Event RUSSIA AREA OF STUDY 1 Notes Emancipation Edict of the Freed serfs from their masters but bound

them to their serfs mir Russia Area of Study 1864 Creations of zemstvos and Reform of education, local government and legal 1 Notes educational reforms system 1870s Growth of political awareness and movements 1890s Increase in industrialisation Due to Wittes economic reforms, foreign investments Created urban working class (proletariat) (1.7million) who lived with low wages, poverty, long hours of work, no trade unions. Small bourgeois class emerged Imports doubled and export trade trebled. However, stagnation of agriculture 1904 February 1904 Russo-Japanese War Nicholas IIs first major test in foreign affairs. begins War was largely of Russias own making. Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) Russias motivation for war Pursue an expansionist policy in the Far East to make up for Russias decline in Europe (Witte) Obtain an ice-free port all its major ports were unusable during winter Distract attention from Russias domestic troubles, dampen social unrest and tensions Rally the nation in a patriotic struggle Expected an easy victory as they regarded Japan as inferior Outcome Loss in confidence in the Tsar demonstrated poor leadership and communication and the need for change Exacerbated inadequacies in the regime excited social unrest, increased tension which led to an open challenge to tsardom (1905) Downturn in economic activity unemployment, reduced wages, strike, political unrest National humiliation reduced morale 1905 3-8 January 120,000 workers on strike in 1905 St. Petersburg 9 January 1905 Bloody Sunday Tsarist troops open fire on a peaceful demonstration of workers in St. Petersburg, not really under the order of the Tsar Bloody Sunday Reasons Response to unanswered demands Protesting against long working hours, low pay, bad working and living conditions and the lack of union representation for the workers Denial of basic liberties Refusal of government to develop any form of representative institutions Inability of a cumbersome bureaucracy to adjust to socio-economic changed in Russian society Growing effectiveness of opposition groups No improvement in the conditions of the peasantry o Peasantry had increased from 28 million (1860s) to 75 million (1905) o Massive food shortages, regular famines, demands for land reforms Wanted a Duma, constitution, liberal freedoms and land reforms for the peasants Outcome Undermined faith, affection and reduced support for the Tsar as he was seen as being responsible for the massacre Sparked a series of strikes and disorders throughout Russia May 1905 Battle of Tsushima Almost entire Russian Baltic fleet destroyed or taken captive by Japanese 14-24 June Battleship Potemkin Rebellion of crew against oppressive officers 1905 mutiny September 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth Ends Russo-Japanese War with decisive victory to the Japanese Bolsheviks General strike 12 October Strikes in St. Petersburg Did not have a land policy they had dismissed the peasants 1905 focused on the workers workers with the aim of 13 October St. Petersburg Soviet of and Petrograd Soviet by thefor a proletariat revolution Body controlled Lenin made Checked that the interests of the soldiers and a tactical adjustment 1905 Soldiers and Workers advancing and protecting their interests. Adapted Marxist theory and added Russian peasants to the Deputies formed Represented some 20,000 workersthe new workers were fully understood by proletariat cause. dominated Trotsky dominated Menshevik government Stole SRs Landpowerthe authority of the ProvGov Newfound to the for the masses Restricted Peasants Bolsheviksby a combination of celebration, riotsdecrees 17 October October Manifesto issued Met recognised peasant land-seizures asand fighting Soviet Order Number 1 military legitimate 1905 by Tsar Nicholas II Increased Bolshevik popularity inbe obeyed only if issued by ProvGov could the countryside October Manifesto authorised by the Petrograd Soviet. In response to ProvGov did not have power over the army, had Strikes in St. Petersburg and around Russia caused by Bloody Sunday to compromise with Petrograd Soviet Peasant revolts seized 2000 estates Year 1861 Date

Russia Area of Study 1 Notes

Historians Perspectives
Russia pre1905, creation of revolutionary situation Hasegawa: The tsarist regime was pregnant with irreconcilable internal contradictions that it had no capacity to resolve Nenarokov: the general backwardness of the country could not be overcome by half-measures or reforms of any kind. The crux of the matter was the degenerate state of the autocratic system. Figes: obstinate refusal of the tsarist regime to concede reforms turned what should have been a political problem into a revolutionary crisis the tsarist regimes downfall was not inevitable, but its own stupidity made it so. Nicholas was the source of all the problems Pipes: the collapse of tsarism was certainly not inevitable 1905 and after Trotsky: Tsarism came out of the experience of 1905 alive and strong enough Figes: 1905 had changed society for good [revolutionaries] were inspired by its memory and instructed by its lessons Pipes: In the end, Russia gained nothing more than a breathing spell WWI

Figes: the tsarist system proved much too rigid and unwieldy, too inflexible and set in its ways, too authoritarian and inefficient, to adapt itself to the situation as it changed. Deutscher: the war drastically exposed and aggravated the fatal weakness of the ancien regime, but it was hardly the decisive cause of that weakness. Lenins role in the revolution He continued to dominate the actions of the Bolshevik party even though he was frequently absent from Petrograd. Was the ideas man: 1902 What is to be done, April Thesis etc Structure and authority of Bolshevik party was different to that which was envisaged by Lenin in 1902 along of inner factionalism Bolsheviks were not as disciplined or centrally controlled as the party later claimed to be

Evaluation
For Against

Hill: War accelerated the development of revolutionary crises, but their deep-lying causes could not be wished away in times of peace.

February Revolution Smith: FebRev was a result of the collapse of public support in the government Wood: caused by the spontaneous upsurge of the politically radicalised masses (GOES AGAINST LYNCH) Trotsky: FebRev was led by conscious and tempered workers educated for the most part by the party of Lenin Pares: It was a direct result of the utter bankruptcy of the autocracy Chamberlin: one of the most leaderless, spontaneous, anonymous revolutions of all time Pipes: Tsar was not forced off his throne by rebellious masses, the tsar yielded not to a rebellious populace but to generals and politicians Crankshaw: Imperial Russia simply rotted away from the centre outward until its shell fell in. Figes: the Romanov regime fell under the weight of its own internal contradictions. It was not overthrown. Feb-Oct 1917 Taylor: PG simply carried on the old system Pipes: the soviets subverted the authority of the administration without assuming responsibility for the consequences Lenin

Pipes: April Theses was positively mad Service: A leader had returned to Petrograd who would give clarity to Bolshevik ideas and add resolve to Bolshevik practical campaigns

Russia Area of Study 1 Notes

Rabinowitch: Tailoring the Bolshevik programme so that it would reflect popular aspirations was one of Lenins most important contributions to the development of the revolution

October Revolution Smith: The workers had very concrete needs and expectations that the PG failed to meet Fitzpatrick: The Bolsheviks strength was that they were the only party uncompromised by association with the bourgeoisie and the Feb regime, and the party most firmly identified with the ideas of workers power and armed uprising