1. Introduction

The development of the modes of transportation throughout the history of Western Europe has proved to be one of the vital aspects of its economical life. The benefits that this development brought to the economy of this part of the Europe are not to be underestimated under any condition. The changes in the modes of transportation that occurred from the 17th to the 20th century started a new epoch in the history of not only Western Europe but also all the remaining parts of the world and countries. It is common knowledge that Great Britain has always made immense contribution into the life of Western Europe and the sphere of transportation is not an exception. As transportation by air, land and sea integrated into life of Europeans Great Britain was the country that made a major contribution into their perfection.

The period from the 17th to the 20th centuries became the period that gave three main modes of transportation: land, water and air. Great Britain converted the integration of new transportation modes into an essential part of the transportation system of the world and introduced mobility of transportation into the world’s economy. The possibilities of business and passenger transportation provided by the development of the modes of transportation became the guarantees of the economic prosperity of Western Europe in general and Great Britain in particular. As the transportation modes changed and were utilized differently in various parts of Western Europe, it is especially interesting to trace their development in Great Britain in the first place.

2. Modes of transportation in Western Europe

The integration of different transportation modes in Western Europe became the factors which became the forerunners of the growth of transportation of production and distribution possibilities for different economic formations. It must be noted that the development of transportation modes in Western Europe may be viewed as an economic strategy that led to the “blossom” of the economic status of Great Britain in the whole world. It all started back in the 16th century when the early European maritime expeditions were made. They were followed by the colonial trade pattern of the 18th century, the turnpikes in Great Britain of the late 18th and early 19th century, the creation of canal (Bridgewater Canal in Manchester built in 1767), the completion of the railway network from 1850 to 1913 and an early steamship in Great Britain in 1845, which required the perfection of transportation modes. Countless steps were made in order to make the development as qualified as it was possible among which the maritime journey from Britain to Australia starting in 1788 and ended in 1960. The two main modes of transportation that were being modified were transportation by land and by sea. And as Great Britain was the strongest colonization source of the world the changes in transportation modes were vital for its economic life.

Ii goes without saying that the major change sin the transportation sphere occurred during and after the period of Industrial Revolution of the 18th century with its heart in Great Britain. The major difficulty that Western European economy experienced was the impossibility to establish stable trade pattern as in the 17th century there were no transportation modes had motorized mechanics. Before the Industrial Revolution Western Europe completely depended on the water transportation modes and very often it brought unprofitable results as it was impossible to control the sea forecast. The major mean of transportation by land were different animals. The carriages were often damaged during transportation and the speed of transportationin the 17th century was not satisfactory along with the problem of limited amounts of transported goods or people.

So, basically saying the only the parts of Western Europe that had water sources near by were the ones with the opportunity to establish a trade pattern with the “far away” countries, as animals were not able to cope with such distances and could not carry sufficient quantity of goods or passengers. The development of the economy complexly depended on the possibility of Western Europe to transport to over large territories. In other words the development of the transportation modes in Western Europe before the Industrial Revolution was characterized by the domination of the water transportation for it was the most convenient way to establish strong trade connections and to carriage passengers. Industrial Revolution brought Western Europe the understanding of the economic opportunities of the perfection of transportation modes. Great Britain turned from a great maritime empire into a great land empire and nowadays owing to such companies as British Airlines is an air empire, too.

2.a. The epoch of the Industrial Revolution

The 19th century with all its industrial changes touched Western Europe in the first place. The industrial revolution in its British blossom became the key factor of the development of the economy of the country. Owing to the creation of motorized mechanisms Great Britain got the opportunity to start the modifications in the sphere of transportation modes. The economic direction of the country was primarily concerned with the land and sea transportation So, the epoch of canals and railways began its existence. The 19th century provided Great Britain with the steam engine in 1765. The engine was created owing to the efforts of a British engineer by the name Watt who became the forefather of the development of locomotion. The modification of the railway transportation truly started in 1769 with the invention of a self-propelled steam vehicle. France as one of the representatives of Western Europe also made a great contribution to the development of transportation modes with the help of the maritime vehicles. All these changes became the base for a new level of trade patterns and therefore a new level of economy for Western Europe. The 19th century in Great Britain is marked as the epoch of mechanization with all the possible economic benefits it can bring. The new level of the European transport system build a strong economic system for Great Britain in the center of the events.

