Russo-Japanese War.
==Jan.02 (Dec.20.1904.OS) > In Manchuria, the great Russian base at Port Arthur surrenders to Japanese forces

Bolsheviks.Press.
==Jan.04 > The first issue of Lenin’s newspaper Vpered is published (to May 18), backed by funds from Japanese intelligence

Peasants.Czarist Regime.
==Jan.13 > Interior Minister Mirsky announces that the feeble reform decree of Dec.25 will not apply to peasants

Far Left.
==Jan.15 > The liberal leader Struve writes: “In Russia, there is as yet no revolutionary people.”

Labor.Bloody Sunday.
==Jan.02 > Labor unrest in St. Petersburg is set off by the firing of workers at the Putilov Plant who are members of Father Gapon’s labor union
==Jan.09 > Gapon decides to call a strike if the fired workers aren’t reinstated
==Jan.15 > A general union meeting confirms the strike decision
==Jan.16 (Jan.03.OS) > Father Gapon’s union strikes at the Putilov Plant - strikes spread dramatically through St. Petersburg over the next few days
==Jan.18-20 > Gapon draws up a petition to be presented to the Czar

Czarist Regime.
==Jan.19 > The Czar is accidentally nearly hit by shrapnel during the Blessing of the Waters ceremony in St. Petersburg

Bolsheviks.Caucasus.
==Jan.19 > Stalin publishes his first known pamphlet, written in Georgian

Bloody Sunday.
==Jan.19 > Father Gapon decides to lead a mass march to the Winter Palace to present the workers’ petition to the Czar
==Jan.20 > St. Petersburg factories and newspapers are shut down by strikes involving two-thirds of the workforce - troops are being rushed into the city - the government issues warnings against the planned workers’ march and threatens to use force
==Jan.21 > Prominent liberals meet with Interior Minister Mirsky and warn against the use of violence on the marchers [morning] - a government conference decides to deploy troops [evening]: the Imperial Ministers are confident that they can control the situation and have no expectation of bloodshed - a warrant is issued for Father Gapon’s arrest [evening] - troops in St. Petersburg are issued live ammunition and extra vodka [midnight]
==Jan.22 (Jan.09.OS) > BLOODY SUNDAY: TROOPS FIRE ON PEACEFUL WORKERS’ MARCHES IN ST. PETERSBURG, inflicting about a thousand casualties [morning]; the stunned Father Gapon exclaims “There is no God any longer! There is no Czar!” - ~revolutionary influence rapidly spreads among Russian workers - a city-wide general strike is soon underway - widespread looting, especially of liquor and guns, sweeps the city [evening] - 459 St. Petersburg intellectuals sign a letter denouncing the regime, declaring “It is impossible to continue to live this way.” - Gorky cables Hearst’s New York Journal: “The Russian Revolution has begun.” - THE 1905 RUSSIAN REVOLUTION, TO LATE OCT.

Labor Unrest.Czarist violence.
The largest wave of strikes yet seen sweeps the Russian Empire, provoking a harsh response from the Czarist government:
==Jan.23 > St. Petersburg’s power stations are closed down by strikes
==Jan.23 > The government urges local officials to use “decisive measures” to restore order; widespread arrests follow and Father Gapon’s Assembly union is suppressed
==Jan.24 > Moscow, Vilno, and Kovno are paralyzed by general strikes
==Jan.24 > The Czar appoints the reactionary Trepov Governor-General of St. Petersburg with broad powers - Gorky and other liberals that met with Mirsky on Jan.21 are arrested
==Jan.25 > Kiev is shut down by a general strike
==Jan.25 > In Saratov Province, Governor Stolypin enforces a tough policy against strikers
==Jan.26 > Troops kill seventy demonstrators in a violent general strike in Riga
==Jan.27 > A general strike grips Russian Poland

Liberals.Czarist Regime.
==Jan.30 > The respected Agriculture Minister Yermolov urges the Czar to form a Cabinet of Ministers and a representative assembly in order to avoid a revolution

Czarist Regime.
==Jan.31 > Interior Minister Mirsky is brusquely dismissed

Left-wing violence.Bolsheviks.
==early.1905  Leonid Krasin sets up the Military Technical Group to organize weapons and bomb assembly for the Bolsheviks

