Short term causes of the 1905 Revolution

Peasant Unrest

Peasants were forced to pay redemption payments which drained them of the little money they had so this did not allow them to afford crops to grow food- leading to food shortages
Agri. equipment was outdated which exacerbated this situation- it didn't allow food to grow to feed the growing population
Shortages contributed to the inflation crisis Russia was experiencing
Peasants were extremely unhappy at the Tsar and his lack of reform and contributed to the protests that helped lead to the start of the 1905 Revolution

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Workers had poor working conditions in their factories
Demanded improvement and reform but it did not come
Due to the economic downfall eg inflation they suffered increasingly worse wages which also angered them
Trade unions were also non-existent so workers couldn't trade which made them even angrier at the Tsarist regime
At their upmost of anger they too contributed to the protests about lack of reform alongside the peasants in the 1905 Revolution

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Russia entered war with Japan in 1904 thinking they could get an easy victory
They lost and were humiliated
Once the news of this rang back home in Russia people were now so angry with the Tsar and the protests grew
Financing of the war also backfired and made worse the food shortages and inflation
People were now at their zenith of anger towards the Tsar and they too contributed to the protests of the Revolution

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On 22nd January 1905 at the Winter Palace, a series of protests which effectively started the Revolution was led by Fr. Georgi Gapon with peasants, worker and liberals
Nicholas II was expected to control these protests but due to his unimaginative nature, he was not present at the Winter Palace
Many were let down by this and this damaged the Tsar's image as "Little Father"- protector of the Russian people
Things got worse as 200 marchers were killed by police protests- this was called on by the Tsar himself and so he essentially was killing his own citizens
"There is no God, there is no Tsar!"- Gapon
This act only caused things to get worse- Bloody Sunday was a gate that opened and led to the 1905 Revolution throughout Russia

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Unlike other European countries, Russia was massive in size, however the other countries were so much more economically, financially, socially and technologically advanced
Also they didn't grant social or economic reforms demanded by peasants or workers and so this is another reason why they protested towards the regime causing the Revolution

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