The scheme succeeded in extending the railways from a total of 600 miles to 11,000 in less than twenty years, and to nearly 15,000 by 1882. By that time St Petersburg and Moscow had been connected with Warsaw and the Prussian frontier to the west, and with Nizhnii-Novgorod, New Russia and the Crimea to the south. The network had been expected to boost Russian grain exports, and it did so. Indeed, by 1914 southern Russia and Ukraine had become the grain basket of Europe. The new railways also facilitated a huge expansion of the textile industry, and encouraged the growth of banks, a big expansion in joint-stock-company flotations, and the introduction of new technology and organizational methods. But in 1871 Imperial Germany had come into existence, and it proceeded to forge further and further ahead of Russia in both industrial production and capacity. Another shot in the arm was needed if Russia were to stay in the race.
Since the Empire lacked sufficient capital, efforts were made to raise investment for further railway-building from local authorities, and to encourage foreign investment. But all these sources combined proved inadequate. The stimulus eventually had to come from the state. 3 Most continental powers had the same experience. On the other hand, demographic data promised strong future economic growth and even larger armed services. The Empire’s population was teeming. Between 1850 and 1875 it grew by 25 per cent in Europe and by almost 45 per cent in Asia. 4Commensurate territorial growth, through exploration, colonization and conquest, might have been expected. Indeed, it was already on the way.
In 1864 the Russian government informed other powers quite openly of its intention to expand. The minister for foreign affairs, A. M. Gorchakov, also provided a disarming explanation. Expansion w as ‘the fate of all states placed in a similar situation. The United States of America, France in Africa, Holland in its colonies, England in the East Indies were all driven to choose the path of onward movement, not so much out of ambition as of dire necessity. The greatest difficulty lies in being able to stop.’ The problem stemmed from the fact that, once it had
come into contact with half-savage nomadic tribes which lack firm social organization … the interests of border security and commerce demand that the more civilized state exercise a certain authority over its neighbours, whose … unruly ways make them very troublesome. It begins by curbing raids and pillaging, which … often requires the subjection of neighbouring tribes to some degree of control. But … once this has been done and they become more peacable, they in turn are exposed to attacks from tribes farther away … So the state has the choice of giving up this … effort and dooming its frontiers to constant unrest, making prosperity, safety and cultural progress impossible, or else of advancing ever farther into … the wild country. 5
This was not quite the ‘civilizing mission’justification for empire, but it made a valid point, exemplified repeatedly in Russia’s past.
But by the 1860s educated Russians had caught the spirit of the time. Ideas of empire were reflected in plays and poetry and in animated conversations at soirees. Some Russians were concerned about the costs of territorial expansion, but for most such expansion was a source of pride, and they justified it in a variety of ways. For the poet Tiutchev the connections with Imperial Rome and the Eastern Orthodox Church were all-important. For him, Imperial Russia was
The legitimate, direct descendant of the authority of the Caesars …
[It] knows no historical equal.
It represents two entities: the fate of an entire race, and the better, and
Most sacred, half of the Christian Church. 6
The historian of Asia Vasilii Grigorev, however, did invoke the idea of Russia’s civilizing mission, especially in Asia:
We are called on to protect these peoples from the destructive influence of Nature itself, hunger, cold and sickness … to put these people’s lives in order, having taught these rude children of the forests and deserts to acknowledge the beneficent power of [civilizing] laws. We are called on to enlighten these peoples with religion and science.
And Russia had a specific mission because it was
closer to Asia … [and had] preserved in itself more of the Asiatic element… If the science and civic life of Europe must speak to Asia through the mouth of one of its own people, then it will of course be us … Is it not obvious that Providence preserved the peoples of Asia as if intentionally from all foreign influences so that we would find them in an entirely undisturbed condition and therefore … more inclined to accept the gifts we bring? 7
