I normally think of the Edwardian era as time of culture, literature, science, medicine and peace. But 1905 began with a series of strikes and demonstrations in the Russian streets. In Jan a protest march in St Petersburg was led by a workers’ organisation, the Assembly of Russian Factory and Plant Workers. c200,000 marchers moved to the Winter Palace to present petitions to the Tsar, but soon 1,000 protestors lay shot dead that Bloody Sunday. Anger spread throughout Russia with more strikes and marches. In March the universities were shut down by radicals. In July, sailors on the battleship Potemkin mutinied in Odessa and avoided death only when the firing squad seized the ship instead. Odessa’s citizens turned out to support the sailors and many were massacred on the steps leading to the wharf.
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In St Petersburg Leon Trotsky set up a Soviet Workers’ Council to organise opposition to the Tsar. But Trotsky and his supporters were soon imprisoned. A revolutionary spirit arose, but it lacked the necessary central organisation to overthrow the government. After the limited reforms of 1905 when a political amnesty was granted, Lenin briefly returned to Russia from Geneva, then left again when the Tsarists cracked down on dissidents.
Any protest was met with a brutal response and anti-Semitic pogroms increased. In Odessa c2,500 Jews were killed in a single day; Kishinev had two pogroms; in Mariupol, 21 Jews died and their shops were destroyed.
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In late 1905 the mystic Grigori Rasputin (1869–1916) was introduced by the Tsar's cousins and quickly became a trusted advisor to Emperor Nicholas II and a loved confidante to his Empress. Rasputin used his miraculous faith-healing powers in the Romanov family home.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) and Mileva Marićmarried in 1903 and had their first son in 1904 in Switzerland. But it was 1905 that was a frantic, miracle year for the young scientist. He published four papers, formulated the theory of special relativity and explained the photo-electric effect. In April he worked on the special theory of relativity. He published his paper "On a heuristic viewpoint concerning the production and transformation of light" in May. Here he explained the photo-electric effect and submitted his doctoral dissertation On the Motion of Small Particles.
In June Einstein published an article On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies where he publicly revealed his theory of special relativity. He soon submitted his paper "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?" Albert Einstein never won a Nobel prize for the theory of relativity. Instead, when he was given the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics, he received it for his explanation of the photoelectric effect. But note he developed both his theories in the same year: 1905.
By the late 1890s movies could be projected onto a screen. In 1896 the Edison Company launched the era of commercial movies. The earliest vaudeville theatre owners had to purchase films from factories via mail order, rather than renting them, which made it expensive to change shows often. Then in 1905 c450 people attended the world's first nickelodeon, in Pittsburgh Penn. Developed by showman Harry Davis, the storefront theatre had 96 seats and charged each patron only 5c to see the silent film The Great Train Robbery. The first nickelodeon could offer both live vaudeville acts and short films, so others quickly set up in converted shopfronts, with flashy posters and ornate facades to attract patrons. Nickelodeons remained the main outlet for films from 1905 on.
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In 1905 it was decided by the Viceroy of India Lord Curzon that the 80 million people of Bengal would be partitioned i.e the Muslim majority eastern areas would be separated from the Hindu majority western areas. The Hindus of West Bengal were furious at what they believed was a divide and rule policy, where the colonising Britons turned the native population against itself for overall control and administrative ease. There was a growing belief among Hindus that East Bengal would have its own legal system.
Partition also created a sense of political awareness among the Muslims of East Bengal, leading to creation of fervent Islamic nationalism. So it didn’t last. In order to appease the Hindus, Bengal was reunited by Lord Hardinge in Dec 1911 but the Muslims were indignant. The administrative capital of British India was moved from Calcutta to New Delhi and the entire experience predicted a tragic future for partition.
Albert Einstein 1905
In St Petersburg Leon Trotsky set up a Soviet Workers’ Council to organise opposition to the Tsar. But Trotsky and his supporters were soon imprisoned. A revolutionary spirit arose, but it lacked the necessary central organisation to overthrow the government. After the limited reforms of 1905 when a political amnesty was granted, Lenin briefly returned to Russia from Geneva, then left again when the Tsarists cracked down on dissidents.
Any protest was met with a brutal response and anti-Semitic pogroms increased. In Odessa c2,500 Jews were killed in a single day; Kishinev had two pogroms; in Mariupol, 21 Jews died and their shops were destroyed.
Bloody Sunday 1905
St Petersburg
Tsar Nicholas II had to head off a revolution. He promised to allow the creation of a state Duma-assembly but the proposed Duma limitations led to further protests. In Oct 1905 a general strike was called. Reluctantly Nicholas drafted the October Manifesto, a series of proposed reform measures that granted civil rights, free political parties, universal voting provisions and the establishment of the Duma as the national assembly.
