Chapter 4. Defeat of the Revolution; Evaluation of the Jolt Toward the end of 1905, the French bourgeoisie decided in favor of the loan, and high finance granted it. This “blood transfusion” saved the moribund Czarist regime. In addition, the government succeeded in ending the war with a peace treaty which was not overly humiliating. From that point on, reaction took up where it had left off. Dangling a beautiful future before the eyes of the people, it fought and encircled the revolution. The Revolution would in any case have died on its own. The October strike was its supreme effort and its highest point. What it needed now was to take a “breath,” to “pause.” Furthermore, it could count on rebounding later on, perhaps under the stimulus given to it by a left-wing Duma. In the meantime, the freedoms which had been taken by the people and then promised post factum by the Czar in his Manifesto...