To the Edge of the World

The Story of the Trans-Siberian Railway

Christian Wolmar

• Publisher: Atlantic Books
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781782392040
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

Christian Wolmar expertly tells the story of the Trans-Siberian railway from its conception and construction under Tsar Alexander III, to the northern extension ordered by Brezhnev and its current success as a vital artery. He also explores the crucial role the line played in both the Russian Civil War -Trotsky famously used an armoured carriage as his command post - and the Second World War, during which the railway saved the country from certain defeat. Like the author's previous railway histories, it focuses on the personalities, as well as the political and economic events, that lay behind one of the most extraordinary engineering triumphs of the nineteenth century.

CONTENTS

List of Maps and Illustrations

Maps

Introduction

1. A Slow Embrace

2. Holding on to Siberia

3. Witte’s Breakthrough

4. Into the Steppe

5. Travels and Travails

6. Casus Belli

7. The New Siberia

8. Russia all the Way

9. The Battle for the Trans-Siberian

10. The Big Red Railway

11. The Other Trans-Siberian

12. The Greatest Railway

Bibliography

Notes

Index

LIST OF MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

MAPS

1. Trans-Siberian Railway

2. Far Eastern sections of the Trans-Siberian railway

3. Russo-Japanese War 1904–05

4. Mid-Siberian sector

5. Western sector

ILLUSTRATIONS

1. Portrait of Alexander III (1845-1894) by Ivan Kramskoi. Rex/Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group.

2. Sergei Witte at the Wentworth Hotel, Portsmouth, 01 January 1905. Getty Images/Buyenlarge/Archive Photos.

3. Engraving of icebreaker ferry on Lake Baikal, 1904. Getty Images/Apic/Hulton Archive.

4. Convicts working on the Trans-Siberian Railway, 1900. Rex/Roger-Viollet.

5. Trans-Siberian Railway bridge. Mary Evans/John Massey Stewart Collection.

6. Paramedics in a hospital train of the Russian Red Cross. Mary Evans/Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo.

7. Transfer of Japanese prisoners during the Russo-Japanese War. Mary Evans/Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo.

8. Native Manchurian people entertaining Russian soldiers. Mary Evans/Interfoto Agentur.

9. Engineers on the railway bridge over the River Ob. akg-images.

10. Workmen splitting logs for the Trans-Siberian Railway. Mary Evans/John Massey Stewart Collection.

11. Trains at a marshalling yard on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Mary Evans/Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo.

12. Irkutsk Station, 1898. © De Agostini/The British Library Board.

13. Japanese troops entering Vladivostok, 1918. akg-images/Interfoto.

14. Farmers and children sell dairy products to passengers. © William Wisner Chapin/National Geographic Society/Corbis.

15. Leon Trotsky, Petrograd station, 1920. © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS.

16. Armoured train on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Mary Evans/Robert Hunt Collection.

17. Pointsman at Novosibirsk, 1929. Mary Evans/Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo.

18. Children selling flowers to passengers, 1921. © Ella R. Christie/National Geographic Society/Corbis.

19. Saloon car, 1903. Mary Evans/Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo.

20. Buryat people at Talbaga station. Mary Evans/Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo.

21. Third-class in Krasnoyarsk, 1905. Mary Evans/Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo.

22. Vladivostok station. akg-images/Imagno.

23. Passengers on a platform, 1915. Rex/Roger-Viollet.

24. Yaroslavsky station, 1908. Mary Evans Picture Library.

25. Yaroslavsky station, 1974. akg-images/RIA Nowosti.

26. Railwayman beside snow-covered tracks, 1978. © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS.

27. Members of the Young Communist League at Yaroslavsky station. akg-image /RIA Nowosti.

28. Builders of the Baikal Amur Railroad, 01 October 1984. © RIA Novosti /Alamy.

29. Plaque at Vladivostok station. Courtesy of Deborah Maby.

30. Novosibirsk station. Courtesy of Deborah Maby.

31. Circum-Baikal Railway. Francorov/Wiki Commons.

32. Rossiya Trans-Siberian train arriving at Ulan-Ude, 2007. Rex.

33. Ulan-Ude station, 2012. Courtesy of Deborah Maby.

34. Christian Wolmar and Deborah Maby. Courtesy of Deborah Maby.

INTRODUCTION

As with my previous railway history books, this is not just an account of a transport system. It is so much more than that. The story of the Trans-Siberian is both a tale of remarkable engineering stimulated by imperial ambition, and also a key part of Russian and, indeed, wider European and Asian history.

The Trans-Siberian is not a single railway. There are several Trans-Siberians, and the one that most fits the name – the route between Moscow and Vladivostok, entirely in Russian territory – was not completed until 1916. Before that the route from Moscow to the Pacific Ocean used the Chinese Eastern Railway, built in conjunction with the Trans-Siberian, through Manchuria, which was part of China (and now known as the Trans-Manchurian). More recently, as described towards the end of this book, the eastern part of the Trans-Siberian has been paralleled with the Baikal Amur Railway, built at great financial and environmental cost by the Soviets through virgin Siberian steppe. This book concentrates on the story of these lines, rather than the various branches built in the twentieth century, such as the Turksib and the Trans-Mongolian, because the focus of the story is Siberia, which illustrates so well the theme that comes out of many of my books: the construction of a railway line results in all kinds of changes, expected and unexpected.

