We watched a documentary today on the spread of rail transportation during the Industrial Revolution. The Ottomans apparently expected the introduction of rail to help bind their more far-flung territories to the Anatolian core (and I would have agreed with them). Instead, rail served to introduce new ideas from outside the empire (not entirely sure what those ideas were, as this was a bit early for self-determination for nation-states, but whatever) and the Ottoman grasp on its territories actually decreased. So... huh. That's weird.
Honestly the more I think about this the less sense it makes.
Here's the Ottoman Empire around 1900, which is when they really started getting in on the railroad business. It's obviously a hefty amount of territory to control without any sort of rapid communication, and they did it through a confederated system in which Troops were garrisoned and commanded locally and regional governors had a fair degree of autonomy. This probably contributed to them losing so much territory over the years, and it's largely a result of them being unable to rule effectively from Istanbul.
But imagine all those vast expanses of the Near East with trains. Rapid troop movement capability means the army isn't all spread out and the far-flung territories aren't so far-flung after all. The two major rail lines that I know of run from Istanbul to Baghdad and Istanbul to Medina (in red - the map doesn't go down to Medina but you get the idea).
So that's the upside of the railways for the Ottoman political apparatus. The downside is apparently Western ideas flooding in on the rail lines and causing more of the hinterlands to revolt. But the really great thing about Istanbul is that it's pretty much the only way to get from Europe to the Levant by land. The censors couldn't ask for a better stranglehold on the flow of information. This isn't Youtube - if Istanbul doesn't want communist propaganda to go to the Arabian Peninsula, then it won't go there.
So that's the upside of the railways for the Ottoman political apparatus. The downside is apparently Western ideas flooding in on the rail lines and causing more of the hinterlands to revolt. But the really great thing about Istanbul is that it's pretty much the only way to get from Europe to the Levant by land. The censors couldn't ask for a better stranglehold on the flow of information. This isn't Youtube - if Istanbul doesn't want communist propaganda to go to the Arabian Peninsula, then it won't go there.
So to put it simply, I've got more reading to do on this whole railroads thing.
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