Western Europe changed from the transport system based on the problem of transporting raw materials and other goods in large amounts to an improved system offering transportation of big quantity of goods of different weights. As the demands of trade were growing the changes of transportation modes were just in time. Great Britain was the one to keep on top of all the necessary changes and it is especially obvious through the fact that the first commercial railway link was started between Manchester and Liverpool – two major British cities, converting Great Britain into a revolutionary developed country by the second half of the 19th century. The construction of railways throughout Western Europe was the key factor of land transportation back then.

It is important to note that it was the beginning of the establishment of Britain’s primary trade connections with the rest of the world. The trade routes became stable and regular cargos and freights created economic stability for the country. The changes which occurred in the field of transportation modes converted the economic ties into powerful connections with significant benefits. Industrial Revolution eventually gave live to transatlantic passenger transporting. This became possible due to the fact of a new revolutionary approach towards shipbuilding which used steel armatures as a material. Generally saying the Industrial Revolution changed the modes of transportation, creating specialized transportation services and strong economic trade links with other countries becoming the beginning of the economic growth of the giant, known as Great Britain.

2.b. Consequences of the 19th-20th centuries

The 19th century had the direction that was given by the Industrial Revolution. The development of the transportation modes by that time created a strong economic background for Western Europe and for Great Britain as well. The transportation modes went out of the borders of transportation on long distances. It was the time when the term “international transportation” came into play and became the top-moment of the economic growth of the country. The revolutionary changes in the modes of transportation, the engine technology and opening oil as a source of energy by the end of the 19th century started requiring new changes and modifications. Fuel-experiments were held by numerous scientists and even until nowadays scientists try to invent a better time of fuel. Oil “permitted to reduce the energy consumption of ships by a factor of 90% relatively to coal, the main source of energy for steam engines prior to this innovation”[1]. Another innovation of the 19th century or if to be exact, the innovation of 1880 was the liner service. This liner services were the ones to connect the main cities and markets of the world. Liners, being a water transportation mode had international passenger routes. It was all the way to the end of the 20th century, when liners stopped being so widely used and the time of air transport modes began. As for the railway transportation modes the net of railways covered Western Europe all over its territory. Along with sea transportation modes that were used for freight and passengers railway was a carrier for freight, too. These two modes started having two different types of transport devices: some were specialized only on freight and the others were specialized only on passengers. Another achievement of the period after the Industrial revolution was the speed of the land and sea transportation modes. Even a new mode of transport appeared known nowadays as “urban transportation”. Speed became the major need not only in terms of international transportation but even in transportation through big cities, where every minute was priceless. The beginning of the existence of the urban transportation system made the life for mobile and convenient which was impossible before when people had to either walk on their own or use horses to get to the place of their destination.

Urban transportation developed, too. As more and more modes were needed new mechanisms appeared.

Electricity was one of the factors that strongly influenced the development of urban transportation as it introduced new ways of move throughout the city on a sufficient speed. One of the most prominent means of transport that used electricity to move was tramway which became one of the most popular means in Western Europe. The fact that people became more mobile influenced the economy of Great Britain and every single country in Western Europe for a worker could spend more time working and not getting to work, which increased the productivity and there for the profit of any company or factory. Great Britain became an innovator in urban transportation as with its capital London it was the first country in Western Europe to introduce underground means of transport. Talking about the most minimal innovation it is necessary to add some information about the invention of the bicycle.

