In order to pay these costs, the government constantly made internal and external loans.

In order to pay these costs, the government constantly made internal and external loans.

As a result, for Germany, Turkey, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire (the so-called Central Powers), as well as the Russian Empire, which, along with Britain, France, and the United States, was part of the Entente, the war eventually became a race for self-destruction. The Russian Empire was the first to collapse under the pressure of war.

Ukraine was part of two warring countries (Russia and Austria-Hungary) and from the first days of the war became an arena of hostilities. Russia’s participation in this war had severe consequences for the country’s economy. During this time there was a decline in production in all industries. Total crops decreased by 12%, grain production – by 20%, meat – by 4 times.

The need to provide the army with weapons and equipment forced the tsarist government to address the problems of economic restructuring. In May 1915, a special meeting on artillery support of the army was formed, headed by the Minister of War, but its activities were ineffective. So in August 1915, instead of one Special Meeting, four were formed: defense, fuel, transportation, and food. At the end of 1915, special meetings united 1,130 enterprises and almost 400,000 workers in Ukraine, but this did not yield tangible results.

Along with government agencies, public associations of industrialists and large landowners emerged, which aimed to help provide for the army. These were military-industrial committees. In Ukraine, four regional (Kyiv, Kharkiv, Katerynoslav, Odesa) and several local committees were established. They tried to distribute military orders among small and medium-sized enterprises, but very quickly came into conflict with special meetings and their district offices.

At the beginning of the war, industrial production in Ukraine grew as enterprises fulfilled orders for the army. In addition, many industrial enterprises were evacuated from the war zones (Baltic States, Poland) to Ukraine. Coal production in the Donbass increased from 1,540,000 poods in 1913 to 1,744,000 poods in 1916. Metallurgical, machine-building, and chemical industries increased their production mainly due to the overloading of technical equipment during the restructuring of industry.

With the general growth of production, the output of light, food, construction, and forest industries decreased, the concentration of production increased, and new associations and societies were formed. The total number of enterprises decreased: if in 1913 there were 3381 enterprises in Ukraine, in 1915 – only 2849.

In early 1917 there was a sudden decline ("break") in production. This was due to the fact that machine-building plants increased the production of weapons and reduced the production of means of production. This situation has led to wear and tear of equipment and machinery. Attempts to renew fixed capital through foreign investment have not yielded the desired results. In 1916-1917 from 159 million rubles. foreign capital invested in the coal industry of the Russian Empire, 118.6 million, or 74%, was invested in enterprises of Donbass; Of the 258.4 million rubles invested in ferrous metallurgy, Ukraine accounted for 200 million, or almost 80%.

The shortage of skilled labor significantly affected production. In the first days of the war, more than 30% of the pre-war number of industrial workers in Donbass was mobilized. And in the Ekaterinoslav province there was a shortage of almost 104 thousand workers. Only in the Kryvyi Rih iron ore district during the war the number of workers was halved.

In contrast to industrial production, agriculture began to reduce production in the first days of the war due to the general mobilization of Ukrainian peasants to the Russian army. They tried to compensate for the shortage of labor in agriculture by the unproductive labor of prisoners of war and refugees. Large farms (landlords) were deprived of the right to freely hire workers. In 1917, 40% of able-bodied men employed in agriculture remained in Ukraine.

In 1916 a grain crisis broke out. It had tragic consequences for Russia. In large industrial centers, food supplies have declined sharply, leading to speculation, theft, and large-scale corruption. In November 1916, a prodrozkladka was carried out, that is, the forcible seizure of food (and, above all, grain) from the peasants at fixed prices. Such measures were aimed at providing the army and the urban population with food. Trade between the city and the village almost stopped, its place was taken by the state, which tried to seize grain by force.

At the beginning of 1916, a card system of food distribution was introduced in the cities. Such an initiative came from local authorities (city councils, zemstvos). The government controlled only the sugar trade. But because the food distribution was not successful, the products in the cities were not added.

At this time, the production of agricultural machinery at Ukrainian factories, which switched to the production of weapons and other military equipment, decreased. The law on horse duty had a significant effect on the production of agricultural products. By the spring of 1917, about 2.6 million horses had been requisitioned, causing irreparable damage to small and medium-sized farms.

