This volume examines the main quantitative features of the economic development of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union from the eve of the First World War in 1913 to the end of the Second World War in 1945.

It is primarily intended as a textbook for students taking courses in comparative economic history, economic and social history of the Great Powers, and Russian or Soviet history. We hope that it will also prove to be a useful handbook for graduate students and for teachers of economic history, Russian and Soviet history and Communist affairs; the book is accordingly equipped with full references to text and tables, and with an extensive bibliography.

The years from 1913 to 1945 were a crucial period in Russian industrialisation. Between 1913 and 1939 the urban population increased from 26 to 56 million people, rising from 17.5 per cent to nearly 34 per cent of the total population. By 1914, the foundations had already been laid of modern iron and steel, fuel and cotton textile industries; some important branches of engineering had also been established. But these were islands in a sea of peasant agriculture and urban and rural handicrafts; Russia was industrially by far the most backward of the Great Powers. By the time of the German invasion in 1941, these industrial foundations had been greatly enlarged. Major new industries had also been established; these produced tractors, combine harvesters and motor vehicles, most kinds of capital equipment (including machine tools) and a wide range of sophisticated armaments.