Greco-Turkish railway connection : illusions and bargains in the late nineteenth century Balkans

Abstract

Despite profound financial weakness and a rather unfavourable political
background, Greece and the Ottoman Empire tried to meet the railway challenge. Both states hoped that railways would easily bring a variety of domestic problems to a successful end. In this context the construction of a junction line between the two neighbouring countries soon attracted the interest of the Greek governments. The issue was sentimentaly charged and overemphasised since such a line was expected to support not only the economic development of Greece but also the political unification of the nation with its brethren in Macedonia. The paper tries to evaluate briefly the economic and political prospects of railway building in Greece and in the Ottoman Empire and focuses on the fruitless diplomatic manoeuvres of successive Greek governments to achieve Ottoman consent for a railway junction. Finally it examines the causes of failure in an attempt to prove that such a scheme had never had a chance of success within the particular financial and political context.