Bloody Sunday wouldn’t have happened if there weren’t any problems with the workers. Russia was an 18th century country living in a 20th century world insinuating that they were behind in technology and people’s rights. There were a lot of problems in Russia, for example, the population of Russia was rapidly increasing, therefore food supply was running short. 80% of the population of Russia were peasants who suffered dreadful living conditions. In addition, there weren’t any heated factories, so in the winter it became unbearably cold. Several families lived in one cramped dormitory sectioned off with sheets, which meant that no one had any privacy. Also no proper sanitation. No trade unions meant that no one could have their say and the workers were taken advantage of.
Most of the workers problems wouldn’t have happened if there wasn’t a war. Most of the money that the country had was put towards the war and not to its people. Also for munitions the workers hours increased more than they already had. Russia was at war with Japan which we know as, ‘The Russo-Japanese War’. Russia, thinking that they were the greatest militarized country in the world, led them to believe that Japan would be an easy target. However, they underestimated the power of the Japanese and as a result they suffered many humiliating defeats at sea and on land. The Japanese sunk the whole of the Russian Navy. This made the Russian people angry, so the opposition against Nicholas grew. This attempt of victory was to gain land and to help the Tsar’s reputation, but things didn’t go as planned.
Finally, the war wouldn’t have happened if the Tsar wasn’t an autocrat. Being an autocrat meant that he had total power over Russia, and as Nicholas was so stubborn and ignorant he wasn’t prepared to share it. From the early stages of his life, Nicholas’s father had a great influence over his personality. One of the main reasons that contributed to him becoming an autocrat was when he witnessed the horrific death of his grandfather. He was killed in an explosion caused by a bomb thrown by an assassin. On the day his grandfather died, his father claimed that if you give people what they want this is how they repay you. This statement was to have a significant effect on how Nicholas was to view future situations and on the decisions he was to make. So he had it stuck in his head not to share his power.
Nicholas was a family man and took special care of them, especially for his son Alexei, because he had Haemophilia. This was a condition that he was born with and it meant that he had all day care and treatment, because if he cut or bruised himself he would not stop bleeding. The Tsar had a German wife called Alexandra. She was very unpopular and many believed she was a German spy. He also had four daughters. Nicholas was very religious and believed that God had sent him to rule Russia. This increased his determination to rule with an iron fist and led him to become extremely self righteous. He believed that he would be successful in everything he did. He understood that it was “God’s Will” that he was to rule Russia, so he thought that he was unbeatable. However, this was not the case as was shown in the war against Japan when the attack failed tragically for the Russians.
Although I can see that there were many links/steps that led up to the 1905 revolution, Bloody Sunday was the main spark. Evidence shows that the Tsar’s personality also had a great impact. If he was not so stubborn and didn’t go to war with Japan and listened to the workers who were complaining, they would have never protested with father Gapon and wouldn’t have resulted with bloody Sunday. Therefore the revolution may have been avoided.
