What is the history of engineering in Russia?

Answer 1

Russia has a rich technological history. In 1914, before World War 1, Russia was more industrialized than the United States. When the Czar resigned, anarchy took over. The lack of government destroyed much of the industrial base. Russian engineers fled to Europe and America. With their great industrial base destroyed by the Anarchists, the communists had to start from scratch. The communists did not restore the old industries but created government centralized planing. They did not allow the old industrialists to recreate their industries. As a result, they could not get their engineers to return to Russia. Instead they had to train new ones. They established new engineering schools. In 1938, Stalin came up with massive purges against the leaders of his industries and killed many engineers and scientists. Many more went to the gulags. In 1947 when Stalin died, his successors emptied out the gulags. They would be refilled, but being a scientist would no longer be a crime. After that, Russia would again train engineers. They would not train as many per 100,000 people as most western nations, but they would train a number. The ones they trained, would be good.