The Russian Engineer
The elements of engineering as I understand them now have, to a great extent, come from my experience as an engineering student. Here, I attempt to explain the utility of engineering within the historical context of Imperial Russia, although my analysis is colored by my own practice of engineering. This has led me to focus on historical details that may seem overly specific, but that are important in the larger context of engineering development.
Introduction
In the 19th century, advances in technology helped build railroads across Europe and Asia and the construction of many more fortresses and castles, and led to the construction of ever greater weapons of war. Compared to the rest of the world, Russia stands out as an empire that built great works of different types of engineering. This essay argues that, in light of the deficiencies of the Imperial Russian education system, Russia was still able to benefit from the talent of engineers in order to maintain its place as a great power in Europe.
Great works of engineering occurred throughout many fields in the Russian Empire. Successful engineering was required to build the great edifices of the empire, it changed the way people traveled and communicated, and was required to aid in the empire’s expansion and protection. St Petersburg would serve as the capital of Imperial Russia, and to demonstrate the power of the state, impressive buildings were often constructed there. Buildings of great size are needed to successfully house a central bureaucracy as large as Russia’s. Architects and engineers in Russia took the French structural design methodologies for spanning large wooden roofs, and repurposed them for use on iron.
Engineers in Russia
Russian engineers built massive spanning roofs supported by solid iron trusses in order to create the large open areas needed in buildings like the Winter Palace (picture above) and the Aleksandrinsky Theatre (picture below); in St Petersburg, engineers changed the accessibility of the city for its population. During the 19th century, many bridges were built to improve mobility within the city. Between 1823 and 1826 the civil engineer Wilhelm von Traitteur planned and executed the construction of five iron bridges within the city. These bridges were handsome single-span bridges made of iron; some of them still survive today.
The utility of bridges for the development of a state should not be underestimated: Without a reliable means of mobilizing and transporting agents of state power it is impossible to run an empire as large as Imperial Russia. The power of successful engineering in Russia was always being used to advance the cause of the state. In the planning and execution of war, competent engineering is especially important. This is a field where the structured nature of the discipline is able to shine.
In the 19th century, sieges and the defense of cities became the focal point of many battles, and when faced with the challenge of converting a city into a weapon of war it is essential to understand the structural composition of the city. The military engineer Eduard Totleben led in the construction of forts and bastions around the city of Sevastopol during the Crimean War, and these fortifications aided the Russian Army in repelling many allied assaults.
After distinguishing himself as a hero of the Crimean war, Totleben went on to successfully direct the Russian siege of Plevna. Russian war engineering was a massive undertaking that required thousands of men to be housed and supplied. Proper fortifications are essential for successful military campaigns in the 19th century, and an understanding of engineering was needed to build these structures. The Russian Empire gained much from the aid of engineers in order to retain its place as a great 19th century European power.
Meanwhile in the rest of Europe…
As the industrial revolution pressed on, the powers of Europe saw advances in technology that fundamentally changed what was possible.
In France during the 1860s, Gustave Eiffel began the planning for the Eiffel Tower. This work of engineering represents a true mastery of iron and steel as a medium for construction. Eiffel relied on his expertise as a railway bridge constructor. He applied his understanding of the physical composition of iron to build a 324 meter tall tower that has stood tall for over a century now. It is interesting to note that the Eiffel Tower was originally intended to be a temporary structure.
The Scottish born engineer James Watt served England mightily by developing the steam engine that launched the industrial revolution. James Watt was well trained in mathematics by his father and he used this training to develop mathematical measuring devices. In homage to him, the modern unit of electrical energy is today called the Watt.
Under the guidance of the British engineer George Stephenson, the railway system was invented in Britain. Stephenson was concerned with the speedy transfer of goods and people, and so hundreds of engineers were employed to design a railway system that focused on achieving public ubiquity with little care for aesthetic features.
Engineers like Eiffel, Watt, and Stephenson created new industries through a strong understanding of mathematical models of physical systems, and in the process, added to the prestige of their respective nations.
The engineer in Imperial Russia
Engineering as a profession really began developing in Russia under Peter the Great, who understood the importance of technology for the future of Russia. He worked ceaselessly to bring Russia out of the middle-ages of an agrarian economy and to begin the development of new factories and fostering of new sciences. By recruiting foreign experts in technology, while sending Russian students abroad in Western Europe, he began expanding the scientific understanding of the Russian craftsmen. This policy of exchange eventually became critical to the success of Russian Engineering as the centuries progressed. Peter understood that lasting institutions were needed to continue the scientific experimentation needed to formalize engineering.
In 1723, Peter decreed that a college of manufacturing should be built. This institution worked to increase the number of manufactures and factories in Russia, and its rigid organization is a precursor for the modern organization of engineering faculties and firms. Additionally, Peter established the Academy of Arts and Sciences which espoused the utilitarian views of engineering. The scientific achievements of the Academy were intended to aid in the construction of ships, mining operations, and better artillery. Engineering is only able to develop well if given a structured environment in which scientific developments can be exchanged and meticulously recorded. Peter the Great pushed for Russian industrialization and in the process laid the groundwork for the professional development of the engineer.
