In January 1905, there was a revolutionary tide in Russia. This was mainly caused by the defeat of the Russo-Japanese War in September and the Bloody Sunday Incident in January. In the country, workers, peasants and merchants were holding demonstrations in order to express their discontent to the Tsarist government. Although Nicholas II issued the October Manifesto to pacify the discontent of people temporarily, he still had to face some problems after the 1905 Revolution. To regain the support from people, he needed to carry out the reforms in the October Manifesto.
All Russian governments in this period faced strong opposition to their regime with the period as a whole punctuated by riots, disturbances and revolutions. Political change was expected in Russia during this period, particularly during the Tsarist regime where the growth of the revolutionary intelligentsia, ironically an effect of the Great Reforms, led many to question the need for a Tsar or a royal family at all. The first main success of political opposition is widely considered to be the assassination of Alexander II at the hands of the People’s Will in 1881. Although they assassinated their Tsar, it is very likely this did not actually lead to their desired outcome, it being greater political freedom/democracy. Many historians have said Alexander II was considering the formation of a parliament in Russia.
During Alexander III rule from 1881-1894 he had made significant changes in Russia like the counter reform, which was literally undoing his fathers Great reforms, which he thought, had weakened Tsarism and left it insecure. In 1881 Alexander III first step as Tsar was throw out Loris-Melikov Plan, which indicated establishment of two new government commissions that were to have an advisory role in relation to proposed new laws. Alexander III saw this as a threat to autocracy in Russia and so he completely rejected this approved plan by his father. Further on in late 1881 Temporary Regulations were introduced, which gave the government special powers to prohibit gathering of more than 12 people, prosecute any individual from political crimes, introduction of Okhrana the secret Police, and the setup of special courts outside the legal system. Then In 1889 the zamstva magistrates were replaced with land captains how were recruited from the nobles and given powers to direct and control peasant affairs in their areas.
During the beginning of the 1900s, there were plenty of revolutions and violence that took place. The Chinese revolution in 1911 and Russian Revolution in 1917 shared similar goals, they wanted to end the power of their current leader and establish a new one. For Russia, it was Tsar Nicholas II and for China it was the Qing Dynasty, Russia wanting a functioning communist government and Chinese revolutionaries wanted a democratic government. The first outcome is different in that China relied on agriculture to maintain its economy and Russia relied on industry to fuel its economy. The second outcome of the revolutions was that the countries were dramatically changed, two great powers were stopped and communist leaders eventually took over in the two countries.
Henry was exposed to the pull of the factions but a new aristocratic approach to the government strengthened the conservative faction however with the arrest of Duke of Norfolk (1547) and the dismissal of Gardiner from the Privy Chamber the reformists gained the much needed advantage . This shows that there was a threat to the stability of the government as Henrys most trusted councillors seemed to become more radically involved in the faction rivalry during the last 8 years of Henrys reign. This may have added pressure on Henry and his deteriorating health thus he may have not been able
These friends and family were also given a palatinate which meant that if an over-mighty subject were to rise to overthrow Edward, like when the Duke of Warwick did in 1469, they had the power to build an army without royal consent and stop the over-mighty subject. Through these mirrored methods , Edward was able to to increase royal authority of the monarchy by enforcing law trough those who were close to him and could trust Another method Edward used in his first reign to increase royal authority was by destroying Lancastrian resistance. He did this by defeating the last standing Lancastrian supporters at Hedgely Moor and Hexham and by capturing Henry VI and forcing Margaret of Anjou to flee to France in 1465. This increased royal authority because there were no longer any Lancastrain figureheads to
History How far did the growth of internal opposition threaten the Tsarist regime in the years 1881-1904? Alexander III took over as the Tsar of Russia shortly after his father’s assassination (Alexander II) with the intention to rule Russia with brute force to assert the autocratic power back into control of the people. This was done with the use of secret police and the tightening of censorship. Nicholas II shortly took over after his father died from medical reasons. He was generally described as a smart man with great manners however lacked those qualities of a practical man.
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. Russia was the only country within Europe with no elected national parliament. The only form of elected representation (what the Tsar referred to as ‘senseless dreams’) was the “Zemstva”. The Union of Liberation demanded in December 1904, that a parliament should be set up because they felt the Russian population needed an outlet to express their views. At the time, the formation of political parties was illegal but despite this, they still existed.
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.
Why did widespread protests and rebellions occur across Russia in 1905? There are several reasons as to why widespread protests and rebellions occurred in Russia. The most important reason, which sparked Russia into a time filled with protests, was the Political problems that brewed in Russia; the Tsar aggravated many people, and caused many demonstrations across Russia, as he was not listening to the population. The main reason, which caused a widespread rebellion across Russia in 1905, was due to the political problems in Russia. In 1905, Russia was still an autocracy, with the Tsar possessing complete political power, unlike other countries in Europe, Russia did not have a national elected parliament therefore people were unable to have a say in how their country was run.