Events Leading up to the 1905 Revolution

Question 1

Split of the Social Democrats

Answer 1

Differences in beliefs -> 1903 2nd Party Conference vote 2 decide future of party - 50/50 t.f split Mensheviks/Bolsheviks
Bolsheviks - able to unify/centralise their party t.f more capable 2 take control @ Oct 1917

Question 2

Russo-Japanese War: Details

Answer 2

Want 4 Imperial expansion in2 Manchuria/aim 2 diffuse tension w.in Ru/racist views of an easy win
Ru- underestimating Jap modernising army t.f quickly overpowered Ru
Mutinies @ Potemkin -> rotten meat - soldiers attacked officers killed 7/18 b4 taking over the ship + increase desertion

Question 3

Russo-Japanese War: Impacts

Answer 3

Treaty of Portsmouth (23/08/05) = lost port Arthur + Manchuria to Japan
Increase peasant revolts/strikes - Jan 1905 = 120 000
Plehve assassinated
Wages decreased by 25% h/h Bread increased by 35% btw 1904-5
Decrease military presence 2 deal with domestic crises

Question 4

Bloody Sunday: Details

Answer 4

Dec 1904 4 workers from Putilov Steelworks were dismissed - had joined semi-official trade union -> 120 000 workers on strike by Jan ‘05
Father Gapon - created petition 2 appeal 2 Tsar and highlight workers grievances = plan 2 peacefully march 2 Winter palace h/w additional troops sent 2 St.P
09/01/1905 - 150 000 peaceful protestors -> soldiers began firing = 200 killed/800 wounded h/w o.g fig inflated

Question 5

Bloody Sunday: Impacts

Answer 5

‘Little Father’ - ‘Bloody Nicholas’
Workers: St.P Soviet called 4 General Strike 13th Oct 1.5mil workers -> brought Ru economy 2 standstill
Peasants: Increase of land seizures - burnt down manor houses - destroyed 3000 manor houses = 15% in all of Ru / Oct 1905 Peasant Union formed 200 000 members + demands 4 rights, progressive taxes, edu
Liberals: May 1905 creation of Union of Unions

Question 6

Key Demands of the Petition of the Workers

Answer 6

Freedom of speech, press, assembly and re
Equality of all b4 the law
Compulsory public education
Separation of church and state
Abolition of redemption payments
Termination of the war
8hr working day
wage regulation
Legalisation of workers trade unions

Question 7

Key events of the 1905 Revolution

Answer 7

2 peoples unrest, Nich could either make authoritarian/suppress or reform
17th Oct 1905 - October Manifesto
Authorities quick 2 rush remnants of workers movements -> Trotsky + 260 @ soviet arrested
Moscow armed insurrection from Moscow soviet -> 1000’s killed
Liberals split = kadets/octobrists
Tsarist regime avoided a revolution h/w 1st time Russian people had been promised political representation

Question 8

Role of workers in 1905 Revolution

Answer 8

Post Bloody Sunday = wave of fury
End of jan = 400 000 on strike @ St.P
Revolutionaries increase presence among workers
14th Oct 1905 founding of St.P Soviet -> general strike 1.5mil
Brought St.P + Moscow 2 standstill

Question 9

Role of Peasants in the 1905 Revolution

Answer 9

Increase land seizures -> 3000 manor houses destroyed/15% of all @ Ru
Oct 1905 Peasants Union formed (200 000 members) free + universal edu, universal suffrage, freedom of movement

Question 10

Role of Army in the 1905 Revolution

Answer 10

Poor conditions + war weariness -> decrease confidence in govt - if spread more widely then nothing could stop rev
14 June 1905 mutiny on battleship Potemkin - sailors turned on officers (7/18 killed) due to being fed rotten meat + shelled Odessa in support of striking workers