What you must do in this unit
- Review the textbook chapter 29, particularly pages 365-71.
- Read the American ambassador's account of Bloody Sunday.
- Check the remarks by Professor Blois and Professor Evans on the 1905 Revolution.
- Study the Questions to Consider and the Key Terms for the Unit.
- Submit the 1905 paragraph.
What you can do in this unit
- Read The Fleet That Had to Die (1958) by Richard Alexander Hough. I highly recommend this book which tells the amazing story of the Russian Baltic fleet that was ordered to the Far East in 1904. See my capsule summary of what happened. Believe me, you will not believe what you read in this book. There is also another study of the voyage by Constantine Pleshakov, The Tsar's Last Armada: The Epic Voyage to the Battle of Tsushima (2002).
- Read the supplement from Mary Platt Parmele (1843-1911) A Short History of Russia (1907, 4th edition). This is optional reading.
Some videos that you can watch for this unit
- There are several videos available on YouTube, such as this one, but they are of greatly varying quality and usefulness.
- Scenes and Incidents, Russo-Japanese Peace Conference, Portsmouth, N.H.
- For extra credit please suggest to your instructor a relevant video for this unit of the course. Send the title of the video, the URL and a brief explanation of why you find the video interesting and applicable to the material that is being studied in this unit.
Extra Credit Options
- For up to 25 points of extra credit, watch Bronenosets Potemkin (Battleship Potemkin) and assess the historical accuracy of the movie in a one-page paper.
- For up to 25 points of extra credit, read the account of the Potemkin mutiny in Russia and then compare to the movie version of the mutiny in a one-page paper.
- For up to 25 points of extra credit, watch Mat (Mother) and write a one-page paper about the portrayal of life in Russia in the late nineteenth century.
- For up to 25 points of extra credit, read Walter Sablinsky, The Road to Bloody Sunday: Father Gapon and the St. Petersburg Massacre of 1905 (1976) and write a one-page paper assessing blame for the massacre.
- For up to 25 points of extra credit, read Trotskii, 1905 (1922) and write a one-page paper analyzing his account of the 1905 Revolution.
- For up to 25 points of extra credit, read Peter Waldron, Between Two Revolutions: Stolypin and the Politics of Renewal in Russia (1998) and write a one-page paper in which you assess the policies of Stolypin.
- For up to 10 points of extra credit, read some details about the proposed "Bulygin Duma" of 1905, and write a paragraph assessing the pros and cons of the proposal; compare to what the tsar actually proposed in August 1905.
- For up to 10 points of extra credit, read the The Socialist-Revolutionaries' Assassination of Interior Minister von Plehve, July 1904 (pamphlet) and write a long paragraph about the use of terror as a political weapon by the Socialist Revolutionary Party.
- For up to 10 points of extra credit, read the American embassy's account of October General Strike in Russia and write a paragraph explaining the scale and scope of the strike movement.
- For up to 10 points of extra credit, read the Petition Prepared for Presentation to Nicholas II on "Bloody Sunday" (9 January 1905), and write a paragraph explaining what was dangerous about the petition from the point-of-view of the tsar
- For up to 10 points of extra credit, read the tsar's manifesto and Rescript of 18 February 1905 and write a paragraph explaining what the tsar hoped to achieve with these documents.
Unit Learning Objectives
- Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to (1) identify the impact of the Russo-Japanese War on Russia, (2) explain some of the causes and outcomes of the 1905 Revolution in Russia and (3) analyze a historical source.