What caused the 1905 revolution?

Question 1

What were the 4 fundamental causes of the 1905 revolution

Answer 1

• Russo Japanese war 1904-05
• Bloody Sunday (January 1905)
• Economic hardship
• Political oppression

Question 2

Why did the Russo Japanese war occur

Answer 2

• The Russian government prior to 1904 had led an
  expansionist policy into the Far East, to make up for
  what it saw as its relative decline in Europe
• in 1904 when talks broke down between Russia and
  Japan, war appeared imminent
• However it could have been avoided and it was largely
  of Russia’s own making

Question 3

What was the Russian governments three reasons for wanting war with Japan

Answer 3

1. Divert attention away from the troubles at home by rallying the nation into a patriotic struggle
2. To obtain ice free ports
3. To continue expansionist policy into the far East

Question 4

Why did Russia lose the Russo-Japanese war

Answer 4

• Russia greatly underestimated the strength of Japans
  forces
• It was not the backward state Russia had imagined and
  had modernised greatly
• The Japanese army were far better prepared and
  equipped for the Russian forces and won a series of
  major battles
• Port Arthur fell in January 1905 and the following month
  the Japanese seized Mukden
• The final humiliation came at sea, the entire Russian
  Baltic fleet that took 8 months to reach Japan was
  entirely destroyed by the Japanese fleet
• Russia was forced into withdrawing forces and making
  peace
• The war was not lost because Russian troops fought
  badly, but because their military commanders had not
  prepared effectively
• They understood neither the enemy they were fighting
  nor the territory in which the struggle took place

Question 5

How did the defeat from the Russo-Japanese war contribute to the 1905 revolution

Answer 5

• The loss from a smaller, inferior nation was a
  humiliation for Russia
• Within Russia, the incompetence of the government
  which the war glaringly revealed, exited the social
  unrest which it had been specifically designed to
  dampen
• Soldiers came home in anger and frustration at the
  incompetence at the government and military generals
• Many began to feel like the government was working
  directly against them

Question 6

Economic hardship

Answer 6

• Over three-quarters of the Russian population were
  unhappy with their position in the Empire.
• Peasants and workers alike suffered horrendous
  living and working conditions
• Famine was a common occurrence at the turn of
  the century. There was widespread famine in 1901.
  Even though they did not have enough to feed
  themselves, peasants were expected to produce
  surplus grain for export.
• Protests and strikes were on the increase in the
  early 1900s. By 1905 they were severe and
  widespread.
• With industrialisation, under the guidance of Tsarist
  advisers Vyshnegradsky and Witte, came increased
  urbanisation. The population of Russia’s towns and
  cities multiplied by four.
• Working conditions were terrible and trade
  unionism was banned. There was little to protect
  the pay or safety of workers

Question 7

Bloody Sunday

Answer 7

• 22nd January 1905, Father Gapon, an orthodox priest
  attempted to lead a peaceful march in St Petersburg of
  workers and their families to present a petition to the
  tsar, begging him to use his loyal authority to relieve the
  desperate working conditions
• The marchers were then fired on and charged by
  cavalry
• 200 killed
• Fundamental as it gravely damaged the tsars traditional
  image as the ‘Little Father’, the guardian of the Russian
  people
• Immediate reaction was widespread panic and disorder
  in the aftermath
• Strikes occurred in all the major cities and towns.
• Terrorism against government officials and landlords,
  much of it organised by Social Revolutionaries,
  spread into the countryside
• public buildings and private estates attacked and
  burned
• you could argue that this was the last chance for the tsar
  to get back on the peoples side and his refusal to co-
  operate was what resulted in the 1905 revolution

Question 8

Political oppression

Answer 8

• Many were unhappy with the political conditions of
  Russia in 1905
• Prisons were overflowing with convicts of any real
  crime, the city streets were full of soldiers ready to
  shoot people on the spot
• Power stretched everywhere, denying freedom of
  religious and political expression
• Ethnic minorities were greatly oppressed by the policies
  of Russification - Jewish people were persecuted by
  state-sanctioned programmes
• There was no such thing as political freedom, any
  political groups were struck down by the Ohkrana

