Tsar >
Father Gapon :
Leader of the protest >
Sergei Witte:
Chief Advisor to the Tsar >
RUSSIA: LAND OF THE TSARS Episode 4
About The Programme
The last eighty years of the Russian Empire were full of tension between forces of reform and autocratic rule. While Western Europe experienced the Industrial Revolution and nationalist, republican and socialist movements, Russia stayed fixed in the past.
From Nicholas I, who squashed a rebellion on his first day as Tsar, to his great-grandson, Nicholas II, whose insulation from reality eventually killed his family, the Tsars struggled between accepting modern ideas and maintaining their absolute power. Despite some radical reforms, the monarchy's resistance to change would ultimately cost them the throne.
The Background
January 22nd 2005 marks the 100th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. This was the massacre which marked the beginning of the 1905 Russian Revolution. Dissatisfaction had been rife in Russia for many since the mid-nineteenth century.
Following Russia’s disastrous showing in the war against Japan 1904-5, there occurred a number of nationwide disturbances, Bloody Sunday being one of them. 1904 was a particularly bad year in Russia as the prices of essential items such as bread and grains were rising.
The rudimentary industrial system, inefficient pattern of agriculture, and large proportion of peasants all bred unrest.
The people were working extremely long hours, had no food, land of their own or representation in politics. Although it was borne of peaceful protest, Bloody Sunday marked the beginning of the end for the Tsarist system.
What Happened?
On 22nd January, Father Gapon, an Orthodox Priest attempted to lead a peaceful march of workers and their families.
They went to the Winter Palace in St Petersburg, residence of Tsar Nicholas and his family. The marchers intended to present a loyal petition to the Tsar, begging him to use his royal authority to alleviate their desperate conditions.
However the march induced panic in the police authorities. The marchers were fired on and charged at by cavalry. There are no precise figures for the numbers killed, but causalities amounted to hundreds.
The killings were taken by opponents of the Tsarist regime to be a deliberate massacre of unarmed petitioners.
Although Nicholas II was absent from St Petersburg on Bloody Sunday, these events damaged the traditional image of the Tsar as the “Little Father”, guardian of the Russian people. Nicholas was forced to issue an October manifesto.
Bloody Sunday had grave consequences for the Tsarist regime, ultimately leading to the rise of Communism.