How Far Were The Economic Reforms Of Witte The Most Important In The Development Of Russia 1881 To 1903 Essay

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How far were the economic reforms of Witte the most important in the development of Russia 1881 to 1903?

Between the years of 1881-1903, times were one of much hardship in Russia as the country suffered from devastating famine from 1881 to 1882. Russia was much behind in the terms of economic development. Sergei Witte became minister of finance; his main objective was to strengthen Russia economy and maintain Russia as a great power. Witte was aware of Russia’s problems and had implemented policies to modernise the Russian economy. By financing industrialization and securing foreign capital, Witte played a major role in facilitating Russia's development. The country valued the notable economic growth, a stable pace of industrialization, and other aspects of modernization that would not have been possible in other circumstances. However, Witte has some opposition. By acquiring loans, Witte based Russia's development on the stability of foreign capital markets and therefore left the economy vulnerable to foreign security requirements. Even as it expanded to greater heights, the Russian economy created divisions, difficulties, and other problems in Russia's modernizing society, problems that strongly contributed to revolution in 1917. On the contrary, it can be argued that the economic reforms of Witte were the most important in development of Russia 1881 to 1903.
One of Witte’s additional reforms was the establishment of the trans-Siberian railway. The project was officially announced by Tsar Alexander III in 1891 and the key figure was Sergei Witte. Employed finance minister in 1892, Witte funded the railway by increasing loans, raising taxes and simply printing roubles. This demonstrates an importance of the railway by how quickly the railway was made this is because Witte saw the opportunity of increasing Russia’s wealth and making it a great power. This allowed communication of Russia to improve and allowed resources to be carried 11 time zones.This economic reform was recognised as one of the most significant to Witte as he played an instrumental part to the construction as he opened up a vast economic potential to Siberia and the rest of Russia. Employment increased for the lower classes so more jobs were available. This meant the reform helped the lower class people; which aimed at the 80% of Russia. This meant the majority of Russia’s population had jobs and made them economically stable. Therefore, this reform is seen as important due to Russia’s wealth rose and lots of profitable prospective. This made the reform of tran-siberian a success and it makes it an important reform of Russia.
Witte ensured that the Russian government encouraged the development of goods as a way to stimulate economic growth. They funded production of coal iron and steel; he linked industrial growth with a stronger nation politically and economically, and was inspired by the more developed nations in the west. He invited foreign experts from more industrialised countries like Britain, France and Germany to Russia to advise him on modernisation. This allowed the more economically advanced countries to influence Russia and make it a more commercial country. He realised that he would have to have policies that would allow individual business people to start factories and encourage metalwork. His policies were successful, because industrial growth increased on average by 8% a year between 1890 and 1899, which was the highest growth rate of any of the world’s major economies. This displays Witte as a successful man and views his actions as an intelligent minister. Furthermore, when Witte shared importance of the industrialisation, it meant that jobs were created in towns and cities. Serfs came from rural areas in the hope of a better way of life, which led to urban areas quickly expanding. The populations of Moscow and St. Petersburg more than doubled between 1881 and 1910. A large textiles industry grew around Moscow which caused a huge
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