Li Chun Ho (Alvin Li) History Revision: 1905 Revolution past papers questions.

June 2003 (a) What was Bloody Sunday?[5] Bloody Sunday was on the 22nd of January, 1905. It was the day in which around 200,000 Russian citizens, led by Father Gabon, headed to the Winter Palace at St. Petersbury, where the great Tsar Nicholas the Second lived. Due to the poor living conditions that they faced, the workers had carried a petition to be addressed to the Tsar, which asked for better working conditions, a higher pay, less working hours, and also to get trade unions. Workers in the factories often had extremely tight sleeping quarters, in which two men would share the same bed in different shifts of the day. However, they wanted to remain in good friendly relations with the Tsar, and not to cause aggression due to this. However, they were met by rows of soldiers outside of the Winter Palace and received massive rifle shots, and attacks from the Cossacks, with swords on horses. This had caused outrage as well as thousands injured and possibly hundreds killed. This was a turning point in 1905 because it highlighted the huge amount of trust lost by the Tsar. The Russian citizens then began their 1905 year of the revolution; therefore the Tsar was in a war with his own people. (b) Why did workingmen want to present a petition to the Tsar on 22 January 1905?[7] The workingmen wanted to present a petition to the Tsar because they had enough of what was going on to them. The workers in the factories had been working in extremely poor conditions, with little or no privacy at all. They were forced to work long hours with very little amount of wages. In addition, they were not allowed to hold strikes and to belong to one particular trade union. This had made them feel resentful towards the government, as they could not voice their anger towards the poor standards of living they were suffering from. In addition, there was the big Russian defeat in the Russo-Japan war. This was actually the Tsars idea, as he believed that having a victory over a small country would make people less angry at his government. However, this was proven to be a mistake as they have underestimated the power of the Japanese army, especially the navy. They both wanted some land in Manchuria. It took the Russian navy 6 months to travel around the world half-way to get to the war zone, but they were destroyed in less than one hour by the Japanese navy in May 1905. They fought in 1904, and Russia had to surrender in January 1905 in Port Arthur. This was proven to be an extremely big humiliation towards the Russians, and many citizens felt that they had lost their pride. This furthermore had fuelled the resentment and anger towards the Tsar. (c) The Tsar learned nothing and the people gained nothing from the 1905 revolution. Do you agree? Explain your answer.[8] To some extent we cannot agree that both sides learned and gained nothing from the revolution of 1905. Through Bloody Sunday, on January 22nd, 1905, the Tsar decided to disagree with his people and therefore learned of their huge resentment towards him. The Russians were practically having a war with their own Tsar. Tsar Nicholas the Second realised that it was a full scale revolt against him. By October 1905, all classes of the society had staged demonstrations and there was a general strike in Moscow and all of the other key cities. Because of this, the Tsar

Li Chun Ho (Alvin Li) History Revision: 1905 Revolution past papers questions. learned that he had to change the style of his government instead of having no elections, no trade unions, no freedom of speech, and to rule as an autocratic leader. On the other hand, the people did gain a substantial amount of results due to their 1905 year of the Revolution. Firstly, in 30th October 1905, the Tsar agreed to issue the October Manifesto. This was a document which stated that the people are allowed to elect a parliament, which was also known as the Duma. He promised to have civil rights, uncensored newspapers, freedom of political parties, speech and of the press to criticize the government. Therefore, the people did gain certain achievements through the revolution. The Russian citizens had organised themselves. By October 1905, they established the St Petersbury Soviet of workers Deputies. The representatives from the factories would meet to coordinate their strike actions and plans. Because of this, they were more united and furthermore posed a bigger threat to the Tsar and the government. However, we can also agree to some extent that the Russians did not gain too much through the 1905 revolution at all. For example, the Duma was proven to be useless, as it had nearly no power at all, it could not make important decisions, such as to pass laws. This was a disadvantage to the middle class, as their main aim was to have democracy, free speech, and to have private property. In addition, they did not felt they had gained too much because although they were promised freedom of speech and conscience, they were forced to carry internal passports, limiting their freedom. The peasants did not gain too much either. They wanted land and more freedom. They were allowed to buy strips of land and to own it themselves. They were also encouraged to go settle in new lands by the Trans-Siberian railway. However, this proved to be useless because the reforms had forced them to sell of their land in 1914 when Russia was in war. In addition, when around 4 million peasants rushed to the lands near the railway, they had already been taken by extremely rich Russians. This fuelled more resentment as they walked back home with nothing. The workers in town also did not gain too much from the revolution. They wanted better working conditions, more pay and less working hours. Although factories were made more efficient (only around 100 workers per factory), the wages still continued to be quite low. This was because the government invested huge amounts of tax money to industrial developments. This sparked protests and clashes. The Lena Goldfield massacre in the factory clashes resulted in 170 dead and 373 wounded. By far, most society of Russia did not gain too much from the 1905 revolution because the Tsar was selfish and felt resentful. After he got back all of his troops in December as they returned from the Japan war, he used these troops to violently put down the St. Petersbury Soviet and crushed the uprising as a form of revenge, including peasants who had rioted and workers who had led strikes, to bring them back under his control.

Li Chun Ho (Alvin Li) History Revision: 1905 Revolution past papers questions. June 2004 (a) Describe the main features of Tsarist rule over Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century.[5] During the twentieth century, Russia was ruled by Tsar Nicholas the Second, who had been in power in 1894. He ruled very autocratically; he had complete and absolute power over all of his subordinates in Russia and his citizens. He believed that he want chosen by God and had the divine right to rule Russia. He was assisted by the council of ministers, which ran the country. They had to report to the Tsar, who made all of the most important decisions. There was no elected parliament and the people could not oppose the government, or they would face consequences such as punishment by the Okhrama, the Russian-based secret police agency that supported the Tsar. Furthermore, the government censored all books and newspapers that criticized the Tsar and his government. No opposition was allowed; therefore Russia was ruled very autocratically indeed. (b) Explain why Nicholas the Second survived the 1905 revolution.[7] Tsar Nicholas the Second survived the 1905 revolution, in which his people went in a war against the government due to the Bloody Sunday on the 22nd of January 1905. Through a year of turmoil, mutiny of the navy, general strikes of nearly all classes of Russian society, and the formation of the St Petersbury Soviet of Workers deputies, the Tsar had successfully continued to stay in power despite all of this. He mainly survived the revolution because he issued the October Manifesto. This document stated that he promised to have an elected parliament, also known as the Duma. He promised to have free speeches and thoughts, freedom of the press, conscience and newspapers. This greatly assisted in stopping the revolution in October 1905, as all of the Russians believed they had achieved what they wanted to have. However, he did not aim to keep these promises, but only used them as a trap so his people would stop demonstrating and continuing a full scale revolt and protests against the government, as in December 1905, all of the troops came back from the defeated Russo-Japanese war, and therefore the Tsar used these troops to crush the uprising and get revenge from the peasants whom had protested and caused great amount of damage. They had previously signed a peace treaty with the Japanese in September which freed the soldiers to come back to Russia and stop the violence. In order to maintain loyalty to the Tsar, the government paid the soldiers all of their back pay back and ensured to have better conditions of service to them. Therefore the Tsar used false promises and the force of his troops to put down the unrest and to further regain his tough grip on power.