This turned into great violence across the empire, with peasants even attacking officials. Fights between strikers and troops of the army were common, and students would also protest and partake in demonstrations throughout Russia. The violence caused Russia to lose 500,000 in the Russian-Japanese, which had a major consequence. Russia was in a civil war. Not only was it the population of the Russian empire that turned against the Tsars, but the Army too.
In an attempt to increase their wages, industrial workers went on strike. The Tsar’s indecisiveness, the reality of him continuing the war against Germany although there were many thousands of casualties and the rest of Russia was starving due to the bad transportation systems, and the fact that he had broken his promises from the October Manifesto after the
The months before and during the Bolshevik revolution, as well as the signing of the peace treaty at Brest-Litovsk cause turmoil among the socialists and brought Russia into civil war. The Provisional Government of Russia treated the middle and lower class citizens of Russia very poorly, ignoring their needs, as well as dragging them into World War I and two civil wars in a little over two decades. The workers of Russia wanted a democratic republic, or any government that would have allowed them to make a difference, and one that would help them as much as their current government was against them (Wade 27). In 1917, Russia was at war in World War I and was suffering economically because of it, as well as loosing the lives of many of their young men in battle. The people of Russia desired to leave World War I as smoothly and as quickly as possible (Wade 29).
Poor harvests, famine, a lack of freedom and repressive policies meant that Russia was a country that was teetering on the brink of revolution long before dissatisfied factory workers marched on the Winter Palace in St Petersburg. Some of the causes of the 1905 revolution were due to poor working and living conditions. For instance, up to 15 people would share one room to live in, because of this demonstrations such as the one outside the Winter Palace commonly known as Bloody Sunday took place. 100’s were killed due to horrific misunderstanding by the Russian army. In many ways this helped fuel Russian Revolt.
But even thought many peasants would now have their land many of the youths of the landlords would rise up against the peasants for killing their parents. This group would be known as the “Black Hundred”. This group brutally beat or killed peasants to take revenge as an effect this kept the peasants under control. The Tsar had to crush what was left of his opposition. The Tsar was desperate to get Russia back in control so in December the Tsar’s loyal army was used to demolish what was left of the working class strikers.
Revolution occurred because of the rise of the opposition, which consisted of the army, protestors and civilians. Demonstrations and food riots suddenly broke out in the capital city of Petrograd. A general strike had spread throughout the city and some soldiers had joined demonstrators, this had caused the Tsar to command the military chief to fire on the crowd. Dozens of people had died and the rest were reminded of “Bloody Sunday.” As a result the demonstration had tuned into a revolution aiming to overthrow the government. The Tsar had lost all support and control because of his actions and this led to him abdicating the
How Accurate is it to Say that the Growth of Reformist Groups in the Years from 1881 was the Main Cause for the 1905 Revolution? Following Alexander II’s assassination in 1881, Russia was faced with their worst nightmare which was faced with their worst nightmare which was a truly repressive Tsar, Alexander III. His unpopularity was caused by his extremely backwards ideology that left the Russian population dissatisfied without their ‘Tsar Liberator.’ Alexander III found himself battling with millions of people who wanted their previous freedom restored and autocracy destroyed. I personally feel that the main cause for the 1905 revolution was Alexander III himself in the long term. Alexander was hopelessly out of touch with the emerging realities of a modern Russia.
When war was declared in 1914, much of the Russian population rallied behind the Tsar and the monarchy in a wave of patriotism. However, the war weariness in the face of 'Total War' soon gripped the country, as the war exacerbated the domestic difficulties of Russia and highlighted the governments structural issues. Losses such as the 'Brusilov offensive' demoralised the army, which in turn weakened the standing of the Tsar and the faith the public placed in him. Poor organisation lead to major casualties, as by Christmas of 1916, 1.6 million soldiers were dead and 3.9 million were wounded with 2.4 million taken prisoner. This lack of organisation also lead to food shortages and issues with transport.
Czar Nicholas II saw the possibility of diverting Russian discontent with a “successful war”, and so in February, 1904, Nicholas decided to go to war with Japan. The war was a disaster for the Czar – the Russian army was ill-equipped, poorly armed, and unskilfully trained; the transportation system throughout Russia collapsed and bread prices soared, thus destroying the confidence in the government. Basically, government corruption and inefficiency was exposed during the war and as the war continued, discontent among the people increased dramatically and they lost faith in their
News of the violent acts believed to have been ordered by the Tsar himself quickly spread throughout European Russia, initiating huge responses from the people, provoking a rebellion, which would involve over 400,000 people. These huge strikes brought the government and economy to a complete halt. Strikes occurred throughout the country; peasants attacked the homes of their landlords, embracing the opportunity to revolt; the Grand Duke Sergei, the tsar's uncle, was assassinated in February; the transport system all but ground to a halt. Russia seemed to be on the point of imploding. Sailors on the battleship 'Potemkin' mutinied in June and to add more woes to the government, it became clear that on top of all of this, Russia had lost the Russo-Japanese War; a war that was meant to have bound the