This event helped spark future events, due to its savage and unnecessary nature. After hearing about the deaths, working class citizens, as well as the peasantry, were very angry.
Just after ‘bloody Sunday’, The Russian army was being defeated by the Japanese. In later January of 1905, Port Arthur, in Northern China, was surrendered to the Japanese. This was humiliating for the Tsar and his supporters, and provoked unhappy citizens of china to question the Tsar’s power and capability, leading to even more outbreaks. The actual defeat did not compel the Russians to protest, It just made them more determined in their protests, as they were now aware that the Tsar’s power was weaker than what they initially thought, and they might be successful.
These events were followed by various assassinations by the Social Revolutionaries – they assassinated the interior minister and the Tsars uncle. Another extreme group was the Social Democrats – later separated into the Bolsheviks (Involved in a later, successful revolution) and Mensheviks, who were wiling to use violence to achieve their aims. Other groups that were rebelling were the Liberals – compromising of educated professionals, campaigning for more power for the peasants. This was in hope that they would be the leader of a powerful peasant community, as they were aware that they made up to 80 percent of the Russian population. The primary cause for all this revolt was that these people wanted more power – Russia was the only European country without an elective government. The only thing close was the Zemsva, which was tightly controlled.
As mentioned above, bloody Sunday was a key event in promoting further pushes for revolution. Such one happened in the February of 1905. Around 400,000 workers went on strike, as a response to the events of Bloody Sunday. Unlike before, the workers set up Soviets- groups to organise and plan their strikes-, which made the strike even more successful. By demonstrating in industrial centres, like St. Petersburg and Moscow, they managed to cripple Russia. They were joined by the Railway workers in October. The government now considered this serious, for the railways were an integral part of Russia’s industry, and armed forces. By the end of 1905, over 2.7 million workers had been on strike. As well as this, the peasant community rose in revolt, particularly in the Kursk province. They were angry at the poor harvests, unfair land ownership, high taxes, and the constant struggle to produce enough food to survive.
While all these events were important in the outcome of the 1905 revolution – (bloody Sunday, the Japanese defeat, the industry worker strikes, and the peasant uprising (jacqueries) – the question being asked is how important was the Russo-Japanese war, in beginning the 1905 revolution. While it had some significance, in that it made Russia aware of the weakness of the Tsar, and helped weaken the Tsar’s iron grip on the country, the main problems so far, were the working/living conditions, lack of political power, and the effects of famine and high taxes on the peasants.
Throughout winter, strikes continued, ran by the Soviets, who organised food for the workers, and coordinated the whole events. The soviet had just over 400 members, representing all the factories. In early December, one strike in Moscow became very violent, and a thousand strikers had been killed by the armed forces. The revolutionary groups surrendered to the army, and the revolution of 1905 was over.
The armed forces were essential in the revolution, if there was to be any changes. After the battle of Tsushima, where Russia was finally defeated, the Tsar was humiliated.
Some soldiers did revolt, however. The most famous mutiny happened in June, when the crew of the Poetemkin, a battleship on the black sea fleet, killed their officers, took control of the ship, and sailed to Romania. They too, were sick of the way the Tsar ran Russia, and also angered by the decision to go to war. The Russian army was well known for being grossly under-equipped, and at a disadvantage. Despite the heavily-publicised mutinies, the vast majority of the army did not turn against the Tsar.
Concluding, no particular event sparked the revolution 0f 1905. While there were social, political, and economic causes, such as the peasants suffering famines, or the poor treatment given to the industrial workers in cities, the Russo-Japanese war was merely further encouragement for the strikers, a chance to take action now whilst the Tsar and the people in power were weak, and feeling humiliated. If the war was to happen on it’s own, without the rest of the contributing factors, no strikes would of taken place. The defeat in the war was not affecting the Russians directly enough, to begin the revolution of 1905.
In conclusion, I think the war had some relevance to the events of 1905, in encouraging the rebellion, but the failure of Russia at war was not significant enough to affect the outbreaks of the people in Russia. They were rebelling against poor living conditions, aswell as the social, political, and economic conditions. To sum up, I think the Russo-Japanese war was only responsible for the 1905 outbreak to a limited extent.
