MODERNIZATION OF SIBERIAN ECONOMY AT THE TURN OF THE 20 <sup>th</sup> CENTURY: THE TRANSBAIKALIAN VARIANT
The article examines regional specificities of economic modernization of Transbaikalia that had a «catching up» character in comparison with other Siberian territories. Rich natural resources and lots of hard labor prisons supplying this land with free workforce sufficiently slowed down the formation of a new economic structure and mechanization of regional industry. In this way, even at the turn of the 20 <sup>th</sup> century colonization of this region was on the «robbery» stage. Military defeat became a historical factor that boosted industrialization of the region: the Russo-Japanese war clearly demonstrated weakness of economic development of the imperial eastern borderlands. The resulting shift of mind of the Russian government about the role and mission of the region contributed to the intensification of its economic life.