Ancient Egypt could not withstand the blows of fate that Ancient China withstood. In the first case, a grandiose cult center (the Valley of the Pyramids), in the second - the territory partially "outlined" by the Great Wall, the best network of land roads, and then also a water road from north to south of the country - the Great Canal. The empire with the infrastructure turned out to be stronger.
Since ancient times, the spheres of influence of large empires have formed around the roads. This is no coincidence - the territory can be conquered from the sea, but it is very difficult to retain, especially in the deep regions. An overland invasion is safer, but without a network of roads, no reinforcements can be sent, no tribute taken out, no new allies can be tied to oneself. So it is not surprising that the roads that are narrow by today's standards, but excellent in quality, have survived from the Roman Empire to this day. Or the Tahuantinsuyo empire, created in South America by the Incas, existed as a single whole precisely thanks to the network of roads along which the Chaski messengers ran back and forth, and caravans of porters with loads, at best, partially loaded on llamas, moved.
It was not always possible to ensure control over trade routes outside the empire - for example, the Great Silk Road, along which Chinese goods in ancient times reached the very west of Europe - Iberia, was controlled by the rulers of China only on their own territory and partially - in the nearest lands to the west of the country. Of course, this situation never suited the rulers. And even during the seizure or more peaceful development of new territories, there was nothing to think about real power without laying roads.
Over the past 200 years, the construction of railways has become even more reliable. In Russia, the Trans-Siberian Railway has become the most striking example of the consistent development of territories along a railway under construction. But attempts to strengthen its influence outside the territories where it was possible to create Russian settlements turned out to be less successful - the Sino-Eastern Railway passing through Manchuria was in the center of all kinds of conflicts for several decades, and as a result it was transferred into the ownership of China.
In the Western Hemisphere, in today's United States, without a railway from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast, it is impossible to imagine the gradual transformation of the “Wild West” simply into the West. At first, wild Americans fired from the windows of the first passenger trains at the buffalo herds grazing on both sides of the railroad track.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the existing two military-political blocs - "Entente" and the Quadruple Alliance - were not at all inclined to jointly resolve continental transport problems. But what is there - even between the formally allied England and France, there was no real rapprochement that would have allowed the completion of the construction of the tunnel under the English Channel, which had begun twice. Germany, then allied with Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey, generally had one direction for the construction of a strategic road - through Istanbul to the East. And this construction began. The goal was to create a railway from Berlin to Baghdad. German influence in today's Iraq, of course, would have changed the balance of power in the world, but the First World War interrupted the implementation of this plan.
In the vast colonies that England and France had, the construction of "roads of influence" was also underway. The British were especially successful in this. In Africa, a road from Egypt to South Africa was almost built. The obstacle was the presence of a German colony ("German East Africa"), which did not allow "closing" the entire network together. However, after the First World War, this territory went to the British (now it is independent Tanzania). True, the priorities have changed somewhat, and ultimately Egypt and South Africa are connected by the Pan-African Highway. But in India, they still use the railways built during the colonial period, naturally modernized ones.
Now India itself produces quite decent wagons. India's road network is being expanded to strengthen the influence of its central government.
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China had a much less developed railway network. But now this country is in first place in the world in terms of the length of highways. And, having gained experience, Chinese engineers solved a unique problem - they designed and provided the construction of a railway line to Tibet, to the very capital of this provincial country, Lhasa. Historically, Tibet has long been an independent country. Now it is an autonomous province within the PRC. The aforementioned road is now considered one of the modern "wonders of the world" - still, in some parts of the train run at an altitude of five kilometers, to create normal atmospheric pressure in the carriages, a specially developed "outboard" air injection system is used.
An interesting solution for the development of inaccessible territories of the Amazon Basin was found in the 1970s-80s by the Brazilian federal government. The railroad would be fantastically expensive here. We chose a different option. The Amazon Basin is criss-crossed from west to east and from north to south by two modern highways. This was also a very expensive undertaking. But construction has played a role in the gradual transformation of Brazil from an "exotic" country into a powerful regional power, which in recent years has become a more or less independent "player" in global politics and economics. After all, it is understandable: in order to say your weighty word, you must first ensure internal unity and develop your own economy. And here without normal roads - nowhere.
Interestingly, the construction of major roads and even the discussion of relevant projects is directly related to politics. European integration became real - on the third attempt they built a tunnel under the English Channel. During all periods of warming in Soviet-American and then Russian-American relations, they recall the projects of building a bridge across the Bering Strait and, accordingly, the road running along it from Chukotka to Alaska.
However, wars interrupt the construction of transcontinental roads. So they began with Russian participation to build a railway in Libya between Tripoli and Benghazi, which would make it possible to create a through communication in North Africa. And then - a civil war.
Large projects take a long time to be implemented. In Russia, the highway, which made it possible to close the road network from the European part of the country to the Far East, was planned back in the 1960s, and was completed quite recently - we are talking about the Chita - Khabarovsk section.
The most ardent supporters of the paleocontact hypothesis do not usually assume too great an influence of "guests from afar" on earthly life. Not surprising - after all, we are usually talking only about the supposed temporary bases that play the role of berths. This is typical for research and reconnaissance expeditions, and not for colonization or peaceful development of territories. Sometimes, however, they still write about ancient roads and tunnels of unknown origin, especially when the sea is now lapping over hypothetical ancient roads, like in the Bahamas. Be that as it may, there are roads whose builders are unknown.
Author: Sergey Krivenkov