The Russian revolution in 1905 failed due to many reasons such as the government’s issues, public’s action, and the loyalty to the Tsar by the armed forces and many other reasons.
During the 1905 revolution one reason as to why the revolution failed was due to the number of strikes done by industry workers. In February 1905, 400,000 workers went on strike due to the response of the bloody Sunday, the strikes were organised by the unhappy workers and were not organised by the revolutionaries (in fact the revolutionaries were taken by surprise by the sheer number of strikes in Russia). Due to the fact that there had been a lot of riots in the past in Russia the peasants and workers had developed some organising abilities, the strikers created soviets which were worker’s councils which would direct the strike, the first strike was in St Petersburg then it moved to Moscow and then to other industrial centres. This was the first general strike which was the most throughout and successful in Russian history as due to their actions the whole of Russia became paralysed and as the railway workers went on strike the government were instantly threatened as the railways were important for the movement of troops.
The strikes weren’t very effective in making the revolution fail as the strikes done by the workers were actually successful and in hindsight it helped the revolution win but however the strikes led to the revolution as it caused the government to recognise lots of problems and encouraged the government to step up and help solve the problems so it was one of the turning points. Also another reason the 1905 Russian revolution failed was due to the mutinies which were done by the armed forces and navy. When the after effects of bloody Sunday happened mutinies started to occur in parts of the army and navy. One of the mutinies that occurred in the black sea fleet in June 1905, the crew inside the battleship known as the Potemkin killed a few of their own officers and they took control of the ship and blasted the black sea port of Odessa, after they did this they then made their way to Romania as it is a neutral country. The mutinies weren’t widespread but they did recessive publicity and they helped to undermine the tsar’s authority. The mutiny wasn’t effective in making the revolution fail because some members of the army and the navy rebelled against the Tsar’s authority by killing their own officers which would encourage others to join in the efforts of the revolution however, it did help the revolution fail as hardly anyone from the army and navy rebelled against the tsar as they were all loyal to the Tsar. Also another reason the 1905 Russian revolution failed was due to the St Petersburg soviet.
During the revolution an assembly of workers were known as the St Petersburg soviet, the soviets were due to the general strike in the capital which started in October 1905. Workers from the capital elected ambassadors who would represent the soviets, it gained many members (400) and they represented 96 factories. The leading member of the soviets was Leon Trotsky. The Soviets demanded for radical social reform but they spent most of their time organising strikes and making sure that all the strikers were fed. Btu the soviets ended on the 3rd of December due to the fact that the government’s troops arrested the leaders. The St Petersburg Soviets were effective in making the revolution fail as the group didn’t push their ideas through about their policies as they were too busy feeding there strikers which isn’t good as they weren’t getting across their messages which in hindsight would led to them losing the revolution and the group was destroyed as soon as the leaders were captured which shows that without the soviet leaders the rest of the soviets couldn’t function so they never reformed the group and the strikes had little power over the strikers which meant that all their efforts were in vain, however it did help the revolution as it shows that the workers were cable of organising themselves and standing up against the government. Another reason as to why the Russian revolution failed was the loyalty of the armed forces. Even though there were a few munities, most of the army stayed loyal to the Tsar; in turn this lead to the army destroying many disturbances which were to do the revolution, the army also arrested thousands of people who were revolutionaries.
In October 1905 the government started to gain back the authority as the government supported the formation of the new political group known as the ‘union of Russian people’ which linked to pro-government terrorists groups known as the black hundreds. They helped the government regain control of Russia and with the black hundreds help they hunted and executed thousands of reformers. This was an important reason as to why the Russian revolution failed as if the armed forces hadn’t been loyal to the tsar then they wouldn’t have been able to put a stop to a lot of the disturbances the revolution caused, however it also help people to win the revolution because the government thought some members of the army could turn on them at any minute due to the events on the Potemkin which would cause doubt in the government on whether they could fully trust members of the army. Another reason as to why the revolution failed is due to the unity amongst the revolutionaries. The revolutionaries had no unity due to the fact that they had different opinions on what should happen to Russia, the liberals wanted to share power with the tsar, the social revolutionaries wanted peasant ownership of land, the social democrats were divided between two different groups (Mensheviks and Bolsheviks) and they wanted to completely change society and remover the tsar and as a result of this the different radical parities fought against each other rather than fight the government.
The group outbreaks were not planned which meant that the armed forces, police and black hundreds could overpower them. This help lead to the failure of the revolution due to the fact that as the demonstrations were random and not well thought out the army could deal with them more easily and put a stop to them and the government were never threatened by the parties which meant that all the efforts they did were in vein. One of the other reasons for the failure of the revolution was the October manifesto. Due to all the uprisings, strikes and mutinies the Tsar’s government issued a proclamation which was the October manifesto, the manifesto promised reform and it accepted the idea of an elected national parliament to be created, it also planned to give everyone the right of freedom and speech, religion and civil rights. Due to this many liberals accepted the manifesto and those liberals were known as the Octobrists, other liberals known as the kadets saw the manifesto as the beginning of a new era of reform. But more radical groups such as the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks wanted major social and economic reform.
This is an important reason as to why the revolution failed as it led the lack of unity among the revolutionaries as all the parties were divided as some agreed to the manifesto whilst others didn’t, and the October manifesto started the process of where the Tsar would regain control of Russia. One of the other failures for the revolution was the black hundred. The black hundreds were a group of people who helped the government maintain their control on the country; the black hundreds found thousands of known reformers and executed them as they were betraying the tsar. The black hundreds group helped the revolution failed as they hunted down reforms and killed them which meant that they were helping the government stop the groups from trying to reform Russia. From all the reasons I have collected I think that there were many features that led to the revolution failing such as the Loyalty of the Armed Forces, the Unity amongst the revolutionaries, October Manifesto and Black Hundreds. I think these were the key features as the armed forces were loyal to the tsar which meant that they could stop the strikes from getting too big and out of control and if the armed forces hadn’t of been loyal to the Tsar then it would have been much harder for the Tsar and the government to defend the disturbances of the revolutionaries, the unity amongst the revolutionaries was a key feature to as the revolutionaries didn’t get on as they had to many opinions which made them have many conflicts even though they just wanted Russia to be better and so they didn’t organise any strikes and mainly argued with each other but if they had of got on things may have been different, also the October manifesto was important as it contributes to the lack of unity between the unity amongst the revolutionaries as it gave them more reasons to argue and divided the parties no to mention the fact that the manifesto was one of the main reasons the tsar and his government gained control back on Russia and finally the black hundreds were an important part as if the black hundreds hadn’t of found a lot of the reformers then the reformers could of created lots more problems for Russia.
However I think the main as to why the Russian revolution failed was the fact that the armed forces were loyal to the Tsar, I think this because if the army were not loyal to the tsar they could have mutinied like a few members of the army did and if the army hadn’t of been loyal to the Tsar the they wouldn’t of actually been able to stop all the riots happening and the Russian revolution may of actually been a success. After the Russian revolution the first dumas was elected in 1906 and it contained lots of deputies who wanted a major reform (example land and the release of political prisoners) however the duma lasted only 73 days and the tsar then abolished it and stuck to the fundamental law, the tsar then created another dumas but as it contained many reforms it was replaced by a third dumas which was much more restricted. This could cause some tension as the tsar said that he would improve the Russian empire due to the consequences of the revolution but it hasn’t happened.
