If only we had a railway

The role of the Finnish railway network in the nation's technological progress as seen by Ernst Gustaf Palmén

Authors

• Tiina Päivärinne

Abstract

"If only we had a railway!" The role of the Finnish railway network in the nation’s technological progress as seen by Ernst Gustaf Palmén

The idea of technological progress and its inevitability was very much reflected in the Finnish popular enlightenment literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Most of this literature was written by educated, Finnish-minded (Fennoman) politically and culturally active persons, members of the national elite, such as professor Ernst Gustaf Palmén. Palmén emphasised the significance of railway technology and of an efficient railway network in bringing technological and cultural progress to different parts of the fatherland.
In his writings Palmén showed how technological innovations played an important role in a nation’s cultural and national progress, and how both technology and culture were the key factors in a nation’s way to an economically and politically better future.