Why was there a revolution in Russia in 1905?

The first short term factor in bringing about the 1905 revolution was the world economic slump at the start of the 20^th century which had an adverse impact on industries across Russia, resulting in real wages falling and the number of strikes increasing. Government railway orders were cut by 10% in 1899 which would go on to affect heavy industry. The railway industry in Rostov was hit by heavy strikes in 1902 which spread across Russia during the following year. Similarly, the St. Petersburg metalworking industry saw a drop in government orders; the closure of smaller firms led into growing unemployment in the city. The Donbass region had experienced huge rates of industrial growth in the late 19^th century in the ‘Great Spurt’ under Sergei Witte, however in 1903 only 23 of the 35 blast furnaces across the region were still functioning. The international slump also hit the oil industry. Prior to the slump, Baku had been at the centre of the oil boom but was hit by a strike in 1903. This saw workers being sacked; the number of workers employed in the oil industry dropped by 10,000 in one year. One international oil company withdrew altogether and relocated to Egypt instead. Since the economic slump was worldwide, the downturn meant that Russia found it difficult to sell products abroad. Furthermore, although technically a domestic demand for Russian goods may have eased the impact of the economic slump, the peasantry had been burdened so heavily with taxes to fund Witte’s industrial drive that they did not have any disposable income. Furthermore, a series of poor harvests between 1900 and 1902 exacerbated the long standing anger of the peasantry. The Socialist Revolutionaries were founded in 1901 and engaged in a wave of political assassinations in retaliation, including the Minister of the Interior Dimitri Sipiagin in 1902 and his successor Von Plehve in 1904. From 1902 to 1904 peasant uprisings erupted and widespread violence occurred, the homes of landowners were often looted or burned down. The government responded in kind with violence and attempted to supress the peasantry which only further fuelled discontent.