WWI In my opinion WWI intensified many of the existing problems in Russia.

The workers in the cities worked very long hours; up to 14 hours a day, six days a week, for very little pay, and many lived in dormitories that were very low quality. This showed how many people were working but as a country they werent making enough money. The peasants could not plough, sow or bring in the harvests because many of the young men were sent to fight in the war which in turn put them in economic decline because they had to pay for this war but they werent making any money from harvesting their crops. The situation in the countryside caused problems in the cities because with no one to harvest the crops there was not enough food to meet the demands of the entire Russian population so many people were starving. Also in the army the peasants that were forced to fight in the war wanted to return to their villages to harvest their crops but were not allowed to so they could not provide their families with food or with enough money to support them which unfortunately happened to a lot of families. The Tsar tried to take control and command the armies in the war but unfortunately he was as incompetent as a military leader as he was a political leader, and many blamed him for Russia's disastrous economic decline because a lot of money was put into the war but back home there were many problems. When the Tsar fell due to the February Revolution. the new Provisional Government refused to withdraw from the war, and the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin seemed to offer a solution to the disorder the country was in. They promised "Bread, Land and Peace" which is just what the workers and the peasant army wanted, but they also demanded all power to the soviets. They used this power to start running everything from city districts to factories and battalions in the army.

Stalin/WWII During WWII and Stalins Rule Staling had what was called 5 year plans. They were crucial in helping Russia push much Further to becoming a full industrialized Nation but during these 5 year plans they focused mainly on advancing there military production which caused deprivation of crop to be harvested which drastically affected the citizens because many people died from starvation. With all of the industrialization there were many resources being manufactured and being used to create a strong military, which was capable of withstanding an attack from the West, which is what Russia was scared of at the time, domestic areas suffered. Though the militarization of the economy created steel, technology and other scientific advancements, including their space program many people suffered the costs of what it took to get the country to where it was which included country wide famine which led to an estimated 20 million deaths. Also To get Russia industrialized enough to be a contender with the rest of the countries from the west the Russian citizens had to work very hard to achieve their goal. Some people would argue that it could maybe be considered a good thing to become this industrialized because when they were advancing in technology and producing more goods everyone was working but it was almost considered that they were being put into labor camps because they were all getting very little pay for all of the hard work they were doing and they were working in bad conditions. So in the end economically the population as a whole was suffering from many reasons including countless loss of lives, people working for very little pay, and from all the money they invested into WWII.

The Cold War During the cold war Russia was trying to do everything it could to keep its lead in the space race over America. To do this they used vast quantities of money which they didnt necessarily have to spend. This put the country in debt. They used this money to purchase all the materials they needed and they also used the money to pay all the people involved in the armies and for the people that were employed trying to keep a technological edge over the USA. What they did with these materials and manpower was bad. This is because they used most of the money to expand their army and to advance their military and they also put a lot of money into the space race which was a good thing to show how they were advancing in technology but in the end they put too much money into it and it didnt give back enough profit. If they were to put all the materials, the manpower, and the money into their infrastructure they could have used it to boost and improve their economy which would have helped it become more stable and less likely to collapse. Since all of the money they were using was being used for things that didnt help improve the country the standards of living in the country started to decline and the citizens eventually started to stop supporting the soviet union because they were not owning up to what they promised which was "Bread, Land and Peace". In all the amount of resources, manpower, and money expended on the cold war crippled the development of Russias economy.

Putin/Post Cold War-Today During Putins presidency he has done a lot to increase Russias economy. During Putin's eight years in office he helped the industry grow by about 75%. Agricultural production and construction increased drastically. The countrys income more than double and the average salary of the people in the country dramatically increased. This may all sound like a good thing and it is but while all of this was happening they did not manage to keep inflation from rising. This means that although they were making a lot more money it didnt matter because prices on everything were also increasing by a substantial amount so overall it seemed like their economy was doing well but it was really getting worst. Also another reason Putin can be related to the bad economy in Russia is because instead of addressing its many problems he has made it seem not as bad by building their economy on mineral wealth, making their economy based on oligarchy, and he has tried to make it seem that their economy is strong by using the Russian military to boss around its neighbors and their citizens into doing what he wants. Instead of doing this he should have addressed the real problems that the country is facing economically. This include the fact that the country has an aging industrial sector and by addressing all of the corruption in the government. The most recent event that Putin has done that is destroying the Russian economy is his fraudulent attempt to claim Crimea from Ukraine. Ever since the Russian military has entered Ukraine the Russian economy has been in a state of free fall. Also since the military incursion the stock market has crashed and the bond market has been obliterated. Also interest rates are soaring and the value of the Ruble (Russias currency) is dropping which means that inflation there is inflation on foreign goods which the Russian consumers depend on. The EU and USA have announced that they will impose

economic sanctions on Russia, which will choke off the already feeble Russian economic growth and will put even more pressure on the ruble and the stock market.