The Great Train Race: Railways and the Franco-German Rivalry, 1815-1914

353 Pages·2000·3.145 MB·English

by  Allan Mitchell

THE GREAT TRAIN RACE

T G T R
HE REAT RAIN ACE
Railways and the Franco-German Rivalry, 1815–1914
H
By
Allan Mitchell
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Published in 2000 by
Berghahn Books
www.berghahnbooks.com
© 2000 Allan Mitchell
First paperback edition published in 2006
All rights reserved.
Except for the quotation of short passages
for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book
may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information
storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented,
without written permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mitchell, Allan.
The great train race : railways and the Franco-German rivalry, 1815–1914 /
by Allan Mitchell.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 978-1-57181-166-0 (hbk) — ISBN 978-1-84545-136-3 (pbk)
1. Railroads–France–History. 2. Railroads–Germany–History.
3. Railroads and state–France– History. 4. Railroads and state–Germany–
History. 5. World War, 1914–1918–Transportation. I. Title.
HE3065.M58—2000
385'.0943—dc21 00-034266

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Printed on acid-free paper.
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations vii
Preface viii
Introduction: The Conundrum of Comparative History x
PART I: LAUNCHING THE RAILWAY AGE
1. France, 1815–1870 3
Liberalism and the Legrand Star, 4
The Emergence of the Great Railway Companies, 8
The Surge of the Second Empire, 18
Trains and Free Trade, 24
The Military Implications, 31
2. Germany, 1815–1870 37
The Dilemmas of Political Diversity, 38
Particularism Unbound, 43
Prussia and the Push for Unification, 50
Before the Take-Off, 54
Strategic Thought and Military Action, 60
3. Comparisons, 1815–1870 68
Administrative Organization, 69
Economic Competition, 75
Military Strategy, 79
PART II: THE SIGNALS ARE SET
4. France, 1870–1890 85
After the Fall, 86
The Counterattack of the Companies, 90
The Failure of Centralism, 99
A Condition of Troubling Inferiority, 104
Railways and the Republican Army, 112
5. Germany, 1870–1890 120
Bismarck’s Railroad Policy, 121
The Reassertion of States’ Rights, 129
Germany Transformed, 136
The Age of St. Gotthard, 141
The Consolidation of Military Predominance, 149
vi | Contents
6. Comparisons, 1870–1890 156
Administrative Organization, 157
Economic Competition, 164
Military Strategy, 168
PART III: INTERNAL AND INTERNATIONAL TENSIONS
7. France, 1890–1914 175
Recovery and Controversy, 176
The Companies Face Nationalization, 182
Private Enterprise or Public Service? 190
The Long Stagnation, 197
France Prepares for War, 204
8. Germany, 1890–1914 213
The Specter of Prussification, 214
Flirting with Unification, 220
Low Expectations and High Finance, 228
Railroads and the German Take-Off, 234
The Consequences of Escalation, 241
9. Comparisons, 1890–1914 248
Administrative Organization, 249
Economic Competition, 255
Military Strategy, 259
Epilogue: From Trains to Trenches 265
List of Abbreviations 270
Notes 272
Bibliography 307
Name Index 316
Subject Index 322
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
TABLES
1. Northern Railway Company: Gross Income from Freight, 19
1852–1857
2. Track Length of French Railway Companies, 30 September 1857 19
3. French Railway Investments, 1823–1856 20
4. Northern Railway Company: Gross Annual Income, 1860–1868 27
5. Completed Railroads in France and Germany, 1850–1869 70
6. Shipping Tonnage: Entrance and Exit, 1860–1873 79
7. Total Railroad Investments by German Medium States, 1870–1880 143
8. Kilometric Tonnage of German Railway Freight, 1870–1879 143
9. German Commerce with Italy, 1881–1883 147
10. Heavy Freight Carried by National Rail Networks, 1880–1893 163
11. Transfer of Funds between the French State and the Eastern 184
Railway Company, 1899–1910
12. Total Production of German Light and Heavy Industry, 1880–1913 235
13. Total Value Created in German Transportation, 1880–1913 235
14. Total Gross Income from German Railway Freight, 1880–1913 236
15. Track Length of Major State Railway Companies, 1880–1913 237
16. Total Gross Income from German Passenger Fares, 1880–1913 238
17. Comparative Growth of National Railway Systems, 1830–1910 253
18. Total Rolling Stock, 1914 253
19. Tonnage Entering North European Ports, 1891–1896 257
