Nicholas II Part 2

1
Nicholas II Part 2 Origins of 1905 revolution

• An economic depression at the turn of the century
  led to much unrest in the countryside and strikes
  in the cities.
• Bad harvests and low wages led to peasant
  uprisings and workers strikes.
• Even the middle and upper classes complained and
  wanted change.
• Political parties began to be formed. The Social
  Democrats in 1898, the Social Revolutionaries in
  1901, the Liberals from 1902. The Octobrists and
  Kadets in 1905.
• The surprise Japanese attack on the Russian Navy
  in Port Arthur in Manchuria on the 8 February
  1904 was seen as an opportunity to deflect people
  away from agitation at home by victory overseas.
  War was initially welcomed by many Russians,
  until defeat turned public opinion against the
  government.
• Plehve, Minister of the Interior had advised the
  Tsar to embark on a little victorious war to
  stem the tide of revolution. He also thought
  war would distract the attention of the masses
  from political questions.

2
Russo-Japanese War 1904-5Chronology of Events

• 8 February 1904 Japan attacks Port Arthur.
• The Russian Pacific Fleet is blockaded in.
• The Japanese finally capture the Port in January
  1905.
• February 1905 the main Japanese and Russian
  armies meet at Mukden. After 2 weeks of fighting
  the Japanese win.
• In the interim the Russian Baltic Fleet has been
  sailing half-way round the world to help the
  Pacific Fleet.
• They reached the Straits of Tsushima between
  Korea and Japan, the Japanese attacked and
  destroyed 27 out of the 30 Russian ships.
• With Russia humiliated and Japan content at her
  gains, both side negotiated an American brokered
  peace, the Treaty of Portsmouth was signed in
  September 1905.
• Under the treaty
• Japan gained Port Arthur, Southern Manchuria and
  the Southern half of Sakhalin Island.
• Korea was recognised as being within Japans
  sphere of influence.

3
Why did the Russians lose?

• The sheer distance of the battle zone from the
  source of power.
• Reinforcements took too long to arrive as the
  Trans-Siberian railway was incomplete.
• The Russians were poorly organised. One officer
  waited weeks for ammunition. When a train did
  arrive he was horrified to find it brought gifts
  from the Tsar to the men religious icons. in
  Russia, J. Nichol and K. Shephard.
• The Japanese had shorter supply lines.

4
Effects at Home

• War revealed the inefficiency, weakness and
  corruption of the Tsarist State. Years of
  Russia and the USSR , 1851-1991, D. Evans and J.
  Jenkins
• Plehve was assassinated in July 1904.
• Violent protests broke out due largely to the
  economic situation at home. Bad harvests led to
  food shortages which in turn led to higher prices
  and protests in the cities were an inevitable
  consequence of this.

5
1905 Revolution Chronology of Events

• An industrial dispute over the sacking of 3
  workers in the Putilov metal works in St.
  Petersburg led to a strike being called and this
  was supported by most of the 13,000 strong
  workforce. The strike spread and by 8/21 January
  111,000 workers were involved.
• Father Gapon decided to lead a peaceful protest
  the following day, Sunday, to petition the Tsar
  at his Winter Palace, for improved conditions and
  for a Constituent assembly.
• Father Gapon in a letter to the Tsar the previous
  day had stated the fact that the protest was
  against the ministers not the Tsar. The people
  were appealing to the Tsar to intervene against
  the Ministers.

6
1905 Revolution Chronology of Events
(continued)

• 200, 000 protesters marched in 5 processions
  leading to the Winter Palace. Their peaceful
  intent was shown by the fact many were carrying
  icons of the Tsar.
• The Tsar had already left the city the day
  before, unbeknownst to the protesters.
• Instead they were met by armed guards and Cossack
  horsemen who charged the crowd.
• Hundreds of men, women and children were killed.

7
1905 Revolution Chronology of Events
(continued)

• This led to a general strike in St. Petersburg
  and protest strikes elsewhere.
• There were also peasant disturbances.
• Mass political strikes by workers, students and
  teachers occurred throughout 1905 across Russia.
• Rebellions occurred in the Ukraine, Poland, the
  Baltic States, Finland and the Caucasus. Jews
  were prominent in these.
• Over a quarter of a million troops were needed in
  Poland alone where there was fighting in the
  streets.

