Economic

• Crimean War:

  • Expansion of the railway system. Using foreign loans nearly 2 billion roubles were spent on constructing over 20,000km of track between 1861 and 1878. In a relatively short space of time, Russia a transport system that boosted its ability to deal with logistical problems of expanding, protecting and maintaining an empire
• Russo-Turkish War:

  • Showed progress in Russian industrialisation
  • Treaty of San Stefano gave Russia a substantial amount of money and territory
  • But the war brought about a financial crisis and the collapse of the rouble, which wasn’t helped by a run of bad harvests in 1878-81, causing further unrest
• Russo-Japanese War:

  • Further investment in transport
• WW1:

  • War cost 3 billion roubles. More money was printed, leading to inflation of 400% by 1917, increasing the chances of revolution
• Civil War:

  • War Communism and NEP caused unrest. NEP seen as a capitalist approach to economic policy, contradicting ideology
• WW2:

  • 30% of pre-war economy had been destroyed
  • 65,000 km of railroad destroyed 
  • Gained territory after the war
• Cold War:

  • High financial cost - Space race and Arms race
  • 1947 Marshall Plan - rejected by Molotov