The First World War negatively affected the development of trade and the country’s financial system. The total financial cost of the war to an astronomical amount – 39 billion rubles, which were offset by taxes and domestic loans. In 1914-1916, budget losses increased from 4.86 billion to 18.1 billion rubles, which led to a huge budget deficit. During the 4 years of the war it to 49 billion rubles. In order to pay these costs, the government constantly made internal and external loans. From 1914 to 1917, the amount of credit marks in circulation increased to 9.1 billion rubles, while gold reserves to only 1.5 billion rubles.

The uninterrupted issuance of money began. Already at the end of 1915 ten-ruble gold coins were sold for 16-17 paper rubles. At the beginning of 1917, the amount of money in circulation increased 6 times, one ruble was equated to 27 kopecks of pre-war issue. Russia’s main external creditor was Britain, which demanded Russian gold as collateral for loans.

In Russia, the military-industrial bourgeoisie began to show increasing dissatisfaction, demanding that it be given special power. The government crisis grew: in 1915-1916, four chairmen of the Council of Ministers, four military ministers, six interior ministers, and four justice ministers were replaced. Everyone hoped for a change in the government’s course, but those hopes did not materialize. Meanwhile, revolutionary events were brewing in Russia, which ended on March 2, 1917 with the abdication of Nicholas II from the throne.

At the beginning of the XX century under the rule of the Austrian Empire were 4660.4 thousand Ukrainians, of whom in Galicia – 3850 thousand, in Transcarpathia – 505.3 thousand, in Bukovina – 305.1 thousand people.

Approximately 80-90% of the local population was engaged in agriculture. About 70% of the national income of Western Ukraine came from agriculture.

Much of the agricultural land in Western Ukraine still belonged to landowners. In 1902 in Galicia 4084 landowners (0.68%) owned 40.3% of the total land area. Among the landed estates, latifundia accounted for 85.1%. Most of the land was concentrated in the hands of such Galician magnates as the Sheptytsky brothers, J. Boryskevych, and Y. Lavrynsky. The Catholic Church was a large landowner.

According to 1895 in Transcarpathia 750 landowners, or 0.8% of landowners, owned 45% of the land area. Only in the hands of Count S. Buchheim concentrated 203 thousand hectares, or 21% of all land.

In 1902 in Bukovina https://123helpme.me/narrative-essay-topics/ land holdings, in particular arable land and forest, which accounted for 60.1%, belonged to 578 landowners. The richest landowners were the von Aivas brothers, who owned 25076 yohs (they were 0.43 hectares), Baron Gudentse, and the von Vasilka brothers. Almost a quarter of the entire land area of ​​the Bukovyna region belonged to the local Orthodox religious foundation.

Despite the fact that serfdom in western Ukraine had long been abolished, some serf remnants still remained in the village, including the monopoly right of landlords to hunt and fish. Peasant farms with plots of up to 2 hectares of land accounted for: in Galicia – 42.7%, in Bukovina – 56% and in Transcarpathia – 51%.

On average, the poor farms accounted for: 1 hectare in Galicia, 1.5 ha in Bukovyna, and 0.75 ha in Transcarpathia. The social stratification of the peasantry deepened. In Galicia in 1902, wealthy peasants accounted for 9.7% of the total number of farms and owned 20.7% of all land. In Bukovyna, 21.3% of the land belonged to wealthy farms, which accounted for 8% of the rural population. At the end of the XIX century in Transcarpathia wealthy peasants numbered 9.93%, they accounted for 23% of all arable land.

Western Ukraine as a frontline region during the First World War became the main arena of bloody battles of the armies of hostile states. The bloody battles between the powerful states of Eastern and Western Europe, which raged most in the western Ukrainian lands, led to a significant reduction in labor resources in the countryside. This has led to a reduction in sown areas, reduced agricultural production and higher prices. The army’s needs for meat, flour, cereals, and other foodstuffs produced in the agricultural sector grew. The peasants-producers were brought to extreme impoverishment, which overflowed the cup of patience, culminating in protests against the existing order.

At the beginning of the XX century in Galicia, Bukovina and Transcarpathia capitalism grew into a monopolistic stage. There were oil, alcohol, railway, sugar and other cartels, the leading place in them was occupied by Austrian capital. The cartels hampered the industrial development of the western Ukrainian lands, tried to subdue or eliminate those industries that competed with them. The importance of bank capital has especially increased in the industry of these regions of Ukraine.

The system of cruel exploitation operated in the western Ukrainian lands. Wages were extremely low and workers’ working conditions were very difficult, and unemployment was rising.

Thus, at the turn of the century, the economy of the world’s leading countries entered a qualitatively new stage of its development – the stage of monopoly capitalism.