Radicalized Military.
==early.1905  ~Revolutionary sailors make abortive plans for a large-scale mutiny in the Black Sea Fleet

Labor.Czarist Regime.
==Feb.01 > The Czar receives a hand-picked delegation of workers - he says of the victims of Bloody Sunday:  “...I forgive them their guilt.”
==Feb.10 > The government establishes the Shidlovsky Commission to investigate workers’ grievances - on Feb. 19 & 26, St. Petersburg workers pick delegates to the commission, in the first free elections that Russian workers have ever participated in   (see Mar.05)

Liberals.
==Feb.12 > In defiance of the police, St. Petersburg lawyers meet to prepare for a congress - ~liberal professional groups become active   (see Mar.16)

Far Left.
==mid.Feb > Having fled Russia, Father Gapon arrives in Geneva, and falls in with the exiled revolutionaries - the naïve  Gapon is soon involved in compromising intrigues

Left-wing violence.Socialist Revolutionaries.
==Feb.17 > The assassination of the Grand Duke Sergius, Military Governor of Moscow and uncle of the Czar, by an SR bombing directed by Azef and Savinkov - after receiving the news at a dinner party, the Czar and Grand Duke Alexander amuse themselves by trying to push each other off of the sofa - on Feb.18, Sergius’ widow confronts her husband’s assassin in his prison cell, where he declines her offer to intercede on his behalf

Ethnic Unrest.Caucasus.
==Feb.19-22 > Bloody Armenian-Azerbaijani riots in Baku, encouraged by the government

Bolsheviks.
==late.Feb > Trotsky returns to Russia (to Kiev) - Lenin and other exiles are still holding back

Mensheviks.Caucasus.
==Feb.20 > A Czarist official warns that the government has lost control of much of Georgia to the peasant ‘Gurian Republic’ (formed mid.1903): ~the Mensheviks build a mass party in Georgia, fully dominating the region until the summer of 1906, perhaps the world’s first Marxist national-liberation movement - on Mar.03, the government declares martial law and dispatches troops until Jul, but is unable to regain control

Russo-Japanese War.
==Feb.22-Mar.10 > Russia is defeated by Japan in the great Battle of Mukden, the largest land battle in history up to this time

Czarist Regime.
==Feb.25 > In an interview, Count Witte says “The present ferment is only a passing phenomenon... Russia is a strong, vigorous country that will for centuries to come remain as it is.”

Peasant Unrest.
==end.Feb (mid.Feb.OS) > Major peasant disorders begin, in Dmitriev - ~the unrest soon spreads to Chernigov and Orel provinces

Mensheviks.
==Feb.--- > Most of the Menshevik Central Committee is arrested

Left-wing violence.
==Feb.--- > ~The RSDRP and the SR socialist groups hold negotiations for joint terrorist ventures

Women.
==Feb.--- (OS) > The Union of Women’s Equality is established

Czarist Regime.
==Mar.03 (Feb.18.OS) > The Czar makes a confused attempt at conciliation and issues three contradictory papers:  (1) Pobedonostsev’s Imperial Decree denouncing reform;  (2) a Rescript pledging a consultative elected assembly and concessions to minorities, which fails to satisfy liberals; and (3) an invitation for suggestions by the public  (see mid.Mar)

Education.Far Left.
==early.Mar. > Rising chaos in the universities

Labor.Czarist Regime.
==Mar.05 > The Czar refuses the demands of the workers’ delegates and disbands the Shidlovsky Commission: ~a wave of protest strikes is followed by a wave of arrests - on the same day, the Czar authorizes a new commission under Kokovtsov to study labor problems

Liberals.
==Mar.08 > Zemstvo liberals meet in Moscow and call for a constituent assembly

Far Right.
==Mar.09 > The reactionary Moscow News editor Gringmut calls for conservatives to organize against the revolution - ~he establishes the Monarchist Party

Left-wing violence.Socialist Revolutionaries.
==Mar.11 > In St. Petersburg, the leading SR terrorist Schweitzer accidentally blows himself up while making bombs

