World War 1 and the first Revolution.

The Russian Revolution took place in 1917, which somewhere between the middle and the end of World War I, which occurred between 1914 and 1918. As known, Russia participated in World War I because she was a part of the Triple Entente along with France and Britain. Keeping that in mind, how did Russia’s involvement in World War I affect the Russian Revolution?

The first revolution was when the Tsar just survived, the people were demanding pay raise and had many clashes with the police. This revolution was centered in Petrograd, then known as St. Petersburg (the Russians' decided to change the name because it was more of a German name); the capital. The workers demanded pay raise and were locked in their struggle. Nicholas thought that this would stop soon but he was wrong.

What is the 1905 revolution and Bloody Sunday? How did the Tsar survive? Who were Stolypin and Rasputin?

The 1905 revolution was an event in Russia  which was intended to prove the Tsar's power after his recent loss to Japan in a war but instead all it did was support the cause to overthrow the Tsar and make a new system of ruling Russia.

When the news of the Tsar losing to Japan got around, the people started conspiring against him and having peaceful demonstration. The people were having a peaceful demonstration when the Tsar ordered the soldiers, then known as Cossacks, to fire at them.The atrocity led to further riots and strikes, sailors on the Battleship "Potemkin" mutinied. The events thereafter were known as the 1905 revolution.


After observing the disastrous event, the local soldiers and residents formed a group called Soviets, to represent them. They held demonstrations  and debate on whether they should overthrow the Tsar.

During the Soviets' first demonstration, the Tsar was  away on the border commanding his army in WWI. There was a shortage of food at the time so the Tsar was concerned and decided to call his wife, Alexandra Feodorovna, who ruled Russia at the time instead. The Tsar was so careless that he didn't bother to come back. He rang his wife then as the matters were getting out of hand and his wife promised that she would get the situation in hands with Rasputin, who was the family doctor of the Tsar and faithful advisor to the Tsar. This only worsened the situation as the people thought that the Tsar didn't care about his people and only supported the cause to overthrow the Tsar.

In one of the Soviets' attacks, the Tsar just survived! The alarmed Tsar then published a manifesto called "October Manifesto". The objective of this manifesto was to create a Duma (parliament). The middle class or the "Octobrists"supported him. To console the people, he lowered the taxes and brought in Pyotr Stolypin as Prime Minister. The intelligence or the Okhrana tracked down the revolters in the meantime, and put them behind bars.
The full text of October Manifesto can be found here "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/October_Manifesto".

This "October Manifesto" wasn't what it seemed like it was. It  was a cunning document which did not guarantee any other rights except from the ones they were already practising. So, this was what I  was talking about.

Once powerful, he stopped listening to Duma and started ruling his way.

The mass killing by the Cossacks of the peaceful demonstration was done on Sunday and the bloodlust event is known as Bloody Sunday.










*Cossacks - Peasants from the Southern most part of Russia renowned for their military skills, employed by the Tsar.(not the Russian soldiers); Okhrana - a secret police made of all the faithfuls of the Tsar to keep an eye on everyone(like the CIA) 

background of the Tsar and his family

*Tsar is the title given to imperial kings before the Russian Revolution. Tsar Nicholas II was the Tsar at the time of Russian Revolution. He was also the Grand Duke of Finland and the titular king of Poland. His full name was Nikolai Aleksandrovich Romanov. Born in the town of Pushkin, Russia; his mother, Maria Feodorovna, provided a nurturing environment as she was born in another country, Denmark. His father, Alexander Alexandrovich, was the heir to the Russian throne so he lived quite a leisurely life. He was homeschooled in his educational career so he lived in a posh way. His siblings were countless; they were almost from everywhere. According to Wikipedia, he was primarily German as well as Russian and Danish descent. He was related to several monarchs in the whole of Europe. Towards his death, his family and he were given the title "passion bearers", a title given to Christianity believers, who die in a christ-like manner. He was also referred as Bloody Nicholas because of the bloody riots in Russia. He didn't really care of his people as he had shown in situation such as his marriage, the Bloody Sunday or the 1905 revolution in Russia. In his marriage, 1000 army men who were drunk, shot at the celebrating crowd. And  Nicholas ignored the accident as if nothing had happened and continued his wedding. If I had been in his place, I would have given the soldiers a piece of mind and a strict punishment like banishing the men from the job. I mean who would watch their people die and just continue on. It's like watching your son being killed and you just sit there like nothing has happened.


*Tsarism - Autocratic system in Russia since centuries , giving the rulers a total, almost a religious power over the people.