Russia in the mid-19th century is surprisingly close to us. The crisis of the empire, caused by the raw-material nature of the economy, the degeneration of the "elite" and the theft of the bureaucracy, unrest in society. Then they tried to save Russia with great reforms from above.
After the defeat in the Crimean (Eastern) War of 1853 - 1856. Russia has entered a period of dangerous crisis. The war showed Russia's dangerous military-technical lag behind the advanced powers of Europe. Until recently, the seemingly invincible "gendarme of Europe" who, after the victory over the empire of Napoleon and the appearance of Russian troops in Paris, was the leading power in the world, turned out to be a colossus with feet of clay.
The West threw soldiers with long-range rifles, steam propeller ships and the first battleships against Russia. The Russian soldier and sailor was forced to fight with smooth-bore guns, sailing ships and a small number of paddle steamers. The Russian generals proved to be inert and incapable of waging a modern war. Innovators like Admirals Nakhimov and Kornilov were in the minority. The bureaucracy was unable to organize a full supply of the army. Poor supplies inflicted losses on the army as much as the enemy. Theft and corruption reached large proportions, paralyzing the empire. The transport infrastructure was not ready for war. Tsarist diplomacy ruined the pre-war period by placing too much trust in Western "partners". Russia found itself alone in the face of the "world community." The result is defeat.
It should be noted that the crisis of the Romanov empire was largely caused by the raw material nature of the country's economy. That is, the current crisis of the raw material economy of Russia ("pipes") is somewhat similar to the crisis of the Russian Empire. Only now Russia is mainly dependent on oil and gas exports, and the Russian Empire on agricultural products.
In the first half of the 19th century, Russia exported timber, flax, hemp, tallow, wool, bristles, etc. England accounted for up to a third of Russian imports and about half of exports. Also, Russia was the main supplier of grain (mainly wheat) to Europe. It accounted for more than two thirds of European grain imports. Russia was embedded in the emerging world economy in dependent roles. That is, Russia was then an agricultural appendage of a rapidly developing Europe, where industrialization was underway. At the same time, the agricultural sector in Russia has traditionally been technologically backward, and grain production was highly dependent on natural factors. Agriculture could not bring large capital, which led to a gradual dependence on international (Western) capital.
Since the time of the first Romanovs, and especially Peter the Great, the Europeanization of Russia took place. And in economic terms, it was carried out. Petersburg needed goods and money from the West. The higher the position of the social stratum, the more the degree of its connection with Europe. Russia entered the European system as a raw material appendage, a supplier of cheap resources. As a consumer of expensive European products (luxury goods and industrial goods). As a result, the entire country became dependent on such a semi-colonial system. The state met the raw materials needs of Europe and depended on it. In exchange, the "elite" got the opportunity to live "beautifully", "like in the West." Many noble "Europeans" even preferred to live not in Ryazan or Pskov, but in Rome, Venice, Paris, Berlin and London. Hence the Europeanism of St. Petersburg, immersion in common European affairs, to the detriment of civilizational, national tasks, the need for internal development and movement to the South and East. As we can see, the modern Russian Federation "stepped on the same rake." And the revival of the glorious traditions of the Romanov empire, “spiritual bonds”, on the basis of the semi-colonial model, is the path to a new catastrophe, confusion.
Thus, the semi-colonial, raw-material model of the economy prevailed. As a result - chronic backwardness, a dependent position of Russia in the world economy, an increasing technological (and, accordingly, military) gap from the leading powers of the West. Plus the consistent degradation of the westernized elite, dreaming of living "like in the West", which allegedly was hindered by tsarism and the Russian autocracy. The catastrophe of 1917 was becoming inevitable
However, this semi-colonial model began to falter. Suddenly, strong and energetic competitors appeared, which accepted to squeeze Russia out of its economic niche in the world market. Since the middle of the 19th century, raw materials and foodstuffs have been actively imported to Europe from the USA, Latin America, South Africa, India, Australia and Canada. Now cargo was carried not only by sailboats, but also by steamers. They brought in wheat, meat, timber, rice, metals, etc. And all these goods were cheaper than the Russians, despite the high transport costs. This has become a threat to the Russian "elite". Romanov's Russia was deprived of a profitable and stable existence.
