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World history 9 the russian revolution
World history 9 the russian revolution
Causes, course and consequences of the 1905 revolution
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The Revolution of 1905 was crucial for Russia’s history, it opened up society in many ways, most importantly: there was open opposition to the Tsar. Uprisings became common as well as strikes, nationalist disturbances and even assassinations. A culmination of factors lead to the Revolution of 1905, and I believe there were three main causes: “bloody Sunday” which was the massacre of hundreds of peaceful protesters, the embarrassment of the Russo-Japanese War which brought the country a lot of humiliation, and the economic problems which had caused issues for years. This revolution was obscure because ultimately it failed to overthrow the Tsarist regime, but it can arguably be Russia’s most important revolution because it begins an era of change
There was pressure for Nicholas to change Russia’s government system from an autocracy to a constitutional monarchy, especially because of the discontent the people felt after Russia was horribly defeated in the Russo-Japense war. Nicholas was not prepared to be the Tsar of Russia, part of the reason he was so unsuccessful was because “he tried to emulate his father’s autocratic rule but he lacked his father’s domineering personality and there where-withal to provide a government.” A reason why this can be said to be Russia’s most important revolution is because of the events that took place on January 22nd 1905. Thousands of working class people came together at the Winter Palace to protest against their working hours and low wages. The peaceful protest was lead by father Gapon, many of the workers were holding portraits of the Tsar as a sign of respect, but there were troops called to attack the protesters. The palace guard attacking and killing these protestors showed how out of touch Nicholas was with his people. The response of the middle class and not just the peasants is really what turned the events of “Bloody Sunday” into a “revolutionary crisis of authority for the tsarist government”. Ultimately, Nicholas lost all chance of preventing a full blown revolution after the events of Bloody Sunday because “it drove liberals to the
He never would 've written the manifesto if his advisors hadn 't forced it, and because of this he did not feel “morally bound to observe it” The Manifesto did not address the issue of a constitution, which Nicholas carefully decided so that he could “maintain the illusion that he remained an autocrat even after creating a representative body with legislative powers” this combined with deception from his liberal advisors led him to believe that this would end all of the unrest. The October Manifesto proved to play an important role in the importance of this revolution. The Tsar continued to pretend like the promises in the October Manifesto did not exist, and liberal and radical groups continued to grow. Historian Richard Pipes says “the experience of 1905 left it more, not less radical. The terrible weakness of the bonds holding together the mighty Russian Empire became apparent to all and in the end Russia gained nothing more than a breathing
Tsar Nicholas II was a family man who put his family before the wellbeing of the country. In the Bloody Sunday scene thousands of people were marching to the Winter Palace to request help and protection from the Tsar because he was supposed to be in St Petersburg. However he was not there, he had gone home to tend to his son because he was ill. This resulted in the massacring of approximately 200 people who meant no harm . After his abdication in a conversation with his son Alexi he tells him that he abdicated for him. He tells Alexi, “I didn't want you to pay for my mistakes.” Whether this was the reason for his abdication or not the movie led the viewers to believe that everything he did was for his family. The leader of a country should make decisions that will be better for the country, not their family. He put the wellbeing of his family before the country which shows inadequate leadership that ultimately led to the collapse of the old reg...
For centuries, autocratic and repressive tsarist regimes ruled the country and population under sever economic and social conditions; consequently, during the late 19th century and early 20th century, various movements were staging demonstrations to overthrow the oppressive government. Poor involvement in WWI also added to the rising discontent against Nicholas as Russian armies suffered terrible casualties and defeats because of a lack of food and equipment; in addition, the country was industrially backward compared to countries such as Britain, France, Germany, and the USA. It had failed to modernize, this was to do with the tsars lack of effort for reforms. The country was undergoing tremendous hardships as industrial and agricultural output dropped. Famine and poor morale could be found in all aspects of Russian life. Furthermore, the tsar committed a fatal mistake when he appointed himself supreme commander of the armed forces because he was responsible for the armies constant string of defeats.
The October revolution of 1917 in Russia was a turning point that defined Russia as a nation. It was one of the most dramatic events in the history of the Russia that had completely changed the lives of the people at that time. The Russlander by Sandra Birdsell describes the live of a girl who was raised on a wealthy Mennonite estate. It seemed like her parents were ignoring all the troubles in the outside world, living a happy life together. But nothing lasts forever, and their happiness ended with the start of the revolution. At that time Katya was only 16 years old. Just like many people at that time she lost her family and friends, who were killed by the Bolsheviks. The conflict with the new leaders of the country started when her father refused to pay taxes and support his country, and ended with this horrible tragedy.
The Russian Revolution occured in two stages/times, February nd October of 1917. As cited in document 1, "Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown and a liberal democratic government came to power." What lead to the Febraury Revolution was the peasant agriculture to the Russian population, autocracy, and the outbreak of WW1. A long-term cause was the peasant agriculture to the Russian population. As said in document 1, "For all of its history before the 20th cwntury, 80-95% of the population were poor pasants, farmers just barely scratching a living form the land. For most of that history (between 1694-1861) the majority of these peasants were enserfed." to enserf means to be aprovd of liberty and personal rights. Before 1917 peasants recieved sympathy from
Tsarism during the period after the 1905 revolution and the March revolution of 1917 faced a ‘wave of social discontent’ (Hobsbawm, 1995, p. 57). This was no surprise, as there was many who during that period had thought that there was a ‘straight road [to] a socialist future’ (Hobsbawm, 1995, p. 57). However many saw that there was not the means to happen in Russia at the time. Hobsbawm plants the idea of a Bourgeoisies revolution and the class struggles, combined with Karl Marx’s ideas about the impending revolutions. Centralised in Europe was the ideas of socialism and revolution. Hobsbawm reflects the ideas of the time, that they were ‘helpless’ by 1914 and by 1916 the majority followed. This was just the popular opinion of the time of the Russian public. Although he jumps between times, starting with the October revolution then jumping to the ‘overthrow(ing) of Tsarism’ (Hobsbawm, 1995, p. 57) then back to the post October revolution. This does not affect the readability of the section. It gives a well-rounded description of the period to form a good base for Part II.
