THE RUSSIAN-GERMAN CUSTOMS WAR OF 1893 POLITICS, FINANCE, HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Abstract

The trade relations of the Russian Empire with its neighbors, including Prussia, and then with Germany, are the important part of Russia's foreign policy and economic history. Foreign trade was obviously influenced by a variety of factors. Among the obviously important ones, the customs policy of the Russian government should be mentioned first of all. In the XIXth century, it developed along a very complex trajectory and repeatedly changed its direction. The explanation for this is quite obvious – Russia was forced to consistently address several issues – the creation and development of its own production at the level of the then advanced European standards. At the first stage, this task could be solved by creating favorable conditions for the import of machine-building products and technologies, then their own industry had to be protected from cheaper and higher-quality imports. At all times, it was necessary to take into account the need to maintain a positive balance of foreign trade. It should be noted that this task was not always possible to cope with. Of course, economic and financial interests were also influenced by foreign policy calculations. All these factors were fully manifested during the Russian-German customs war of 1893, which this article is dedicated to.

Keywords

• Russia
• Germany
• Customs
• Economic Diplomacy
• 1893 financial struggle.

References

1. Министерство финансов. 1802-1902. СПб., 1902. Ч.1. СС. 57-59.
2. Там же. СС. 138-140.
3. Полное Собрание законов Российской империи с 1649 года (далее ПСЗ РИ). СПб., 1830. Т.33. 1815-1816. №26218. СС. 589-592.