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Crisis and Response CHAPTER 2 CRISIS AND RESPONSE (1904–1914) PAGES SAMPLE LAUREN PERFECT CHAPTER OVERVIEW 2 Social Unrest Conflict over 1 Russo-Japanese War Manchuria Worker and student demonstrations and Korea Terrorist attacks Assassination of Plehve Poor technology, transport, leadership Calls for democratic reform Loss of naval power, land army, territory 3 Bloody Sunday Treaty of Portsmouth 1905 – Russia’s expansion restricted Gapon presents workers’ petition Army fires on civilians Social Democratic Workers’ Party (SDs) Hundreds killed or injured Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs) Anger at Tsar Nicholas II Populists (Narodniks) PAGES 1904 to 1914 7 New Opposition Parties 4 1905 Revolution All Russian Union of Peasants Soldier and sailor mutinies Liberals: Octobrists and Kadets Peasants resist Pledges freedom land seizures Fundamental Laws reassert tsar’s authority of speech and SAMPLE assembly Industrial strikes Two radical parliaments formed – dismissed by tsar Hastens parliamentary Stolypin’s land seizures elections Local government Pledges paralysed 6 Insufficient Reform voting Tsar’s attempt to rights quell chaos Workers’ councils formed (soviets) Electoral laws changed to suit tsar 5 October Manifesto TIMELINE Stolypin appointed First Duma Bolshevik and Menshevik prime minister: dissolved by tsar. factions formed (Social Second National Zemstvo agrarian reform, Democratic Workers’ Party). Congress calls for political repression. Second Duma Constituent Assembly. opens. First Duma (parliament) Second Duma dissolved and October Manifesto opens. new electoral laws passed. issued by Nicholas II. Fundamental Laws Third Duma opens (Constitution) passed. (in session until 1912). POLITICAL POLITICAL Kadets (Constitutional Moscow Prime Minister Witte dismissed. Stolypin Democrats) formed. Soviet assassinated. formed. Fourth Duma opens (in session until Octobrists 1914). formed. 8 20 7 8 109 14 14 5 12 171418 21 6 8 4 23 27 8 20 3 7 1 4 15 21 JUL JUL OCT SEP SEP JAN FEB FEB FEB MAY APR APR APR DEC DEC JUN JUN JUN NOV NOV NOV AUG AUG 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1911 1912 1913 MAR MAR 1903 PAGES Japanese attack Treaty of on Port Arthur Portsmouth Striking workers (Manchuria) Moscow signed, ending uprising at Lena mine sparks Russo- Port Arthur Bloody Russo- suppressed massacred by MILITARY MILITARY Japanese War. surrenders Sunday Japanese War. by force. Imperial Army. to Japanese. petition Russian defeat at and Sailors mutiny Liaoyang (China). massacre on battleship Debate over Potemkin. Russification (cultural materialism and International assimilation) revived Russian defeat in atheism following Women’s Day SAMPLE in Finland. publication of prompts Battle of Tsushima. Laws passed to meetings and allow right to ‘Landmark’ essays Russian defeat demonstrations assembly and (Vekhi). at Mukden. throughout SOCIAL - CULTURAL SOCIAL association. Russia. Moscow’s population density and SOCIAL - CULTURAL SOCIAL death rate are around twice those Dismissal of four of western European cities. workers from Putilov Further industrial strikes. St Petersburg Soviet steel works sparks St Petersburg orders general strike Major strikes in industrial action. paralysed by strikes. (rejected). ECONOMIC St Petersburg. ECONOMIC 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1911 1912 1913 CHAPTER 2: CRISIS AND RESPONSE (1904–1914) violence,’2 was characterised by colonial expansionism and repression in several INTRODUCTION countries. It was in this context that revolutionary movements developed in Russia, arguably influencing the extreme nature of their methods. The new century brought with it new hopes in Russia. The tsarist government sought to expand its sphere of influence further east into Asia. Initially a plan for economic expansion, Russia’s penetration into the Far East was also a product of ‘the spirit of imperialism of the age,’1 sparking conflict with other ambitious Russo-Japanese War (1904–05) nations in the region. Japan, a rising power, resisted the eastern push, culminating in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05. Tsar Nicholas II: ‘The Japanese are infidels. The might of Holy Russia will crush them.’ The war was a disaster for Russia. The country was soundly defeated by Japan and news of the dismal and embarrassing failure further provoked tensions At the turn of the century Imperial Russia, like many European powers, sought to throughout Russia. The defeat reflected poorly on Tsar Nicholas II and his regime, RUSSIAN POSTCARDS expand its empire. Of particular interest was land to the east, especially China and OF WAR WITH JAPAN Prime Minister Pyotr sparking political unrest and economic crisis. This unrest was initially felt in the Stolypin. Korea. The Trans-Siberian railway was a direct move to expand towards this area, industrial centres of St Petersburg and Moscow, where a growing working class, laying the infrastructure to connect western and eastern Russia. which was suffering the effects of rapid modernisation, latched onto the calls for democratic reform. Japan, a rising Asian power, was also looking to expand its empire and had recently succeeded in its territorial war with China. At the end of the Sino-Japanese War Tensions boiled over in January 1905, when masses of peaceful protesters, led by (1894–95), the European powers – Russia, Germany and France – intervened in the Father Georgiy Gapon, marched to the Winter Palace to present their grievances peace negotiations, hoping to gain benefits for themselves. This ‘triple intervention,’ and proposals for reform to Nicholas II. The brutal reaction to this protest, as it became known, resulted in Russia convincing Japan to relinquish its hold in ‘Bloody Sunday,’ was to spark a chain of unprecedented events. Widespread Manchuria (north-east China) in return for payment. Russia and Japan had long discontent in the urban centres soon spread to the countryside, with a variety been engaged in disputes over this territory and tensions began to escalate in the of groups expressing dissatisfaction with the tsar. Sailors and returning soldiers region. Subsequently, Russia gained permission from China to build a railway from the Russo-Japanese War mutinied, much of the countryside was plunged across Manchuria. In 1898 Russia secured a twenty-five year lease on the Liaodong into disarray and industrial action in the major cities continued, culminating in a Peninsula and, with it, permission to extend the railway to Port Arthur. In 1903 general strike in Petrograd in October 1905. Russia annexed Manchuria. The region was now on the brink of war. At this time the soviets (workers’ councils) were beginning to exert considerable ‘RUSSIA IN PAGESIn an attempt to prevent conflict, Japan proposed the creation of well-defined CRISIS’ VIDEO power. The soviets were dominated by the Socialist Revolutionaries, the Social spheres of influence; it suggested that in return for recognition of the Russian Democratic Workers’ Party and other radical groups. The combined strength of presence in Manchuria, Russia should recognise Japan’s influence in Korea. Upon these groups forced the tsar to consider reform. Nicholas announced his ’October Russia’s rejection of the plan, Japan broke off diplomatic negotiations in February Manifesto’ in 1905, which led to the introduction of a duma (parliament) the 1904. Japan had recently signed the Anglo-Japanese alliance (1902) with Britain, following year; some reformist groups were reassurred by this while others The Baltic Fleet took which ensured the European superpower would not come to Russia’s aid in remained defiant. Such divisions between gradualist and radical elements reduced eight months to sail a conflict. Through rapid western modernisation initiated by Emperor Meiji around the world and the effectiveness of the anti-tsarist movement overall. (1852–1912), Japan had built a strong military and naval force. The country was join the conflict in When the Fundamental State Laws were passed in April 1906, these served well positioned for war. the Russo-Japanese War. The Fleet nearly to reassert the tsar as the supreme power. Nevertheless, elections were held On 8 February 1904, Japanese Admiral Togo sent a naval fleet to the Korean sparked a war with and, despite its restricted nature, a radical duma was formed, only to be swiftly harbour of Chemulpo (Inchon) to disperse Russian ships stationed there, England when it sank a dismissed by the tsar. This was to be repeated with the Second Duma and it was signalling the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War. A Japanese siege on Port group of fishing boats not until electoral laws were changed in 1907, to favour the more conservative off Scotland. They SAMPLE Arthur soon followed, as nine Japanese destroyers sank much of the Russian fleet parties, that tsar-approved dumas were able to serve their full five-year terms. mistook the fishing and forced the evacuation of the remainder of the Russian ships. Port Arthur boats for Japanese In 1906, Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin (1862–1911) introduced a series of eventually surrendered to the Japanese in January 1905 after months of seemingly torpedo boats! agrarian (agricultural) reforms. The measures were designed to give peasants futile fighting and a loss of approximately 31 000 Russian men. In a crushing blow smallholdings of land with which to make a living, and thus create a class of to the Russians, the tsar’s land army was defeated by the Japanese at the Battle profit-minded and conservative peasants. The reforms, however, failed to disperse of Mukden in February 1905. Approximately 90 000 men were lost.
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