Abstract
The aspiration for freedom of Russian society dominated the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century until the fall of Tsarist autocracy in the wake of the 1917 revolution. The latter gave birth to a new literature with different interpretations on the question whether this was inevitable or could have been avoided by appropriate reforms of the autocracy. However, the first revolution in Russia's history occurred in 1905, often qualified as the “dress-rehearsal” of the revolution that finally put an end to the hundred years old Tsarist regime.
Could have a good management of the 1905 revolution avoided the collapse of Russian autocracy? At that time was there an opportunity to end the increasing mass discontent that the government could not seize? It was the inability of the Russian government to understand the problems Russia was facing and it couldn't be solved without a change of traditional policies that led to the events of 1905. Then, we will see that the fractions of society were surrounded by revolts, the Czar had to make a choice between massive repression and concessions. His choice went with the latter. And finally, we will analyze, if these concessions allowed the Russian autocracy to gain time. Its serious strategic mistakes prevented the problems to be solved at the time and made the 1917 revolution inevitable.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the ruling Czar Nicholas II had more power. As the autocracy regime demanded he exercised unlimited power over Russia's population. No legislative chambers could limit his power in any way, and he had all the power over the government– whose most important position was the Minister of the Interior– the bureaucracy and the Army.
