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Causes of 1905 Revolution - Coggle Diagram
Causes of 1905 Revolution
LONG TERM - ECONOMIC.
Over three-quarters of the Russian population were unhappy with their position in the Empire.
Peasants and workers both suffered horrendous living and working conditions. Discontent increased in the years before 1905 in the form of riots, illegal strikes and protests.
Tsar taxed peasant produce and this burden was so great, riots broke out. the peasants had to pay this ‘loan’ back to the state in the form of Redemption Payments. 1903-1904 became known as the Years of the Red Cockerel when peasants seized a great deal of land in the countryside.
The peasants of Russia had been freed from serfdom in 1861 by Alexander II. However, in order to give the peasants land, the government had to pay the landowners for it.
Famine was common, but in 1901, famine became widespread. Peasants were expected to produce enough goods for surplus population.
majority of peasants were landless and didn't have a way of improving their situation.
population of towns and cities multiplied by 4 in Russia. Working day remained at 11.5 hours.
government struggled to maintain demand for housing. army quarters were shared among many.
LONG TERM - POLITICAL.
The provincial Zemstvas were often highly critical of Tsarist policies.
The lack of power they had to influence decision-making at a national level also frustrated them. They wanted the introduction of a state Duma (Parliament) which would advise the Tsar.
Radical opposition groups often carried out political assassinations. The People’s Will tried to assassinate Alexander III in 1887. Populism existed in the universities. The Narodnik socialist movement tried to persuade the peasants to rise against the Tsar and take power for themselves.
Ethnic minorities were greatly oppressed by the policies of Russification
Jewish people were persecuted by state-sanctioned pogroms
The influence of Zemstvas (provincial governing bodies) was reduced
In 1900 officials criticising the government were purged
Middle class industrialists were unhappy that they had no say in how the country was governed
Increased industrialisation and urbanisation had led to major social and economic problems for workers and peasants
DEVELOPMENT OF MARXISM
From the 1880s, Marxist ideas began to spread through Russia. Based on the theories of Karl Marx, they proposed that the proletariat - the underclass of society - would rise up in rebellion and seize power from the wealthy ruling class and establish a fairer society.
SOCIAL REVOLUTIONARIES
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.
They carried out approximately 2,000 political assassinations in the years leading up to the 1905 Revolution.
SOCIAL DEMOCRATS
Social Democrat beliefs were based on Marxism. They did not consider that the peasants would rise in revolution. They focused on agitation amongst the workers in the cities.
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 revolution should come as soon as possible.
Although not directly involved in the 1905 revolution, these revolutionary groups had been able to help spread strikes and protests throughout the Empire.
SHORT TERM - JAPAN WAR
Between 1904 and 1905, Russia and Japan faught for control of strategic territories in China. It ended with humiliating defeat for Russia. This brought critical attention to the Tsar's regime.
CAUSES OF THE WAR
Tsar Nicholas II was advised by Plehve, the Minister of the Interior, that a national victory would lessen the growing opposition to Tsarist rule. It was an opportunity to heighten patriotic fervour and national pride.
Japan was also a threat to Russian interests in Asia. Russia benefited from economic expansion into the Far East and increased access to the Pacific coastline. Japan had become concerned that Russian expansion of the Trans-Siberian Railway into Chinese Manchuria could threaten Korea.
China was weak and Japan had an interest in acquiring land for herself. Japanese negotiations to avoid war were ignored by Tsarist officials and hence the war began.
In January 1904, the Japanese besieged Port Arthur, a Russian naval base and attacked the Russian Pacific Fleet.
Russian forces were left without supplies as the Trans-Siberian Railway was unfinished and there was no effective way of moving troops from the west.
Russian armies suffered heavy losses on the Yalu River and at Mukden as a result of the vastly superior Japanese forces.
The Russian Baltic fleet was sent to the Pacific in March 1905. However, after arriving there in May 1905, it encountered the Japanese navy. Over two days of battle, two thirds of the Russian fleet was destroyed and other ships were captured. Only a small number of Russian ships escaped.
IMPACT OF THE WAR
The embarrassment of defeat to an Asiatic power added to the view that Tsarist government was incompetent.
The Tsar had to agree to a humiliating peace treaty with the Japanese after the destruction of the Baltic Fleet. Defeat in the war led to a mutiny on board the Potemkin battleship in June 1905.
Resources diverted to the war lessened the already limited supply of grain and fuel.
In 1904 Plehve was assassinated in a terrorist bomb attack.
SHORT TERM, - BLOODY SUNDAY.
Minister of the Interior Plehve had established a legal trade union in St Petersburg. Called the Assembly of Russian Factory and Mill Workers, it was led by a Russian Orthodox priest, Father Georgy Gapon. It was this organisation that would, unwittingly, set the 1905 Revolution in motion.
In late 1904, four union members at the Putilov Iron Works Plant in St Petersburg were dismissed. Gapon called for industrial action. Over the coming days over 100 thousand workers in the city went on strike.
Father Gapon organised a petition complaining about working conditions in the city and calling for change. It was signed by over 150 thousand people.
On 22 January 1905, Father Gapon led a march to deliver a petition to the Tsar. Thousands of workers took part in this peaceful protest. The workers were not trying to overthrow the Tsar. They believed that the Tsar did not know of their plight. Instead they blamed the Tsarist ministers and officials.
This demonstration of factory workers was brutally put down by Russian soldiers. Up to 200 people were killed by rifle fire and Cossack charges. This event became known as Bloody Sunday and is seen as one of the key causes of the 1905 Revolution.
The aftermath brought about a short-lived revolution in which the Tsar lost control of large areas of Russia. The revolution failed but it served as a serious warning of what might happen in the future