Military expenditures, which even in peacetime took four-fif
Citations (1)
- The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers whole source · open book
Military expenditures, which even in peacetime took four-fifths of the state revenue, rose from about 220 million rubles in 1853 to about 500 million in both war years 1854 and 1855. To cover part of the alarming deficit, the Russian treasury borrowed in Berlin and Amsterdam, but then the ruble’s international value tumbled; to cover the rest, it resorted to printing paper money, which led to large-scale price inflation and increasing peasant unrest.
chapter: The Crimean War and the Erosion of Russian Power