Why did the Tsar Abdicate after the 1917 Revolution but not after the 1905 Revolution
Why did the Tsar Abdicate after the 1917 Revolution but not after the 1905 Revolution?
Introduction:
Before the 20th century Russia was still very much living in the medieval age with a Medieval standard of living. Before the mid 19th century, Russia's peasants were subjects to a form of slavery and were known as "Serfs". This from of slavery was abolished in 1861and peasants were aloud land for themselves - but at a price. The peasants did not receive enough land to make a living and were given land in strips, making it difficult to improve on the current inefficient harvesting methods. Bad harvests often brought famine and the Russian population wanted a more modern Russia. As Russia moved into the 20th century a very high percentage of the Russian population were peasants who wanted a change from the agricultural ways - into a new industrialised nation. This was because the current system was too harsh on the peasants who were not getting enough food or money to support their families or themselves, with all the money going to upper class landowners. Another rising problem was the steadily increasing population, which meant less land for peasant families to grow food. Because of this Russia had had a spurt of industrial growth and factories were popping up in all major towns and cities. Many young men from the peasant villages went off to the cities looking to work at the new factories; expecting better pay and good working conditions. However that was not the case as all it did for the workers was give them equally bad money and a higher risk of getting injured while working unprotected with dangerous machinery. This was the start of peasant uprisings and Revolution with new political parties forming against Tsarism.
Themes:
The two wars are an important part for the causes of revolution, The Russo-Japanese war (1904-5) and World War I (1914-17). They both show Russia not living up to its expectations of a powerful giant that could crush any opponent. The Tsar had a huge powerful army throughout his reign and knowing his strength in numbers, he became overconfident. The Russo-Jap war started because Russia wanted possession of Port-Arthur due to its ice free conditions and seized it by building the Trans-Siberian railway into the port. The Japanese felt humiliated and easily crushed the Russian Navy at the port who were totally unprepared for an attack from what they thought was a second-class power. The Russians then sent their Baltic Fleet to crush the Japanese but were defeated easily. This was a massive humiliation for the Navy and for the Tsar. Word of this humiliation spread and this convinced the Russian people they needed change. After the loss against Japan he was shaken up so he relaxed control of the country. This allowed various working groups to join together in protest which later became known as Bloody Sunday. (More on Bld.Sun. later)
WWI was a whole different matter in terms of its involvement with the population. Russia still thought it was going to crush (or steamroller) Germany but this time Russia's most powerful asset, it's army, was the thing that suffered most. The soldiers had to share rifles because they were so poorly equipped and pick up weapons or ammo from their dead comrades. So many men were dying in the thousands that people had to be conscripted (Around 15 million men were conscripted). Many did not want to go to war and there were lots of deserters. Loss of ...
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WWI was a whole different matter in terms of its involvement with the population. Russia still thought it was going to crush (or steamroller) Germany but this time Russia's most powerful asset, it's army, was the thing that suffered most. The soldiers had to share rifles because they were so poorly equipped and pick up weapons or ammo from their dead comrades. So many men were dying in the thousands that people had to be conscripted (Around 15 million men were conscripted). Many did not want to go to war and there were lots of deserters. Loss of life was not the only problem. The Tsar go so hooked into the war that all the resources Russia had were put into producing weapons and supplies for the army's on the Eastern front. Workers were being made to work longer hours and there was so little food to go round that many people were starving. Peasants began growing food for themselves instead of selling it and in 1917 only 700 wagons of grain reached Moscow compared to the 22,000 wagons in 1913. The Tsar went to take personal command of his army in 1915 but this was a bad mistake because everybody blamed the Tsar for the army's failure.
Unlike the Russo-Japanese war, WWI affected nearly everybody in Russia rather than just an embarrassing loss for the military.
In 1905 Russia was still very much behind in its technology and although it had started to industrialise a very high percentage of the population were still using agriculture to make money. Around 80% of the population were peasants and agricultural methods were the only real way to make money unless you could make it to a city for industrial work. The biggest rising problem was the rate the population was growing. This huge spurt of growth in the population meant peasants were receiving less land to grow food and homes were becoming crowded with whole families being crammed into one room. Many young men fled, or were forced from their villages to go and work in the cities. There were so many workers in the factories, the factory owners who were earning lots of money built dormitories for the workers and crammed as many beds as possible into a small space. Although this seems bad for the workers, merchants and factory owners were making lots of money and were living like nobles and supported the Tsars policy. In January 1905 workers, lead by Father Gapon, marched on Winter Palace in protest on which is known as Bloody Sunday where troops fired on unarmed protesters and around 200 people (including women and children) were killed.
Before1917 Russia's economy was steadily collapsing due to the war. A number of decisions that the Tsar made were bad for the peasants and workers because he was focusing most of the countries resources on the army who were fighting on the Eastern Front. The Tsar drafted around 15 million men into the army, this meant less food was able to be produces. It was transporting to the food to the cities that became the biggest problem. The poor Russian railway system could not supply the army and the towns and cities. As the army was often the Tsars priority most of the food went to the frontline and the railways were being used for military transport, so a lot of food rotted on railway sidings where it should have been sent to the cities. The little food that managed to reach the cities was being sold for way over the normal price.
A message from Rodzianko to the Tsar, 1917 - "The transport system has broken down: the supply systems for fuel and food are completely disorganised"
The arrogant Tsar ignored this message and didn't even bother to reply.