Economy.
==mid.Mar > ~Strikes are adversely affecting the Russian economy

Liberals.Peasants.
==mid.Mar-Jul.--- (OS) > The Czar’s invitation for suggestions from citizens is setting off waves of liberal meetings and petition drives - numerous rural petitions flood the capital: the peasants are growing politicized

Liberals.
Unions of liberal professionals begin to appear:
==Mar.16-17 > A journalists’ union is formed
==Apr.03-06 > A physicians’ union is formed
==Apr.10-12 > A lawyers’ union is formed
==May.05-07 > An engineers’ union is formed - see May.21-22

Liberals.
==Mar.29 > The celebrated composer Rimsky-Korsakov is sacked from the St. Petersburg Conservatory for supporting protesting students - on Apr.09, the performance of one of his operas in St. Petersburg erupts into a political demonstration

Socialist Revolutionaries.
==Mar.29-30 > The St. Petersburg terrorist SR Combat Organization is arrested

Education.Far Left.
==Mar.31 > The government sanctions closing the universities to Aug. - students swell the ranks of the radical activists

Right-wing violence.
==Mar.--- > The first reports of outrages by reactionary ‘Black Hundreds’ mobs

Peasant Unrest.
==Mar.--- > Rural disorders spread to the central and northwestern regions of European Russia

Jews.
==Mar.--- > A conference of Russian Jews at Vilna issues demands for reforms

Ethnic.Ukraine.
==Mar.--- > The Academy of Sciences recognizes Ukrainian as a separate language, encouraging Ukrainian nationalists

Czarist Regime.
==Apr.02 > Conservative courtier Bobrinsky writes “The Czar... sleeps on a volcano.”

Far Left.
==Apr.02 > Father Gapon chairs a revolutionary conference in Geneva, which is secretly sponsored by Japanese intelligence chief Akashi, who has been given ¥1,000,000 by the Japanese government to subvert Russia - the meeting is boycotted by the Bolsheviks and the Jewish Bund

Liberals.
==Apr.07-10 > The Third Congress of the Union of Liberation demands broad reform

Labor Unrest.
==Apr.21 > The first major local strike erupts on the Odessa docks - rising labor unrest in Odessa  (see Jun.12)

Peasant Unrest.Czarist Regime.
==Apr.23 > The government orders the establishment of local commissions to suppress peasant revolts - ~harsh repression fails to stem rural unrest

Women.
==Apr.23 > The first congress of the Union of Women’s Equality meets in St. Petersburg, attended by the Marxist feminist Alexandra Kollontai

Bolsheviks.
==Apr.25-May.10 > The Bolshevik-controlled Third Party Congress meets in London: it advocates armed revolt by the workers and the seizing of land by the peasants - an offer by the German socialists to mediate the split with the Mensheviks is rejected

Mensheviks.
==late.Apr. > A Menshevik Congress in Geneva advocates local seizures of power

Far Left.
==end.Apr. > Japan funds gunrunning for Russian revolutionaries

Labor.Czarist Regime.
==Apr.28 > The government revokes its unenforceable anti-strike decrees

Religion.Czarist Regime.
==Apr.30 > The government pledges religious toleration, and allows Russians to leave the Orthodox Church without penalties

Far Right.
==Apr.--- (OS) > ~Reactionary groups begin appearing throughout Russia to the summer - the Fatherland Party, the Union of Russian Men, and many others are established

Labor.
==Apr.--- (OS) > The All-Russian Union of Railroad Employees and Workers is established - workers begin illegally forming labor unions

Liberals.
==Apr.--- > Liberal leader Milyukov returns to Russia from a teaching stint at the University of Chicago

Rasputin.
==spring > Rasputin is introduced into the highest levels of St. Petersburg society

Education.Far Left.
==spring > Unrest at Orthodox seminaries

Ethnic.
==spring > Anti-Russian nationalism is on the rise among ethnic minorities

Socialist Revolutionaries.
==spring > The SR agrarian terrorist faction is crippled by arrests

Left-wing violence.Baltic.
==spring > Terrorist ‘combat detachments’ have formed in nearly every sizable town in the Russian Baltic

Right-wing violence.Jews.
==early.May. > Three days of street fighting erupt between Black Hundreds and Jews in Zhitomir

