Hi, I have a project I have to do for my history class. I came across an amount while researching the Russo-Japanese War during the reign of Nicholas II. Apparently, over 2.5 billion gold rubles were used for materials. The time frame for the war was 1904-1905. Can anyone tell me how much that would be in US dollars today? Thanks in advance.

In 1905, 1 rouble = U.S. 51.5 cents.

1 billion (1,000,000,000) roubles therefore equal $515,000,000 in 1905.

2.5 billion roubles equal $1,287,500,000 in 1905.

There are websites available to change the dollar of 1905 to the dollar of 2008. One
website, maintained by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, only calculates from
1913 but the value of the rouble in 1913 was the same as 1905.

An alternate way of calculating this would be:

10 gold roubles = .2489 ounces Troy. Then determine the number of times 10 gold
roubles divides into 2.5 billion gold roubles and multiply by .2489. Then multiply by the
current price of gold per Troy ounce.

RWJ

To add to what RWJ wrote here is an image of a ca. 1912 British hotel pamphlet explaining the relative values of currencies in circulation in relation to British coinage:



Russian coins are on the right hand side, you can compare to American currency on this.