Russian Revolution of 1905

The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a <a href="/facts/Revolution/PIkDlrC0">revolution</a> in the <a href="/facts/Russian_Empire/hg1g5SpV">Russian Empire</a> which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a <a href="/facts/Constitutional_monarchy/C0TtVRq8">constitutional monarchy</a> under the <a href="/facts/Russian_Constitution_of_1906/LyqRIwgg">Russian Constitution of 1906</a>, the country's first. The revolution was characterized by mass political and social unrest including worker <a href="/facts/Strike_action/aCsc26tR">strikes</a>, peasant revolts, and military <a href="/facts/Mutiny/kPQHGnT3">mutinies</a> directed against Tsar <a href="/facts/Nicholas_II/l4PRkopq">Nicholas II</a> and the <a href="/facts/Tsarist_autocracy/rER3zH6Q">autocracy</a>, who were forced to establish the <a href="/facts/State_Duma/vhYWnlqL">State Duma</a> legislative assembly and grant certain rights, though both were later undermined.
In the years leading up to the revolution, impoverished peasants had become increasingly angered by repression from their <a href="/facts/Landlord/o8nzhFsp">landlords</a> and the continuation of semi-feudal relations. Further discontent grew due to mounting Russian losses in the <a href="/facts/Russo-Japanese_War/YWIxIkE2">Russo-Japanese War</a>, poor conditions for workers, and urban unemployment. On 22 January [<a href="/facts/Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates/kb3020Wy">O.S.</a> 9 January] 1905, known as "<a href="/facts/Bloody_Sunday_(1905)/wcVmnGVI">Bloody Sunday</a>", a peaceful procession of workers was fired on by guards outside the tsar's <a href="/facts/Winter_Palace/HVu3tYLo">Winter Palace</a> in <a href="/facts/Saint_Petersburg/pNuCBxaM">Saint Petersburg</a>. Widespread demonstrations and strikes spread all over the empire and were brutally repressed by the tsar's troops. In June, sailors on the battleship <a href="/facts/Russian_battleship_Potemkin/JmxEYe2v">Potemkin</a> undertook a <a href="/facts/Mutiny/kPQHGnT3">mutiny</a>, and in October, a strike by railway workers turned into a <a href="/facts/General_strike/U6UMVfRv">general strike</a> in Saint Petersburg and Moscow. The striking urban workers established councils, including the inaugural <a href="/facts/Saint_Petersburg_Soviet/NdM3SmrS">St. Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies</a>, in order to debate their course of action. The influence of revolutionary parties, in particular the <a href="/facts/Socialist_Revolutionary_Party/KT7jH4sy">Socialist Revolutionary Party</a> and <a href="/facts/Russian_Social_Democratic_Labour_Party/2HGcdVRh">Russian Social Democratic Labor Party</a>, quickly escalated. Reactionary <a href="/facts/Black_Hundreds/o7gPLYow">Black Hundreds</a> began attacks on intellectuals, revolutionaries, and Jews.
In response, the tsar issued the "<a href="/facts/October_Manifesto/Npcs2Hx4">October Manifesto</a>", a pledge to create a legislative assembly, halt censorship and violations of freedom of association, and expand the right to vote. The constitution, drafted by <a href="/facts/Sergei_Witte/XyHmGUFX">Sergei Witte</a> and enacted on 6 May [<a href="/facts/Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates/kb3020Wy">O.S.</a> 23 April] 1906, did not bring an end to the turmoil, as revolutionaries continued to rally for a <a href="/facts/Constituent_assembly/mdg1enF9">constituent assembly</a>. The movement for reform fragmented into conservative <a href="/facts/Union_of_October_17/AWwvgFmS">Octobrist</a> and liberal <a href="/facts/Constitutional_Democratic_Party/Aeqd0SuX">Kadet</a> factions, and the left split into moderates content with the reforms and those who desired a full overthrow of the tsar. The revolution slowly fizzled out in the face of harsh repression as troops returned after the end of Russo-Japanese War in September 1905. Despite popular participation, the Duma was unable to issue laws of its own and often came into conflict with the tsar, who in July 1906 dissolved the first Duma and appointed as prime minister <a href="/facts/Pyotr_Stolypin/KERDFRMh">Pyotr Stolypin</a>, who set about restoring autocratic rule. In June 1907, the second Duma was dissolved and an electoral reform which favored the propertied classes <a href="/facts/Coup_of_June_1907/IYKsunbg">was decreed</a>.
Many historians contend that the Revolution of 1905 set the stage for the <a href="/facts/Russian_Revolution/kk1z6pnH">Russian Revolution of 1917</a>, which saw the monarchy abolished, the tsar executed, and a socialist state established. Calls for the peasantry and workers to take power by force were present in the 1905 revolution, but many of the revolutionaries who were in a potential position to lead were either in exile or in prison while it took place. <a href="/facts/Vladimir_Lenin/Mrwq2Xs4">Vladimir Lenin</a> later famously described the Revolution of 1905 as the "<a href="/facts/Dress_rehearsal/77wqnfgS">dress rehearsal</a>" without which the "victory of the <a href="/facts/October_Revolution/5q9GlMv9">October Revolution</a> in 1917 would have been impossible".

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Russian Revolution of 1905