On 30 October 1905, Tsar Nicholas II issued the October Manifesto, a landmark decree that promised sweeping reforms in response to the intense social and political upheaval then roiling the Russian Empire.
Sparked by the Russo-Japanese War and Bloody Sunday, when peaceful demonstrators were massacred in St. Petersburg, mass strikes and uprisings demanded changes in Russia's autocratic rule.
The Manifesto granted citizens basic civil liberties, including freedom of speech, assembly, and association, and announced the establishment of the Duma, a legislative assembly intended to curb the monarchy's absolute power by allowing some representation of the Russian populace.
Although these reforms were seen as a victory by reformists and marked a shift towards a constitutional monarchy, resistance to real power-sharing by the Tsarist regime soon disappointed hopes for true democratic governance, setting the stage for the deeper revolutionary fervor that would follow in the coming decade.
