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The 1905 Revolution
Though the process of discussing the events
of the Russian Revolution of 1905 may not
seem germane to a reference guide on the
1917 Bolshevik Revolution and the resulting
Russian Civil War, the reality is that in order
to understand the larger contextual under-
current in Russia during the abdication of
Tsar Nicholas II, the rise and fall of the Pro-
visional Government, the onset of the Bol-
shevik Revolution, and the turbulent period
of the Russian Civil War, the events of 1905
are of vital importance to building a greater
understanding of the political and social is-
sues that sparked the tumultuous change that
bore the Soviet Union. Looking at the state
of Russia under the leadership of Tsar Alex-
ander III and his successor Tsar Nicholas II,
the events of 1905 provide a solid context
for understanding the stage that had been set
for the significant events that took place
across Russia in the spring and fall of 1917.
Background: Alexander III
Beginning with the assassination of his fa-
ther Tsar Alexander II by the radical political
organization Will of the People on March
13, 1881, his son Alexander III assumed the
throne of the Russian Empire and sought to
suppress the emerging revolutionary forces
focused on withering the autocratic power
of the tsar and his deputies. Alexander III’s
first act to control and suppress calls for
change came with the publication of the
Temporary Regulations in the summer of
1881.
Alexander III issued his Temporary Regu-
lations as a means to assist government offi-
cials in preserving “state security and public
order.” In effect, the order provided the gov-
ernment with an expanded ability to search,
arrest, imprison, exile, and try people who
threatened public order. Note that these pow-
ers also applied to the press, which Alexan-
der III saw as equally destabilizing to the
regime. Though the initial issuance of the
Temporary Regulations were meant to last
for just three years, the reality was that Alex-
ander III saw these measures as a means to
suppress and quiet people who questioned
the actions and policies of the regime. The
effect of this measure according to Nicholas
Riasanovsky in A History of Russia was that
Russians lived in a “partial state of martial
law.”
Not just focusing on forces that ques-
tioned the power and control of the regime,
Alexander III also pressed forward with
counterreforms that rescinded many of his
father’s attempts to liberalize the bureau-
cratic and class systems of Russia. Alexan-
der III sought more control and power by
reemphasizing the role of the gentry, land
captains, the zemstvos, and other powerful
Introductory Essays
