Studies in Russian Modernization: Foreign Investment and Socioeconomic Change in Russia (1861–1914)

This book analyzes in detail why foreign investment was brought into Russia at different points in its history, its scale and forms, and its specific effects on Russian industry, finance, transportation, and other fields. Drawing on extensive historical documents, the author reveals how foreign investment directly drove Russia’s industrialization, urbanization, and modernization of transportation, and indirectly influenced technological revolutions, factory legislation, and changes in social structure. The book also explores in depth the relationship between foreign investment and the formation of large Russian monopolies, as well as its impact on Russia’s trade relations with Western countries, offering a new perspective on Russia’s role in the global capitalist economy from the nineteenth century to the early twentieth century.

This is one volume in a series on Russian modernization. Drawing on abundant primary sources and statistical data, the series focuses on social class conflicts, social development, and historical change in Russia from the eighteenth century to the early twentieth century. It comprehensively examines the causes, process, and effects of Russia’s modernization, revealing the diversity and complexity of the transformation. Other books in the series include Russian Social Classes and Historical Change (1700–1900) and A History of Russia (1800–1860).