Preview

History Ia (Ib) on Russo-Japanese War and Its Effect on the 1905 Revolution

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2223 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
History Ia (Ib) on Russo-Japanese War and Its Effect on the 1905 Revolution
Topic: Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905

Research Question- The Russo-Japanese war of 1904 is the main contributor of the Revolution of 1905 in Russia. To what extent do you agree with this view? Justify your answer with a 1000 words as a minimum.

Russia during the 19th century was considered to be the mystical land of the Great Tsars and Tsarina’s. It long held the imagination of visitors and storytellers alike from its grand courts and palaces to its superb Caviar, Vodka and Faberge eggs. Russia was also the land of magic and superstition due to the powerful presence of the Russian Orthodox Church. But life for the most of Russia was not as starry and glamorous as described above. In fact the oppressive autocratic system was still living in the medieval age with poor peasant and serfs slaving for whatever little their rich masters would allow them. Most Russians lived in abject poverty and oppression and had little chance to advance. Russia was also the last to start its rise as an industrial power and relied mainly on the agrarian industry. Russia previously famed military now laid idle and ill trained to fight modern battles. Unknown to the Tsar and Russia the world has long left Russia in the rotten medieval age and had moved on. During the first half of the 20th century witnessed some repercussion in the mindset of the Russian bourgeois towards the oppressive Tsardom. The first strike came in 1905 through a revolution. Several factors contributed towards this revolution among them special mention is to be given for the Russo Japanese war. Through this essay I am attempting to dig out the possible connection between the war and the Revolution of 1905.

The Russo-Japanese War was from 1904-1905, it was caused due to Japans and Russia’s desire for expansion and dominance in Korea and Manchuria. Russia suffered many defeats in this war, against a nation that was considered inferior and was not one of the Great Powers. This humiliated the people of Russia



Bibliography: Endurance and Endeavour: Russian History, 1812-1992  J The Pursuit of Power in Modern Japan, 1825-1995  Chushichi Tsuzuki. Oxford University Press, 2000 The Twilight of Imperial Russia  Richard Charques. Essential Books, 1959 United Government and Foreign Policy in Russia, 1900-1914  David MacLaren McDonald. Harvard University Press, 1992 Britain and the Last Tsar: British Policy and Russia, 1894-1917  Keith Neilson. Clarendon Press, 1995 Bayonets before Bullets: The Imperial Russian Army, 1861-1914  Bruce W

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Apush Dbq 3

    • 325 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Russo-Japanese War: Imperialist rivalry between Russia and Japan led to war, Roosevelt had arranged for a diplomatic conference b/w the nations – agree to Treaty of Portsmouth (even though Japan was blamed for the US for not giving the country all they wanted from Russia)…

    • 325 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Chapter 27 Review

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages

    7: In 1905 a revolt was caused by the loss of the Russo-Japanese war. The Tsar tried to calm the people by reforming but eventually took away rights and the reforms fell apart.…

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the early 19th century Russian rulers did anything in their power to keep the "French plague" from infiltrating Russia. The "French Plague" was a gradual move towards freedom and a more influential say in government. Russia avoided the "French Plague" by a period of isolation and oppression of their people. Japan also had a long period of isolation. The Japanese believed in the Mandate of Heaven or that there culture was the best. Because of their ethnocentric culture, only one Japanese port, Nagasaki, was open to traders once a year. During the late 19th century, both Russia and Japan were forced to make reforms and modernize by industrialization. They both had to do so rapidly because of Western interference and the West's increasing power in trade. During the early 20th century, Russia and Japan had managed to reform, industrialize, and make sufficient changes to build powerful nations, although they still couldn't compete with the West's supreme military and technological strength. The industrialization process for both Russia and Japan began during the same time period because of this they both shared many similar industrial responses, but also contrasted in many ways. Both Russia and Japan had some common characteristics, which explained how they kept independent from Western interference for such a long period of time. The two nations both new that learning from outsiders could profit them and not necessarily destroy their culture. Industrialization was easy for them because they followed a system of borrow and improve from other countries. Through Japan's Tokugawa shogunate and Russia's tsarist empire, both nations improved their political success. Instead, they used the state to pay for changes that in the West was backed by private businesses. In both Russia and Japan their rulers received more power. By emancipating the Russian serfs and the peasant class, both nations had a large labor force. Besides similarities there were also many differences in…

    • 1532 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    During 1750-1900 Russia and Japan both getting a late start to industrialization face similar as well as complete differences due to the process. Compared to Russia, Japan was able to seperate themselves from Asian persuasian ans survive as a strong independent nation, and still lock down raw materials from Korea. Russia had been able to control a warm-water port and actually expand into Asia and Europe. Both nations had developed so that they were able to avoid dominaion by the west.…

    • 341 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Russo-Japanese War began as a dispute between Russia and Japan, over Manchuria. In 1904, the Japanese attacked the Russian fleet at Port Arthur before formal declaration of war had even been received in Moscow. This surprised the Russian navy, gaining Japan an early victory.…

    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It stretched from Europe to the Pacific Ocean and included people with diverse cultures and traditions.2 Russia was a land of disparity and contradiction by the turn of the 20th century. It was caught in between two worlds: the traditional world of the peasantry and the modern world of the westernized elite.3 As these two world coexisted, their values, culture, and way of life extremely differed. Regardless of the persistence of a rural society and economy, Russia became exposed to profound urban and industrial growth during the second half of the 19th century. 4Many peasants surfed…

