The significance of the events of 1905 in Russia

The Events which took place during 1905 showed clearly the inability of the tsar to react to all the different forms of protest against the government and the existing political system in the appropriate way, maybe even more important, soon enough. It became clear, that the old, traditional connections between the tsar and his (former) supporters, the peasants, which was characteristic for the rule of the tsar as caring father of all Russians, where totally destroyed. In 1905 the absolute monarchy was forced to make mayor political concessions to restore the peace in the country, because for the first time the masses supported the revolution where as before the demand for a political change always came from the elite of the country, e. g. the students and the intelligentsia. Everything that happened during 1905 can be brought back to one first escalation, to the Bloody Sunday at the 9. th of January 1905. It would be wrong to say that the Bloody - Sunday developed not within a general atmosphere of disturbances that started around 1903 and went on till 1907. The furious beginning of the Year spread the ideas of revolution all over the country, as a reaction to the shooting of many demonstrates (numbers vary from 200 - 5000) at a peaceful March organised by the leader of police sponsored trade unions, Father Gapon Unions to present some petitions to the tsar. One interesting fact on these Unions is, that they where originally designed by Sergei Zubatov with the support of the government, in order to keep the workers away from more radical organisations. (In 1905 it wasn t exactly to say whether Father Gapon was used by the police, or if Father Gapon used the police support to achieve his goals, especially as he was the most know leader of the opposition to the masses). This Bloody Sunday created a wave of strikes and Demonstrations over the country, during these the Strike Movement turned into a more radical revolutionary movement. At this point the unorganised demonstrations became organised, as the parties who wanted a political change had to catch up with the uprisings to set themselves ahead the movement. It was the first time that revolutionary pressure on the government came from the masses; over 400 000 workers went on strike in January; but one of the most cruel reactions toward the demonstrators happened during June 1905 in Odessa, where over 2000 People where killed who had joined the mutinous crew of the battleship Potemkin. There was no way for the government to prevent political concessions, but the Documents that where signed by Nicholas II. on the 18th of February couldn t calm down the masses, simply because the offered concessions weren t acceptable; it was surly not enough to offer a powerless Duma, elected only by few people, while the Opposition wanted a real parliament. At the 2nd. congress of the Zemsty in Moscow (April 1905) the majority of the delegates demanded a Constitution ...