8
1905 Revolution Chronology of Events
(continued)

• Martial law was declared in the Baltic States
  where there was virtual civil war.
• The army was stretched as it was concurrently
  embarked in war with Japan, the policing of
  nationalities and suppression of domestic
  disturbances.
• Soldiers mutinied in garrisons in Vladivostok,
  Tiflis, Tashkent and Warsaw.
• February 1904 An SR party member assassinates
  the Tsars uncle, Grand Duke Serge Alexandrovich.

9
1905 Revolution Chronology of Events
(continued)

• February The Tsar tells Bulygin (Minister of
  the Interior) to draw up plans for an elected
  assembly, to take part in the preliminary
  consideration of projects of law.
• March Georgia declares independence.
• 3rd March Tsar issues reform programme,
  includes plans for consultative body, the state
  Duma, but this is too little too late.
• May Japanese defeat Russian Baltic Fleet at
  Tsushima.
• The first Soviet (strike committee) appears. The
  Soviets were elected from town workers. They
  were modelled on the Communes. Soviets appeared
  in many towns.

10
1905 Revolution Chronology of Events
(continued)

• 14th June Sailors mutinied on battleship
  Potemkin in the Black Sea. This was the
  significant in that it was an act of disloyalty
  by a group (soldiers) who had previously remained
  loyal to the Tsar.
• June-July Trade Unions formed illegally.
• Union of Unions formed (amalgamation of Union of
  Zemstva and Union of Liberation (these were
  members of the professions). They demanded a
  Constituent Assembly and became better known as
  the Kadets.
• In July Peasants Union formed and held a peasants
  congress demanding that the land should be made
  common property and taken out of private hands
  altogether.

11
1905 Revolution Chronology of Events
(continued)

• June-July University students strike and make
  university buildings available for public
  meetings, they became significant for organising
  unrest.
• At a student congress in Vyborg the Students
  declared
• students must mobilise their forces in the
  powerful towns and create the possibility of
  using higher education institutions for the
  revolutionary agitation and propaganda in the
  broad masses of the people and undertake measures
  to organise student fighting squads so that the
  students, when necessary, can join the general
  political strike and armed uprising.

12
1905 Revolution Chronology of Events
(continued)

• August News arrives of Japans defeat of
  Russia. Nicholas promises a Consultative National
  assembly, based on high property qualification
  which would have excluded most workers, all Jews
  and women. Peasants would elect 43, landowners
  33 and towns 23. This assembly could eventually
  evolve into an elected body as demanded by the
  Zemstva, but it was rejected by the Kadets.
• September 19th Printing workers go on strike
  and strike spreads to Moscow and St. Petersburg.
• October 7th Railway workers strike and within a
  few days first general strike. This meant there
  were too few troops to cope.
• October St. Petersburg workers set up a Soviet,
  in the Technical Institute, with Trotsky as
  chairman. The committee was dominated by the
  intelligentsia and it soon had more power than
  the city government and coordinated activities
  across the Soviets, thereby creating the first
  united opposition to Tsar. Many employers even
  supported strikes at this time and continued
  paying their workers half pay.

13
1905 Revolution Chronology of Events
(continued)

• Between 15 October and end of 1905 there were at
  least 211 mutinies affecting a third of the army
  in European Russia, which extended to soldiers
  returning from the war with Japan.
• By mid-October it was obvious the government was
  near collapse and concessions were necessary for
  it to survive. Nicholas summoned Witte who
  persuaded Nicholas of the need for concessions.
  The Tsar was forced to issue the October
  Manifesto. Another Manifesto followed on 3rd
  November. These appeared to offer considerable
  concessions, but it was not long before Nicholas
  began to reign them in. He published the revised
  Fundamental Laws on 23rd April 1906. According to
  Evans and Jenkins (Years of Russia and the USSR,
  1851-1991) , the Laws indicated that Nicholas
  had learned nothing from the events of 1905.