An Attempted Revolution in Russia in 1905

710 Words2 Pages

An Attempted Revolution in Russia in 1905

There were lots of reasons why there was an attempted revolution in

Russia in 1905. There were long-term causes, short-term causes and

immediate causes.

One of the long-term causes was that the peasants were very

dissatisfied with their living conditions and how the land in the

countryside was divided up. When the serfs (labourers who could not

leave their land on which he or she worked on) were freed in the

previous century by Alexander II, he did not provide any land for

them. They had to buy the land. They had little rights and

industrialisation in Russia was not very great. The previous serfs now

had to buy the land they had been working on. They did not have enough

money to pay taxes and still make a living. The peasants blamed the

Tsar for not speaking for his people as the peasants felt that he was

not doing anything for them

Another long-term cause for the attempted revolution was that the

government's polices to develop industry, led by Sergi Witte, had

disastrous effects on the Russian people. This circumstance was made

worse by poor harvests and an industrial slump. The workers and

peasants felt that the Tsar was not giving them enough support.

At that time, everybody thought that the Tsar was an ineffective ruler

and incapable of making important decisions. This is because the Tsar

used to personally reply the letters that were sent to him, about

complaints, from the Russian people. People felt he should be doing

better things like solving problems and managing his Council of

Ministers rather than writing letters to people, acknowledging they

points of concern. This is another long-term cause.

The middle class was outraged because the Tsar would not share some of

his power with his people. The middle class felt that the Tsar wanted

to keep all his power for himself. This was a major long-term cause on

their part of the revolution

One other long-term cause of the revolution was the food shortages

Open Document