Synopses & Reviews
This contributed volume explores the relationship between imperialism, railways, and informal empire. Contributors account for the origins of main lines in several independent and self-governing countries. The essays reflect on the imperial and anti-imperial effects of railways, whose rails traced the divergent paths of expanding capitalism, imperial strategy, modernizing nationalism, and the origins of main lines in selected independent and self-governing countries. The railway has often been studied from the standpoint of imperialism; this book makes a beginning with studying imperialism from the standpoint of the railway.
Review
Essays in this collection cover European and American railway construction and strategy in Argentina, Canada, Central Africa, China, India, Mexico, South Africa, and Thailand. Although the essays vary in quality, they pursue a similar theme, namely, that railroad mania spread outside Europe and the US after the mid-19th century and that these widely scattered ribbons of iron and steel created altered patterns of trade and power. "The locomotive clearly had a unique propensity for integrating and annexing territory, for monopolizing its resources, and for preempting the future of great stretches of country. All of these implications . . . gave rise to a distinctive type of railway imperialism, which added a new dimension to European expansion and projected it to a higher pitch of intensity over a vastly extended range." The volume is blessed with an exceptionally thoughtful concluding essay, "Railways and Informal Empire," which ties together effectively the individual pieces. Since no previous work explores the relationship between railways and imperialism, this title holds considerable value, most of all to economic, political, and social historians. It is well documented, contains helpful maps, and includes a usable selected bibliography. Upper-division undergraduates and above.Choice
Synopsis
This contributed volume explores the relationship between imperialism, railways, and informal empire. Contributors account for the origins of main lines in several independent and self-governing countries. The essays reflect on the imperial and anti-imperial effects of railways, whose rails traced the divergent paths of expanding capitalism, imperial strategy, modernizing nationalism, and the origins of main lines in selected independent and self-governing countries. The railway has often been studied from the standpoint of imperialism; this book makes a beginning with studying imperialism from the standpoint of the railway.
Synopsis
The essays reflect on the imperial and anti-imperial effects of railways, whose rails traced the divergent paths of expanding capitalism, imperial strategy, and modernizing nationalism.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [197]-204) and index.
About the Author
CLARENCE B. DAVIS is Vice President for Academic Affairs at Keene State College, Keene, New Hampshire.KENNETH E. WILBURN is a Professor in the Department of History at East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina.RONALD ROBINSON is Emeritus Beit Professor of the History of the British Commonwealth in Oxford University and Fellow of Balliol College.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction: Railway Imperialism
Railway Imperialism in Canada, 1847-1865
Engines of Empire and Independence: Railways in South Africa, 1863-1916
Railways Politics and Imperialism in Central Africa, 1889-1953
Profits and Visions: British Capital and Railway Construction in Argentina, 1854-1886
In the Path of Progress: Railroads and Moral Reform in Porfirian Mexico
Railways, Raj, and the Indian States: Policy of Collaboration and Coercion in Hyderabad
Thailand's Railways and Informal Imperialism
Russia, the Soviet Union, and the Chinese Eastern Railway
Railway Imperialism in China, 1895-1939
Conclusion: Railways and Informal Empire
Selected Bibliography
Index