ABSTRACT
The period from the close of the first phase of the Russian Revolution (1905-1907) to the outbreak of the European War was characterized by general economic prosperity. A conflict thus arose between urban and rural interests and became apparent in the 'nineties, when prices of food-stuffs began to rise and it became further intensified during the pre-war period from 1907 to 1914. French, Belgian, German, British, Canadian, and United States financiers and industrial concerns provided credits and organized enterprises, especially during the five years immediately preceding 1914. On the eve of the war that is in the early summer of 1914, the working people of St. Petersburg were full of revolutionary ideas, and these spread among other than the working groups. In European Russia the main lines of communication were improved, and in Siberia the Trans-Continental railway, formerly single, had been almost entirely converted into a double track.
