How far was the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05 responsible for the outbreak of the 1905 revolution?By: Camilo Escobar

To a certain extent, it can be argued that the Russo-Japanese war and its impact resulted in revolution in 1905. Russias humiliating defeat against the Japanese (a weak and small country, as seen by most Russians) had a major impact in the tsars popularity and played an important role as revolution developed in 1905. However, there were many other factors, both in the long term as in the short term, that contributed to the outbreak of the 1905 revolution. For example, Russias backward economy (that were responsible for the outbursts of famine), the reactionary policies of Alexander III, the incompetent ruling of Nicholas III, and Bloody Sunday were also vital on the onset of revolution.

The Russo-Japanese war was a dispute fought in the Far East (Korea and Manchuria) that was caused by imperial ambitions of expansion of Russia and Japan, the former wanted a warm water port i.e. one that could be accessed at any time during the year, while the latter believed that Russia was a threat to their strategic interests in the region. Nicholas II believed that a war with Japan could raise peoples support in his government by rallying the people behind a patriotic cause. However, this was not the case, Russia suffered many crushing defeats during the war and patriotic pride and popular support was at an all time low. Furthermore, Russias economical investment on this war meant that there was no money available to deal with problems at home and a growing discontent among peasants and industrial workers would eventually lead to revolution. The Russo-Japanese war showed the failings of the Russian government to its people and stirred up revolution.

However, Russo-Japanese war can only be considered as a short term cause for the 1905 revolution, there were many other factors that contributed to the general discontent of the Russian people. Firstly, Russias economy was incredibly backward at the time if you compared it to the economies of the other Great Powers e.g Francia, the United Kingdom and Germany. The legacy of serfdom caused horrid living conditions among peasants as well as an inefficient agricultural system; famines were common (two specially cruel: one in 1902 and the other in 1905) and, despite Russia vast territory, there was not enough land for everyone. Moreover, industrialisation had just begun and people were starting to move to the cities e.g. St Petersburg and Moscow doubled in population from 1897 to 1914; however, living conditions in the cities were awful and workers had low job security. Both peasants and workers were starting to realise that the government owed them much better conditions.

Secondly, despite the oppressive ruling of the tsardom, which gave the people no civil rights and no place for opposition, new political ideas had started to emerge among workers and peasants due to the government incompetence. Nicholas II love for autocratic power made opposition much more forceful. He tried to eliminate any hint of reform inside its government and distrusted many of his ministers; among them were Witte and Stolypin, two brilliant and loyalist to the tsar who believed that the best way to fight revolutionary ideas was by reforming from the top down but who could not do their job properly as they faced opposition from a tsar that was reluctant to give away the most minimum amount of his power. Nicholas II, definitely committed a big mistake and he was punished greatly for it later.

Finally, the revolution would not have started in the first place if it were not for Bloody Sunday. When thousands of worker in the city of St Petersburg lead a peaceful march to the Winter Palace begging the tsar to use his royal power to alleviate their desperate conditions the government police decided to shoot against the crowd in an effort to return the city to normal. This only infuriated workers even more and caused the image of the tsar to change drastically. To most people he was not the Little Father anymore, he was now a violent tyrant.

In conclusion, the Russo-Japanese war did play a role in the 1905 revolution, specially as an economic and a political factor. However, there were plenty of other causes to the 1905 revolution, most importantly being the economic backwardness of Russia, the incompetence of the tsars government and the violent acts that took place on Bloody Sunday.