FIRST MILITARY RAILWAYS

Some of the earliest railway networks became critical to conflicts around the world, transporting men and materiel

Throughout the 19th century, the steam engine drove the Industrial Revolution and the railways it brought transformed societies, fortunes and even landscapes.

Its influence was powerful and far-reaching and it didn’t take military thinkers long to start dreaming up ways to repurpose this mighty commercial tool to fight wars.

Initially, trains were recognised as an efficient means of transporting large amounts of men and materiel to battlefields. The Prussian, Russian and Austrian armies were the first to do this in the 1840s. The British, too, were early adopters and during the Crimean War (1853-56) built the first-ever military railway when they constructed a 13km track from the port of Balaklava to resupply troops besieging the city of Sevastopol.

It wasn’t until the American Civil War (186165), however, that the full military potential of railways and steam engines began to be realised. It was the first conflict to see rail lines and railway junctions become strategic objectives, and also the first in which trains were weaponised.