The Russian Revolution of 1905 was caused by an inevitable confluence of the obsolete Russian feudal system and the majority of their modern populace, who revolted because of long term issues like incompetent czars and the dilapidated social structure along with immediate causes like the Bloody Sunday massacre and the Russo-Japanese war.
Firstly, Russia's archaic political system, social infrastructure and somewhat ailing line of czars made living conditions abysmal for the common citizen and revolution the only viable solution. Russia's feudalist political system had been perpetuated for more than three centuries and as other European countries such as Great Britain flourished through their industrial revolutions, Russia was still largely agricultural, uneducated and dependent upon a primal agricultural industry. Some 90% of the Russia people were non-landlords, and those who made up the noble class were even fewer in number. Yet these noblemen and landlords held all of the right to political power, determination and the best parts of the land.
A Japanese propaganda of the war: woodcut print sh...
Billy Sunday and wife (LOC)
RussiaThe common people were seen as superstitious and ignorant serfs who only understood force and brutal oppression. Though Czar Alexander the II (1855-1881) attempted at reform, as seen in his Emancipation Edict of March 3, 1861, which abolished serfdom and guaranteed the right to own land, the liberty of the peasants was still out of reach. The autocratic bureaucracy's Edict only entitled 1/3 of the total area of agricultural land to be given to the village communities, while more than 1/3 was kept by the state and the Imperial family, ü was still kept by the nobles. The annual sums of the government to be paid in exchange for 'ownership' of the land were oftentimes greater than the dues that the peasants had formerly paid to the serfs. Furthermore, the land of the village communities designated to the people...