Chapter 8

Question 1

What was Russia’s annual growth rate from 1894 to 1913?

Answer 1

8%

Question 2

In what ways was Witte’s term as Minister of Finance remarkable?

Answer 2

Railway trackage doubled, coal output jumped from 183 million in 1890 to 671 million in 1900 and foreign investment soared.

Question 3

Who were the largest investors in Russian goods?

Answer 3

France (1/3), Britain (23%) and Germany (20%)

Question 4

How did Witte actively seek to state-manage the new industrial growth?

Answer 4

He sought capital, technical advisers, managers and skilled workers from overseas

Question 5

What was the capital from the period of Witte’s term used to fund?

Answer 5

Public works such as railways, telegraph lines and electrical plants as well as mines, oilfields and forests

Question 6

What percentage of Russia’s income from 1903 to 1913 came from industrial investments?

Answer 6

25%

Question 7

By 1905, how many kilometres of railways did Russia have, and how much of it was state-owned?

Answer 7

59,616 and 66% of it was state-owned

Question 8

What did the extension of the railways allow for?

Answer 8

It helped to open up the Russian interior and allowed for more extensive exploitation of Russia’s raw materials, as well as reinforcing the export drive

Question 9

What was the length of Russia’s railway lines by 1913 and what was the longest railway line in the world?

Answer 9

62,200 km in comparison to the USA’s 411,000 km

Question 10

What was the Trans-Siberian Railway?

Answer 10

A railway line of 7000 kilometres that linked central European Russia and Moscow with the railway line which opened up emigration to Siberia

Question 11

What was the purpose of the Donbas region in the Russian economy?

Answer 11

It was 23,300 square kilometres and supplied 87% of all Russian coal by 1913

Question 12

What other good did the Donbas region contribute to?

Answer 12

Pig iron, of which it produced 74% alongside the ironfields of Krivoi Rog

Question 13

How did oil change from 1885 to 1913?

Answer 13

Russian oil production trebled from 153 million puds to almost 570 million which led to Russia becoming internally self-sufficient

Question 14

What was St Petersburg’s most notable economic gains?

Answer 14

The most notable gain was in the engineering sector with the expansion of the Putilov Iron Works

Question 15

What was the overall output of the textiles industry in 1910?

Answer 15

40% of the Russian economy, which fulfilled the internal demand for light industries

Question 16

What were the most influential economic powers in the world by 1914?

Answer 16

UK, USA, France, Germany and then Russia

Question 17

How much did the average agricultural holding fall to from 1877 to 1905?

Answer 17

It fell from 35 acres in 1877 to 28 acres in 1905

Question 18

What some of the factors that weakened developments in agriculture?

Answer 18

Inefficient problems to population control such as the Trans-Siberian railway, and the use of traditional agricultural railways

Question 19

What agricultural legislation was introduced in November 1906?

Answer 19

Peasants are given the right to leave the commune, meaning that they could withdraw land from the commune and consolidate scattered strips

Question 20

What agricultural legislation was introduced on the 1st January 1907?

Answer 20

Redemption payments were officially abolished even though this was first promised in 1905

Question 21

How many years of peace did Stolypin claim he needed for this to take effect?

Answer 21

20 years

Question 22

How much did hereditary ownership of land change by from 1905 to 1915?

Answer 22

It changed from 20% in 1905 to 50% in 1915

Question 23

How much did grain production rise by annually from 1900 to 1914?

Answer 23

It rose from 56 million tons in 1900 to 90 million by 1914

Question 24

What were the benefits to Stolypin’s emigration programs?

Answer 24

3.5 million peasants left overpopulated rural districts to go to Siberia, developing it into a major agricultural region

Question 25

What were the largest problems of Stolypin’s agricultural reforms?

Answer 25

By 1913, only 1.3 million out of 5 million applications had been dealt with. By 1914, however, only 10% of land had been transferred from communal to private ownership with 90% of land still in traditional strips