    • 2030 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The last Tsar Nicholas II ascended the throne in 1894 and was faced with a country that was trying to free itself from its autocratic regime. The serfs had recently been emancipated, the industry and economy was just starting to develop and opposition to the Tsar was building up. Russia was still behind Europe in terms of the political regime, the social conditions and the economy. Nicholas II who was a weak and very influenced by his mother and his wife had to deal with Russia’s troubles during his reign. In order to ascertain how successfully Russia dealt with its problems by 1914, this essay will examine the October Manifesto and the split of the opposition, how the Tsar became more reactionary after the 1905 revolution, Stolypin’s agricultural reforms and the effect of Witte’s industrial reforms on Russia until 1914.…

    • 1691 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    [ 3 ]. Seton-Watson, H. The Russian Empire, 1801-1917, The Oxford History of Europe, Oxford University Press, 1967 p. 334…

    • 3297 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Nationwide Revolution

    • 1615 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In 1905 the massacre of innocent people during a peaceful protest outside the winter palace in St Petersburg sparked the start of a nationwide revolution. This mass murder of the innocent protestors became known as ‘Bloody Sunday’. During the revolution strikes occurred across the nation involving more than 400,000 people, peasants attacked and raided the homes of their landlords and the Tsar’s uncle, the Grand Duke Sergei, was assassinated. Although Bloody Sunday was the immediate reason for the revolution, there were several causes which had caused long term grievances towards the Tsarist regime among the population of Russia leading up to 1905. These include the developments in the countryside and the lives of the peasants, the treatment of the inner-city working class and ethnic minorities, the repression and growth of the political opposition and the impact of the Russo Japanese war. Although all these factors contributed to the initiation of a revolution in Russia, I believe that the attitudes towards and treatment of the working class and the peasants was the most prominent reason for the uprising in 1905.…

    • 1615 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    During 1917 the political system of Russia, and the political opinions of its public, began to change. The First World War was deeply taking its toll, with the casualties running into millions, and food shortages were reaching crisis levels across Russia. Presided over by the Provisional Government, who had little support and even less real power, the people of Russia became restless. In October, the animosity between Government and populace came to a head, and a revolution put Lenin’s socialist Bolshevik party in power. This essay will show that, while the Bolshevik party was dedicated and driven in the values they believed in, it was only the seizing of opportunity, and a lot of luck, that they succeeded in taking power.…

    • 1594 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Russian Revolution Causes

    • 687 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Russian Revolution was one of the most important revolutions in history. Just like the French people, Russians got tired of being treated unfairly by the Higher classes, and so decided to revolt against them. However unlike the French, they could not be satisfied, or entertained for long by a single revolution, reason why they did many revolts. Each time retreating at its middle, until they finally were annoyed and determined enough to overthrow the Government and change their lives as they knew it. Even so, that wasn’t the only cause of the Russian Revolution, along the many revolts came various relevant causes and events, but only few of them stood out, with such importance to today’s history of the causes for the Russian…

    • 687 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Romanov Dynasty

    • 1502 Words
    • 7 Pages

    When discussing why public opinion of the tsar was so easily pliable in the lead up to revolution in 1917, we must acknowledge that Russia was evolving rapidly. As modern historians and public spectators, it is simple to map out how Russian society became a pressure cooker of discontent and anger. Mass industrialisation made living for a working, urban class almost unbearable, the class divide was still rigid, revolutionary ideas from the West offered a foundation to base claims for the removal of the autocratic system, and the pressures of World War 1 served to unite the people in one cause to end hardship. These factors stoked a population already vying for change and such an environment made revolution in Petrograd (St Petersburg) in the February of 1917 almost inevitable, foreshadowing the end of the…

    • 1502 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    As the Tsar became progressively more estranged from his own people, he was concurrently disabling the authority of his own rule. As industrialisation and modernisation began to occur and the people were becoming more educated and literate (as a result), they also became more aware of the flaws in their country’s political system and began to express ideas of democracy and equality. The government responded to problems with violence and oppression on the rising number of opposition, as the Tsar was utterly intolerant and unwilling to compromise, which only increased resentment. A series of scandals, military defeats and unceasingly poor conditions for workers and peasants further deteriorated the image of Nicholas II. Thus, it can be concluded, that the causes of the 1917 February revolution were due to the nature of Tsarism and policies of Nicholas…

    • 2034 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Bolshevik Revolution

    • 2405 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Abstract: The purpose of this essay is to analyze the causes of the Bolshevik Revolution in October 1917 using academic sources. Through social, economic, and political factors, one can guarantee that the Great War was a major cause of the revolution.…

    • 2405 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Revolution of 1905 was the first time the Tsar had faced open opposition from so many groups in Russian society at the same time. It involved peasant disturbances, strikes, naval mutinies, nationalist uprisings and assassinations. This essay aims to examine the different causes of the Revolution of 1905. Short and long-term causes will be considered, and economic, political, military and social factors will be discussed. The essay will also explain why the Revolution ultimately failed to overthrow the Tsarist regime.…

    • 1336 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays