Russia's Economy
1796-1815
Russia's Economy
1855-1881






Russian Economy, 1815-1855



A.) The Later Years under Alexander I., 1815-1825

Napoleon's invasion of 1812, Russia's scorched-earth-policy and the burning of Moscow had caused a damage that took years to heal. The government pursued a policy intending to lessen the burden on the people and to restore confidence, by forgiving unpaid taxes, reducing national debt, improve the roads and help out when the crops failed.


B.) Nicholas I., 1825-1855

Under Nicholas I., Russia's first railroads were built; the nation's industry expanded, but was yet far behind that of western European countries. The population increased. In 1830 gold was found in Siberia and Russia became an exporter of the precious metal.
In the latter 18th century, Russia had been the world's leading producer of pig-iron. Russia's production was overtaken by the British in 1797, by the German in 1840. By 1845 Russia's production made up less than 10 % of the British - an indication that the industrializing nations saw a production boom, while Russia's production, based on outdated technology, increased only gradually, from 110,000 metric tons in 1780 to 135,000 in 1820 and 228,000 in 1850.




Russian Government Revenue and Expenditure, 1815-1855
Source : B.R. Mitchell, International Historical Statistics 1750-1988, pp. 796, 798, 808, 814
figures in Russian Paper Roubles, from 1840 in Silver Roubles
Year

1815
1816
1817
1818
1819
1820
1821
1822
1823
1824
1825
1826
1827
1828
1829
1830
1831
1832
1833
1834
1835 		Revenue

323,000,000
347,000,000
357,000,000
367,000,000
422,000,000
447,000,000
410,000,000
391,000,000
399,000,000
380,000,000
397,000,000
390,000,000
393,000,000
384,000,000
404,000,000
393,000,000
407,000,000
451,000,000
429,000,000
430,000,000
495,000,000 		Expenditure

391,000,000
428,000,000
438,000,000
443,000,000
476,000,000
500,000,000
482,000,000
456,000,000
479,000,000
417,000,000
413,000,000
404,000,000
422,000,000
407,000,000
428,000,000
428,000,000
447,000,000
497,000,000
495,000,000
528,000,000
587,000,000 		Year

1836
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841
1842
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850
1851
1852
1853
1854
1855 		Revenue

520,000,000
527,000,000
543,000,000
558,000,000
155,000,000
161,000,000
173,000,000
179,000,000
186,000,000
185,000,000
192,000,000
196,000,000
195,000,000
198,000,000
202,000,000
212,000,000
222,000,000
220,000,000
213,000,000
209,000,000 		Expenditure

583,000,000
573,000,000
597,000,000
628,000,000
188,000,000
196,000,000
211,000,000
212,000,000
222,000,000
224,000,000
245,000,000
245,000,000
284,000,000
270,000,000
287,000,000
281,000,000
280,000,000
313,000,000
384,000,000
526,000,000








EXTERNAL
FILES 		Decembrists in Irkutsk, from WWW Irkutsk
Biography of Czar Nicholas I., from St. Petersburg Times
Russian Monetary System. Historical Overview : Alexander I. (1801-1825), Nicholas I. (1825-1855), by Andrey D. Ukhrov
DOCUMENTS Silver roubles, 1801-1825 and 1826-1858, from S. Sekine's collection
Russian banknotes 1818-1843, 1840-1865, from Wad Nensberg's Home Page
REFERENCE


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2001, last revised on August 24th 2006

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