Following this most important point is the second most important factor of the 1905 Revolution which is the depression between 1899 and1903.
The depression damaged Russia’s economy quite badly. This was because it originated in Europe and at this time Witte, who believed in foreign investment had Russia receiving lots of money from abroad. When the other countries entered this depression they could afford less money leaving their countries so Russia’s income seriously decreased. This added to the population of Russia’s low living standards and so increased the need for a revolution.
The next important point to follow this and the final long term factor is the state of Russia around and leading up to this time.
In Russia the peasants had a very low standard of living. They worked long days for little pay and the money that they did receive was heavily taxed. They had no right to join a trade union and also at the time there was not universal suffrage. The land was also quite scarce amongst the peasants and was unfairly distributed. They also had little amount of freedoms including no freedom of speech, person, religion, assembly and organisation. These factors all added to the tensions domestically within Russia.
These long term factors were all significant in causing the 1905 Revolution. Although there were also medium term factors which triggered off the revolution. These were all very important and got the ball rolling for the revolution.
The most crucial medium term factor is the assassinations of political figures by the socialist revolutionaries.
The roots of the SR’s (Socialist Revolutionaries) go back to the defeated populist movement of the 1870’s; local populist groups began to reappear by the mid 1890’s, and these were consolidated into the SR in 1901-1902. Their main cause was to redistribute the land amongst the peasants where it was needed. The methods of this cause included assassinations of key political figures in Russia they included: the Interior Ministers von Plehve and Dmitry Sipyagin; the German embassador to Russia, Count Wilhelm Mirbach and Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich along with many other political leaders. This lead to further instability in Russia and increased the needs for a Reform.
The next most significant medium term factor for the Russian Revolution was government incompetence in handling the armed forces and a series of humiliating defeats in the Russo-Japan war.
At the start of the Russo-Japanese war Russia expected a quick and easy victory over Japan. This was due to Russia’s population being three times that of Japan and their territory also far greater. Although the Russian army had some very vital flaws which included their transport to the war, the single tracked Siberian Railway limiting troop transportation. Also the Russian command structure was crippled by the fierce rivalries between the top commanders of the war. During the war there was humiliating defeats including at Port Arthur where Russia was forced to surrender after 17,200 casualties although the commander who called the surrender faced treason charges due to the fair supply of ammunition and stores. Also in the war even though they were far superior on numbers Russia was far inferior to Japan on the Navy stakes. In May 1905 a Baltic fleet voyaged to the Straits of Tsushima where it encountered a Japanese fleet and lost 25 of their 35 ships in battle. Therefore the government’s incompetence to command their army to defeat what looked, on paper, a worse Japanese army led to further internal troubles in Russia.
After these long term factors and medium term there were also short term or ‘trigger’ factors which was a catalyst for the Revolution.
The first of these major events was bloody Sunday in which a petition was brought to the Tsar’s winter palace carried by innocent and unarmed peasants who were gunned down by the imperial guard. This led to a general strike across the country as a response to this occurrence. Next was the assassination of the Governor of Moscow, Grand Duke Sergei, the Tsar’s uncle. These events seemed to be the final straw in the country and it was obvious that a revolution was badly needed.
Overall, after balancing the factors, it seems that it was mainly the long term causes which led to the Russian Revolution in 1905 as the Tsarist Russia was no longer able to exist and unstable and volatile. Whilst the medium term factors added to this it would appear that the Russo-Japan war revealed the weaknesses of the control of the army. These factors built up the tensions throughout time and the ‘trigger factors’ mainly bloody Sunday started the ball rolling for a revolution in Russia although the overwhelming lo0ng and medium term factors meant that if this event had not taken place then another was likely to come and play the trigger role.
