Russian revolution, 1905

Political upheaval centred in and around St Petersburg, Russia (1905-06), leading up to the February and October revolutions of 1917. On 22 January 1905 thousands of striking unarmed workers marched to Tsar Nicholas II's Winter Palace in St Petersburg to ask for reforms. Government troops fired on the crowd, killing many people. After this ‘Bloody Sunday’ slaughter the revolution gained strength, culminating in a general strike which paralysed the whole country in October 1905. Revolutionaries in St Petersburg formed a ‘soviet’ (council) called the Soviet of Workers' Deputies. Nicholas II then granted the Duma (parliament) the power to pass or reject proposed laws. Although these measures satisfied the liberal element, the revolution continued to gain ground and came to a head when the army crushed a serious uprising in December 1905. See also Russia: history to 1922, revolution and reform.