From the start of the war there was food shortages and the further into the war Russia went, the worse things became for all the workers. Peasants began to grow food for them selves instead of selling it on. Russian industries such as weapon production and the iron and steel industry had a higher output than before the war due to help from Government contracts. But many other industries suffered badly and consumers could not afford to buy their goods, so factories closed down and there were many job losses - this leading to even more starving people unable to buy the overly priced food. Inflation in Russia form 1914-17 was nearly 400%. Russia's urban population lost support for the war and strikes and protests started to happen. The Tsar was losing most of his support from the Russian population and he too, wanted an end to the War.
In 1905 the only way that you could challenge the Tsar or make a request to him was to use the power of the people in the form of a protest or strike. The Tsar had control of the laws and the way the country was run and anything that people wanted to change had to be confirmed by him before the change was carried out. Any other people of authority were often nobles from rich families who had bought their friendship with the Tsar. There were many reasons why there was not much change from this form of rule. The peasants, who were the highest percentage of the population, were very religious and the Russian Orthodox Church preached absolute loyalty to the Tsar and his ways. It was also hard for any small political groups to gain enough power or supporters to rise up against the Tsar because his "Okhrana" (Russian secret police) had spies all over the country and they put down and revolts or up rises with help from the huge Russian army, which at that time were very loyal to the tsar. The army was the Tsars main weapon to tackle any threat to his authority.
After the war with Japan, the Russian army had been away which allowed limited freedom of speech among the worker community and in St Petersburg an organisation made up of factory worker representatives was formed to coordinate the strikes against the Tsar. This was known as the St Petersburg Soviet and political parties such as the Mensheviks, Bolsheviks and Social Revolutionaries realised the power of the soviet and had there own members elected as executives in the Soviet committee. The Tsars advisers believed the Soviets had a lot of power and the only way to win was to give in to the Soviet demands. The Tsar issued the October Manifesto that allowed freedom of speech and a parliament (known as Duma). From this, the Tsar gained support from the middle classes who wanted a say in running there country and in November, the Tsar cancelled Redemption Payments for the peasants, thus gaining support from the peasants as well. Now most people had been satisfied apart from the workers.
In the period from 1906 up to the start of the war, what was supposed to be a government was actually not allowed to make any serious decisions or change laws without the Tsars consent. The law was "The Tsar posses the initiative in all legislative matters. No law can come to force without his approval."
The Tsar ended the Dumas of 1906+7 but he needed a Duma to keep allies with Britain and France, who wanted Russia to have an elected parliament. The third Duma was formed mainly from the Tsars supporters, which is why it lasted for 5 years (1907-12).
.In 1915 a "Progressive Bloc" was formed to tell the Tsar that a government was needed to make the war better for Russia but the Tsar just turned the idea down and got rid of the Duma. Also in 1915 the Tsar went off to the Eastern Front during the war to rally his troops and left the government in the hands of the Tsarina, which was another big mistake. She was not good at making decisions and she relied on the unpopular Rasputin to help her make decisions. The Tsarina wanted to make peace with the Germans, and because the Tsarina was also German many thought of her as a German spy or traitor.
The Russian military before the 1905 revolution was the countries biggest strength and the Tsars own fighting force. The army was very loyal to the Tsar and it was what he used to crush any opposition. He used his incredibly loyal army to crush any revolts around Russia and they would put down any political up rises after the Tsars secret police, the Okhrana, found out what was going on. After the war with Japan the Russian Navy had been humiliated but the army still remained very loyal, as it wasn't very involved in the conflict. The Tsars army stayed loyal because it was the one of easiest ways to live compared to the life of a peasant or factory worker and the Tsar put around 45% of Russia's resources into the military compared to only 4% into education. The Tsar thought his army was undefeatable because of his countless number of men but World War I proved otherwise.
Leading up to the war the army was still loyal to the tsar and when he promised an easy victory for Russia after "steamrolling" the Germans they were very enthusiastic about going to war. But this was not the case. The Russians went into the war unprepared without the latest technology. There were so many men (The Tsar drafted 15 million men)that they had to share rifles between then and the soldiers were expected to take the weapons from there dead comrades. The Tsars generals had no military experience and were just nobles and friends of the Tsar so Russia started to lose badly. In 1915 the Tsar went to rally his troops on the Eastern front but after more losses he was being blamed for Russia's mistakes. During the end of the war many soldiers were surrendering to the Germans or deserting the army and moving back home to their families where they heard of other Political groups such as the Bolsheviks, led by Trotsky and Lenin who wanted to end the violence. This scheme became very popular among the soldiers and many started to join the Bolsheviks and go against the Tsars regime. This meant the Tsars army, who he had been using to put down revolts and up rises were joining the protesters.
Conclusion:
Overall the tsar did not resign after the 1905 revolution because he believed her still had grip on the situation, and that he could still control the masses even after the small revolution. To certain extent he did still control Russia leading up to the war and gained support by the middle class and peasants after he scrapped redemption payments. The 1905 revolution was also not planned so it would not have had as greater impact as in 1917. The army's loyalty also played a big part because it was what the Tsar needed for security. In 1917 this was the end of the Tsar, because his main defence the army, started to join the workers who had risen up into an organised Soviet that could take him on. He simply had no support from anybody apart from a few nobles and peasant landowners. It was the end for Tsarism and the determined leadership of people such as Lenin and Trotsky, who knew what was best for the people, and knew how to gain their support (with slogans such as "Peace, bread and land) prevailed.
Word count: 2412
Bibliography:
Tim Hall Mr Lehec 10wt
