Christian Wolmar’s Blood, Iron and Gold, Book Review Example

Christian Wolmar’s Blood, Iron and Gold: how the Railroads Transformed the World”.

Within Wolmar’s quasi-historical book about the start of the Railroads, provides a thorough narrative on how the railroad changed and impact the world. The first railroads helped to employ several hundreds of people in positions of engineers, drivers, and other unique skills that gained experienced to travel abroad and spread technology. The railroad was born in Britain within the early 1800s as a way of transporting coal from mines to promote capital. However, proprietors of the first railways, such as in Manchester in Great Britain, Ohio in the United States, quickly discovered that individuals could even be profitably transported over long distances, which revolutionized the transportation industry.  Wolmar writes, “it is almost impossible to exaggerate the profound impact of the railways,” (Wolmar 219). Railroads remodeled the agricultural economies, which had prevailed since the world emerged from the caves, into the economic age. Wolmar mentions a minimum of three times throughout the book, he provides comparisons of the development of the railroad industry to the development of the pyramids in ancient Egypt, but he incorporates in a point. The railroads were indeed an enormous undertaking, immensely impressive in their technologies, endeavors and social and economic impact. (Wolmar 49; 230) No one would have thought that it would have heralded a revolution that worlds had never, seen the likes of before or since. It had been the primary railway linking two capital cities. Wolmar comments that, “even though the trains were slow, averaging barely 20 miles per hour in the early days, journeys that had taken days by stagecoach could be undertaken in a few hours” (Wolmar 11). Many individuals were there with the intention of learning a way to do the same in their countries, and there was an explicit amount of social phobia.

The development of this new form of transportation, provided individuals the capability to migrate in large populations from land-based employment or agriculture to paid work for capitalist businesses. (Wolmar 220) The new mobile labor pool ranged far afield, supply manpower for a number of latest industries. The formation of the railroads took considerable government oversight, as pressure from the local entrepreneurs helped in influence to build railways throughout Europe. Wolmar writes, “Right from the beginning, European governments on the Continent were aware that the railways were such an important part of their country’s infrastructure, and would play a vital role in economic development…” (Wolmar 19). The impact of the development of the railways would not only help in the economic development but also in uniting nations that would be able to respond rapidly to rebellion and unrest in different regions. The first railways were concentrated by Britain, Belgium, and other parts of Europe, that were focused on developing railways to link capital cities, and the promotion of integrated transport (Wolmar 278). The reworking impact of railroads ranged into the world of finance also, large amounts of capital were required to make locomotives and freight and passenger cars, to get down the track, to accumulate land, to make stations, to buy fuel, to pay wages. Railroad barons, financiers, and other entrepreneurs were exceedingly attractive to the capital gains of the railroad industry. Of course, the government had to complete a job too, especially in continental Europe. Britain and the U.S. took an a lot of capitalistic approach to railroad development, but even within the land of the economic system, politicians inevitably became involved within the method, not continuously with useful results.

When the railways moved to the United States, the interest of the transcontinental railways was a contentious debate, as they were considered grand projects that needed the government’s involvement. “Often inspired by little more than imperial swagger, they were grandiose undertakings that sought to connect distant corners of the globe with the main population centers in the quest for wealth, power, and national unity” (Wolmar 129). The main impactful effects were for local politicians and railway promoters to reap profitability, as the technologies continued to grow throughout the world.  The development of the railways helped to change the way in which Americans traveled. Before the railways, there was only three ways to travel; by wagon, ship, and hikes through the jungle of Panama. (Wolmar 130). For a decade United Kingdom had a monopoly on building trains. “Britain’s more advanced industrialized position allowed it to keep ahead of its European counterparts, and as a result, it was the first nation to exploit fully the boundless potential of this new technology” (Wolmar 11).

