After each of the three big wars of the 19th century - with Napoleon, the Crimean and the Balkans - the restoration of Russian finances and economy took 20-25 years. At the same time, Russia in the course of the two won wars did not receive any preferences from the defeated opponents.
But the militaristic frenzy did not stop the military, which was well aware of the economic results of the three previous wars, and at the beginning of the twentieth century. The Russo-Japanese War cost Russia more than 6 billion rubles, and payments on foreign loans taken for this war were paid, if not for the default of the Bolsheviks, until 1950.
Russia spent three quarters of the 19th century in endless wars. And these are not only wars with an external enemy, but also the Caucasian war, which dragged on for half a century, and the wars in Central Asia. But the greatest devastation to the country was brought by three wars - with Napoleon, Crimean and Balkan. Yes, in the 19th century all the imperialist powers fought wars, both for the colonies and their neighbors in Europe. However, in most cases, the winners also received material acquisitions: land, reparations, or at least special trade / business regimes in the losing country. For Russia, even won wars brought losses. What - historian Vasily Galin briefly tells in the book “Capital of the Russian Empire. The Practice of Political Economy.
War of 1806-1814
The victorious war with Napoleon ended in complete disruption of Russian finances. The emission of money, due to which most of the military expenses were covered, led to a three-fold collapse of the silver ruble exchange rate from 1806 to 1814. from 67.5 to 20 kopecks. Only for 1812-1815. paper money was issued for 245 million rubles; in addition, in 1810 and 1812. the increase and introduction of new taxes was made; the real (in silver) budgets of all non-military departments were cut 2-4 times.
The total public debt by the end of the reign of Alexander I, in relation to 1806, increased almost 4 times and reached 1.345 billion rubles, while the state income (budget) in the early 1820s was only 400 million rubles. (ie the debt was almost 3.5 of the annual budget). The normalization of monetary circulation after the war with Napoleon took more than 30 years and came only in 1843 with the reforms of Kankrin and the introduction of the silver ruble.
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Crimean War of 1853-1856
The Crimean War was sparked by the struggle for the "Ottoman inheritance" of Turkey, which is heading towards disintegration, in the words of Nicholas I, the "sick man of Europe", between the leading European powers. The immediate reason for the war (Casus belli) was a religious dispute with France, which was defending its dominant European role. In this dispute, the Slavophiles, according to Dostoevsky, found "a challenge made to Russia, which honor and dignity did not allow him to refuse." On the practical side, the victory of France in this dispute meant an increase in its influence in Turkey, which Russia did not want to allow.
As a result of the Crimean War, Russia's national debt has tripled. The colossal growth of the national debt led to the fact that even three years after the war, payments on it accounted for 20% of state budget revenues and almost did not decrease until the 1880s. During the war, an additional 424 million rubles worth of credit notes were issued, which more than doubled (to 734 million rubles) their volume. Already in 1854, the free exchange of paper money for gold was discontinued, the silver cover of credit notes fell by more than two times from 45% in 1853 to 19% in 1858. As a result, their exchange for silver was terminated.
It was only possible to overcome the inflation raised by the war by 1870, and the full-fledged metal standard would not be restored until the next Russian-Turkish war. The war, in connection with the blocking of foreign trade (export of grain and other agricultural products), led to a deep economic crisis, which caused a drop in production and the ruin of many not only rural but also industrial farms in Russia.
Russian-Turkish War of 1877–78
On the eve of the Russian-Turkish war, Russian Finance Minister M. Reitern categorically spoke out against it. In his note addressed to the sovereign, he showed that the war would immediately cancel out the results of 20 years of reforms. When the war nevertheless began, M. Reitern submitted a letter of resignation.
The war with Turkey was supported by the Slavophiles, one of whose leaders N. Danilevsky wrote back in 1871: “The recent bitter experience has shown where the Achilles heel of Russia is. The seizure of the seashore or even Crimea alone would be enough to inflict significant damage on Russia, paralyzing its forces. The possession of Constantinople and the Straits removes this danger."
Dostoevsky also actively called for war with the Turks in numerous articles, arguing that "such a lofty organism as Russia should also shine with tremendous spiritual significance," which should lead to "the reunification of the Slavic world." For the war, but from a pragmatic point of view, Westernizers also advocated, such as N. Turgenev: “For the wide development of the future civilization, Russia needs more spaces facing the sea. These conquests could enrich Russia and open to the Russian people new important means of progress, these conquests would become victories of civilization over barbarism."