Liberals.Moderates.
==May.05 > The Second Zemstvo Congress meets in Moscow without government permission and issues demands for a legislature - the zemstvo movement splits: Shipov and a moderate-conservative minority break with the liberal majority - on Jun.06-07, a Coalition Congress fails to repair the rift

Bolsheviks.
==mid.May > In exile in France, Lenin enjoys a performance of The Legs of Paris at the Folies Bergeres

Liberals.
==May.21-22 (May.08-09.OS) > The Union of Unions is organized in Moscow as a federation of the left-liberal professional unions, dominated by Milyukov

Bolsheviks.Press.
==late.May > The Bolshevik paper Proletary begins publication in Geneva

Liberals.
==May.26 > The progressive industrialist Savva Morozov commits suicide

Russo-Japanese War.
==May.27-28 (May.14-15.OS) > The Russian Baltic Fleet is annihilated off Japan in the Battle of Tsushima: Russian naval power is destroyed

Labor.
==May.28 > The first soviet (workers' council) is formed, in Ivanovo to coordinate a local textile strike, at the suggestion of a government factory inspector

Labor.Czarist Regime.
==May.29 > The Kokovtsov Commission begins formal hearings on labor reform - ~the hearings soon collapse when industrialists walk out in protest against the reform proposals

Socialist Revolutionaries.Maximalists.
==May.--- (OS) > The extreme left SR Maximalists begin to formulate their ‘communalist’ program

Left-wing violence.Socialist Revolutionaries.
==May.--- > The Governor of Ufa is assassinated by the SR

Peasants.
==May.--- (OS) > A Peasants’ Congress is held in Moscow: urged by the government to support the war effort, it instead calls for the establishment of a Peasants’ Union

Labor.Far Left.
==late.spring. > ~The socialist RSDRP is penetrating the newly formed labor unions

Liberals.
==late.spring. > ~Liberals are turning from reformist petitions to mass agitation

Czarist Regime.
==Jun.02 > The Czar learns the details of the Tsushima defeat - ~angry public response, with bitter press attacks on the government

Czarist Regime.
==Jun.03 > The reactionary Trepov is named Assistant Interior Minister, with full control of the police; he is described as an “unofficial dictator” by Witte

Liberals.
==Jun.05-29 > The St. Petersburg Municipal Council endorses political reform - on Jun.06, the Moscow City Council calls for reform - on Jun.29, the Congress of City Councils in Moscow demands an elected legislature and civil liberties

International.
==Jun.10 > German Chief of Staff Schlieffen assesses Russian forces as “...incapable of standing up to another army...”

Labor Unrest.
==Jun.12 > Labor unrest in Odessa turns violent  (see Jun.25)

Czarist violence.Labor Unrest.
==Jun.16-24 > Strike violence in Ivanovo: 28 women and children are killed

Liberals.Czarist Regime.
==Jun.19 > The Czar meets with liberals for the first time: S. N. Trubetskoy’s zemstvo delegation urges the formation of a popularly elected legislature to avoid a revolution - the Czar responds “Cast away your doubts,” and pledges to call an assembly

Labor Unrest.
==Jun.22-24 (Jun.09-11.OS) > Vicious street fighting in Lodz in Russian Poland - a renewed outburst of labor unrest throughout the Empire - chaos in Russia to Aug.

Liberals.
==Jun.25-28 > A Nobles’ Conference calls for an elected assembly

Mutiny.Labor Unrest.
==Jun.25 > The battleship Potemkin leaves Sebastopol for gunnery practice east of Odessa
==Jun.25 > Widespread industrial strikes sweep Odessa, as the situation grows out of control
==Jun.26 > Large scale rioting begins in Odessa

European Relations.
==Jun.27 > The French military attaché in St. Petersburg reports that Russian Chief of Staff Sakharov has said “If we were to get into a war with Germany...there would be nothing for us to do but kneel down and beg for mercy.”

