Why Did Revolution Break Out in Russia in 1905?

Why did Revolution break out in Russia in 1905? In 1905, thousands of people gathered outside the Winter Palace, demanding change and immediate reform. Although their revolt was ultimately unsuccessful, it is important to wonder why many people were disgruntled with the Tsarist regime. It can be argued that 1905 revolution resulted in both long-term and crucial short term factors: the long-term factors which will be discussed are peasant land-hunger, the declining economy and the exploitation of Jews. For the first factor, I will begin by discussing the reign of Alexander II to Nicholas II; this will allow us to show the developments in time of peasant outrage. Secondly, the essay will discuss the reign of Alexander III who began terrible pogroms towards Jews and continued by Nicholas II, specifically the great pogroms of the early 1900’s. For the third area, the deteriorating economy created high unemployment and instability within the country. The key short term areas to discuss are: the disgruntlement of the working classes, Russo-Japanese war affected the social classes; it made people realise that Russia was possibly still a backward country because she lost the war; the trigger factor was Bloody Sunday which was the limit for many Russians because the protesters were shot dead by the Red Guard. It is also important to understand why each Tsar introduced certain policies, for a larger context. Thus, there are a variety of long-term and short-term factors to discuss. Let us firstly consider the long-term problem of peasant land hunger which led to the 1905 revolution. To understand this fully, it is crucial we look at the reign of Alexander II, Alexander III and Nicholas II which will allow us to analyse the changes and developments in time. The historian Maureen Perrie argues that the origins of the 1905 revolution can be traced back to the reign of Alexander II; she specifically points to the role of the peasantry arguing the involvement of the peasantry

Bibliography: Ascher, Abraham, The Revolution of 1905: a short history, (Stanford, Stanford University Press, 2004). Bonnell, Victoria, Roots of Rebellion workers’ politics and organisation in St Petersburg and Moscow 1900-1914, (Los Angeles, California University Press, 1983). Flannery, Edward, The anguish of the Jews: twenty-three centuries of anti-Semitism, (New Jersey, Paulist Press, 1985). Galai, Shmuel, The Liberation Movement in Russia 1900-1905, (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1973). Healy, Ann, The Russian Autocracy in Crisis, 1905-1907, (Hamden, Archon Books, 1976). Jones, Adrian, ‘Russian Intelligentsia responds to the war’ in Wolff David and Steinberg, John The Russo-Japanese War in global perspective: World War Zero, Volume 2, (Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2002). Perrie, Maureen, The agrarian policy of the Socialist Revolutionary Party: from its origins through to the revolution of 1905, (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2008). Sablinsky,Walter, The Road to Bloody Sunday, (New Jersey, Palgrave, 1976). Surh, Gerald, 1905 in St Petersburg: Labour Society and Revolution, (Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1989). Weinberg, Robert, The Revolution of 1905 in Odessa: blood on the steps, (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2007). Wheatcroft, Stephen, ‘Crises and the Condition of the Peasantry in Late Imperial Russia’ in Mann, Esther and Mixter, Timothy (ed), Peasant Economy, Culture and Politics of European Russia, (New jersey, Princeton University Press, 1986). Williams, Beryl, ‘1905: the View from the Provinces’ in Smele Jon and Haywood Anthony (ed), The Russian Revolution of 1905: centenary perspectives, (New York, Routledge, 2005). Yoshifuru, Tsuchiya, ‘Unsuccessful National Unity: The Russian Home Front in 1904’ in Wells David and Wilson, Sandra The Russo-Japanese War in Cultural Perspective, (Leiden, Hotei Publishing, 2007). ----------------------- [1] Maureen Perrie, The agrarian policy of the Socialist Revolutionary Party: from its origins through to the revolution of 1905, (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2008), p. 58. [2] Perrie, The agrarian policy of the Socialist Revolutionary Party: from its origins through to the revolution of 1905, p. 67. [3] Perrie, The agrarian policy of the Socialist Revolutionary Party: from its origins through to the revolution of 1905, p. 76. [4] Shmuel Galai, The Liberation Movement in Russia 1900-1905, (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1973), p. 23. [5] Stephen Wheatcroft, ‘Crises and the Condition of the Peasantry in Esther Mann and Timothy Mixter (ed), Peasant Economy, Culture and Politics of European Russia, (New jersey, Princeton University Press, 1986), p. 345. [6] Abraham Ascher, The Revolution of 1905: a short history, (Stanford, Stanford University Press, 2004), p. 52. [7] Beryl Williams, ‘1905: the View from the Provinces’ in Jon Smele and Anthony Haywood (ed), The Russian Revolution of 1905: centenary perspectives, (New York, Routledge, 2005), p. 35. [8] Williams, ‘1905: the View from the Provinces’ in Smele and Haywood (ed), The Russian Revolution of 1905: centenary perspectives, p. 35. [9] Ascher, The Revolution of 1905: a short history, p. 13. [10] Ascher, The Revolution of 1905: a short history, p. 17. [11] Robert Weinberg, The Revolution of 1905 in Odessa: blood on the steps, (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2007), p. 164. [12] Edward Flannery, The anguish of the Jews: twenty-three centuries of anti-Semitism, (New Jersey, Paulist Press, 1985), p. 191. [13] Flannery, The anguish of the Jews: twenty-three centuries of anti-Semitism, p. 193. [14] Weinberg, The Revolution of 1905 in Odessa: blood on the steps, p. 182. [15] Ann Healy, The Russian Autocracy in Crisis, 1905-1907, (Hamden, Archon Books, 1976), p. 10. [16] Victoria Bonnell, Roots of Rebellion workers’ politics and organisation in St Petersburg and Moscow 1900-1914, (Los Angeles, California University Press, 1983), p. 21. [17] Gerald Surh, 1905 in St Petersburg: Labour Society and Revolution, (Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1989), p. 11. [18] Bonnell, Roots of Rebellion workers’ politics and organisation in St Petersburg and Moscow 1900-1914, p. 34. [19] Adrian Jones, ‘Russian Intelligentsia responds to the war’ in David Wells and Sandra Wilson (ed), The Russo-Japanese War in Cultural Perspective, (Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2002), p. 134. [20] Jones, ‘Russian Intelligentsia responds to the war’ in Wells and Wilson (ed), The Russo-Japanese War in Cultural Perspective, p. 145. [21] Tsuchiya Yoshifuru, ‘Unsuccessful National Unity: The Russian Home Front in 1904’ in David Wolff and John Steinberg (ed), The Russo-Japanese War in global perspective: World War Zero, Volume 2 (Leiden, Hotei Publishing, 2007), p. 326. [22] Surh, 1905 in St Petersburg: Labour, Society and Revolution, p. 12. [23] Walter Sablinsky, The Road to Bloody Sunday, (New Jersey, Palgrave, 1976), p. 143. [24] Sablinksy, The Road to Bloody Sunday, p. 85.