The great train race : railways and the Franco-German rivalry, 1815-1914

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The great train race : railways and the Franco-German rivalry, 1815-1914

by Allan Mitchell

Berghahn Books, 2000

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The great train race : railways and the Franco-German rivalry

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Includes bibliographical references (p. [307]-315) and indexes

Description and Table of Contents

Description

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.

Table of Contents

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

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