Samokhin, K. V. Modernization of the Russian Empire in the Early XX Century

Abstract: The article is devoted to studying the military factor as the mechanism of the Russian modernization in the early XX century. The main purpose of research is to analyze the infl uence of the Russo-Japanese war of 1904 – 1905 on the transition of the Russia Empire from the agrarian society to the industrial society. Special emphasis is made on the need for harmonized modernization processes in Russia as the key to their successful implementation. The scientifi c novelty of research is the interpretation of war as some kind of a Challenge for the Russian (Slavic) civilization. Modernization of the Russian Empire of that period was the Response to that challenge. The main conclusion made by the author is the statement that the war between Russia and Japan at the beginning of the last century contributed to the development of the main tendencies in the Russian modernization that had been formed in the XVIII – XIX centuries. Political and social processes came to the fore while the economic modernization as the part of the internal policy established by Nicolas the Second became secondary and spiritual modernization was not even properly developed.

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