The Tsar was scathed by this event, as he never regained the loyalty lost in Bloody Sunday. Nicolas II was forced to make concessions. He would never fully recover from this event as Revolutionaries saw this as an example where violence achieved aims. On 3rd March1905, the Tsar offered a consultative assembly to try and bring an end to the violence.
The rest of 1905 continued in a similar way. Defeats in Japan caused further outrage in Russia, which caused the Tsar to make further concessions. For example; the Battle of Tsushima on the 27th May, (where the Russian Baltic fleet were destroyed), lead to a disorder of widespread strikes in June and August, which lead to the Tsar promising an Imperial Duma on the 19th August.
The formation of the Union of Unions on the 8th March was significant, as the middle classes and peasants formed new opposition to the Tsar. This affected the Tsar long-term as never before had these groups opposed him. Nicholas II was forced to introduce new measures to regain the support of these people.
Further defeats at Mukden and Tsushima meant that the Tsar was in danger of loosing more support. His repeated pledges of March were ridiculed as no plans were put into action and further protests continued.
During the summer, the Tsar’s position worsened as his own troops turned against him. Several ships went on strike due to poor conditions and in June, battleship; Potemkin refused to carry out orders.
Throughout 1905 there was increased terrorism and strikes were commonplace. There were strikes in February, March, April, increasing in May and June-August. The strikes continued in the autumn after the Treaty of Portsmouth. The Printers strike in St.Petersburg was followed by a general strike from the 20th-30th October. The Railway workers also went on strike, which brought the whole country to a virtual standstill. Communications were impossible and so a full-scale revolution could not be organized. Peasants revolted and in Odessa and Kharkov they were out of control. The peasants burned crops and sacked Landlords homes.
In October, the Tsar issued a manifesto promising a wider franchise and legislative powers for the Duma. This satisfied the Liberals and divided them from the workers in the Soviet.
The government was then able to suppress the revolution. The leaders of the Soviet were arrested and a rising in Moscow was brutally suppressed. By April 1906 the Tsarist government was back in control and some 15,000 people had been killed.
Even though the Tsar managed to remain on the throne, he never fully recovered from the events of 1905. He had lost a lot of support in this and the proceeding years of 1905, which he would never regain. Nicolas II managed in wooing back some of his lost support with new promises and legislations. This simply showed the Revolutionaries that violence has achievements, leaving way for more violence in the future.
The fact that Nicolas II managed to keep his throne was remarkable. However, the only reasons he was not overthrown were that; the Revolutionaries were not united, so eventually the Tsar was able to split the liberals from the socialists, there was no central leadership, the strikes and peasant uprisings were spontaneous and not organized, Lenin and other revolutionary leaders were in exile abroad and arrived too late to influence events, at the critical moment the Tsar made concessions in the October manifesto and for most part, the army and navy remained loyal. This allowed the Tsar to revert to repression once he had regained the upper hand.
The answer to the question; “Explain how the autocracy (Tsar) managed to emerge from the events of 1905 unscathed”, appears to be that he didn’t emerge from 1905 unscathed. The Tsar lost a lot of support, much of which he would never regain. The key factor in which the Tsar managed to keep his throne was that he had the support of the army when they returned from the Far East. On the other hand, the Tsar did not have the full support of the army and Navy. This was shown by mutinies such as Potemkin. The battleship Potemkin showed that they had the power to revolt if they wished. The main reason that the Tsar was overthrown in 1917 was because the armies were on the side of the opposition. Without the army, the Tsar would have no control over his people.
The Tsar was also scathed after 1905, as there was always a constant threat that his people could revolt again. The 1905 revolution could act as a ‘practice run’ for revolutionaries as they could learn from their mistakes on tactics, timing and organization.
This revolution showed the Tsar the need for action in the countryside, as the peasants were usually loyal. However, in the following years the Tsar did very little to improve the countryside after the initial legislations of 1905 (of stopping redemption payments). The peasants also realized their own strength to revolt after 1905 and so were a constant threat to the Tsar.
The revolutionaries made mistakes in 1905, of which they learned in 1917. Moreover, the Tsar made mistakes in 1905, such as; passing legislations in favor of revolutionaries, failing to maintain support from groups that he relied on (e.g. Peasants and Middle classes), furthermore, he didn’t listen to the needs of his people before 1905. There were many strikes and terrorism before Bloody Sunday, if the Tsar had introduced small measures of reform, a revolution may have been avoided. Moreover, the revolutionaries learned from their mistakes, but the Tsar did not. The mistakes that the Tsar made in 1905, made the October Revolution of 1917 inevitable.
The Tsar managed to remain on the throne as at the end of 1905, he had regained the support of the moderates. He regained power and strength after starting the process of setting up the Duma, he also managed to control its powers to maintain his reign as an autocrat.
His promise of political reform in the October Manifesto saved the Tsar and was the main reason he remained unscathed on the throne. He had reestablished support from the middle classes and with improved conditions and back pay ensured the loyalty of the soldiers.
The Russo-Japanese war was a diversion of attention from the economic depression at home, but the rising prices and shortages of goods made anger towards this war expand. The Tsar was damaged by the Russo-Japanese war, as much support was lost after the terrible defeats. The St.Petersburg Soviet was powerful and influential and was a great threat to the Tsar and the autocracy.
Some historians may argue that the 1905 revolution had no effect on the Tsar as he remained in power until 1917, and he abdicated because of several reasons, many which were not connected to 1905 at all. However, I believe that the 1905 revolution had few short-term effects, but was damaging to the Tsar in the long-term.
The main reasons that the autocracy managed to emerge from the events of 1905 unscathed are that the Tsar had very good ministers such as Witte, which would help the Tsar to pass legislation, which would regain control. Moreover, the revolutionaries were not channeled and they were unorganized. However this revolution was an indication of the power of the people and it can be said that it was a dress rehearsal for the February and October Revolutions of 1917.
