The Great Train Race (eBook)

Railways and the Franco-German Rivalry, 1815-1914

Allan Mitchell (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2000
356 Seiten
Berghahn Books (Verlag)
978-1-78238-197-6 (ISBN)

Infos

From their origins, railways produced an intense competition between the two major continental systems in France and Germany. Fitting a new technology into existing political institutions and social habits, these two nations became inexorably involved in industrial and commercial rivalry that eventually escalated into the armed conflict of 1914. Based on many years of research in French and German archives, this study examines the adaptation of railroads and steam engines from Britain to the continent of Europe after the Napoleonic age. A fascinating example of how the same technology, borrowed at the same time from the same source, was assimilated differently by the two continental powers, this book offers a groundbreaking analysis of the crossroads of technology and politics during the first Industrial Revolution.

Autor

Allan Mitchell† was Professor Emeritus at the University of California, San Diego. He served on the editorial boards of The American Historical Review and Central European History. Trained in both France and Germany, he became a distinguished proponent of comparative European History.

Inhalt

List of Illustrations
Preface

Introduction: The Conundrum of Comparative History

PART I: LAUNCHING THE RAILWAY AGE

Chapter 1. France, 1815–1870


Liberalism and the Legrand Star

The Emergence of the Great Railway Companies

The Surge of the Second Empire

Trains and Free Trade

The Military Implications


Chapter 2. Germany, 1815–1870


The Dilemmas of Political Diversity

Particularism Unbound

Prussia and the Push for Unification

Before the Take-Off

Strategic Thought and Military Action


Chapter 3. Comparisons, 1815–1870


Administrative Organization

Economic Competition

Military Strategy


PART II: THE SIGNALS ARE SET

Chapter 4. France, 1870–1890


After the Fall

The Counterattack of the Companies

The Failure of Centralism

A Condition of Troubling Inferiority

Railways and the Republican Army


Chapter 5. Germany, 1870–1890


Bismarck’s Railroad Policy

The Reassertion of States’ Rights

Germany Transformed

The Age of St. Gotthard

The Consolidation of Military Predominance


Chapter 6. Comparisons, 1870–1890


Administrative Organization

Economic Competition

Military Strategy


PART III: INTERNAL AND INTERNATIONAL TENSIONS

Chapter 7. France, 1890–1914


Recovery and Controversy

The Companies Face Nationalization

Private Enterprise or Public Service?

The Long Stagnation

France Prepares for War


Chapter 8. Germany, 1890–1914


The Specter of Prussification

Flirting with Unification

Low Expectations and High Finance

Railroads and the German Take-Off

The Consequences of Escalation


Chapter 9. Comparisons, 1890–1914


Administrative Organization

Economic Competition

Military Strategy


Epilogue: From Trains to Trenches

List of Abbreviations
Notes
Bibliography
Name Index
Subject Index

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 1.9.2000
• Verlagsort: New York
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Natur / Technik ► Fahrzeuge / Flugzeuge / Schiffe ► Schienenfahrzeuge
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Themenwelt: Technik
• Schlagworte: 18th/19th Century History, 20th Century History • History: 18th/19th Century, History: 20th Century to Present, Transport Studies
• ISBN-10: 1-78238-197-X / 178238197X
• ISBN-13: 978-1-78238-197-6 / 9781782381976