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.
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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
Giới thiệu về tác giả
Allan Mitchell (1933-2016) 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.
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