The 18th century was a boom in Russian metallurgy. It is reflected in the increase in military demand and the increase in metallurgical production. Peter I's time coincided with the Northern War, and it was decided that many of its reforms revolved around strengthening military power. Peter I focused on fostering workshop handicrafts, especially mining and metallurgy. To this end, he introduced advanced technology from Western Europe to explore and exploit Russian underground resources, iron ore, copper ore and coal.
In order to protect the development of national industry, Peter I instituted high import taxes, and at the same time stipulated that all owners of factories and their relatives were exempt from military service and poll tax. Factors such as the government's foresight and targeted policies, the enthusiasm of private entrepreneurs in industrial activities and other factors play a leading role in the construction of the metallurgical industry in Russia. In 1719, the Mining Yamen was established, and in the same year the Tsar issued a decree allowing representatives of all classes to engage in mining and factory building activities, and introduced incentives and preferential policies. In 1721, the tsarist government issued a decree stipulating that factory owners had the right to buy serfs from noble lords as labor, and anyone who concealed underground mineral deposits owned by lords and delayed mining them was punished by death.
In the first 25 years of the 18th century, during the time of Peter I, 23 metallurgical factories were built in the Urals, of which 12 were official and 11 private, of which 5 were owned by the Demidov family. In 1725, the Urals pig iron production was 595,000 poods, which accounted for 73% of the pig iron production in Russia; Wrought iron and steel production amounted to 276,000 poods, accounting for 73.4% of Russia's total.
State orders guaranteed the expansion of the production scale and the level of production of the newly established Ural Metallurgical Plant. In the middle of the 18th century, the new metallurgical plant in the Urals mushroomed and the pace of development accelerated, during which the development of the metallurgical industry was mainly extensive, relying on vast forest areas and abundant water energy. The main driving force for development during this period was the high profits of metallurgical products, and the government gave incentives to private enterprises and imposed restrictions on the construction of government-run iron and copper smelting plants.
In 1773-1775, the wave of Pugachev uprising swept through Russia, and the rebel army demanded that the government reduce onerous taxes and taxes, and the tsarist government had to give in. On November 9, 1800, the Tsar decreed that the rank of "registered peasant" should be abolished and replaced by a "resident worker", but it was only in 1807-1814 that it really achieved its effectiveness.
On the eve of the serfdom reform in 1861, the Urals were experiencing an economic and social crisis, with the almost complete loss of foreign markets due to forced labor and low production, a marked techno-economic backwardness in the production base compared to the leading Western European countries, coupled with rising food prices and raw material production in the 50s of the 19th century
The increase in this cost caused significant losses in the Ural metallurgical industry, and 13 of the 41 large factories, or 13%, were in debt, amounting to 8.1 million rubles, which rose to 12.4 million rubles at the end of the 60s. In the late 70s and early 80s of the 19th century, under the conditions of not completely getting rid of the remnants of serfdom, the financial crisis became a difficult test for the Ural metallurgical industry.
The tsarist government relaxed its policy on loss-making factories, allowing them to delay their arrears and providing them with incentives such as long-term loans. One of the effective initiatives was the state's permission to take out low-interest loans at the Ural Metallurgical Plant through collateral of metal products. In the 60s the average annual loan amount was 4.5 million to 5.5 million rubles, in the 70s it was 6 million rubles, and in 1885-1892 it was 9 million rubles per year.
Since the time of Peter I, it has been a tradition for Russian factory owners to ask the tsarist government for loans and grants. For example, the government of Alexander III helped the Ural metallurgical industry to tide over the difficulties with preferential loans in the crisis of the 70s and 80s of the 19th century, thereby alleviating the problem of declining production. In 1863 the government drew up a plan for the construction of railways, which planned to lay several important railway lines in western Europe and Russia to connect Moscow and Petersburg with the ports north of the Volga Valley, the Black Earth Zone, the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea.
The railway construction boom of the 80s and 90s of the 19th century improved the inherent shortcomings of the remote location of the Urals and made it unimpeded to the center of Russia. In the 80s and 90s of the 19th century, the government increased financial investment in the metallurgical industry of the Urals, mainly in the form of mortgages to factories through land banks. Under Alexander II, the ban on foreign metallurgical products was lifted, and the relatively liberal tariff policy caused a large influx of foreign products, thus putting pressure on the sales of Russian metallurgical products.
The reign of Alexander III, on the contrary, pursued protectionist policies. From 1884 to 1887, high tariffs were established on foreign metallurgical products, and in 1891, they had the characteristics of prohibitive tariffs. The reduction of imported metallurgical products has promoted the development of the metallurgical industry in the Urals, especially for rail production. From 1882 to 1892, the tsarist government enacted different factory decrees, which prohibited the use of child labor and female workers, adjusted the punishment system, reformulated workers' work and rest times, and established the factory affairs office to deal with the problems encountered by workers in life and work, reflecting the humanization of the government. In order to regulate the complex land relations in the mining areas, the government issued a decree on land planning for the inhabitants of the state-owned mining areas on March 12, 1877.