The education system
At the end of the 19th century, only 21 per cent of the Russian population was literate and the number of schools and universities in Russia experienced little increase. The deficiencies of the Russian educational system are best viewed in comparison to its contemporary European neighbors. Russia had slightly fewer universities graduating fewer students than Prussia, which only had a forth of Russia’s population . The deficiencies of Russian elementary education were even more colossal. Russia only had only one-fourth of the output of the Prussian elementary education system. Imperial Russia was not fostering the educational environment needed to produce intellectual professionals like engineers.
Meanwhile, the few schools that did exist suffered as they attempted to teach about the modern world.
Tsar Nicholas I administered harsh control of the universities via Shikmatov, and this led to major decreases in university attendance. It was not possible to maintain the large number of engineers needed to support an empire while systematically remaining hostile to mass education. Russia suffered from this policy. Prior to the Crimean War, Russia had only 1,000 kilometers of railroads available, compared to the 10,000 kilometers of railroad that existed in Germany at the time. One cannot possibly build massive railway systems without hundreds of engineers ready to advise its construction.
Russia would need engineers to develop its industries, but it would be a long time before the political climate would change in order to bring this about.
Importing talent
Left without a class of well trained engineers, Russian achievements in engineering came instead from a select few exceptional individuals. One such individual was Agustin Betancourt.
He was recruited to Russia from Spain in the early 19th century after he had helped establish the School of Road and Channels in Spain. Betancourt advised the construction of many buildings and invented new apparatuses for industry, but his greatest accomplishment was the founding of the first advanced Russian school of engineering, the Institute of Corps of Engineers of Routes of Communication. Betancourt instilled in this institute the proper values of modern engineering, which greatly helped to develop the identity of the engineer as a profession throughout the 19th century. The Institute of Corps of Engineers of Routes of Communication focused on training engineers that could immediately become productive upon graduation. This required hands-on application of skills as well as a structured understanding of contemporary engineering theory. To help facilitate this, Betancourt continued the Russian tradition of importing experts by importing experienced French engineers to lecture at the institute. Betancourt’s institute helped to facilitate future technological successes in Russia because it understood the responsibilities of engineers. Structured education was needed to ensure that the sophisticated buildings and machines of the 19th century could be operated efficiently and safely over the long term. This focus on safety and performance was a major underpinning in the training of modern engineers.
What’s more, the foreign industrialist Charles Gascoigne was imported from Britain in 1789, against the wishes of British officials, and was put in charge of three major Russian iron foundries. Before importing Gascoigne, Russia forging techniques were lacking, and Russian foundries could not produce the high-strength steel that other European foundries were making.
Gascoigne used his privilege position as overseer of a major section of Russian iron production to begin modernizing the industry. His expertise brought cast-iron technology to the industrial level in Russia, and this was put to use in building the ever larger and more advanced artillery pieces that supported the Russian army. Gascoigne collaborated with other foreign engineers such as Charles Braid to establish one of the few privately owned foundries in Saint Petersburg . The absence of significant numbers of well trained Russian engineers created a power vacuum that foreign talent was able to monopolize. This early stage in the development of the engineering profession emphasized the economic utility of engineering skills, and was concerned with the protection and exclusivity of engineering knowledge. The advantages of having a large number of skilled engineers had not been realized by the empire.
The close of an era
As the 19th century came to a close, the engineering profession in Russia had started to advance rapidly. During the revolution of 1905, political upheaval led to an expansion in the membership of engineering organizations, and began a movement to organize all engineers together in Russia. These organizations focused on the exchange of scientific ideas as well as the practical matters of defining engineering as a profession within society. The emerging and important branch of electrical engineers was particularly politically active in the formation of engineering societies. The neoteric goal was now to unite all engineers in Russia in one “All-Russian Congress of Engineers.” Throughout the 19th century, the organizing of engineers was delayed by an imperial bureaucracy that feared the potential threat to power that a unified and intelligent group might pose.
Engineering organizations showed interest in engineering as a profession, and sought to expand this profession in Russia by finally ending the long tradition of importing considerable foreign talent. Russian engineers became more socialistic in response to waning of imperial power.
A pragmatic view of engineering
The organizations that formed after the 1905 Revolution rapidly accelerated the formalization of the field. Engineers now sought the stringent requirement that all engineering theory be based on experimentally-validated science.
Young engineers that had just graduated began to put the field of engineering before their own interests. They demanded ethical change within the profession of engineering and the results of their campaign materialize in the early days of the Soviet Union. Russian engineers like Vladimir Shukhov were now making revolutionizing contributions to the field of engineering. Shukhov designed the world’s first hyperboloid structures, and he ensured the legitimacy of his designs using new methods of geometric structural analysis that he pioneered. Bringing structure and organization to the field of engineering allowed its advance to an art form, and facilitated the construction of massive engineering projects.
Conclusion
Engineering in the Russian Empire was complex. Russia was a huge empire and so educating its people was difficult. This did not mean that Russia would not industrialize. Peter the Great brought western engineering experts to Russia, and this began a long legacy where by modern engineering practice emerged in Russia. Great individuals appeared throughout Russian engineering history, who changed its course according to what they fit as the best way to practice engineering.
Modern engineering practice uses the empirical evidence obtained from scientific experimentation, and builds mathematical theories for how the world operates. Based on these theories, designs are prepared in mathematical terms for how to complete a task at hand. These designs only have value if they can be put into practice. To engineer successfully, one must remember to consider the environmental, safety, and economic implications of their work with respect to a humanistic moral framework