In late 1905 the mystic Grigori Rasputin (1869–1916) was introduced by the Tsar's cousins and quickly became a trusted advisor to Emperor Nicholas II and a loved confidante to his Empress. Rasputin used his miraculous faith-healing powers in the Romanov family home.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) and Mileva Marićmarried in 1903 and had their first son in 1904 in Switzerland. But it was 1905 that was a frantic, miracle year for the young scientist. He published four papers, formulated the theory of special relativity and explained the photo-electric effect. In April he worked on the special theory of relativity. He published his paper "On a heuristic viewpoint concerning the production and transformation of light" in May. Here he explained the photo-electric effect and submitted his doctoral dissertation On the Motion of Small Particles.
In June Einstein published an article On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies where he publicly revealed his theory of special relativity. He soon submitted his paper "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?" Albert Einstein never won a Nobel prize for the theory of relativity. Instead, when he was given the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics, he received it for his explanation of the photoelectric effect. But note he developed both his theories in the same year: 1905.
By the late 1890s movies could be projected onto a screen. In 1896 the Edison Company launched the era of commercial movies. The earliest vaudeville theatre owners had to purchase films from factories via mail order, rather than renting them, which made it expensive to change shows often. Then in 1905 c450 people attended the world's first nickelodeon, in Pittsburgh Penn. Developed by showman Harry Davis, the storefront theatre had 96 seats and charged each patron only 5c to see the silent film The Great Train Robbery. The first nickelodeon could offer both live vaudeville acts and short films, so others quickly set up in converted shopfronts, with flashy posters and ornate facades to attract patrons. Nickelodeons remained the main outlet for films from 1905 on.
Detroit nickelodeon, 1905
Nickelodeons drastically altered the leisure-time habits of Americans, showing continuous performances of short films. Called disreputable by some municipal agencies, the crude, ill-ventilated nickelodeons with hard wooden seats were replaced later by more comfortably furnished theatres.
With the start of Canadian Confederation in 1867, only four provinces emerged - Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Whereas in Australia all the states were federated on the same day, in Canada the rest of the provinces came on board in different years: 1870: Manitoba, NW Territories; 1871: British Columbia; 1873: Prince Edward Island; 1898: Yukon; 1905: Alberta, Saskatchewan; 1949: Newfoundland and Labrador; and 1999: Nunavut.
With the start of Canadian Confederation in 1867, only four provinces emerged - Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Whereas in Australia all the states were federated on the same day, in Canada the rest of the provinces came on board in different years: 1870: Manitoba, NW Territories; 1871: British Columbia; 1873: Prince Edward Island; 1898: Yukon; 1905: Alberta, Saskatchewan; 1949: Newfoundland and Labrador; and 1999: Nunavut.
The two Canadian provinces that were
confederated in 1905
Note that the original borders of Yukon Territory were changed, gaining area from the North-West Territories. Importantly for us the economy of the southern areas had changed. From just fur, Alberta and Saskatchewan now included farming, logging, mining and railway. Many people were arriving, people who believed they deserved the same kind of government and services as in other provinces. In 1905, Alberta and Saskatchewan were carved out of the NW Territories and confederated.
Fauvist artists presented their first Paris exhibit at 1905 Salon d'Automne, displaying their lurid colours and wild execution. Henri Matisse’s portrait of his wife showed her with a face blotched with colours under a bright hairdo, as well as a giant purple hat and feathers. André Derain’s portrait of Matisse had half the face in coloured streaks in the beard, while Maurice de Vlaminck’s trees were blazing pink.
Fauvist artists presented their first Paris exhibit at 1905 Salon d'Automne, displaying their lurid colours and wild execution. Henri Matisse’s portrait of his wife showed her with a face blotched with colours under a bright hairdo, as well as a giant purple hat and feathers. André Derain’s portrait of Matisse had half the face in coloured streaks in the beard, while Maurice de Vlaminck’s trees were blazing pink.
Henri Matisse, 1905,
Woman with a Hat,
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
The Salon d’Automne had been established to encourage experimental artists, but the Fauve paintings worried the Salon’s liberal jury and shocked everyone else. Fortunately the hanging committee ensured that the Fauve entries were included, and that they were hung together, increasing their impact. Paris saloniers Leo and Gertrude Stein saw the Fauvist exhibition in Paris and bought up Matisses, thus encouraging Fauvism at a crucial point in their salon.
Partition of Bengal
press to expand image
Partition also created a sense of political awareness among the Muslims of East Bengal, leading to creation of fervent Islamic nationalism. So it didn’t last. In order to appease the Hindus, Bengal was reunited by Lord Hardinge in Dec 1911 but the Muslims were indignant. The administrative capital of British India was moved from Calcutta to New Delhi and the entire experience predicted a tragic future for partition.