How significant was the 1905 Revolution for
Russia?
The 1905 revolution was very significant for Russia’s political, military and
above all its economic and social conditions that affected Russia both in the
short and long term. It was significant as it affected the whole of Russia and
even caused life-changing reforms that affected millions. The most important
aspect of the 1905 revolution significance for Russia was the socio-economic
impact it had altogether on Russia because the strikes caused Russia’s
economy to crash resulting in majority of the population being deeply
affected due to the rise in prices and not salaries and working conditions.
The fact that this was the most significant way that in which the 1905
revolution was significant for Russia can be seen as the cities which were
impacted the most (Moscow and St Petersburg) had knock-on effects in other
areas too.
The Russian revolution was particularly significant for Russia due to the
socio-economic impacts it had on the country and all its people. Russia
experienced great economic recessions during the revolution, due to the
innumerable number of protests and worker strikes, over 2.5 million working
days were lost resulting in an estimated cost for employers of 127 million
Rubles due to labor unrests and another 17.5 million rubles for the workers 1.
A good example of this is the Polilov plant (a railway and artillery factory)
strikes which involved 13,000 workers and disrupted the transportation of
goods and the production of trains which were vital for the industrial
development of Russia so they could transport items to major cities2. These
losses crippled the Russian economy as the strikes result in a lack of
production, transport and farming of goods. This then leads to shortages all
over Russia as they couldn't keep up with the demand resulting in prices
soaring and becoming regularly affordable to only the middle class, nobles
and military who made up 12% of the population. The other 88% were
mainly workers and peasants3 who the shortages hit the hardest, resulting in
their standard of living rapidly decreasing along with their confidence in the
government as their inability to resolve issues was magnified. It would be fair
to conclude that these strikes affected everyone and was significant as it
1
Abraham Ascher, The revolution of 1905 (Stanford, CA, 2004), pg41-43
2
Class divisions in Russia - Imperial Russia - Government and people - National 5 History
Revision - BBC Bitesize
3
1905 Russian Revolution (spartacus-educational.com)
, created long term economic problems for Russia that would last for many
more years after the 1905 revolution and even influence the revolutionary
groups that would attack the tsarist regime in the Bolshevik revolution 1917.
During 1905, Russia had many ethnic and nationalist tensions. The Jewish
population, which made up 4% of the total population at the time4, were
used as scapegoats for various social and economic problems as they owned
many assets such as banks etc. Jews were persecuted and murdered along
with their villages being raided which is significant as millions were affected
over a long period of time (1880 1917)5. The Tsarist regime benefitted from
the persecution of the Jews as the country could take their anger out on
them despite the reality being that the government was at fault for the poor
economy and standard of living. I therefore believe that the socio-economic
factor was the most significant for Russia as it impacted majority of the
country and lasted the longest.
WWW: good precise evidence followed by analysis of significance
T: Signpost more clearly when you are moving to the analysis of significance
The 1905 Russian revolution was also significant for Russia due to the
political impact and reforms it caused which is significant as they deeply
affected the whole of Russia as it caused widespread economic impact. On
9th January 1905, 150,000 workers march to St Petersburg to seek help and
reforms from the tsar6. Seeing a crowd of this size and, with the tsar not
even in St Petersburg at the time, the guard's immediately see this as a
threat to order and consequently open fire on the demonstrators in public.
The death toll is somewhere between 200-1000 killed and many more
wounded7. These actions sparked strikes through Russia and Western Europe
and portrayed Russia to her the rest of the world as an evil dictatorship that
is in the darkness and led by a tyrant (Tsar) who was hailed a hero six years
earlier by the world. Russia’s image being tainted is significant as the world
now views them as a tyrannical society and therefore is hesitant to
4
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-pale-of-settlement
5
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitism_in_the_Russian_Empire
6
www.britannica.com/event/Bloody-Sunday-Russia-1905
7
The Russian Revolution and its Global impact By Amiya Kumar Bagchi
Russia?
