Why_Did_the_1905_Revolution_Fail_to_Overthrow_Czardom_

With the promulgation of the October Manifesto, a decision of the Tsar to share political power with the people in the national government, concerted opposition to the government melted away. The landed proprietors, the liberals and the less radical socialists were at least partially satisfied with the fundamental law and the creation of the Dumas, since they were afraid of going too far. Only the Social Revolutionaries, the Social Democrats and other extreme revolutionaries rejected the manifesto and continued their opposition to the government. It was the turning point in the revolution since the Tsar regained control and the disturbances that continued failed to topple the government. Thus with the Bolsheviks giving up, 1000 plus people dead due to strikes and no changes seen, the Russians could not continue the revolution. In short, the opposition forces, divided, unprepared to seize power, unable to represent the wishes of the peasants and the workers, failed to overthrow the decadent and demoralized dynasty which retained the support of the nobles, the bureaucrats and the army. It can be said that the Tsarist regime survived the revolution for a number of reasons, of which most prominent was foremost the divided opposition, which helped them to crush pockets of resistance. The lack of leadership also played a considerable role in assisting the Tsarist regime, as the majority of the people were unorganized and hence disunited. The groups propagating their ideas had no real way of actually “converting” people to their set of political beliefs. But above all, it was the power and authority that the Tsar had over his military and the sheer size of it that sums up the real reasoning of the survival of Tsar Nicholas II despite the attempted revolution of 1905. The 1905 revolution failed in the sense that it did not cause real change, but it succeeded in planting the seed for further revolution. It was Lenin’s dress rehearsal for 1917.