Throughout the world, countries that are developed, powerful, and prosperous usually have very advanced technologies or are in the first echelon of world technology. Countries like the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Japan and other countries. But there are exceptions to everything. Our neighbor Russia has been at the forefront of the world in science and technology for three hundred years. The country is developed and powerful, but people's living standards have never been that rich. It is the only country in the world that has been at the world's leading level in science and technology for a long time, but has always been ignored. Considered a poor and backward country. So, what exactly is the problem? Let’s start with the world’s three industrial revolutions.
The performance of the three industrial revolutions
Looking back at the three industrial revolutions, the Russians are by no means a frog in the well. They are very fashionable and have extraordinary performance in each industrial revolution.
In the 80 years from the birth of the steam engine to the 1840s, the Russians clearly realized that the British were ahead of the Western world in science and technology, so in 1697 they did not want to lag behind. In the spirit of time and waiting, Peter I began reforms and a series of activities to learn from the advanced, and sent missions abroad for study and inspection. Under the pseudonym of Corporal Peter Mikhailov, he personally visited the most technologically advanced city in the world at that time. He studied shipbuilding and navigation technology in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and London, England. During the first industrial revolution, the Russians learned all the British advanced technologies such as shipbuilding, navigation, and steam engines.
The second technological revolution, when the British were still resting on the achievements of the first technological revolution, was replaced by Germany and the United States, which directly used the latest equipment and the most advanced technology. At this time, Russia had not yet completely completed its reforms for an industrial revolution. Therefore, in the new technological revolution represented by the internal combustion engine and electricity, the Russians, like Germany and the United States, directly adopted the latest equipment and technology. And become the representative of emerging countries with Germany.
In 1861, Alexander I liberated the serfs and cleared the obstacles to the Industrial Revolution. At this time, the United States had just begun the five-year Civil War to prepare for the emancipation of black slaves. A year later, Bismarck had just become Prussia. Prime Minister, it took Germany another 20 years to become a unified country. In the second industrial revolution, Russia took the initiative to reform, and the initial situation was quite good. However, as the 20th century was about to enter, while the United States and Germany were catching up with the United Kingdom, Russia fell behind, but it did not lose the opportunity.
After the Russo-Japanese War, the Tsar vigorously implemented reforms and promoted the pace of industrialization. In 1913, Russia's grain output increased significantly, and the growth rate of industry and agriculture exceeded 80%. However, this momentum was interrupted by the Russian Revolution in 1917. However, the Soviet Union continued to carry out the second industrial revolution. It only used two five-year plans to achieve industrialization and its national GDP ranked second in the world.
In the third industrial revolution of mankind that began in the 1940s and 1950s, the Soviet Union was on par with the United States in atomic energy, aerospace, synthetic materials, biology and other scientific and technological fields, and was far ahead in many fields. in the world.
In short, Russia has never been a leader in the Industrial Revolution, but it has never fallen behind. Especially in terms of technological innovation, it has always been firmly in the first echelon. As of 2018, Russia has won 21 Nobel Prizes, of which only 3 literature prizes and one peace prize. Most of them are concentrated in the field of natural sciences, and overall they are slightly behind the United States and Germany.
Of course, such achievements are directly related to the high level of Russian education and the profound scientific foundation. More importantly, Peter I laid a good foundation and left a good educational tradition. In order to force the nobles to study and even deprive the uncultured nobles of their right to reproduce, Peter I required the country to establish a primary education system, open military and technical colleges, establish a naval academy and a medical college.
At the end of the 19th century, when Germany implemented the world's earliest quality education, although Russia had no money, the last Tsar Nicholas II still issued a bill stipulating: "Free education for gifted children from poor families." Pavlov, the Nobel Prize winner in biology, was a beneficiary of this policy. His family was poor since he was a child, but when his talent showed, the country trained him for free. In November 1917, just a few days after the founding of Soviet Russia, it announced the separation of education from the church and implemented compulsory education for children. This laid a solid foundation for Russians to improve their ability to pursue science and technology.
In the wave of the world's industrial revolution that lasted more than three hundred years, Russia not only made outstanding scientific and technological achievements, but also made great achievements in the fields of literature, art and thought. Writers Tolstoy, Pushkin, and Gorky are famous all over the world, and composers Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich are as famous as Beethoven and Chopin. In addition to the economic field, modern Russia has basically done well in other fields.
Why is it considered poor and backward?
However, Russia is the only country in the world that has been at the forefront of the world in science and technology for a long time, but it has always been considered a poor and backward country.
In fact, Russia’s poverty is not just people’s perception. In fact, it has not been rich for 300 years. Although there were many factors leading to the disastrous defeats of the Crimean War and the Russo-Japanese War, they were all directly related to poverty and lack of money. During World War I, workers in Britain, France, Germany, the United States and other countries all enjoyed social insurance. However, Nicholas II sent hundreds of thousands of peasants to the front line but had no money to equip them with weapons. Nicholas II was also too poor to fight against Wilhelm II's Germany, which eventually led to the collapse of the country.
