TASK 4

System of Transportation in Russia, during the First World War.

At the turn of the twentieth century railways dominated land transport. Motor
vehicles had yet to seriously threaten the railways, except for local traffic, while
aviation was at an embryonic stage. Consequently the main belligerent nations of
Europe built their plans for mobilising and supporting their armies in war primarily
around railways. Each nation had developed very sophisticated schedules for
concentrating troops and equipment at key depots and then despatching the forces
rapidly to designated positions on their frontiers.
Vast land area, sparse population density, inconsistent tsarist policy, and
underdeveloped industry prevented Russian railroads from growth before and
during the First World War. In 1913 the general staff elaborated a plan to improve
the railway system, but outside circumstances doomed this expansion to failure.
Even though the railroads’ capacity grew in absolute terms, their efficiency
conversely diminished during the war and revolution.In Russia even though the
total length of railway tracks stood at 71,000 kilometres on the eve of the First
World War, the Russian railway system had limited capacity to serve the
belligerent interests of the state. While Germany and Austria-Hungary had thirty-
two railway connections at their disposal, including fourteen two-lane tracks to the
Russian borders. For over 150 years railway transport has been absolutely vital for
moving people and freight across the vast territories of the tsarist empire, Soviet
Union and post-Soviet Russia.
At no time was this technology more important than in the First World War,
when the tsarist war effort depended not just on the armies at the front but also on
the smooth functioning of the railways, industry and agriculture in the rear.
The railways collapsed in 1915–16 under the huge strain of the war’s
demands and that the resultant food shortages and price inflation sparked the riots
that turned to revolution in the capital. Only American industry could supply
material in large quantities at such short notice to augment the limited British
manufacturing capacity.
Today Russian Railways, a state-owned railwaycompany, is one of the
biggest railway companies in the world with 0.95 million employees and a
monopoly within Russia.

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Year Miles of track

1838 16

1855 570

1880 14,208

1890 19,011

1905 31,623

1917 50,403

Imperial period: ton-km

In 1916, just at the start of First World War (during which Germany invaded
Russia) freight traffic on Russian Railway reached nearly 100 billion tonne-
kilometers (traffic on United States railways was about five times higher). But due
to the war, a few years later Russian traffic had crashed to about 20 billion ton-km.
Then the civil war started with the reds fighting the whites, which delayed the
recovery of rail traffic. The reds (communists) won, resulting in the formation of the
Soviet Union (USSR) and a new chapter in railway development .

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