Causes of the 1905 Revolution

The 1905 revolution in Russia began when armed forces set fire on a group of peaceful protestors outside the Tsar's Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. However there were many factors in the build-up to revolution in 1905. Prior to 1905, disturbances in Russia could have been seen as quite rare. Russia was though suffering from a long period of repression and unrest. From the implementation of tsarism in Russia, the regimes had slowly developed into more of an autocratic establishment which implemented it's will onto the people with lesser regard for human life and liberty. Since the 1860's there had been gradual changes in governmental, legal, social and economic policy implemented, however the political system was left unchanged. Attempted reform in this area was strongly opposed by the monarchy and bureaucracy. It slowly became the sentiment among the common people who were mostly under constant deprival that revolution was the only means to achieving change.

The peasants in Russia at the turn of the century were in a terrible position. Bad harvests in 1900 and 1902 had left many in starvation, caused widespread disease and most of all, more civil unrest. Workers in Russia were getting tired of their poor conditions and wages. Together the peasants made up 95% of the Russian population, and were certain to join a revolution against a much hated regime which they saw to do anything to improve their situation. Under the economic plans set out by Sergei Witte who came into the position of Russia's Finance Minister in 1892, Russia would put all resources into industry to create a "spiral of industrial growth". The main method of paying for the industrialization was to take as much resources as possible away from the peasants and workers in terms of wages and high taxes. However, in 1902 due to an international decline in trade Russia could not sell it's resources and due to the stretching of the majority of Russia's population the home market was not strong. As a result thousands lost jobs and it cause mayhem with strikes and riots in many cities. In the following years up to 1905 there were many peasant uprisings and the only response the government gave was to shut them down with force; a method which did not do much to help the situation. At the same time Russia was going to war with Japan as a result of rival imperialist ambitions in the area.

Russia went into the war with Japan believing itself to have the upper hand, and initially domestic sentiment in Russia improved. However it soon became clear to the people that the war in Japan was not going as planned. The major defeats on land and at sea shocked the Russian public and furthered their belief