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The Road to RevolutionThe Road to Revolution19051905

In the early 1900s Russia experienced a wave ofcivil unrest and disorder.

In the countryside peasants…

Peasant UnrestPeasant Unrest

Seized land Burnt buildings

Organised boycotts

Industrial UnrestIndustrial Unrest

Strikes Mass meetings

Mass demonstrations

• Meetings/demonstrations were so big the policeand the military could not control them.

University UnrestUniversity Unrest

Particularly among national minority groups like the Poles and Ukrainians.

In cities like Odessa and Kiev there was….

GOVERNMENT REACTIONGOVERNMENT REACTION

• InteriorMinister

VyacheslavPlehve

Plehve did this by using groups like the ‘Black Hundred’ to attack minority groupslike the Jews.

To divert attention away from

themselves politicians will put the heat on

someone else.

Another way to divert attention away from themselves is to put the heat on another

country.

Russian ExpansionismRussian Expansionism

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By 1895 Russia had an agreement with China tolink the Trans-Siberian and Chinese Eastern Railways across northern Manchuria. This gave amore direct route to the port of Vladivostok. Through this agreement Russia also gained accessto Port Arthur via the South Manchuria Railway.

Since the late 1890s Russia had a growing interest in the Far East. The building of the Trans-SiberianRailway opened up Siberia to settlers, access to and trade with Chinese markets and the navy to the portof Vladivostok.

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• The problem for Russia was that the Japanese controlled the straits of Tsushima which threatened Russian access to Port Arthur and Vladivostok.

• In 1900 the Chinese reacted to this foreign exploitation in what became known as the BoxerRebellion. Russia took advantage of internationalmilitary intervention by invading Manchuria.

RUSSO-JAPANESE WARRUSSO-JAPANESE WAR19041904

1905 Late January: Russian casualties on a failed attack

against the Japanese at Mukden exceeds 12,000.

Late February: 600,000 RussianAnd Japanese fight over Mukden.

Casualties: Russia = 90,000,Japan =70,000. Japan wins the

battle.

1905 May 27: RussianBaltic fleet heading for

Vladivostok was humiliated byJapan. Of the Russian fleet20 =sunk, 5 =surrendered,6 interned in neutral ports.

Tsar decides to end the war.

The Portsmouth TreatyThe Portsmouth TreatyAugust 1905August 1905

Established the terms of the peace agreement Established the terms of the peace agreement between Russia and Japan.between Russia and Japan.

By now both countries viewed each other withsuspicion and war was inevitable.

• 1904:The Japanese

take the initiative and attack Port Arthur.

1905 January 2: Russians surrender Port

Arthur to Japan after a 156 day siege.

Route taken

Safest route

BLOODY SUNDAYBLOODY SUNDAY19051905

• The military humiliation by the supposedly inferior Japanese only served to reinforce the concerns of the people over other issues.

Nothing in history happens in isolation

of other causal factors.

This was true in Russia

in 1905.• FOUR workers were sacked for belonging to a union (Assembly of St Petersburg Factory Workers).

The Putilov StrikeThe Putilov Strike

With no freedom ofspeech and a reticence by

factory managers to hear the workers grievances, who do

they turn to for help?• Father George Gapon

Russian OrthodoxPriest and former

Police agent

Organised a strike when factorymanagement and the Governor of St Petersburg refused to reinstate the four workers.

110,000110,000• Over workers from factories throughout the city went out on strike in support of the four workers.

We want change!

We want change!We want change!

• The Governmentreacted by postingtroops at key locationsincluding the Winter palace.

The Workers ConcernsThe Workers Concerns

• At this point the majority of strikers were still supportive of the Tsar. All they wanted was arecognition of, and a response to, their grievances.

Gapon’s Petition Gapon’s Petition to theto theTsarTsar

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The petition asked for…..

An 8 hour working day.

Freedom to have trade unions. Improved working conditions.

Free medical aid.

Increase in women’s wages.

Elections for a Constituent Assembly.

Freedom of speech, press, association, religion.

An end to the war with Japan.

Gapon informed the Tsar of a workers march…

But the Tsar never responded and with his familyleft the Winter Palace for the safety of TsarskoyeSelo.

Bloody SundayBloody SundayJanuary 22, 1905January 22, 1905

• Dressed in their Sunday best, 200,000 workers,their wives and their children marched throughthe streets of St Petersburg towards the WinterPalace.

• Led by Father Gapon they marched peacefully, sang hymns, the national anthem and carried holy icons, religious banners and portraits of the Tsar.

The Marchers

The Military

• Soldiers guarding the Winter Palace fired repeatedly into the tightly packed, unarmed peaceful protesters killing hundreds.

• Soldiers carried out massacres throughout St Petersburg.

The TsarThe Tsar

Noted that it was ….

‘A painful day. There have been seriousdisorders in St.Petersburg becauseworkmen wanted to come up to the

Winter Palace. Troops had to open firein several places in the city; there

were many killed and wounded. God,how painful and sad.

News of the Bloody Sunday massacre spread quickly throughout the Russian Empire. It was a measure of the political naivety of the Tsar and

his government that they didn’t foresee the consequences of their over aggressive, heavy-

handed tactics.