Tsar Nicholas II
The Tsar crowned as supreme ruler of Russia was in need of a new face, so in 1894 a new Tsar was crowned. Nicholas II became the new Tsar of Russia and was praised by many peasants upon his crowning, often referred to as ‘The Little Father of Russia’ he was seen as the saviour of the country but later throughout his reign he would be seen as a weak leader and a failure to the people. His upbringing would cause him to not agree with the necessary change and reform that the people needed, it would also cause him to believe in and absolutely commit towards the idea of the Tsar as autocrat making him the absolute ruler of Russia. With no help being accepted by Nicholas II from his ministry of advisors he would fail as the leader and incite the 1905 revolution as the consequences of his actions.
Bloody Sunday
Known as the most horrific day in Russian history when 200,000 peasants marched upon the Tsars palace but what made it worse was the cowardly actions of the Tsar, resulting in a massacre of his subjects. When lead by Father Gapon 200,000 peasants marched upon the Winter Palace in hopes of the Tsar reading and accepting their petition for better working conditions and hours along with a suitable wage. The Tsar feeling threated by these peasants fled the Winter Palace and left behind soldiers and his entrusted Cossacks to handle the situation that he deemed a threat to his rule, when in fact many of the peasants held pictures of Tsar Nicholas II to show respect for him. Without acknowledging the requests of the peasants, the soldiers and Cossacks opened fire on the peasants killing up to 200 innocent people. In this, event the Tsar lost the respect and the support of the peasants and Father Gapon. Bloody Sunday was one of the first events to instigate the thoughts of a revolution in Russia. 
Referring to the petition offered by Father Gapon it states that the peasants think of the Tsar as ‘Lord’, supporting this he was also known as the “Little Father of Russia’. “Lord, to seek truth, justice and protection from you” (Walsh, GSCE Modern World History 2nd Edition, 2001). 
War on Japan After the events of Bloody Sunday the Tsar made the decision to declare war on Russia proclaiming that it would be an easy win due to the Japanese being an inferior race to the Russians. He had hoped that this war would make everyone forget about the embarrassment and humiliation that had been bestowed upon him from the events of the massacre, along with those ideas of making everyone forget about Bloody Sunday he had wanted to distract everyone and bring all subjects together in a rally for the war bringing the nation together in hopes of crushing all thoughts about the people revolting against him which would lead to him losing power and a revolution coming upon the country. Other ideas and reasons he had for the war, were that he wanted to capture Japan and make it a trade port for Russia, allowing them to trade in the Far East during the winter months when their ports were frozen over. And expand Russia’s reach to Japan for economic expansion from the result of trying to pursue an “expansionist policy” (Walsh, GSCE Modern World History 2nd Edition, 2001) showing Russia’s dominance to the world.
Russia would march upon Japan February 8th 1904. Attacked by surprise from the Japanese 3 hours before Tsar Nicholas II had received Japans declaration of war would cause a fatal loss of Port Arthur later during the war on January 2nd 1905 by the surrender of the Tsar’s general Anatoly Stessel. Russia would come to lose the war in Japan as the Tsar was not prepared for such an inferior race in his eyes to be so strong, his troops were ill prepared and ill equipped. Believing they had won the war before it even began the Tsar and