In 1849, Fyodor Dostoevsky, already a known novelist, was arrested, tried, and sentenced to death for treason. After about eight months in prison, officials paraded him and others into a public square and tethered them to execution posts before a firing squad. Just before discharging their fatal shots, the soldiers received a command to halt. By order of Nicholas I, the great Russian novelist and fellow prisoners were spared and their death sentences...