A World History of Rail: From the Steam Regime to Today

Author:   Jeremy Black
Publisher:   Amberley Publishing
ISBN:  

9781398121010


Pages:   288
Publication Date:   15 December 2023
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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A World History of Rail: From the Steam Regime to Today


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Overview

There were 20,000 miles of railways in 1865 and about a million by 2020. Scale has always been a key theme in railway history. In the First World War, the London and North West Railway transported 325,000 miles of barbed wire and over twelve million pairs of army boots. At the end of the twentieth century, Indian Railways sold 4.5 billion tickets annually. With his renowned ability to take the long view of any subject and bring it into sharp focus for the reader, Jeremy Black examines how rail transformed the world. While always shaped by commercial interests, the role of the railway was (and is) strategic in the broadest sense: like Roman roads and Chinese canals, it helped develop the economic links that sustained and strengthened the major powers. For example, the railway was fundamental in integrating the frontiers of settlement with the world economy, in the spread of cultivation and ranching, and in the exploitation of mining opportunities. Rail expanded the ‘logistical space’ of most states. To give one modern example of the political importance of rail, Ukraine’s railway is on the 1.52 metre gauge, rather than the 1.435 metre one used in Poland and most of Europe. In 2022, Denys Shmyhal, Ukraine’s Prime Minister, declared that the railways there would be rebuilt to the European gauge. This enhanced capability would counter the Russian ability to blockade Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, notably Odessa. The plan was not endorsed by the Kremlin…

Full Product Details

Author:   Jeremy Black
Publisher:   Amberley Publishing
Imprint:   Amberley Publishing
Weight:   0.628kg
ISBN:  

9781398121010


ISBN 10:   1398121010
Pages:   288
Publication Date:   15 December 2023
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

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Reviews

'The book takes a global view of the development of the railways, starting with the early days of steam.' -- Family Tree Magazine, February 2024


Author Information

Jeremy Black is Emeritus Professor of History at Exeter University. He is a prolific lecturer and writer, the author of over 100 books. Many concern aspects of eighteenth-century British, European and American political, diplomatic and military history but he has also published on the history of the press, cartography, warfare, culture and on the nature and uses of history itself. He sits, or has sat, on the editorial boards of History Today, International History Review, Journal of Military History, and Media History.

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