Wolmar provides a detailed and profound story of the development of the Central Pacific and Union railways that magnificently converged at elevation point in Utah, on May 10, 1869. (Wolmar 143). However, this was not the primary line to go across the United States or North America.  The book creates a foundation for while railways were of immense importance, just like the construction of the pyramids were to the world, in providing one of the most efficient and economical ways of transporting great distances in a shorter amount of time.

At the end of the 19^th century, railroads were still present. Railway managers mocked at the conception that the new horseless carriage may withdraw their business. Mr. Wolmar says, that the cult of automobile riding can gradually wear off, and time can presently be here when an exceedingly massive a part of the people cease to think about automobile rides (Wolmar 280) That comment was created in 1916. Four years later, railroad traffic within the U.S. peaked at one.2 billion passengers. By the Nineteen Thirties, the iron horse was in serious decline, because of the interior combustion engine.  The industry began to shift from steam power engines to diesel, and electricity engines, but it was too late. The transportation industry was wrought with competition from automobiles such as trucks, buses, cars, and improvement to airplanes, which deeply cut into the railroad industry. As Wolmar mentions it is unmeasurable to estimate the amount of impact that the railroad had throughout the world. (Wolmar 219) It helped to transformed agricultural economies into the industrial age. Many of the European countries began to advance in wealth and technology as their economies began to flourish. Throughout the United States, Argentina, and South Africa they were almost everywhere, that affected the social life of individuals during the latter of the 19^th century. “The railways were developed before those other life changing aspects of technology—before electricity for lighting, gas for cooking, the telephone, the typewriter, and the bicycle—and therefore their creation marked the dawn of the modern age” (Wolmar 219). The impact of the railways worked two ways. It was both impactful on the social and economic development, but also in the disruption of the ways of life that existed for centuries that people throughout the world were generally accustomed to. Many people’s lives were unimproved, as they lost their businesses, trade, and became victims of monopolistic unfair treatment (Wolmar 220). The railway industry changed people’s diets, improved small town economies, help create businesses, and create jobs, as the ability for people to migrate help boost profit that was valued in the millions.

Recently, Railways have mounted a comeback in a lot parts of the world, thanks partially to the recognition of high-speed rail. Finally, it is worth noting railways would have not taken off in any respect with immense amounts of capital and coal which had amounted in the worth of coal and different minerals that additionally propelled the industry.  The railway industry is still a viable industry that has transformed into a more modern industry that focuses on expounding on the railways in order to provider a faster transportation that is still more economical than cars, buses, and trucks. Christian Wolmar’s Blood, Iron and Gold studies the history of the railways from the approach of their effect of the economic and social context of history. The book reviews the unfolding of the development of the railways, the challenging encounters of building the railways, the approach which was incorporated and accepted into various societies, and how they would unsurprisingly remodeled them. There is no need to worry running into anything technical or engineering-like here, the main target is on the folks and society, and the technical details square measure omitted to the extent that in few occasions. Wolmar’s writing is mostly pleasurable, even if it from time to time feels slightly hurried. He speaks with an authoritative and warm tone.

Wolmar’s can creates smoothly flowing sentences, where he spices his sentences up with colorful anecdotes that provide an entertaining read. The result is a stimulating and informative story of the engineering deed that has shaped and affected our society over anything, except maybe movable sort and electricity. If one would want to show one weakness within the book, it might presumably be that it in an approach misses its mark slightly. Within the effort of making the book as clear and approachable as doable, Wolmar in several instances, he remains in a rather undetailed and general level when addressing the impacts that the railways had on society. Wolmar makes clear several times that the reason for the development of railways were, “to subdue colonies or indigenous populations, to transport armies, to bypass unnavigable stretches of river, to conquer territory, and frequently, to unite countries” (Wolmar 222).  Wolmar offers an intensive list of books for additional reading, and provides color commentary, and historical stories that details the development and the impact of railways throughout history.

Works Cited

Wolmar, Christian. Blood, Iron, and Gold–How the Railroads Transformed the World. New York: Public Affairs, 2010.