This caused a lot of distress amongst Russia’s population as well as depression. The war was thought of as a strategy to boost Russia’s morale and unite all the communities together to help the war effort, most importantly, to distract them from the current tension in the country. The war encouraged patriotism; it was soon obvious that Russia had hugely underestimated Japan’s strength and ability. This was also the first spontaneous outbreak of unrest which was directed at the Tsar, it made people lose their confidence in him. However, the Russo Japanese was not the only factor leading to Bloody Sunday, the start of the Revolution, other factors such as the Great Spurt and Alexander III’s manifesto – ‘the reaction’ also led to the start of the revolution.
In the battle of Tannenburg the loss was very drastic; 30000 men wounded or killed, 95000 captured and 500 guns. This portrays the heavy defeat that Russia and this dropped moral in the army and at home in Russia. This shows the losing of the battle created a growth in opposition against the Tsar due to the public of Russia blaming the Tsar as he commanded the troops to go to war. Peasants felt annoyed and angry and Nicholas. This strengthened the opposition against the Tsar.
The troops would have felt let down as well, so therefore wanted reform and supported Mussolinis violence tactic. This also links in with the north south divide as the troops would be in the south and it hadnt industrialised as much as the north causeing a huge divide socially and economically. This demobalisation of the troops would have threated the higer classes as the troops could easily over power them for the land. Obviously the 5 million troops would have supported Mussolini and therefore caused a growth in his support. Another reason for Mussolinis success was the weakness of the political system.
All these led to the increase in demand for more democracy and affect the wellbeing of the Romanov dynasty. Secondly, I would discuss about the medium-term causes. They include the defeat in the Russo-Japanese war, the creation of duma, and the failure of political reforms because of Tsar Nicholas II’s firm decision of never giving up autocratic power. In 1905, the defeat in the Russo-Japanese war led to a series of social unrest, such as formation of soviets, general strikes and political killings. These photos are evidence of what some people did to express their dissatisfactory in1905, one about a demonstration and one about a train turned over by some striking workers.
The war was a large mistake for the Tsar. Although Russia obtained some successes at the beginning, they were facing one of the most advanced military powers in the world and were being led by incompetent Generals as well as being badly equipped Nicholas II made a grave error, when he fired the military commander and took command of the army. This was a mistake in the fact that he had no military experience whatsoever and from then on, the Tsar was seen as responsible for every failure and defeat that Russia suffered. It saw the loss of 200,000 men and around 15 million peasants were enrolled in the army from the farms. This would lead to the army losing their faith in the Tsar which was extremely vital, for as long as the army remained loyal to the him, they were able to put down any threat of revolution however, the poor conditions eventually led to them refusing to fire upon rioters.
The Country was ecstatic when the Tsar made the announcement that Russia was going to fight against Germany in WWI. Because of this, the concept of revolution became forgotten by many. In fact, the Tsar gained more followers as they regarded Germany as a great threat to the country. Never less, WWII exposed how inadequately Russia had been prepared for the war and how inadequate Nicholas II was to rule
As once they split they had to create a new campaign and policies. However it did help in other ways, such as it gave Lenin the power to lead his own campaign. This involved not helping the workers so they would up rise against the Tsar.
The Tsar made many failures as Commander in chief of the army especially at the battle of Tannenburg where the majority of the Russian second army was destroyed which forced the Russian army to retreat. This coupled with other military defeats led to mass desertions towards cities. It also led to many soldiers knowing of the Tsars failures which would have supported the claim for a revolution. The war effort also caused the Zemstva and the Congress of Representatives of Industry and Trade to grow which were used to help stimulate production and provide medical facilities. The government failed to efficiently incorporate these into the war effort which resulted in them becoming a symbol for the shortcomings in the war effort.
Strikes by workers crippled some parts of the nation when the grain and livestock couldn’t reach the market place. Factories shut down due to lack of coal to power them. Unions that went on strike used violence as their way of protest, and federal troops had to be called in to quite the violence. At this time in history, the citizens were supporting the unions even if they were young in their infancy. However with all the riots and violence, they lost the support of the public In 1890, law after law was passed in the Republican Congress, massive spending towards grants and appropriations.
The Russo-Japanese war was declared on the 8th of February 1904 in the method of a formal letter from Japan, and continued until the 5th of September 1905, with Russia’s defeat. The war grew out of the conflicting interests between the rival imperialist ambitions of Imperial Russia and Japan, in both Manchuria, China and Korea. Prior to the Russo-Japanese war, an internal battle between China itself and foreign domination was being fought. The economic exploitation of the Chinese by overseas governments occurred rapidly, each nation aiming to increase their ‘sphere of influence’. Throughout the 1800’s, China faced internal strain and international turmoil.