How Far Did Sergei Witte Achieve His Aims?

Sergei Witte served during the early part of Nicholas II’s reign as Minister of Finance. The tsarist government had military objectives through the acceleration of the economy. The Tsar also wanted to acquire more power and catch up with modern neighbour countries, and he knew that the only ways to achieve this were through military strength and through economic strength. Economic expansion meant the improvement of the strength of Russian armed forces, as the growing industry would produce more and better armament. The Minister of Finance took over the huge task of modernising the Russian economy to put it in line with other powers of the West. Witte realised that Russia had fallen behind countries like Britain and Germany economically and industrially and their development inspired him.

Principally, Witte aimed to modernise Russia and make it more powerful. He believed in economic development through state capitalism, which meant using the autocratic power to make radical changes in the economy. He also thought that it was possible to combine Western technology with Russian autocracy to sustain the tsar’s government through economic advance. As we can see, his work was greatly focused on the economy. During the 1890’s there was a period referred to as ‘the great spurt’ due to the enormous growth of industry in the country. To achieve this growth, Witte had to put into practice several policies. He realised that due to Russia’s backwardness, the country lacked the main factors that were necessary for industrialisation and growth to happen. There was no capital, no entrepreneurs, no transport infrastructure to increase industrial mobility and mobility in general, no technical experts etc.… Russia had a minuscule business class and the majority of Russian peasants had limited mobility which stopped migration and therefore prevented them from joining the workforce in new manufacturing industries. Further on, Russia did not have sufficient funds to invest in economic