This book examines the ability of the tsarist government and Russian industrialists to respond to the multiple challenges of war, revolution, political reform, international diplomacy and rearmament in the early twentieth century. Using Russian archive materials, Peter Gatrell analyzes the process and outcome of decision-making by government and business in the key sphere of defense, and makes an important contribution to the literature on the capacity of the old regime to fend off challenges to its authority at home and its prestige abroad.