Česká společnost a železnice v 19. století

This study aims to try to correct the persistent idea that initial mistrust in this new means of transport was soon replaced by general enthusiasm. It certainly cannot be doubted, however, that there was a gradual movement towards the public acceptance of the railways, but the process was much slower and more complicated than is generally thought. Over a period of about 50 years, society’s perception of the railways took a somewhat circular course. The myth of the dangerous impacts of this unfamiliar means of transport on the local population was, through rational enlightenment and awareness of the economic benefits of the railway, replaced by another myth: the myth of the power of the railways, whose very presence would secure an almost miraculous blossoming of the economy and standard of living of the whole society. But in the context of the end of the 19th century, these ideas were just as irrational as those which warned of a fall in the birth-rate in regions where railways were laid. Nevertheless, the railway became an essential part of life in Czech society.