Gold Reserves of the State Bank of the Russian Empire before and During the World War I
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15407/uhj2024.06.099Keywords:
public debt, gold reserves, gold monometallism, loans, Russian Empire, World War I, financeAbstract
The purpose of the article is to study the problem of the Russian Empire’s gold reserves being sufficient to meet the needs of its participation in the Great War of 1914—1918.
The research methodology. The basis of the research is a combination of general scientific and special methods. Special historical methods characteristic of the field of economic history were widely used.
Scientific novelty. The peculiarities of the use of gold monometallism by the Russian Empire on the eve of its entry into the Great War are considered. For the first time, the author analyzes the ratio of the gold fund and credit notes in circulation during the years 1898—1917 and the movement of gold in the accounts of the State Bank of the Russian Empire in 1913—1917. Attention is drawn to the measures taken by the Russian government to find internal reserves to replenish gold reserves.
Main results. After the conversion of its monetary system to the gold standard in 1897, the Russian Empire received a sufficient amount of gold reserves to provide gold for its own monetary system, but its amount remained critically insufficient to meet the financial needs of a long war fully. Having entered the Great War, hoping for its short duration, the Russian Empire was not ready for significant financial costs. The subsequent increase in foreign borrowing under the guarantees of the State Bank’s gold fund led to the gradual transfer of significant amounts of gold abroad as collateral for credit obligations. The feverish search for gold among the population yielded temporarily ineffective results. The belated attention of the country’s leadership to the gold mining industry, which is important in this context given the significant natural resources of gold, led to negative consequences for the country in difficult wartime.
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