ABSTRACT
Russia and Japan, beginning their industrial revolutions at least a half century behind most of the West, had to meet a number of special challenges. Neither Russia nor Japan had a large preindustrial merchant class that was burning to set up factories; Russia had little merchant class at all, and Japan's was heavily tied into the feudal order. Both Russia and Japan moved to industrialization in stages. A tentative experimental phase—which Russia had already experienced to an extent before 1870—included larger reforms that helped make way for economic change. Most obviously, Japan was able to industrialize without massive collective unrest, whereas Russia became the only society to date to experience full-fledged political and social revolution after the industrialization process was well under way. In 1860, Russia had boasted less than 700 miles of railroads, but by 1894 the total was already 21,000 miles, and by 1900 it had soared to over 36,000.
