REICH RAILS: ROYAL PRUSSA, IMPERIAL GERMANY AND THE FIRST WORLD WAR

Studio sulle ferrovie tedesche dal 1825 alla fine della Grande Guerra e la loro importanza nell’unificazione della Germania dal 1864 al 1871. Analizza anche lo sviluppo della rete ferroviaria nel resto dell’Europa, nel continente Africano e negli Stati Uniti. Descrive inoltre alcuni treni famosi e presenta gli uomini che contribuirono allo sviluppo delle ferrovie nonché l’impiego della rete ferroviaria in guerra.

• Of mass appeal to military historians and transport enthusiasts
• Written and researched by a leading military historian
• Superbly illustrated with many rare and unpublished

The Great War (1914-18) Centennial began in 2014 and Reich Rails: Royal Prussia, Imperial Germany and the First World War 1825-1918 is a comprehensive study of Prussian/German railways leading up to the war. Men, rails, lines, engineers, cars and stations all played a crucial part in Germany’s Wars of Unification during 1864-1871, the interwar years and the final catastrophe that toppled many crowns, thrones and states, all told from a railroad perspective.

Railroad sagas are explored as railways aligned both for and against the Second Reich: Berlin-Baghdad, Trans-Siberian, Hejaz, African, Italian, American and more. Also detailed are notable individual historic trains such as of those of Kaiser Wilhelm II, Tsar Nicholas II, hospital conveyances, differing gauges, railroad guns, armoured trains, Lenin’s infamous ‘sealed train’ through Germany to Russia and more.

Also described are the famous men who made ‘training’ a successful wartime tool: banker Bleichroder, soldier von Moltke, raiders Lawrence of Arabia, Bulow and Hindenburg, and how Marshal Foch’s railroad dining car became the focal point of the First World War’s final ending. From the very first German passenger service to the Russian Civil War, this is epic railroading as a military force.