The Lost Chance for Integration? The German Army Concept of Rebuilding the Railways in Poland, Lithuania and Courland During the First World War

Abstract

The First World War had differentiated effects on the development and integration of the railway network in northern East Central Europe. Until 1914 this region was part of the German and Russian Empires and the rail network densities in the states were very contrasted. During the war, destroyed railway lines were quickly rebuilt; the railway network even expanded and was standardised in terms of gauge as a part of the German plan to rebuild the architecture of the system of East Central Europe. On the one hand, this was done for military reasons. But there was also a broader concept behind it: the idea of submitting the railways of the resurrected states of Poland, Lithuania and Courland to the unified system managed by the Germany. The aim of the article is to indicate to what extent Imperial German policy during the Great War actually contributed to the creation of a new, uniformed railway network in the occupied areas.