Why was there a revolution in 1905? - page 1
Keywords: Russian Revolution
By 4stuchfi on 01/10/2008
Level: A Level (Year 13)
Page Number: 1 of 3 pages: 1 2 3
All the way through the 1890’s and the early years of the 1900’s a storm was brewing among the people of Russia. A majority of the people wanted to reform the political system by either changing it completely or modifying it to suit. This is why a revolution occurred in 1905.
The political system in Russian was an autocracy whereby the Tsar, the divine ruler, owned and controlled absolutely everything in the country. Many of the people looked up to the Tsar like a father, not because he was inspirational or because he was exceptional but because 85% of the country, the Peasants were uneducated and so were very easily controlled and influenced. If one is uneducated and knows nothing else except solid Russian traditions like Tsarism then no one will question it and ask if it really is the best option for a country like Russia, for every country has a political system that suits it. However as the peasants and proletariat became better educated they did ask questions and realised that they were under complete authoritarian control. Not only would they query Tsarism as a whole but the actual Tsar, in personality and ability. For however strong the system is at controlling the largely uneducated majority, Tsarism is only as powerful as the Tsar is at the time. So Tsarism in the 1900’s was not very powerful because we can see that from his actions Nicholas II was inept as a leader of such a large country.
Blatant failures by the Tsar were apparent to the people of Russia; two examples, which cast questions over his ability, were the Famine of 1891 and the Russo-Japanese war. The famine was an extremely bad time to be a Russian citizen, a great majority of the country was starving and the Tsar and his government had no plan or solution to help the needy. A peasant needs nothing but a home and food, but when food is taken out of his life then he will ask questions about why is has happened. The Russo-Japanese war was another example of a failure. Russia believed a quick victory against Japan would take pressure of the Tsarist and feudal system by distracting people’s attention to something interesting and absorbing. However Russia underestimated the Japanese and their Navy and Army was completely decimated. Japan was seen to be a powerless Asian minnow and so it was even
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