Czar Nicholas’ poor leadership forced him to abdicate and caused the Bolshevik takeover. One of the reasons I say that is because of the way he handled “Bloody Sunday”. “Bloody Sunday” was when troops killed over a thousand people in a peaceful worker assembly. After “Bloody Sunday”, workers all over Russia went on strike, and peasants caused uprisings that were suppressed by Nicholas II’s troops causing tensions to increase. Another reason was his disastrous involvement in World War I. In the beginning of the war, Russia’s armies did not do well. To fix this, Nicholas became the commander. Now under his command, their continued failure reflected the Czar himself, further decreasing his popularity. Lastly, civil unrest grew as food riots, chronic food shortages, and labor strikes continued to proceed. This eventually erupted into open revolt, and Czar Nicholas had no choice but to abdicate. Soon after, the new government was overthrown by the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin.
The need to modernise in Russia was a problem that the tsar had to face between the years, at the time in question, Russia was very backwards in the way that it farmed its lands, its economy was behind that of the rest of Europe, this meant that action had to be taken, in this area the tsar did have some successes.
I. A good majority of the Russian people were weary and uncontent with the way the war was going and with the Czar's rule. This uncontent, along with economic hardships, caused riots and demonstrations to break out. The Czar called for the army to put down the revolution, as they did in 1905. But the army joined the revolt and the Czar was kicked out of power soon afterwards.
future leader of the Soviet Union as a “dress rehearsal” for the 1917 revolution. The most important difference is that the 1905 revolution failed to destroy the autocracy in Imperial Russia. A combination of reasons can explain why this revolution failed at overthrowing the Tsar Nikolas the Second. The revolutions participants were not revolutionaries that wanted to overthrow the Tsar, it was not started by revolutionary groups. The military and military context played an important role to the revolution’s failure, and the autocracy’s reforms gave compromise to the protestors who could be satisfied with the changes. These factors show why the 1905 revolution failed to destroy the autocracy.
People believed that Bloody Sunday happened under Nicholas II because he could not be found when the marchers were marching to the Winter Palace, causing Russian troops to panic. The result of Bloody Sunday caused riots to break out, forming the councils of workers in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and the bond between Nicholas II and the people was broken, causing the October Manifesto. A short term solution October Manifesto was granted, which was a constitution to stop the riots. The primary intentions of the October Manifesto were to divide the revolutionaries. The Italian Unification had a big impact on Nationalism, which was led by Benso di Cavour, which supplied most of the ideology for the movement.
To what extent was the discontentment of the industrial workers the main cause of the 1905 revolution in Russia?
In examining the comparison of the 1905 events with the similar situation in 1917, it is vital to look at the backdrop circumstances in order to directly compare the revolutions. The combination of the social disruptions generated by the Russo-Japanese War effort caused unrest and several uprisings to take place in the period 1904-1905. In 1905 Russian armies suffered repeated defeats in the Russo-Japanese war leading to low morale, food shortages and bread prices soaring throughout Russia. Discontentment lay the foundation to political ferment amongst the Proletariat. The mobilisation of the working class accompanied the war effort, revitalizing the threat of a strike movement such like the one in 1905. The circumstances that Russian society found themselves in, in 1905 can be directly compared to the situation of 1914-1917.
The autocratic monarchy of Russia was unfair and unrepresentative of the Russian people, as the majority did not have the right to vote, let alone its peasant class. accounting for almost eighty five percent of the total population. This class lived in poverty, and were answerable to their landlords. and the Mirs, who would often use brutal measures to stabilise them. Nicholas II introduced the October Manifesto, which labelled Russia as a constitution, and the Tsar no longer had absolute power.
The Russian Revolutions of 1917 led to the riddance of the czarist Russia as well as the ushering in of the socialistic Russia. The first of the two revolutions forced Nicolas II to abdicate his throne to a provisional government. Lenin headed the second of the two revolutions in which he overthrew the provisional government.
In the years leading up to the revolution, Russia had been involved in a series of wars. The Crimean war, The Russo-Turkish war, The Russo-Japanese war and the First World War. Russia had been defeated in all except the war with Turkey and its government and economy had the scars to prove it. A severe lack of food and poor living conditions amongst the peasant population led firstly to strikes and quickly escalated to violent riots. Tsar Nicholas II ruled Russia with an iron hand while much of Europe was moving away from the monarchical system of rule. All lands were owned by the Tsar’s family and Nobel land lords while the factories and industrial complexes were owned by the capitalists’. There were no unions or labour laws and the justice system had made almost all other laws in favour of the ruling elite. Rents and taxes were often unaffordable, while the gulf between workers and the ruling elite grew ever wider.