The 1905 revolution was very significant for Russia’s political, military and
above all its economic and social conditions that affected Russia both in the
short and long term. It was significant as it affected the whole of Russia and
even caused life-changing reforms that affected millions. The most important
aspect of the 1905 revolution significance for Russia was the socio-economic
impact it had altogether on Russia because the strikes caused Russia’s
economy to crash resulting in majority of the population being deeply
affected due to the rise in prices and not salaries and working conditions.
The fact that this was the most significant way that in which the 1905
revolution was significant for Russia can be seen as the cities which were
impacted the most (Moscow and St Petersburg) had knock-on effects in other
areas too.
The Russian revolution was particularly significant for Russia due to the
socio-economic impacts it had on the country and all its people. Russia
experienced great economic recessions during the revolution, due to the
innumerable number of protests and worker strikes, over 2.5 million working
days were lost resulting in an estimated cost for employers of 127 million
Rubles due to labor unrests and another 17.5 million rubles for the workers 1.
A good example of this is the Polilov plant (a railway and artillery factory)
strikes which involved 13,000 workers and disrupted the transportation of
goods and the production of trains which were vital for the industrial
development of Russia so they could transport items to major cities2. These
losses crippled the Russian economy as the strikes result in a lack of
production, transport and farming of goods. This then leads to shortages all
over Russia as they couldn't keep up with the demand resulting in prices
soaring and becoming regularly affordable to only the middle class, nobles
and military who made up 12% of the population. The other 88% were
mainly workers and peasants3 who the shortages hit the hardest, resulting in
their standard of living rapidly decreasing along with their confidence in the
government as their inability to resolve issues was magnified. It would be fair
to conclude that these strikes affected everyone and was significant as it
1
Abraham Ascher, The revolution of 1905 (Stanford, CA, 2004), pg41-43
2
Class divisions in Russia - Imperial Russia - Government and people - National 5 History
Revision - BBC Bitesize
3
1905 Russian Revolution (spartacus-educational.com)
, created long term economic problems for Russia that would last for many
more years after the 1905 revolution and even influence the revolutionary
groups that would attack the tsarist regime in the Bolshevik revolution 1917.
During 1905, Russia had many ethnic and nationalist tensions. The Jewish
population, which made up 4% of the total population at the time4, were
used as scapegoats for various social and economic problems as they owned
many assets such as banks etc. Jews were persecuted and murdered along
with their villages being raided which is significant as millions were affected
over a long period of time (1880 1917)5. The Tsarist regime benefitted from
the persecution of the Jews as the country could take their anger out on
them despite the reality being that the government was at fault for the poor
economy and standard of living. I therefore believe that the socio-economic
factor was the most significant for Russia as it impacted majority of the
country and lasted the longest.
WWW: good precise evidence followed by analysis of significance
T: Signpost more clearly when you are moving to the analysis of significance
The 1905 Russian revolution was also significant for Russia due to the
political impact and reforms it caused which is significant as they deeply
affected the whole of Russia as it caused widespread economic impact. On
9th January 1905, 150,000 workers march to St Petersburg to seek help and
reforms from the tsar6. Seeing a crowd of this size and, with the tsar not
even in St Petersburg at the time, the guard's immediately see this as a
threat to order and consequently open fire on the demonstrators in public.
The death toll is somewhere between 200-1000 killed and many more
wounded7. These actions sparked strikes through Russia and Western Europe
and portrayed Russia to her the rest of the world as an evil dictatorship that
is in the darkness and led by a tyrant (Tsar) who was hailed a hero six years
earlier by the world. Russia’s image being tainted is significant as the world
now views them as a tyrannical society and therefore is hesitant to
4
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-pale-of-settlement
5
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitism_in_the_Russian_Empire
6
www.britannica.com/event/Bloody-Sunday-Russia-1905
7
The Russian Revolution and its Global impact By Amiya Kumar Bagchi
