The Integration of Infrastructures in Europe before the Great War and after the Second World War in comparison
Sub-project: Integration of postal services
International postal services have always depended on the existing transport networks. This project will focus on those services of transborder mail and package handling, which were most important during both epochs. Prior to the Great War mail services by train dominated transborder services while after the Second World War air mail took over this position.
Railway and aviation improved and accelerated mail services in both epochs dramatically. They turned out to be indispensable aids for international mail services. Soon close-meshed networks of rail and airline connections covered Europe, which transported mail and packages across the continent. They integrated and connected Europe. This project raises the question: How were these cross-border networks and the transborder mail services established in the 19th and the 20th century?
National ptt-administrations, railway companies and airlines played an important part in these processes of integration. They coordinated their activities within international organisations like the Universal Postal Union, which was established in 1874. This organisation set up committees to deal with international mail services which were carried out by railway and airlines. Since 1959 these activities were additionally discussed within the organisational framework of the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunication Administrations. The airline companies on the other hand coordinated their interests within the International Air Traffic Association.
The interaction of different agents within the framework of these international organisations resulted in technical, operational, administrative and juridical harmonisation of transborder mail services. The reconstruction of these processes of standardisation in both epochs is at the core of this sub-project.