Driving Europe

by Schipper, Frank

• ISBN13: 9789052603087
• ISBN10: 9052603081
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-02-28
• Publisher: Aksant Academic Pub

Summary

Today we can hardly imagine life in Europe without roads and theautomobiles that move people and goods around. In fact, the vastmajority of movement in Europe takes place on the road. Travelersuse the car to explore parts of the continent on their holidays,and goods travel large distances to reach consumers. Indeed, thetwentieth century has deservedly been characterized as the centuryof the car. The situation looked very different around 1900.People crossing national borders by car encountered multiplehurdles on their way. Technically, they imported their vehicleinto a neighboring country and had to pay astronomic importduties. Often they needed to pass a driving test in each countrythey visited. Early on, automobile and touring clubs sought tomake life easier for traveling motorists.International negotiations tackled the problems arising fromdiffering regulations. The resulting volume describes everythingfrom the standardized traffic signs that saved human lives on theroad to the Europabus taking tourists from Stockholm to Romein the 1950s. Driving Europe offers a highly original portrait of aEurope built on roads in the course of the twentieth century.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. 5
Introduction	p. 11
Red carpets all over Europe	p. 11
Framework and questions	p. 15
Europe's system builders	p. 21
Demarcation in space and time	p. 26
Roads to European integration: a brief historiography	p. 28
Sources and methodological issues	p. 33
Thesis outline	p. 40
Setting the stage-The dawn of the spirit of Geneva, 1898-1921	p. 45
All roads lead to Paris	p. 45
Early motoring in Europe	p. 48
The Courses des Capitales, 1898-1903	p. 48
Touring Europe during the Belle Epoque	p. 54
International organizations and road transport	p. 63
'Careful, driver!' The Great War and motorized transport	p. 68
The League of Nations	p. 74
Conclusion	p. 80
Roads to Europe-Albert Thomas' European public works, 1929-1937	p. 83
The Europe of Robert Mangin	p. 83
The European movement in the Interbellum	p. 89
European public works	p. 92
The Plan Delaisi and the Public Works Committee	p. 96
European motorway networks	p. 102
Conclusion	p. 116
Driving Europe-The League of Nations Road Committee, 1921-1938	p. 121
Making the European tourist	p. 121
Barcelona and the Committee on Communications and Transit	p. 125
The Sub-Committee on Road Traffic	p. 132
Preparing for Paris: Revising the 1909 Convention, 1926	p. 136
From Paris to Geneva: The European Conference on Road Traffic, 1931	p. 141
Years of decline? The remainder of the 1930s	p. 150
Conclusion	p. 154
Setting the stage-The parade of organizations, 1942-1953	p. 159
The reconstruction of a continent	p. 159
Another war-another aftermath	p. 162
Planning European post-war transport during the war	p. 164
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe	p. 167
"M-aid for motorways: " the Marshall Plan and motorized mobility	p. 172
The European Conference of Ministers of Transport	p. 178
Conclusion	p. 183
Roads to Europe-The E-road network, 1950-2007	p. 187
Get your kicks on the E3	p. 187
The E-Road network	p. 191
Main international traffic arteries for Europe, 1947-1957	p. 191
E-road network development, 1957-1975	p. 201
Towards a grid: the 1975 revision and thereafter, 1975-2007	p. 205
Fill in the blanks: building roads in the Balkans	p. 209
Conclusion	p. 217
Driving Europe-The operation of Europe's roads, 1949-1960	p. 219
Danish butter for France	p. 219
The freedom of the road	p. 223
Towards a regime of regulated freedom	p. 231
Taking the bus: the quest for trans-European bus lines, 1947-1956	p. 232
Weights and dimensions: the quest for a European truck, 1949-1960	p. 240
Interlude: the quest for a European pallet, 1952-1960	p. 251
Conclusion	p. 254
Conclusion	p. 259
Via Europa	p. 259
Institutional proliferation and European road transport	p. 262
Roads to Europe and driving them	p. 267
The road ahead	p. 274
Epilogue-All quiet in Brussels?	p. 279
Bibliography	p. 289
List of abbreviations	p. 315
List of tables and figures	p. 317
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