1905

Question 0

What were the immediate causes of the 1905 Revolution?

Answer 0

The Russo-Japanese war - humiliating defeat, unrest against the government.
Bloody Sunday - had been peaceful but protesters were slaughtered, destroyed trust in Tsar

Question 1

What were the long term causes of the 1905 revolution?

Answer 1

Social and economic - 80% peasants, population grown from 98 million in 1885 to 125 million in 1905, harvest failures in 1892 1898 and 1901, industrialisation had led to poor working and living conditions for industrial workers (it was these who protested)
Political - autocracy, with no elections at all (except zemstva), lots of revolutionary groups eg Social Revs assassinated over 2000 people

Question 2

How did the Revolution of 1905 develop?

Answer 2

Strikes - by the end of 1905 over 2.7 mil workers had been on strike, strikers set up soviets
Peasant uprisings (jacqueries) - first major one in Feb in Kursk province
Mutinies - Eg Potemkin. However the army did not turn
St Petersburg Soviet - organised strikes
Armed Uprising - 7th December in Moscow, finally crushed on 18th December.

Question 3

How did the government react to 1905?

Answer 3

The October Manifesto - introduced Duma.

Question 4

Why did the revolution come to an end?

Answer 4

The loyalty of the armed forces; the lack of unity among revolutionaries; the Oct Manifesto split the opposition further and some revolutionaries then supported the Government

Question 5

What were the consequences of the 1905 Revolution?

Answer 5

The Fundamental Law - duma introduced, but article 87 allowed Tsar to govern by decree; the Duma - first introduced in April 1906 but lasted only 73 days before dissolved by Tsar