1905
• Industrial depression had begun in
1900
– Extreme hardship
– Ignited series of strikes
• War with Japan (1904)
– Over control of territory in Far
East
– Russia defeated in every battle,
land and sea
• Had disastrous impact on
morale
• Increased discontent of
peasants and workers
• Demands mounted for
establishment of legislative
assembly and civil rights
BLOODY SUNDAY
• January 22, 1905
• Workers demonstrate peacefully in
front of Winter Palace for moderate
reforms
– Organized by Father Gapon
– Guards fire on demonstrators,
killing or wounding hundreds
– Shatters the ideal that a sacred
bond existed between the people
and paternalistic tsar who would
look after their welfare
– Formerly loyal workers join
socialists and other revolutionary
groups
– Kadets and liberals stunned by
event and began to cooperate with
revolutionaries
THE REVOLUTION ESCALATES
• Anti-tsarist revolution
becomes broad social
movement
– Includes workers,
peasants, national
minorities, bourgeois
intellectuals, and even
members of armed forces
• Sailors on battleship
Potemkin mutiny in
June 1905 and kill
officers
• Other ships in Black
Sea fleet refuse to fire
on Potemkin and it
eventually finds refuge
in Rumania
OCTOBER MANIFESTO
• Nicholas announced creation of
elective Duma (representative
assembly) in August 1905
• Revolution continues with general
strike erupting from October 20-30
– Nicholas responds with further
concessions—the October
Manifesto
• Duma given legislative power
• Guarantees civil rights for all—
including freedom of press,
speech, and assembly
– Wins over liberals, but not
radicals
• Opposition now split and
revolution loses momentum
• Still loyal troops used to put
down remaining
demonstrations
DEPRESSING AFTERMATH
• Once danger was past, Nicholas avoided relinquishing any
power
• Limited power of Duma
– Issued list of “fundamental laws” that the Duman could
not change
– Announced that tsar could dissolve Duma at any time
and call for new elections
– Announced tsar had sole authority over foreign and
military policy, the succession to the throne, ministerial
appointments, pardons, and court affairs
– Finance minister would be solely responsible for
currency issues and foreign loans
– Tsar’s Council of State transformed into upper house
with equal power to the Duma
• Restrictions and qualifications placed on freedoms of
speech and press
• Duma dissolved twice between 1905 and 1907 until tsar got
docile body he wanted
PETER STOLYPIN
• Minister of Interior, 1907-1911
• Encouraged peasants to consolidate their
scattered strips of land into unified plots
on the American model
– Goal was to encourage improved
farming methods and greater
productivity and create prosperous (and
conservative) peasantry
• Plan implemented slowly due to
bureaucratic foot-dragging
– By 1915 only ten percent of peasant
property had been consolidated
– Stolypin assassinated in 1911, thereby
ending momentum of his program
• Reforms did have some positive impact
RASPUTIN
• Quality of imperial leadership
dramatically declined between
1905-1914 due to the rise of
Rasputin
– Wandering monk from
Siberia who claimed to be a
“holy man”
– Filthy, barely literate, cruel,
and utterly depraved
– Tsarina Alexandra
worshipped him as
reincarnated Jesus
because of his ability to
stop bleeding of
hemophiliac son, Alexis
RASPUTIN’S INFLUENCE
• Rasputin gained powerful hold
over the tsar and entire
government
– Asked his opinion on policy
– Recommended people for
important government jobs
– Influenced promotions’
– Had people fired
• Recommendations never based on
qualifications
– Always the result of bribes,
sexual favors, and flattery
– Extraordinarily incompetent
individuals gained important
jobs as a result of his influence
• No one dare complain about his
behavior because they would be
fired on the spot
WORLD WAR I
• Erupted on August 1, 1914
• Russia fought on Allied
side
– With France and Great
Britain
– Against Central Powers
• Germany, Austrian
Empire, and Ottoman
Empire
• No country understood
unprecedented destruction
that war would cause
– But Russia was the
most ill-prepared of all
1914: DISASTER
• Russian invades eastern
Germany at start of war
– Germany forced to pull
several divisions out of
France to met Russian threat
– Germany defeats Russians at
Battle of Tanneburg
• Russia invades Austrian Poland
– Germany helps defeated
Austrians push Russians out
and back into Russia
• Eastern Front then stabilizes
• 1914 very costly for Russia
– 4 million casualties and
replacements were poorly
trained
– Russia also began to run out
of weapons and ammunition
HOME FRONT
• Initial outbreak of war had united
Russians
– Except Bolsheviks
• Then cost of war became clear
– Huge casualties
– Food shortages in urban
centers
– Stories of officer brutality
– Rumors of men being sent on
suicide charges without
weapons
– Stories of officers selling
scarce supplies on black
market
Bread line
– Stories of government
corruption and incompetence
– Ominous rumors of soldiers
killing their officers and
deserting
FROM BAD TO WORSE
• Nicholas takes personal command of
Russian army in 1916
• Leaves civilian government in hands
of wife Alexandra and Rasputin
• Rasputin murdered in December 1916
by nephew of tsar
– Too late
– Most Russians now believe that
tsar was hopelessly incompetent
– Rumors of palace coup to put
someone else on the throne
FEBRUARY 1917 REVOLUTION
• Caused by severe food shortages
in major cities
• Riots break out on February 23-26
in Petrograd over food and coal
shortages
• Workers strike to protest rising
prices
• Students demand tsar’s abdication
• Nicholas sends in troops to crush
demonstrations
– Soldiers mutiny and join in
• President of Duma notifies
Nicholas that only the creation of a
responsible government will
resolve crisis
– Nicholas orders Duma to
disband
– Duma stays in session
CREATION OF PETROGRAD SOVIET
• Workers spontaneously set up
Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and
Soldiers’ Deputies
– Made up of representatives from
mutinous army regiments and
striking workers
– Appeals on February 28 to people
to remain calm and demands
election of a constitutional
convention to create a democratic
government
• Soviet has great deal of power
because it had wholehearted support
of workers and soldiers in capital
– Saw its role at this time as
safeguarding interests of common
people and looked to Duma to form
new national government
THE END OF ROMANOV
DYNASTY
• Nicholas orders more troops into
Petrograd
– They mutiny too
• Nicholas tried to return in person to
Petrograd
– Railroad workers, under orders
of Petrograd Soviet, refuse to
move his train
• Nicholas finally abdicates in favor
of his younger brother Michael
– Michael turns offer down
– Romanov Dynasty finished