To the Edge of the World The Story of the Trans-Siberian Railway

262 Pages·2013·8.74 MB·English

by  Christian Wolmar

Also by Christian Wolmar
Engines of War
Blood, Iron & Gold
Fire & Steam
The Subterranean Railway
On the Wrong Line
Down the Tube
Broken Rails
Forgotten Children
Stagecoach
The Great Railway Disaster
The Great Railway Revolution

First published in Great Britain in hardback in 2013 by Atlantic Books,
an imprint of Atlantic Books Ltd.
Copyright © Christian Wolmar 2013
The moral right of Christian Wolmar to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
Every effort has been made to trace or contact all copyright holders. The publishers will be pleased to make
good any omissions or rectify any mistakes brought to their attention at the earliest opportunity.
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Hardback ISBN: 9780857890375
E-book ISBN: 9781782392040
Text design by carrdesignstudio.com
Maps by Jeff Edwards
Index by David Atkinson
Printed in Great Britain
Atlantic Books
An imprint of Atlantic Books Ltd
Ormond House
26–27 Boswell Street
London WC1N 3JZ
www.atlantic-books.co.uk
CONTENTS
List of Maps and Illustrations
Maps
Introduction
1. A Slow Embrace
2. Holding on to Siberia
3. Witte’s Breakthrough
4. Into the Steppe
5. Travels and Travails
6. Casus Belli
7. The New Siberia
8. Russia all the Way
9. The Battle for the Trans-Siberian
10. The Big Red Railway
11. The Other Trans-Siberian
12. The Greatest Railway
Bibliography
Notes
Index
LIST OF MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
MAPS
1. Trans-Siberian Railway
2. Far Eastern sections of the Trans-Siberian railway
3. Russo-Japanese War 1904–05
4. Mid-Siberian sector
5. Western sector
ILLUSTRATIONS
1. Portrait of Alexander III (1845-1894) by Ivan Kramskoi. Rex/Universal
History Archive/Universal Images Group.
2. Sergei Witte at the Wentworth Hotel, Portsmouth, 01 January 1905. Getty
Images/Buyenlarge/Archive Photos.
3. Engraving of icebreaker ferry on Lake Baikal, 1904. Getty
Images/Apic/Hulton Archive.
4. Convicts working on the Trans-Siberian Railway, 1900. Rex/Roger-Viollet.
5. Trans-Siberian Railway bridge. Mary Evans/John Massey Stewart Collection.
6. Paramedics in a hospital train of the Russian Red Cross. Mary
Evans/Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo.
7. Transfer of Japanese prisoners during the Russo-Japanese War. Mary
Evans/Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo.
8. Native Manchurian people entertaining Russian soldiers. Mary
Evans/Interfoto Agentur.
9. Engineers on the railway bridge over the River Ob. akg-images.
10. Workmen splitting logs for the Trans-Siberian Railway. Mary Evans/John
Massey Stewart Collection.
11. Trains at a marshalling yard on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Mary
Evans/Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo.
12. Irkutsk Station, 1898. © De Agostini/The British Library Board.
13. Japanese troops entering Vladivostok, 1918. akg-images/Interfoto.
14. Farmers and children sell dairy products to passengers. © William Wisner
Chapin/National Geographic Society/Corbis.
15. Leon Trotsky, Petrograd station, 1920. © Hulton-Deutsch
Collection/CORBIS.
16. Armoured train on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Mary Evans/Robert Hunt
Collection.
17. Pointsman at Novosibirsk, 1929. Mary Evans/Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo.
18. Children selling flowers to passengers, 1921. © Ella R. Christie/National
Geographic Society/Corbis.
19. Saloon car, 1903. Mary Evans/Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo.
20. Buryat people at Talbaga station. Mary Evans/Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo.
21. Third-class in Krasnoyarsk, 1905. Mary Evans/Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo.
22. Vladivostok station. akg-images/Imagno.
23. Passengers on a platform, 1915. Rex/Roger-Viollet.
24. Yaroslavsky station, 1908. Mary Evans Picture Library.
25. Yaroslavsky station, 1974. akg-images/RIA Nowosti.
26. Railwayman beside snow-covered tracks, 1978. © Hulton-Deutsch
Collection/CORBIS.
27. Members of the Young Communist League at Yaroslavsky station. akg-
image /RIA Nowosti.
28. Builders of the Baikal Amur Railroad, 01 October 1984. © RIA Novosti
/Alamy.
29. Plaque at Vladivostok station. Courtesy of Deborah Maby.
30. Novosibirsk station. Courtesy of Deborah Maby.
31. Circum-Baikal Railway. Francorov/Wiki Commons.
32. Rossiya Trans-Siberian train arriving at Ulan-Ude, 2007. Rex.
33. Ulan-Ude station, 2012. Courtesy of Deborah Maby.
34. Christian Wolmar and Deborah Maby. Courtesy of Deborah Maby.