The invaders witnessed with their own eyes the poverty in Soviet Russia. When Napoleon attacked Moscow in 1812, the Czar established a fortification around Moscow and cleared the country. However, Napoleon's troops ran hundreds or thousands of kilometers away from Moscow and still could not find food. In 1918, the Soviet Union and Germany signed the Brest-Litovsk Agreement. Germany only received a large area of ??Soviet Russia, but did not get the wealth and materials it wanted to support the war on the Western Front, causing Germany to quickly lose to the United States, Britain and France. Manstein, the German Marshal during World War II, described Leningrad in his memoirs. The land in Leningrad was extremely poor. There were only wooden houses to live in, and there was not a single bed in the house. He had not slept in a bed for a month.
As a superpower later, the ratio of heavy and light industries in the Soviet Union was seriously imbalanced, with mountains of arms and very few daily necessities. After reaching its heyday in the 1970s, this technological powerhouse collapsed after the drastic changes in Eastern Europe as internal and external troubles intensified. The world's second largest country completely disintegrated in 1991. Later, shock therapy was used to bring the Russian economy to the brink of collapse again. As a result, things such as tanks were exchanged for liquor and airplanes were exchanged for instant noodles. As Russia was still the most technologically advanced country in the world in the 1990s, its scientific and technological personnel were still thinking about the problems of atomic reactors and orbiting space stations even when they could not even eat bread. Perhaps they were more concerned about their own retreat.
The reasons for poverty and backwardness
People can’t help but ask, why does the Russian economy always lag behind when the Russians can do other things well and their technology is still advanced? Yes, Russia has been technologically and culturally advanced for more than 300 years, but why has it always been poor? As we all know, a country's wealth usually consists of three parts: the level of productivity, that is, the level of science and technology, the number of laborers, and the input of production materials. Well, from the perspective of the general composition of national wealth, Russia's productivity level, that is, its technological level, has always been good. The problem must lie in the labor force and means of production.
Let’s look at the labor force first. The history of Russia is a history of continuous conquests and expansion of territory. In other words, historically speaking, Russia's young and middle-aged labor force has been doing what a "fighting nation" should do. Starting from Peter I, Russia has never stopped fighting wars on a nationwide scale. During Peter I's reign, the "Great Northern War" lasted for 21 years and seven months. By Catherine II, Russia's war on everything except the Arctic Ocean was Use troops in all directions. In all the famous, influential, and worldwide wars that followed in human history, Russia never played a supporting role, such as the Napoleonic War, the Crimean War, World War I, and World War II.
From this we can easily see that before the end of World War II, Russia was always at war and maintained a large-scale army all year round, which was reasonable. However, the Soviet Union entering the Cold War period should be a relatively peaceful period for Russia. According to authoritative data, when the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, although it had gone through several rounds of disarmament, it still had 4.4 million troops. The total population of the Soviet Union at that time was less than 180 million at most, and the military accounted for nearly 3% of the total population. In peacetime, this proportion was very high and no country could bear it. A large army means huge consumption, and at the same time, it also puts the country's most capable people in a situation where they only consume but do not create.
According to expert summary, the number of troops maintained by a country should generally not exceed 1% of the total population. If it exceeds this ratio, it will cause an excessive burden on the country and endanger the country.
Therefore, Russia still maintains an army three times this reasonable ratio in peacetime.
The above is the labor force situation that affects national wealth, but what about the input of another factor in production materials? In fact, they are all given priority for use in war.
Nearly all the czars from Peter I onwards were known for their thrift and hard work in governance. Peter I died of cold because he personally rescued a drowned soldier. During his lifetime, he lived a simple life and levied a poll tax on the entire country in order to cope with the Great Northern War. The last Tsar Nicholas II, in order to win the war, sold off all the things that the royal family could exchange for money. If the Tsar did this, the people would naturally give up everything they had for the war.
In this way, all the money is spent on the war. How to update production equipment, improve the living standards of workers, and purchase production raw materials. If there is no money to build factories and buy fertilizers, wealth will not form a virtuous circle, and wealth will Gradually dry up. No matter how high the level of science and technology is, it cannot be converted into wealth.
In this way, Russia still maintains huge military expenditures all year round, whether in wartime or in peacetime. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union’s GDP was only half that of the United States, but it maintained the same military expenditure as the United States. The United States can recoup a lot of funds through arms exports every year, while the Soviet Union has money to take care of other areas of the national economy.
Conclusion
Having said this, we can somewhat understand the thinking of the Russians. They are always entangled in their national defense, which puts a huge burden on them. However, the reality does make them unable to help but struggle with this issue. Russia is a huge country, with a land area equal to the top five countries in the world combined. It has a long national border, but its own population is sparse, and there are many powerful countries in its neighborhood, all looking at it with eager eyes. Although outsiders think Russia is fierce and warlike, they lack some sense of security due to the above reasons. Putin has been in power for almost 20 years and has to admit this fact. Therefore, they have no choice but to cope with the huge army and defense expenditure. Vicious cycle. So although Russia has always been technologically advanced, because of this, it has always been difficult for them to live as prosperous a life as other countries.