To what extent was the lack of political representation the most significant cause of the 1905 revolution? There were a number of different causes that contributed to the start of the 1905 Russian revolution however some were more significant than others. One of the contributing factors was the lack of political representation due to the existence of an autocratic regime. Whilst this was an important factor, the most significant factors were the social and economical issues that caused unrest amongst the Russian population. The long-term policies of Russification imposed by the Tsar in the 1880s, caused a lot of political unrest within Russia and these contributed to the 1905 revolution.
It is also suggested that the Russian society in the beginning of the 20th century provided the working class people yet another reason for revolution as the gap between the aristocracy and the peasants was vast in terms of wealth. By 1905 there was a considerable amount of public anger against the war and arguably led to revolution, however the Tsars response to the revolution of 1905 showed weakness and provided more motivation to the revolutionaries. An overall significant factor to Russia being ripe for revolution was that the Tsarist regime between 1906- 14 showed the stresses and strains and provided mixed feelings towards revolution. The weakness of Tsar Nicholas II was an important factor in the Russian desire for revolution. When Nicholas’ father, Alexander III died unexpectedly, Nicholas was ill prepared for the role of Tsar as Alexander was a domineering man making Nicholas a shy and withdrawn man.
Hence, though peasant life was at its best in its history, all these reforms did for the majority was ignite the hope that more liberating reforms were to come. Unfortunately the untimely assassination of Tsar Liberator by the extremist group, ‘The Peoples Will’ led to the rise in power of Alexander 3rd, who’s views towards the ruling of Russia differed greatly from his fathers. Many of the liberties granted through the reforms were stripped by Alexander 3rd’s own reforms. Peasants control over courts was restricted as courts for government opponents became government controlled. Many government opponents would have been protesting about how unfair the Russian system was towards peasants and hence through trial by jury, they would have been sympathised with.
Lastly due to his strong and rough ruling tactics when in control of the empire, he was exiled. In Napoleons eyes, his empire was always incomplete and his constant goal was to take over more land at all costs. This goal lead to one of his costly mistakes of the Continental System. The Continental System was Napoleons attempt to blockade Britain and stop all communication between them and other countries. In turn this would destroy Britain commercially and their industrial economy allowing Napoleon to take over Britain however did not work and left Napoleon worse off then he was before.
In the late 19th century, Russia began its process of industrialization following its defeat at the hands of Western nations in the Crimean War. Russia's Industrial Revolution was further helped along by its growing population and an increasing labor force. As the industrial process continued, it gave new job opportunities such as: in mining, factory work, and railroad construction. This influx of jobs was taken by an influx of people, where it came from the country to work in the cities as cheap laborers, taking up dangerous and low-paying jobs. In spite of all these changing times and circumstances, the tension between the upper and lower classes remained tenser than ever before, building up under the fabric of society.
Looking throughout the Tsars reign it is apparent that his many failings encouraged the people to up rise and change the current form of government. His inability to handle the social and economic conditions or his input towards them, brought the blame of many problems some even of external problems. It was predominantly the Tsars poor character and action that lead to his removal as he did not acquire many of the characteristics and knowledge to rule a country and his decisions were poorly made in respect to the public. Revolutionary ideas provided the people with an answer to the their problems; the Tsar. If the Tsar had the capacity to rule, understand and the desire to lead his dynasty would not of ended at all or in such devastating
The reforms made by Alexander II after the Crimea Wars were the long term causes that later threatened the Tsar’s position. Tsar Alexander II’s reform to industrialise Russia led to the rise of the middle and the working class. Under him, inflow of western ideas further led to the growth of political parties. His creation of zemstvos introduced election into Russia. All these led to the increase in demand for more democracy and affect the wellbeing of the Romanov dynasty.
Conclusion The main conclusion to be drawn for this paper is that the French Revolution was characterized mainly by war, famine and depression, which were caused by the failure of King Louis XVI at managing the finance of the notion properly. These factors finally led to unseat the French leader. To make matters worse, the inhabitants claimed the country for themselves in the name of liberty. In other words, the Revolution involved not only the reorganization of a country in relation to its government and society, but also a profound change in the course of history.
There was agricultural inefficiency and backwardness, industrial out was one of the lowest among European nations and poor transportation and communication caused delays that hurt the economy. He knew that industrialization was vital for Russian superiority, and so under Nicholas ll’s reign came up with a number of reforms such as protective tariffs on foreign goods, foreign investment (loans etc.) and also managed to put the Russian currency on the gold standard. However his ignorance of peasants through high taxation, low wages and lack of agricultural reforms caused a great amount of dissent towards the Tsar. Stolypin like Nicholas was autocratic, however unlike him he was not weak.
It could be said that the supposed revolution was a serious threat to Tsardom. This is because the outrage shown towards the government came from a broad spectrum of society, occupying the three main classes of Russia; the peasantry, the proletariat and the middle class. The motives behind the uprising would certainly warrant a revolution. Fear of eviction and anger at redemption payments (the peasantry), the desire to have political representation, a constituent assembly and civil rights (the middle class) and the condition in which the proletariat had to live. These, along with the demolition of the army in 1905 and the massacre of Bloody Sunday, portraying the Tsar’s incompetence, would be perfectly viable reasons for a revolution to take place.