Moreover, our Western "partners" were not asleep. For a thousand years, the masters of the West waged a war with Russian civilization, it was a war of annihilation - this is the essence of the "Russian question". The Russian autocracy hindered the West. Thus, Russian tsars have repeatedly shown conceptual independence, will and determination. Thus, during the reign of Tsar Nicholas I, Russia did not want to be trailed in the tail of the policy of the then "command post" of the Western project - England. Nikolai pursued a protectionist policy, defended the domestic industry with the help of customs tariffs. London, on the other hand, during the 19th century, repeatedly resorted to military and political pressure on various countries to conclude a free trade agreement. After that, the "workshop of the world" (England was the first to industrialize) crushed the weak economies of other countries, seized their markets, turned their economies into dependent on the metropolis. For example, England supported the uprising in Greece, and other national liberation movements in the Ottoman Empire, which culminated in the signing of a free trade agreement in 1838, which granted Britain the most favored nation treatment and exempted the import of British goods from customs duties and taxes. This led to the collapse of the Turkish weak industry and to the fact that Turkey found itself in economic and political dependence on England. The same goal had the opium war of Great Britain with China, which ended with the signing of the same treaty with it in 1842, etc. The Russophobic campaign in England on the eve of the Crimean War had the same character. Amid cries of "Russian barbarism" that must be fought against, London struck a blow at Russian industrial protectionism. It is not surprising that already in 1857, less than a year after the end of the Crimean War, a liberal customs tariff was introduced in Russia, which reduced Russian customs duties to a minimum.
It is clear that England had considerations of a military-strategic nature. London was worried about the spread of Russian influence in the Balkans and the Caucasus - the sphere of influence of the Turkish Empire, which entered a period of degradation and collapse. The Russians and Turkey pressed, and looked more and more closely at Central Asia, resolved the issue of the final conquest of the Caucasus - and behind them was Persia, Mesopotamia, India, the coast of warm seas. Russia had not yet sold Russian America and had every chance of hegemony in the North Pacific. The Russians could take leading positions in Japan, Korea and China. And this is already a Russian project of globalization! A challenge to the western project of enslaving humanity!
Therefore, they decided to put Russia in its place. At first, the British tried to reason with Petersburg verbally. British Prime Minister Robert Peel, in a conversation with the Russian envoy Brunnov, argued that “Russia by nature itself was created to be an agricultural, not a manufacturing country. Russia should have factories, but it should not artificially bring them to life through the constant patronage of the domestic industry …”. As we can see, the policy of the West and domestic Russian Westernizers has not changed for more than a century and a half. Russia was assigned the role of a raw materials appendage, a semi-colony, a market for Western goods.
However, the government of Nicholas I did not want to heed these words. Then London provoked another war with Turkey, where the Turks again acted as "cannon fodder" of the West. Then the Russian-Turkish war developed into the Eastern one - a rehearsal of the world war. The combined forces of the French, British, Italians and Turks came up against Russia. Austria-Hungary began to threaten Russia with war, and Prussia took a position of cold neutrality. Russia was left completely alone, against the then "world community". In London, plans were made to secede from Russia Finland, the Baltic States, the Kingdom of Poland, Ukraine, Crimea and the Caucasus, transferring part of our lands to Prussia and Sweden. They were going to cut off Russia from the Baltic and Black Seas. And this is long before Hitler and 1991! Only the heroism of Russian soldiers and sailors, officers in Sevastopol saved Russia from unconditional surrender and dismemberment, the loss of lands that the Russians had been collecting for centuries.
However, we suffered military and political defeat. Sovereign Nicholas I died (possibly committed suicide or was poisoned). The empire found itself in a deep crisis, its spirit was undermined. The war showed that Russia lagged dangerously behind in the area of military technology; that there are no railways for the rapid movement of troops and supplies; that instead of an efficient state apparatus, there is a bulky, rotten bureaucracy eaten away by corruption; instead of advanced industry - serf agriculture and semi-serf factories of the Urals with old technologies; instead of a self-sufficient economy - a semi-colonial, dependent economy. Even Russian agriculture, which is highly dependent on natural conditions, was inferior to competitors, which were in obviously the best natural and climatic conditions. And for grain production, this is a decisive factor. The great powers of the West harshly "lowered" Russia, which was saved from complete collapse only by the heroic self-sacrifice of the defenders of Sevastopol.
