Today in 1905, Russian Tsar Nicholas II's troops perpetrated the Bloody Sunday Massacre, gunning down at least 1,000 protesters. The bloodshed sparked the 1905 Revolution, which Vladimir Lenin dubbed "the great dress rehearsal" for the 1917 October Revolution.

By 1905, Russia was crumbling under Tsar Nicholas' catastrophic rule while socialist revolutionaries, including exiled Vladimir Lenin, organized to topple him.

With living standards becoming ever more miserable, on Jan 22, 150,000 industrial and textile workers, accompanied by their families and children, protested in St. Petersburg. They marched towards the tsar's Winter Palace to deliver a petition demanding reforms. The petition was written by Georgy Gapon, an Orthodox priest of Ukrainian origin.

As they approached the palace, they were met with a hail of bullets from the Imperial Troops. The police put the death toll at least 1,000, while anti-government critics said as many as 4,000 were killed.

Until the massacre, Gapon had put his faith in the tsar whom he had been petitioning to reform. After it, he called for full-scale revolution, saying: "Today a river of blood divides [the tsar] from the Russian people. It is time for the Russian workers to begin the struggle for the people’s freedom without him."

The massacre marked a turning point in Russian history, sparking a wave of strikes, protests, and insurrection that lasted more than two years and gave birth to the Bolshevik leadership. In late January 1905, more than 400,000 striking workers joined with the peasants and began organizing councils called soviets.

The tsar finally understood he would be unable to crush the rebellion with repression alone. In October he signed the October Manifesto promising civil liberties like freedom of speech and assembly, sapping the revolution's leverage. The strikes ended and the soviets' authority evaporated.

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