# Canonical recap data for Bloody Sunday in Russia (1905)
# Source: https://recap.at/1905/bloody-sunday-1905
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: bloody-sunday-1905
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1905/bloody-sunday-1905"
title: Bloody Sunday in Russia
aliases:
- Red Sunday
- 22 January 1905
- Winter Palace Massacre
subtitle: Cossack troops' massacre of peaceful workers in St. Petersburg sparked the 1905 Revolution and exposed the fragility of tsarist authority.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1905-01-09
datePrecision: day
year: 1905
decade: 1900
country:
name: Russia
slug: russia
summaryShort: Bloody Sunday, also known as Red Sunday, was the series of events on Sunday, 22 January [O.S. 9 January] 1905 in St Petersburg, Russia, when demonstrators, led by Father Georgy Gapon, were fired upon by soldiers of the Imperial Guard as they marched towards the Winter Palace to present a petition to Tsar Nicholas II.
summaryLong: Bloody Sunday, also known as Red Sunday, was the series of events on Sunday, 22 January [O.S. 9 January] 1905 in St Petersburg, Russia, when demonstrators, led by Father Georgy Gapon, were fired upon by soldiers of the Imperial Guard as they marched towards the Winter Palace to present a petition to Tsar Nicholas II.
lede: On January 22, 1905, Russian soldiers opened fire on thousands of unarmed workers marching toward the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to petition Tsar Nicholas II. The massacre killed over 100 people and shattered the myth of a benevolent tsar, igniting strikes and unrest that nearly toppled the autocracy.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/3b/Gapon_crowd_1905.jpg/330px-Gapon_crowd_1905.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Bloody Sunday (1905)"
importance: 84
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Date
  value: January 22, 1905 (January 9, 1905 Old Style calendar)
- label: Location
  value: St. Petersburg, Russia; march routed near Winter Palace
- label: Estimated deaths
  value: 130–200 killed; 800+ wounded
- label: March organizer
  value: Father Georgy Gapon, Orthodox priest
- label: Marchers
  value: Approximately 150,000 workers and families
- label: Responding force
  value: Imperial Guard regiments and regular army units
- label: Immediate consequence
  value: General strike spread to 122 Russian cities within days
- label: Petition demand
  value: 8-hour workday, higher wages, constituent assembly
timeline:
- date: 1904-12-22
  title: Strike begins at Putilov Works
  description: A labor dispute at St. Petersburg's largest factory escalates into a general strike affecting thousands of workers.
- date: 1905-01-19
  title: Gapon organizes petition march
  description: Father Georgy Gapon, leader of the Assembly of Russian Workers, finalizes plans for a peaceful march to present workers' demands to Tsar Nicholas II.
- date: 1905-01-22
  title: Bloody Sunday massacre
  description: Imperial Guard troops fire on the marching crowd near the Winter Palace. Multiple volleys kill an estimated 130–200 people and wound over 800.
- date: 1905-01-23
  title: General strike declared
  description: Workers across St. Petersburg walk out in response. By month's end, strikes spread to 122 cities and involve over 400,000 workers nationwide.
- date: 1905-02-04
  title: Grand Duke Sergei assassinated
  description: Socialist Revolutionary Dmitry Osipovich Bogrov bombs the uncle of Tsar Nicholas II, intensifying political turbulence triggered by Bloody Sunday.
- date: 1905-10-17
  title: October Manifesto issued
  description: Tsar Nicholas II grants civil liberties and promises an elected parliament (Duma) to quell revolutionary ferment that Bloody Sunday set in motion.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Sunday_(1905)"
  title: Bloody Sunday (Russia)
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: Bloody Sunday fractured the Russian social contract. The sight of Imperial Guards gunning down petitioners radicalized workers and intellectuals alike, transforming isolated labor grievances into a systemic challenge to tsarist rule and accelerating the revolutionary ferment that would culminate in 1917.
categories:
- war
- protest
taxonomy:
domain: social_movement
eventTypes:
- protest
- riot
- labor_uprising
canonicalClasses:
- conflict
- mobilization
- transformation
impactRadius: national
velocity: sudden
predictability: forecastable
intentionality: coordinated
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: birth
metaDescription: "January 22, 1905: Russian troops fire on unarmed workers marching to petition the tsar, killing over 100 and triggering nationwide strikes."
wikidataQid: Q185642
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260529130927/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Sunday_(1905)"
  capturedAt: 2026-05-29
  label: Bloody Sunday (Russia)
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Sunday_(1905)"
peoplesVoice:
- source: Father Georgy Gapon, Orthodox priest and labor organizer
  voiceType: official
  context: Gapon issued a statement immediately after the massacre, having narrowly escaped arrest himself.
  excerpt: They have fired on us without warning. We came in peace with our petition, and they answered with bullets. The Tsar has broken his covenant with the people.
  sentimentLabel: grieving
  significance: 88
  attribution: Statement to Russian press, January 1905
  publishedAt: 1905-01-23
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Count Sergei Witte, Russian Finance Minister
  voiceType: analyst
  context: Witte assessed the political fallout for the Imperial government within days of the shooting.
  excerpt: This tragic affair has shattered the last illusions of the working classes regarding the benevolence of the throne. The consequences will be severe and long.
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 75
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - private correspondence, late January 1905
  publishedAt: 1905-01-25
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Maxim Gorky, Russian writer and social critic
  voiceType: media
  context: Gorky penned an open letter condemning the violence, which circulated in radical circles across Europe.
  excerpt: The Russian autocracy has written its death sentence in blood. No empire survives the massacre of its own petitioners.
  sentimentLabel: shocked
  significance: 82
  attribution: Open letter published in European socialist newspapers, February 1905
  publishedAt: 1905-02-01
  originalLanguage: en
- source: General Dmitry Trepov, Governor-General of St Petersburg
  voiceType: official
  context: Trepov justified the military action to the Tsar and court as a necessary measure to prevent revolutionary insurrection.
  excerpt: The crowd was armed and revolutionary. We acted to preserve order and protect the Winter Palace. Mercy to rebels is cruelty to the state.
  sentimentLabel: dismissive
  significance: 70
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - reports to Tsar Nicholas II, January 1905
  publishedAt: 1905-01-24
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Vladimir Lenin, Bolshevik revolutionary (in exile)
  voiceType: expert
  context: Lenin seized on Bloody Sunday as vindication of his revolutionary theory, writing from Geneva.
  excerpt: The scales have fallen from the eyes of the Russian workers. Peaceful petitions are finished. Now begins the era of armed struggle against tsarism.
  sentimentLabel: celebratory
  significance: 85
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Bolshevik pamphlets and correspondence, February 1905
  publishedAt: 1905-02-05
  originalLanguage: en