It seemed that Romanov's Russia had exhausted itself. Ahead is only the extinction and disintegration of the empire. However, the Russian Empire once again roused itself, made a leap and surprised the whole world. From 1851 to 1914, the empire's population grew from 69 million to 166 million. Russia was then second only to China and India in terms of population. Russians entered the 20th century as a passionate people full of strength and energy. The annual growth rates of the industry were also impressive. They were higher than in all developed countries of the world at that time. Which, in general, is not surprising - Russia was too backward and undeveloped at the start of this economic breakthrough. In 1888 - 1899 the average annual growth rate was 8%, and in 1900 - 1913. - 6, 3%. Agriculture, metallurgy, and the forestry sector were especially fast progressing, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and the chemical industry were developing well. The most outstanding achievement of the Russian Empire was railway construction. If in 1850 the country had slightly more than 1.5 thousand kilometers of railways, then by 1917 the length of railways reached 60 thousand kilometers. Russia in terms of the length of the railway network came out on the second place in the world after the USA. The Treasury spared no money on the railways, financing them both directly and through guarantees to investors. Many financial speculators have become very wealthy on the Russian railways.
The well-being of the people also grew. For 1880 - 1913 workers' earnings more than quadrupled, and deposits in savings banks and banks grew three and a half times. Urban incomes have approached Western standards. The problem was that Russia remained a peasant country until the end of 1917. The Russian countryside as a whole was mired in poverty. The abolition of serfdom only intensified social stratification in the countryside, led to the separation of a stratum of prosperous peasantry (kulaks). On average, a Russian peasant was 1, 5 - 2 poorer than his counterpart in France or Germany. This is not surprising, because production in the agrarian region in the West was much higher than ours. Also, the Russian peasant until 1917 had to pay redemption payments, which took most of their income. However, the abolition of serfdom still improved things in the agrarian sphere. For the first time in three hundred years, the yield has grown. In good years, Russia provided up to 40% of world grain exports.
Zemsky reforms of the 1860s - 1870s brought noticeable successes in the development of public education and health care. At the beginning of the 20th century, universal and free primary education was introduced in the country. The number of literate people in the cities of the European part of Russia has reached half of the population. The number of high school students and students grew steadily. Moreover, higher education in Russia was much cheaper than in the West, and poor students were exempted from fees and received scholarships. The education was of a very high quality. Science and culture were of a high level, as evidenced by a whole galaxy of outstanding Russian scientists, writers, and artists. And the society was much healthier, for example, the current one. The Russia of the Romanovs was sick, but there a person could get out to the top thanks to his mind, will, education, energetic work for the good of the Fatherland. Social elevators were working.
It seemed that the Russian Empire, thanks to the reforms of Alexander II and the protectionism of Alexander III, still got a good chance of survival. However, Russia's impressive leap became her death song. The Russian economic miracle of that era became a prerequisite for the terrible catastrophe of 1917, many years of turmoil. The point was that the then "miracle" was incomplete and uneven. Only halfway to a possible victory was passed, which only destabilized the situation in the empire. For example, the peasant, land issue has not been resolved. The peasants received freedom, but their land plots were significantly cut in favor of the landowners, and even forced to pay. The development of capitalist relations led to the disintegration and disintegration of the peasant community, which became another reason for the growth of social tension. Thus, the peasants did not wait for justice, which became the cause of the peasant war of 1917-1921, when the peasants opposed any power in general and in principle.
There was a serious lag behind the advanced countries of the West in industry. In Russia, the most important and advanced industries were either completely absent or were in their infancy: aviation, automobile, engine building, chemical, heavy engineering, radio engineering, optics, and the production of complex electrical equipment. The military-industrial complex was unevenly developed. All this will be created in the USSR during industrialization. The First World War will become a terrible lesson for the Russian Empire. In particular, a big war will show that Russia cannot mass-produce aircraft, a difficult situation with the production of heavy guns, ammunition, etc. For example, Germany had 1,348 aircraft in 1914, in 1917 there were already 19,646, France in the same years from 541 aircraft to 14,915. Russia, from 535 aircraft in 1914, was able to increase its fleet to 1897 in 1917. Russia will have to buy a lot from its allies, spending a lot of money and gold.