Question 9

What were the Reformers made up of

Answer 9

Made up of the Octobrists and the Kadets

                         Octobrists  

• Dated from the issuing of the tsar’s manifesto of October
  1905, which created the duma.
• The Octobrists were moderates who were loyal to the
  tsar and his government
• They believed in the maintenance of the Russian Empire
  the regarded the manifesto and the establishment of the
  duma as major constitutional advances
• In the dumas, the Octobrists frequently voiced serious
  criticisms of the short-sightedness or incompetence of
  the tsarist government

                          Kadets 

• The Kadets, the largest of the liberal parties, wanted
  Russia to develop as a constitutional monarchy in which
  the powers of the tsar would be restricted by a
  democratically elected constituent
• They believed that such a body, representative of the
  whole of Russia, would be able to settle the nation’s
  outstanding social, political and economic problems/

Question 10

What were the revolutionaries made up of

Answer 10

Made up of the Social Revolutionaries and the Social Democrats

               Social Revolutionaries (SRs)

• The Socialist Revolutionaries adopted a combination of
  Marxist and Populist beliefs.
• They wanted to overthrow the government in favour of
  giving power to the peasants.
• Although they were greatly uncoordinated in their
  efforts, they carried out approximately 2,000 political
  assassinations in the years leading up to the 1905
  Revolution.
• This included Vyacheslav Plehve, the interior minister

                   Social Democrats (SDs) 

• Social Democrat beliefs were based on Marxism.
• They believed that critical determinant of human
  behaviour was class struggle, a process that operated
  throughout history
• The group split in 1903 after an ideological
  disagreement. The Mensheviks, led by Martov, wanted
  revolution by the workers to occur naturally. The
  Bolsheviks led by Lenin, believed the revolution should
  be driven by human influence
• Lacked significance in the 1905 revolution compared to
  the SRs

Question 11

What were the two main groups opposed to tsardom in Nicholas II reign

Answer 11

• revolutionaries

- reformers

Question 12

How did the Government respond to the 1905 incident

Answer 12

• Tsar was unable to make decisive decision and turned to
  Witte in June 1905 - who promoted his to chairman of the
  Council of Ministers
• Witte was frustrated by the inability of the tsar and his
  ministers to understand the crisis that Russia was in
• He negotiated peace terms with the Japanese
• By October, the tsar was faced by the most united
  opposition in Romanov history and concessions were
  unavoidable
• On Wittes advice, the tsar issued the October Manifesto which led to the created of

     1. A legislative duma 
     2. freedom of speech, assembly and worship
     3. the right for political parties to exist 
    4. the legalising of trade unions 

• This satisfied the liberals who saw these concessions as
  a remarkable success
• Witte then appeased the peasants by an announcement
  in November that the mortgage repayment scheme be
  reduced and eventually abolished - this reduced land
  seizures and general lawlessness in the countryside
• The industrial workers were less appeased - here the
  policy was one not of concessions but of suppression.
  The government felt strong enough to crush the soviets.
  The returning soldiers, proved useful at quell the
  rebellious strikers

Question 13

What was the significance of the 1905 revolution

Answer 13

• The 1905 revolution showed that as long as the tsarist
  government kept its nerve and the army remained loyal, the
  forces of protest would find it very difficult to mount a genuine
  or serious challenge
• Although the tsar appeared to grant significant concessions
  in the October Manifesto, these were expedients rather than
  real reforms
• The duma was not intended to be, nor did it become, a
  limitation of the tsars autocratic powers
• The 1905 revolution had failed because of the disunity and
  inexperienced protestors and the loyalty of the army

Question 14

What was the Potemkin mutiny

Answer 14

• summer of 1905 saw multiple mutinies in the army and navy -
  many of whom were furious at the outcome of the Russo-
  Japanese war
• The serving soldiers and sailors who were conscripted
  peasants were naturally reluctant to attack their own kind,
  workers or peasants: There were several instances of troops
  disobeying orders to shoot unarmed strikers
• In June, the crew of the Potemkin black sea naval squadron
  mutinied while at sea - the crew attacked the officers, killed
  several men, and then took over the ship
• signified the lack of control in government that their own
  battleships were being taken over and used against them