In Siberia’s case, the results have inevitably been both positive and negative. In many respects, this is a tragic history. Soon after it was built, the Trans-Siberian was the catalyst for a major war, fought almost on the scale of the First World War, and then became the centre of much of the fighting in the Russian Civil War. Leon Trotsky famously used an armoured train on the line to lead the fight against the Whites, the counter-revolutionary forces in that war, and there was much bloodshed on both sides. In particular, the biggest mistake was to have built the original line through Manchuria, a move that not only resulted almost immediately in the Russo-Japanese War, but was also instrumental in bringing about the Russian Revolution, as it stimulated the failed Russian uprising of 1905.

The Trans-Siberian itself contributed to the epoch-making revolution of 1917. The concentration of resources by an impoverished government on what was perceived as adventurism in the Far East – especially during the building of the Amur railway in the years running up to the First World War – undoubtedly contributed to the political instability in Russia. The Trans-Siberian, therefore, does not merely have a major role in railway history, but its contribution to the wider geopolitics of the twentieth century cannot be overestimated. Without the Trans-Siberian, modern maps of Europe and Asia might have a very different complexion.

The sequence of wars, as well as the mass migration stimulated by the line, were the source of much suffering, and there are numerous tragic stories in this book. But there is also a fantastic, positive tale to be told, one that is too often omitted or simply forgotten in the clichéd view of Russia. The construction and the continued efficient operation of the Trans-Siberian ranks among the greatest achievements of mankind. Indeed, much of this book is about debunking myths. The Trans-Siberian came in for considerable criticism in the West when it was first built. The Russians were portrayed as corrupt incompetents. While undoubtedly mistakes were made and money went missing, this is to deny a magnificent achievement, one of the great engineering wonders of the world.

As I found when I travelled along the line, this is not some little meandering rural railway with the occasional chundering train, but rather, one of the world’s great arteries, a piece of infrastructure that transformed not only the region in which it was built, but also the entire nation that built it.

The first chapter sets the scene with an outline of pre-railway Siberia and a short account of the development of Russia’s first railways. Indeed, Russia took to the iron road rather late and its backward economic state meant the network grew more slowly than in Europe, despite the vast size of the nation. In the second chapter I explain the reasons why the Trans-Siberian became an important political issue in the latter stages of the nineteenth century, and consider the arguments between the protagonists and the opponents. There were no shortage of schemes put forward, but for a long time Russia’s rulers were opposed to the idea. Then, as explained in chapter 3, the mood changed, largely thanks to one man, the great Sergei Witte, the line’s successful advocate and a brilliant politician and administrator – a rare combination.

It took about thirty years between the idea for the line first emerging and the decision to go ahead. However, the choice of route through Manchuria was to have devastating effects. Remarkably, as explained in chapter 4, it took barely a decade to build the Trans-Siberian, despite the difficult climate, disease, shortage of materials and labour, and widespread corruption. It was an amazing achievement, although the condition of the completed line did leave a lot to be desired.

The fifth chapter covers the experiences of early travellers, which were undoubtedly mixed and at times perilous. Nevertheless, most came away impressed and there was, right from the beginning, a constant process of improvement. Their accounts are certainly varied and entertaining. Chapter 6 covers the first of several wars fought around the Trans-Siberian: the Russo-Japanese conflict, which was stimulated by the construction of the line and proved disastrous for Russia.

In chapter 7 the impact of the construction of the line is assessed. It transformed Siberia from a place just known for exiles and prisoners into a honey pot for immigrants, who arrived in their millions, encouraged by the state. Industry and agriculture both flourished. Chapter 8 tells the story of the completion of the line using solely Russian territory with the construction of the Amur Railway, the most difficult section, in order to bypass the troubled Manchurian route. The ninth chapter is the account of the civil war on the Trans-Siberian, a bloody and prolonged battle that ultimately decided the fate of the Russian Revolution.

Chapter 10 covers the interwar period, again a time of conflict, and then, worse, the establishment of the Gulags that were to cost the lives of millions of people caught up in Stalin’s bloody purges. It also explains the role of the Trans-Siberian in the industrialisation of Siberia, and the subsequent transfer of vast amounts of industry to the east in order to protect it from Hitler’s invasion.

The eleventh chapter covers the terrible history of the construction of the Baikal Amur Magistral or BAM, the world’s biggest railway project, which caused widespread environmental damage and has created a white elephant. Finally, in chapter 12 there is a brief account of the Trans-Siberian in the post-war period and an analysis of its impact on history.

A note on distances. The Trans-Siberian is 5,771 miles (9,288 kilometres) long, according to the famous monument at Vladivostok Station, but over the years the construction of tunnels and the straightening out of curves has reduced its overall distance. It is, therefore, a few miles shorter, but that is hardly significant; although in a sense the Trans-Siberian is a slight misnomer, since it is 9,000 miles from St Petersburg to Kamchatka, the furthermost point of Siberia in the north-east. In other words, the Trans-Siberian does only two thirds of the job. Nevertheless, it is an impressive one. The author of The Big Red Train Ride, the late Eric Newby, summed it up best: ‘There is no railway journey of comparable length anywhere in the world. The Trans-Siberian is the big train ride. All the rest are peanuts.’

A note on dates. Russia used the Julian cal...