Russian Revolution Essay

Russian Revolution 1905 - Essay
The Russian Revolution that took place in 1905 was a major turning point in the Tsarist regime and had allowed the people of Russia to experience rights such as freedom of speech for the first time. There were many reasons as to why there was a revolution on 1905. In the 1900’s, Russia was a vast empire with a very large population, of which a large majority were a part of the working class. When Tsar Nicholas took the throne from his father Alexander Romanov, he was not prepared and did not understand the requirements for such a large role. The working conditions were also very poor and with so many industrial workers in Russia, discontentment grew rapidly throughout the nation. To help stop the opposition to his government, Tsar Nicholas decided to go to war with Japan in 1904 hoping for an easy victory. On the contrary, Russia suffered terrible losses and this further brought down the popularity of the Tsar’s ruling. The intolerance of the working conditions and the humiliating defeats in the Russo-Japanese war caused people to revolt and Russia saw an outbreak of strikes and revolutionary activity. To counter this activity, Tsar Nicholas decided to give some concessions following the advice of Sergei Witte. The October Manifesto was established and the Duma was also allowed. Stolypin was appointed in 1906 and helped the autocratic ruling as he faced numerous challenges with violence and terror.
The Russian Empire in the 1900’s was vast and covered approximately 23 million square kilometres with a population of 128 million, of which 80% was part of the working class. Russia had been under the Romanov rule for a very long period of time and had been mainly under autocratic ruling. Article on of the fundamental laws that was enacted in 1906 stated that “the emperor of all Russia in an autocratic and unlimited monarch. God himself commands that his supreme power be obeyed out of conscience as well as fear.” At the age of 26, Tsar...