Why did Witte want to industrialize Russia?
The most significant reason as to why Sergei Witte wanted to industrialise Russia was due to the fact that he wanted to catch up with the other European powers. The Crimean war proved that the other European powers like Britain and France were much more advanced and had the best weaponry to help ensure that they won the war, whereas Russia lacked in this field and had to share a musket between two soldiers. Russian Military was not the only problem. Russia was still a very agricultural country relying on exporting agricultural goods like wheat to earn a capital. This was not the best method to help the Russian economy as in 1891, Witte’s predecessor, Vyshnegradsky pushed the exportation of wheat and then a bad harvest brought widespread famine. Due to the fact that Russia was exporting all the wheat abroad, they were left with no reserve stores. This unfortunately led to thousands of people to die and Vyshnegradsky to be dismissed because of this national disaster exacerbated by his own policy. Witte needed to increase capital and believed the only way to increase living standards was to industrialise and export goods other than wheat. This industrialisation needed workers. Many of the peasants worked on farms and within their mirs. Even if they wanted to travel and find a job within a factory, it was hard due to the lack of transport. Sergei Witte knew that if Russia was to enhance into a greater power, it would have to industrialise quickly. He believed the modernisation of the economy depended on an effective railway system as it would allow peasants to commute easily and work in factories, helping to industrialise Russia. He hoped by building this Trans-Siberian railway, it would encourage workers to migrate from the agricultural east to the newly industrial west as now if they wanted to come and work in industries,