1893’TEN 1923 CHESTER PROJESİ’NE TÜRK TOPRAKLARINDA DEMİRYOLU İMTİYAZ MÜCADELELERİ VE BÜYÜK GÜÇLER

Railways are one of the results of the technology developed after the Industrial Revolution. This means of transports which is also an indicator of development was used by great states to establish and defend social, economic, and political spheres of influence since its earliest times of use. Ottoman statesmen did not remain indiferrent to this situation either and paid attention to the railway system in a remarkable early time. Until the establishment of the Hijaz Railway, the Ottoman State, however, could not realize a large scale railway project due the lack of sufficient capital, human force and the unsuitable political circumstances. Those small scale railways that could be built have serviced the interests of the privileged countries rather than the political, economic and military interests of the Ottoman State. Approach to railway of the Ottoman Empire drew the attention of the imperialist states to the Ottoman railways and, hence, the Ottoman lands. Great states, especially Germany, England, France, Russia and Austria, inclined towards railway building in the Ottoman Empire and began to compete with each other to take privileges from the Ottman State. The Ottoman lands became a field of competition as the USA, too, attempted to obtain railway building privilege from the Ottoman State soon before the World War I. This produced many problems, especially the Middle Eastern question in return.