Mutiny.Labor Unrest.Czarist violence.
The Potemkin Mutiny and chaos in Odessa:
==Jun.27 (Jun.14.OS) > The Potemkin Mutiny: the crew shoots most of the officers and seizes the battleship [100-300.PM] - the ship arrives in riot-torn Odessa [1000.PM]
==Jun.28-29 (Jun.15-16.OS) > Extreme violence explodes in Odessa: the Potemkin displays a mutineer’s corpse on the Odessa quay, threatens to shell the town, and becomes the focal point for local unrest [morning] - martial law proclaimed in Odessa [morning] - Cossack troops slaughter hundreds of protesters on the Odessa Steps [afternoon] - mobs riot near the Odessa docks [500.PM]; the government responds with a violent pogrom against local Jews - troops massacre thousands of demonstrators at the Odessa docks [Jun.29, early AM], crushing the uprising - one quarter of the city has burned
==Jun.30 > The crews of the Black Sea Fleet cheer the Potemkin in an encounter off Odessa [afternoon]; the battleship George the Conqueror briefly joins the mutiny - ~the government temporarily deactivates the Black Sea Fleet
==Jul.01-02 > Further mutinies in the Black Sea Fleet fizzle - the Potemkin flees from Odessa
==Jul.08 > The battleship Potemkin surrenders to Romanian authorities at Constanta

Liberals.
==Jun.--- (OS) > The Second Congress of the Union of Unions - the liberal leader Milyukov has converted to revolutionism, saying “All means are now legitimate against... the present government” - he prepares for a general strike

Ethnic.Ukraine.
==Jun.--- > A congress of Ukrainian nationalists demands autonomy

Far Left.Baltic.
==Jun.--- > A Lithuanian Socialist Congress calls for a democratic Russian federation

Military.
==Jun.--- > The ineffective State Defense Council is established under Grand Duke Nicholas - the General Staff is independent of the War Ministry until 1908

Peasant Unrest.
==early.summer > The harvest is again failing - the start of truly serious peasant unrest: 492 incidents in Jun. alone, with full-scale attacks on estates

Far Right.Czarist Regime.Liberals.
==Jul.03-04 > The receptive Czar meets with conservatives opposed to a democratic assembly; he reneges on his pledges of Jun.19 - ~liberals abandon conciliation and move closer to the revolutionary left

Left-wing violence.Socialist Revolutionaries.
==Jul.11 > The SR assassinates Shuvalov, the Military Governor of Moscow

Liberals.
==Jul.19 > A joint Zemstvo-City Council conference meets in Moscow in defiance of the government - it draws up a draft constitution and calls for mass agitation

Labor.
==Jul.22 > St. Petersburg workers strike to commemorate Bloody Sunday

Right-wing violence.Jews.
==Jul.23 > A pogrom in Kiev kills 100 Jews

Labor Unrest.Crime.
==Jul.23-24 > Moscow workers attack a thieves’ den - ~the rise of vigilante activity in response to spreading lawlessness

European Relations.
==Jul.24 (Jul.11.OS) > The Björkö Treaty: without consulting his advisers, the Czar secretly signs an impromptu German-Russian alliance that is handed to him by the Kaiser, when they meet while yachting on the Baltic [morning]

Education.Mensheviks.
==Jul.29 > The Menshevik paper Iskra urges students to abandon their academic strike in Sep. and to use the universities for mass agitation   (see Sep.09)

Labor.
==Jul.31 > The disciplined Ivanovo strike collapses

Left-wing violence.Socialist Revolutionaries.
==Jul.--- > Increasing SR attacks on police

Right-wing violence.Press.
==Jul.--- (OS) > The reactionary Moscow News applauds the rise of right-wing violence

Bolsheviks.
==Jul.--- (OS) > Lenin’s Tactics of Social Democracy argues that workers and peasants must be “prepared” before they can assume revolutionary leadership - Lenin formulates the idea of a “dictatorship of the proletariat”, centralized rule by a Marxist party to consolidate a socialist revolution
==summer > Lenin predicts a cataclysmic Russian revolution which “sets Europe in flames, and then...?”

