The 1905 Russian Revolution What Caused the Russian Revolution?
The russian revolution pt 1
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Transcript of The russian revolution pt 1
The Russian Revolutions
Background to Revolution &
Competing Ideologies,
1895-1917
Generalizations about Tsarist Rule
• Autocratic• Repress lower classes
and minorities• Sporadic attempts to
modernize• Change only with
backs to the wall
Road to Revolution: 1890-1905• Russia was going through a period
of rapid change at the turn of the century—industrialization
• Industrialization = low wages/ dangerous/ overcrowded cities
• Growth of political activism—workers & peasants press for rights– Illegal political parties—
Liberals, Social Revolutionaries,
& Social Democratic Party
Revolution of 1905 Military defeats in Russo-Japanese War & worker/peasant unrest• Bloody Sunday (9 Jan 1905)
•Tsar passes October Manifesto->Duma + placates middle class unrest
Peace and Quiet 1906
Ilya Repin – Demonstration on 17 October 1905
Battleship Potemkin Mutiny (June 1905)
•Sailors mutiny from their oppressive officers
Quote about Tsar Nicholas from historian Graham Darby,
“Historians seeking to say something nice about him usually point out that he was devoutly religious, a family man, and reasonable at organizing picnics.”
Reforms and War: 1906-1917• 4 Dumas between 1906-1917
– limited powers– Tsar could rule by decree when
not in session– People were disappointed
• Stolypin’s reforms– PM from 1906-1911– Tried to placate peasants
w/land reforms—mirs and kulaks
• Start of WWI—economy collapses
Competing Ideologies in Russian Revolution• Kadets—Conservatives and some
liberals from nobility, civil service, land owners, military, & professionals
• Social Revolutionaries—Largest revolutionary grouping, made up of soldiers and peasants
• Mensheviks—Largest of the Social Democratic factions, made up of industrial workers
• Bolsheviks—Smallest of the Social Democratic factions, made up of workers
Lenin’s Background• Born V. I. Ulyanov—1870 • Middle class family• Dad minor noble & school
inspector• Brother executed in 1887• Lawyer—part time• Revolutionary—full-time • Exile in Siberia 1895-1900,
then to Switzerland• Returned to Russia in April
1917—German help• Marxist and Bolshevik
Ideological Debate• Debate was over what kind of
revolution should take place, who should rule, and how to rule
• SRs and Mensheviks felt Russia needed a liberal gov’t to modernize Russia then the socialist society could be created—Marx
• Lenin and the Bolsheviks felt that there needed to be a ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’
• Kadets were diverse in their views —most wanted to keep Tsar