1905 Revolution

1905 Revolution

Causes
1. Social
  1. 80% of Russian population peasants – poverty
  2. Population growing rapidly – 98milliom in 1885 to 125million by 1905
  3. Peasants reacted to famines with violence
  4. Jacqueries – peasants attacked government officials – destroyed government landholdings records
  5. Extremely poor working and living conditions
2. Political
  1. January 1905 – Russia was still an autocracy
  2. No elected National Parliament
  3. Demand for political reform growing
  4. Reformers were a mixed group who had nothing in common apart from opposing Tsarism
3. Economic
  1. Size of peasants landholdings fell
  2. 1892, 1898, 1901 – harvest failures caused famine
  3. Russian agriculture backward compared to Europe
  4. Rapid growth of population in towns and cities
4. Bloody Sunday- 9th Jan 1905
  1. Father Gapon (Priest and Police Informer) led a march of workers to the Winter Palace to petition the Tsar – 10,000 people
  2. Demand of higher wages, shorter working hours and free elections
  3. Troops opened fire, killing over a 100 demonstrators
5. Russo Japenese War
  1. Russia underestimated Japan – War was started to give population more faith in the government/Tsar
  2. January 1905 – forced to surrender Port Arthur Naval base in North China
  3. Land and sea defeats
  4. The Japanese had better tactics and a more modern army
  5. National humiliation
  6. Japanese knew everything about the position of the Russian ships and when they would arrive
  7. Caused unrest against the Government
  8. Undermined support for the Tsar
  9. Economic trouble/consequences
Peasant Uprising
1. Jacqueries
2. Revolt due to poor harvests and the raising of taxes
3. Kursk province – February 1905
4. By the end of the year, most of the European part of Russia had been affected by outbreaks of civil unrest
Armed Uprisings
1. Strikes continued through Autumn/Winter 1905
2. Many turned violent
3. 5th December – general strike in Moscow, by the 7th it had turned violent
4. Several thousand armed workers – violent struggle with the Police and Government troops
5. By the 18th December, 1000 dead, parts of cities in ruins, the revolutionaries surrendered
Mutinies
1. Key to success or failure of the revolution
2. Some army and navy units after Bloody Sunday
3. June 1905 – Potemkin crew killed some of their officers, took control of the ship, bombarded the Black sea port of Odessa and headed for Romania
4. Not widespread – received publicity and undermined the Tsar’s authority
5. Army was unlikely to turn against the regime
Strikes
1. February 1905 – 400,000 workers
2. End of 1905 – 2.7million workers on strike
3. General Strike – 20th September – 30th October 1905
4. Strikers set up Soviet’s (Worker’s Councils) to direct strikes
5. Railway workers – threatened Government as railways transported troops
Soviets
1. Workers Councils
2. Main one in St Petersburg – had the most workers
3. Product of general strike in the Capital
4. Groups of workers elected representatives to the Soviet
5. 400 members representing 96 factories
6. Organised strikes and ensured striking workers got food

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	Created by Katie Mortley about 11 years ago