted to 15 years of hard labor. The vast majority of the accused received rather symbolic sentences of several months' arrest, and some were acquitted. All were likely released after the October Revolution of 1917. The rest were demoted and barred from service.
So, to speak of brutal repression against the Potemkin mutineers would be completely incorrect. In total, approximately 20 military courts were held. Moreover, it is noted that the pre-trial investigations were conducted very thoroughly and, as far as possible, impartially. Perhaps this was a strategic mistake by the "tsarist regime" in its fight against the revolutionary movement.
There are some more interesting facts in this stories One of the first revolutionary uprisings in the navy. During Soviet times, it was believed that the red flag raised by the mutinous crew of the Potemkin was a clear sign that the sailors had joined the revolution. However, historians later came to the conclusion that it was merely a signal flag, "Nash." In naval signaling, it signified readiness to fire. The rebels thus warned the authorities of their intention to defend themselves.
Of the 781 sailors on board the battleship Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky at the time of the uprising, 14 had previously served on the cruiser Varyag and were participants in the legendary battle with the superior forces of the Japanese squadron at Chemulpo (the outdated name was Inchon) in Korea in January 1904.
And now about that rotten meat in the soup, which became not just the pretext, but the compelling reason for the ship's crew's mutiny. Of all the battleship's crew, only one person—the stoker's apprentice, Reztsov—ate the borscht made from the rotten meat. According to him, the soup was "delicious and rich."
In 1955, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the uprising on the battleship Potemkin, all of its surviving participants were awarded the Order of the Red Star, and two of them were awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
For more details on the mutiny of the sailors of the battleship Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky and their subsequent fate, watch the video. And of course, it's also a reason to rewatch—or, for some, for the first time—Battleship Potemkin, a true masterpiece of world cinema by the brilliant Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein. Without any pretensions to historical accuracy, it's well worth the watch.
Information