Mention any four factor responsible for the russian revolution of 1905.
Answers
The indirect causes of the 1905 Revolution laid in the social, political, agrarian, and industrial developments that marked the preceding century. Since the 1860s emancipated serfs had become “free” peasants, though they were still tied to the communal agricultural system called the Mir.[2] The Mir system was unjust and backward, causing the farmers great grief by requiring them to make installment payments to the government, in addition to the heavy taxes, for the land distributed to them. The double burden often resulted in ill feelings towards the government.
Tsar Nicholas and his government of nobles were aware of the backward state of the Russian economy, and so they pushed for modernization. This led to rapid industrialization, which created a new urban proletariat class and snatched peasants from behind the plow to work at high-tech industrial factories. The conditions at the Russia factories were unbearably miserable and the workers were often unhappy with their squalid work environment. Since many had come to the cities to work in these factories, they had become increasingly literate and aware of their plight. As a result, worker strikes and general discontent were commonplace. The workers, in a unitary effort, turned into a formidable force against both factory management and the government.[4] At times, the strikes were for political aims, and other times they were economic. Thus, the workers were following the traditions of the peasants, who throughout the Russian political landscape of the 1700s and 1800s often rebelled in violent ways.[5]
With both the urban industrial centers and the countryside embroiled in turmoil, Tsar Nicholas and his government looked to starting small wars in order to quell domestic discontent with the resultant patriotic fervor.[6] In 1904, Russia went to war with Japan over both countries’ imperialistic aims in Manchuria. The Russians believed that the Japanese were beneath them, socially and culturally, and thus the Russians would have an easy win. As the result of the weak leadership of Tsar Nicholas II, Russia lost the war and suffered humiliation. Russian people everywhere felt this devastating humiliation and loss of life.