Dilemma of industrialization of Russia in the XIX century

The article is devoted to the study of the process of Russia's industrialization in the nineteenth century, the modernization of the country in the transition from an agrarian society to industrial. Studying of these issues proves that in Russia, as in the whole world, the base of its process consisted in formation of a new technogenic environment in the economy (changing the material base of society, the transformation of its institutions, the evolution of the social and settlement structure, the system of values and lifestyle of the population, etc.). The formation of an industrial society took place in the form of consecutive revolutions in engineering and technology, the emergence of new technological structures in the economy. These processes were evidence of historical progress in the development of nations and states that existed in the harsh competitive environment of world history. Changes in the technogenic environment were the main indicators of the modernization stages and had an impact on social changes in society. In its turn, the radical technological shifts did not occur spontaneously, but they were provided by various social transformations. On the base of materials on the history of metallurgy the author shows the trajectory of domestic industrialization in the nineteenth century.