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The Occurrence of the 1905 Revolution and the Ineptitude of Tsar Nicholas II

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The Occurrence of the 1905 Revolution and the Ineptitude of Tsar Nicholas II

The 1905 Revolution in Russia occurred because of a variety of long and short term causes, which led to the Tsar to lose the support of his people. These causes comprised of the economic hardship in Russia, the refusal of the government to broaden their representation, the military failure, and the mishandling of the 1905 crisis, "Bloody Sunday." However, the underlying factor in all of these causes is the ineptitude of Tsar Nicholas II, as he held supreme autocratic power, and so would have been able to avoid revolution by permitting reforms. Therefore, although there were many other issues which provoked the idea of…show more content…
Village councils, Zemstvas, were set up, and these were very successful; they organized transport of food etc. The Zemstvas success offered a more attractive alternative to the government, which was previously unthought-of concept. The fact that people discovered an alternative to the Tsar's government demonstrates the ineptitude of Nicholas II as he allowed the situation to escalate with minimal interference, and his people gained power to help themselves out of poverty. The economic problems therefore led to the politicization of the Russian people.

However, after giving the Russian people the power to help themselves through the famine, the Tsar's government remained absolutely unwilling to compromise their position. The refusal of the government to broaden their representation increased criticism of the Tsar, which could have been avoided. The Zemstvas requested that they be consulted and allowed to express their views on matters, but Nicholas refused to comply. Instead he relied on a system of repression to quiet the newly politicized Russia. Protesters were harshly beaten by the police, and student protesters had their Universities closed and many were forced to spend time in the army. In a bid to divert the blame, the Tsar and his government attempted to encourage Russian people to blame the
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