But many public figures also spoke out against the war. For example, the well-known journalist V. Poletika wrote: “We preferred to be quixotic for the last pennies of the Russian muzhik. Deprived of all signs of civil freedom ourselves, we never tired of shedding Russian blood for the liberation of others; themselves mired in schisms and disbelief, they were ruined for the erection of a cross on the St. Sophia Church.
The financier V. Kokorev protested against the war from an economic point of view: “The historian of Russia will be surprised that we have lost our financial strength on the most insignificant thing, setting off during the 19th century, twice in each reign, to fight some Turks, as if these Turks could have come to us in the form of a Napoleonic invasion. The calm and correct development of the Russian power, in the sense of the economic and financial, without any campaigns under the Turk, speaking in a soldier's language, engendering homicide in the theater of war, and impoverishment of money at home, would have produced much more pressure on Porto than intense military action."
German Chancellor O. Bismarck also warned the Russian tsar that “the raw, undigested mass of Russia is too heavy to easily respond to every manifestation of political instinct. They continued to free them - and with the Romanians, Serbs and Bulgarians the same thing was repeated as with the Greeks. If in Petersburg they want to draw a practical conclusion from all the failures experienced so far, it would be natural to limit themselves to the less fantastic successes that can be achieved by the power of regiments and cannons. The liberated peoples are not grateful, but demanding, and I think that under the current conditions it would be more correct in Eastern issues to be guided by considerations of a more technical than a fantastic nature."
The historian E. Tarle was even more categorical: "The Crimean War, the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 and the Balkan policy of Russia in 1908-1914 are a single chain of acts that did not have the slightest meaning from the point of view of economic or other imperative interests of the Russian people." … Another historian, M. Pokrovsky, believed that the Russian-Turkish war was a waste of "funds and forces, completely fruitless and harmful for the national economy." Skobelev argued that Russia is the only country in the world that allows itself the luxury of fighting out of compassion. Prince P. Vyazemsky noted: “Russian blood is in the background, and in front is Slavic love. A religious war is worse than any war and is an anomaly, an anachronism at the present time."
The war cost Russia 1 billion rubles, which is 1.5 times higher than the revenues of the 1880 state budget (to make it clearer, an analogy can be made from the present time: with a federal budget of 16 trillion rubles, the war would now cost Russia for one year in 24 trillion rubles, or almost $ 400 billion - BT) In addition, in addition to purely military spending, Russia incurred another 400 million rubles. damages caused to the southern coast of the state, holiday trade, industry and railways.
As early as the end of 1877, Birzhevye Vedomosti wrote in this connection: “Are the misfortunes that Russia is now experiencing are not enough to knock the crap out of the head of our hardened Pan-Slavists? You (the Pan-Slavists) must remember that the stones you throw must be pulled out with all the forces of the people, obtained at the cost of bloody sacrifices and national exhaustion."
During the war of 1877-1878. the money supply increased 1.7 times, the metal security of paper money decreased from 28.8 to 12%. The normalization of monetary circulation in Russia will come only 20 years later, thanks to foreign loans and the introduction of the gold ruble in 1897.
It should be added that as a result of this war, Russia did not receive any territories and preferences from the defeated Turks.
But this financial and economic recovery did not last long either. Seven years later, Russia "joyfully" rushed into another war - the Russian-Japanese one, which was lost.
Russian-Japanese War 1904-1905
Direct military expenditures alone in the 20 months of the Russo-Japanese war amounted to 2.4 billion rubles, and the state debt of the Russian Empire increased by a third. But losses from a lost war were not limited to direct costs. In the conflict with Japan, Russia lost a quarter of a billion rubles of warships. To this must be added loan payments, as well as pensions for the disabled and the families of the victims.
Accountant of the State Treasury Gabriel Dementyev scrupulously calculated all the costs of the Russo-Japanese War, deriving a figure of 6553 billion rubles. If it were not for the revolution and the refusal of the Bolsheviks to pay tsarist debts, payments on state loans during the Russo-Japanese War would have to go until 1950, bringing the total cost of the war with Japan to 9-10 billion rubles.