In terms of gross national product per capita, Russia was nine and a half times behind the United States, four and a half times behind England, and three and a half times behind Germany. In terms of power supply, our economy was tenfold inferior to the American one, and fourfold to the German one. Labor productivity was also inferior.
Health care was at a low level. In 1913, 12 million people were affected by cholera, diphtheria, scabies and anthrax in Russia. We had only 1.6 doctors per 10 thousand of the population. That is, four times less than in the United States, and 2, 7 times less than in Germany. In terms of infant mortality, we surpassed Western countries by 1, 7 - 3, 7 times. Expenditures on education grew and the number of students in all educational institutions in 1913 amounted to 9, 7 million people (60, 6 people per 1000). And in the United States studied 18, 3 million people, 190, 6 people per 1000 people. In Russia there were 1, 7 school teachers per 1000 inhabitants of the country, in the USA - 5, 4 teachers. Education, both then and now, was the most important driving force of the economy. In Russia there were only 8 universities, in Germany - 22, in France - 14. At the same time, higher education in the Russian Empire was one-sided: more priests, theologians, lawyers and philologists graduated from educational institutions than engineers and agronomists. The scourge of Russia was still the massive illiteracy of the population. There were 227-228 per thousand people who could read and write. This does not include Transcaucasia and Central Asia. At this time, France and Germany had over 90% of the literate population. England had 81% literacy. Only Portugal was more illiterate than us in Europe - 214 people out of 1000.
Agriculture was in a difficult situation. Nowadays, the myth of a well-fed and contented Russia dominates, which fed half the world with bread. Indeed, Russia exported a lot of grain. But at the expense of the peasants, due to the tough exploitation of the village, which from time to time starved. If the townspeople ate fairly well, then the village sat on a meager ration. The bread was exported because there were more peasants in Russia than all the farmers of the United States, Canada and Argentina combined. In addition, the main product was provided not by the village, where agrarian overpopulation and landlessness began, but by large estates. Labor productivity remained extremely low. The point is not only more severe than in Europe, the USA and southern countries, nature (long winters, frequent droughts or prolonged downpours), but also primitive agricultural technologies. More than half of the farms did not have plows, they managed as in the old days with plows. There were no mineral fertilizers. There were 152 tractors throughout Russia, for comparison, in the USA and Western Europe there were tens of thousands of them. Therefore, the Americans produced 969 kg of grain per capita, in Russia - 471 kg. The collection of own grain in France and Germany was 430 -440 kg per capita. However, they still bought bread, considering their harvests insufficient. That is, the Russians, sending bread abroad, were malnourished, and also allocated less grain for feed to livestock - a source of milk and meat. The peasants were forced to pay ransom payments, sell grain, meat and other products. To the detriment of their own consumption. Having freed themselves from serfdom, they fell into a new dependence, paying a monetary quitrent for more than two generations. To raise money for payments, the Russian peasant had to save on everything - food, purchases of manufactured goods, and also look for additional earnings. The supply was higher than the demand. Hence the low prices for agricultural products in Russia, the appearance of abundance - it was available only for the privileged strata of the population, part of the townspeople. These pictures of the "crunch of a French roll" are now being demonstrated, showing the "universal paradise" in tsarist Russia.
Thus, grain was exported due to a sharp reduction in the consumption of the bulk of the population - the peasants. As a result, the top of the society had the possibility of overconsumption, and the bottom of the society was undernourished. There was a lot of cheap food in the cities, and in the countryside hunger was common. According to A. Parshev ("Why Russia is not America"), in 1901 - 1902. 49 provinces were starving; in 1905 - 1908 - hunger covered from 19 to 29 provinces; in 1911 - 1912 - 60 provinces. Therefore, in the "well-fed and abundant" Russian Empire, peasants often rebelled, fiercely fought against the government in 1905-1907, and in 1917, even before the October Revolution, a real peasant war began. The peasants burned landlord estates, divided the land.
Thus, the Russian Empire broke down halfway and did not complete its economic breakthrough. Under the tsars, we were never able to become a superpower embodying the Russian project of globalization on the planet. This could only be done in the Soviet Union.
