Why Was There No Effective Revolution in Russia Before 1917?

Why was there no effective revolution before 1917?

The years leading up to 1917 in Russia were ones of change and drama, highlighted by the so called “revolution” on Bloody Sunday in 1905. But it is argued by historians that this event did not have effects that fit that of a proper revolution, but rather it was, bluntly put, a “dress rehearsal” for the much more effective 1917 revolution that fully disposed of the Tsar. The term “revolution” itself is a very broad and generic one, having been used to describe many uprisings over thousands of years of history, but there is one generally accepted definition as a “forcible overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system”. This classification clearly fits the effective 1917 revolution, in its outline of both massive change and the sacking of a government, but completely clashes with the events that occurred in 1905-1906 as they certainly did not overthrow the Romanovs.

There was a sweeping revolutionary tide among the Russian commoners in 1905 that was brought about by the outrage towards the embarrassing results of the earlier Russo-Japanese War and the horrific outcome of the infamous Bloody Sunday. Thus both the State Duma and the October Manifesto was born later that year, bringing its demands of reform in the political, social and economic aspects of Russia. But these requests, which were the last hopes for Nicholas II to regain any form of approval from his people, were only partly fulfilled and ultimately completely overwritten by the Tsar’s issuing of fundamental laws that gave him complete control of the Duma. The people of Russia were in a revolutionary mood but were not completely certain that the Romanovs were not the ones to lead Russia and that democracy was the way to go, meaning that the 1905 “revolution only served to temporarily prolong Nicholas II’s life and rule while also further angering the people that he was so poorly leading. The Russo-Japanese War’s effect on the...