ABSTRACT
Largely agriculturally based; the land was worked by serfs on the private estates, and by state peasants where the government was the landowner. The state peasants had more personal autonomy than the serfs, but the Tsar could give them and their land to private persons, in which case they became the serfs of the new owner. There had been some industrial development under Peter the Great particularly in industries supporting the military, notably iron; until the late eighteenth century, when she was overtaken by Britain, Russia had been the largest producer of iron in the world. As with the other powers the effects of war and the economic blockade had a deleterious effect on the economy particularly noticeable in the depreciation of paper money as a result of wartime inflation. This chapter also discusses the strength of the army increased from about 430,000 in 1805 to 600,000 in 1812, but given the threat from the Turkish Empire.
