Tensions in Railway Europe

Abstract

In 1922 Osborne Mance, a renowned transport expert, published his views on the role of transport in international relations.¹ He argued that there could be no civilization without transportation. Following in the footsteps of Chevalier, Mance expressed a firm belief in the myth of the network. Building railway networks would also lead to enhanced political security. Mance argued that the creation of transnational railway networks might in the first instance provoke hostile reactions and even contribute to the origins of wars. Such bitter experience only served as a reminder that “there are common interests which are essential to the existence and development of all other interest.”²