Left-wing violence.
==summer > The revolutionaries’ first attempts at organizing bomb factories

Peasant Unrest.Baltic.
==summer > Bloody clashes in Latvia between peasants and landowners’ forces approaches civil war

Peasant Unrest.Ukraine.Caucasus.
==summer > Peasant unrest spreads to the southwest Ukraine and to the Caucasus

Czarist Regime.Duma.
==Aug.01-08 > An Imperial Conference at the Peterhof works on a system for electing a Duma (legislature)

Labor.
==Aug.04-06 > The Second Railroad Union Congress authorizes its leaders to call a general strike if necessary

Russo-Japanese War.
==Aug.09-Sep.05 > Japanese-Russian peace talks are held at Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Count Witte heads the Russian delegation

Peasants.
==Aug.13-14 > The Peasants’ Union is organized at a secret Moscow conference

Right-wing violence.Jews.
==Aug.14 > A pogrom in Bialystok kills sixty Jews

Liberals.Czarist Regime.
==mid.Aug. > The government briefly arrests the leaders of the Union of Unions

Czarist Regime.Duma.
==Aug.19 > A Czarist manifesto proposes a weak, consultative Duma elected by a limited franchise - the ‘Bulygin Constitution’ fails to satisfy liberals

Mensheviks.
==Aug.--- (OS) > The Mensheviks propose that factory strike councils combine to form broad-based soviets

Ethnic.Central Asia.
==Aug.--- > The Moslem League is established at Nizhni Novgorod

Ethnic.Siberia.
==Aug.--- > Buryat Mongols hold a congress in Irkutsk - ~until 1906, Russian Mongols effectively rule themselves and ignore the central government

Peasant Unrest.
==late.summer > Peasant unrest briefly tapers off during the harvest

Mutiny.Siberia.
==late.summer > ~Numerous minor mutinies by troops returning from the war in Manchuria on the Trans-Siberian railroad

Ethnic Unrest.Caucasus.
==Sep.02-08 > Very bloody Armenian-Azerbaijani riots erupt in Baku, Tiflis and Erivan; thousands are killed

Russo-Japanese War.
==Sep.05 (Aug.23.OS) > The Treaty of Portsmouth ends the Russo-Japanese War

Liberals.Moderates.
==Sep.05 > The Fourth Congress of the Union of Liberation - the zemstvo movement is splitting into factions that will soon evolve into the liberal Kadet Party and the moderate conservative Octobrist Party

Czarist Regime.Duma.
==early.Sep > The Solsky Commission considers the issue of an elected assembly

Far Left.
==early.Sep > An attempt by revolutionaries to smuggle weapons into Russia fails when the freighter John Grafton runs aground and blows up off of Finland

Socialist Revolutionaries.
==Sep.08 > The first denunciation of master-terrorist Azef as a police spy, in an anonymous letter, is disregarded by SR

Education.Far Left.
Schools become radicalized (see Jul.29):
==Sep.09 > Trepov allows students the right to assemble on university campuses, and removes the police
==Sep.--- (OS) > A student congress in Vyborg decides to end student strikes and to adopt the Menshevik proposal to open the schools to mass agitation - ~the universities become centers of radical activity
==Oct.05 > The University of Moscow is closed to prevent political agitation
==mid.Oct. > Student unrest is sweeping seminaries and theological academies- wild agitation at the University of St. Petersburg

Czarist violence.
==Sep.11 > A bloody Cossack attack on socialist demonstration occurs in Tiflis

Bolsheviks.
==Sep.14 > Lenin writes: “We stand for permanent revolution.  We shall not stop halfway.”

Czarist Regime.
==Sep.17-Oct.01 > The Imperial family goes on a Baltic cruise

Left-wing violence.Baltic.
==Sep.20 > Latvian socialists attack the Riga central prison to spring one of their leaders

Liberals.
==Sep.25-28 > A Zemstvo Congress in Moscow rejects the proposed Bulygin Duma, and demands civil liberties and a responsible Duma elected by universal suffrage
==late.Sep. > At Kiev psychiatrists’ conference, Academician Bekhterev claims that the Czarist autocracy is stunting the mental development of Russians; he receives loud applause

Czarist Regime.
==Sep.28 > Count Witte returns to Russia

Bolsheviks.Mensheviks.
==Sep.--- > Local Bolshevik and Menshevik organizations in Russia begin reuniting, ignoring contrary orders from their central committees

Peasant Unrest.
==Sep.--- > Mass peasant revolts break out in the Volga region
==Sep.--- (OS) > The Russian Union of Landowners publicly agitates for a tough government response to peasant unrest