20. Imports of Perishable Foods, 1897–1907 258
21. Merchant Steamships, 1899–1914 259
22. Annual Average Real Military Expenses, 1880–1910 262
MAPS
(between Chapters 2 and 3)
1. Main Railways in France, 1850
2. Main Railways in Germany, 1850
3. Main Railways in France, 1860
4. Main Railways in Germany, 1860
(between Chapters 5 and 6)
5. Major French Railway Companies, 1880
6. Major German Member States, 1880
(between Chapters 8 and 9)
7. Main Railways in France, 1914
8. Main Railways in Germany, 1914
PREFACE
When I was a boy, I went every Friday evening with my mother to
the railway station in Ashland, Kentucky, to meet my father, who
was arriving from across the state. Tiny and terrified, I stood there on the
platform as the train crept in to a halt, heaving, scraping metal, and hiss-
ing steam. That gigantic engine right next to me was a monster, huge and
alive, more frightening than any other creature extant. No less clearly I
recall the exhilaration of my first train ride, moving over rails at speeds
faster than I had ever known: the big cars, the people seated or milling
about, the scenery racing by, the steady clatter and occasional whistles on
the outside, the destination ahead. Those were thrills never to be forgot-
ten, and probably they count as explanation enough for this book.
Yet there is another reason for such a volume. Later, by inadvertence,
I became a comparative historian. It was not America but Europe (where
my parents were born, in Scotland) that always fascinated me. Through
a series of chances I ended by dividing nearly half of my adulthood
between France and Germany. They became the focus of my studies, my
research, my professional career, my private life. It seemed only natural,
then, that I should eventually complete my historical work by attempt-
ing to compare them, and for that purpose the train was an ideal vehicle.
A single technology, developed of course in Great Britain, arrived on the
European continent at the same time in the 1830s. But within the French
and German realms it evolved in quite disparate fashions during the
nineteenth century. How and why was that so, I wondered? It was the
normal question of any historian, a curiosity that led in my case to this
scholarly enterprise.
Along the tracks I was aided and guided by many individuals who
personally or professionally crossed my path. There is no way for me to
thank them except to remember some of their names here in a list much
too short: my mother, who kept matters of life and death in perspective;
Catherine and René, Alex and Bob, Alena, Erica, Julian, and Melanie, a
family whose love was all that anyone could want; Larry Joseph, the best of
friends and of hosts; Hannes Siegrist and Lilli Sprecher, who kept a warm
spot for me in Berlin; Josef and Ruth Becker, whose home near Augsburg
was my beachhead in southern Germany; Jim Harrison, president of the
Preface | ix
Bogliasco Foundation, who provided a delicious respite at the Centro
Studi Ligure near Genoa; Jenefer Shute, who shared my taste for good
writing, Gorgonzola, and the Cinque Terre; David Luft, the smartest and
warmest of alter egos; Kevin McAleer, Eileen DeMarco, and Paul Dut-
ton, students who became colleagues and friends; Belinda and Marc and
Isabel, just adorable; Evelyn and Horst Wittmann, Old World charmers,
along with Rebecca, who allowed me to be her sometime mentor; Chantal
Bamberger, ever knowledgeable and always gracious; Karen Bowie, who
knows about train stations and much more; Jürgen Kocka, who offered a
chance to try out my tentative ideas at his Arbeitsstelle für Vergleichende
Gesellschaftsgeschichte in Berlin; Patrick Fridenson, who sneaked me in
the side door of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes and found lodging at the
Maison Suger in Paris; Peter Hennock, who personified the English con-
nection; François Caron and Georges Ribeill in France, Rainer Fremdling
and Hans-Ulrich Wehler in Germany, whose writings set the standard;
the German Marshall Fund of the United States, which provided finan-
cial support; Anne Liisa Harris, whose efficient and charming editorial
assistance was invaluable; Shawn Kendrick, who was my extraordinarily
thorough and thoughtful copy editor; Marion Berghahn, who took this
project on and saw it through; and the many wonderfully patient archi-
vists, who somehow tolerated my pestering.
A.M.
Boulder, Colorado