Fire, Arson and Fire Insurance in Late Imperial Russia

Between 1860 and 1914 cases of fire in Russia skyrocketed tenfold, with an especially dramatic rise in rural Russian after the turn of the century. This increase was closely related to the fire insurance policy of zemstvos as well as to the impact of the Stolypin agrarian reform upon peasant families and communities. For Russian peasants, fires did not necessarily invite critical damage, rather allowed for new beginnings with high insurance payouts. For zemstvos, fire insurance was a reliable financial source. Cases of fire plummeted during the First World War and the Russian Revolution in 1917

Agrarian society · Agriculture · Archaeology · Arson · Economic history · Economics · Economy · General insurance · Insurance policy · Peasant · Political science · Property insurance · History · Indigenous Studies and Ecology · Law · Night-time city culture · Soviet and Russian History