The first bicycle was shown at the Paris Exhibition of 1867, it was also a vital innovation because that changed commuting in the late 19th century. Eventually, the rich exploited it as a type of leisure, and it was quickly adopted by the working class as a mean of transportation to the place they work. Nowadays, bicycle is not very common in big agglomerations but is used only as a recreation or in rural areas of Great Britain.

This period of the 18th and the 20th centuries also marked the first

International transportation schedules as it was very difficult to do before due to the great amount of time zones.

2.c. Analysis of the development

The development of transportation in Western Europe was truly needed. This was especially required by Great Britain as the country it was the perfect way to get raw materials, fuels, food, manufactured goods from the proper place. The modification of transportation modes made a large variety of good available for Great Britain at a perfect price, so the economy was not shocked the prices offered by the so-called monopolists of raw material back in the days before the industrial revolution. Great Britain is and has always been an industrialized country as it was the first to start the industrial changes in the world transportation routes gave it a unique possibility to advance its economic development. Freight transportation play the most important part in the development of the economy of Western Europe from in the period from the 17th to the 20th centuries. It is common knowledge that bulky and heave good and the once that occupy a lot of space but do not weight much required large transportation modes so the best choice for Great Britain were vehicles of large sizes. It mainly used such means of transportation as ships but the main problem was that their speed was very low. At the same time there were other type of goods that were compact and did not require such a large amount of space railway freights were the perfect choice for Great Britain.

The economic development of Great Britain back in the 17th-20th centuries developed owing to the creation of stable transportation routes or in other words of paths that provide constant and stable economic profit for the country. The location of the British Isles gave Britain the major position in the world economy owing to the ability to reach the country rapidly. And thought it did not have an opportunity to create huge land transportation modes its sea modes became on of the most profitable modes in the world. Nevertheless the land modes also brought Great Britain a part of their economic success.

Railroads were used all over Western Europe and Great Britain. In 1804 in Wales, Richard Trevithick presented the first railroad steam locomotive that functioned properly. The Stockton and Darlington railway near Newcastle located in England by 1825 started being the first common carrier to use steam locomotives.

As land transportation modes consist of two main elements railways and roads it is necessary to add certain facts concerning the development of the road system in Great Britain. The road started being used in the era of industrial revolution and the proper location of the roads with provided a perfect cooperation of led Great Britain to the prospering economy. The old Roman roads gave life to new transportation networks. One of the brightest example of the economical development through road usage has already been mentioned in the paper – the famous turnpikes. Great Britain was creative enough to build a 32,000 km connection of turnpikes which required a toll in order to use it. Transportation by road also provided the development of the mail service which made the control over the economical functioning easier as the information became available frequently. An example of such type of transportation was the coach service between the cities of Bristol and London. It provided vital information from city to city and also owing to its time timetable made the business relations between the cities more exact. The technological innovations of the period between the 17th and the 20th century developed the process of road engineering which eventually saved time and therefore money for the country, because correct engineering is a guarantee of building a good road at a low cost. McAdam, an engineer from Scotland invented the process later called “macadam” which is used in terms of using cemented crush stone together bitumen or with water. This eliminated the difficulties of using the roads in rainy and winter times as the surface of the road became waterproof and therefore saved the trade finances.

3. Conclusion

The changes that occurred in the transportation modes in Western Europe from the 17th till the 20th centuries became the breakthrough moment for the economy of every single country within the region including Great Britain. Great Britain with the beginning of the industrial revolution gave the start to the growth of its economical potential. The dominant modes of transportation back in that period were land and sea modes, as air modes started their functioning in the late 20th century. Transportation implied moving people and goods from a certain location to the required one. The development of the transportation modes greatly influenced the economy of Great Britain in particular and Western Europe in general for it created trade unions and essential operational business connections which converted the country into one solid economic “stone”. It gave the economic integration of Western Europe with Great Britain as its heart. Transportation nowadays is a vital part of every single developed country in the world so the one that was the first to start developing it wins the best position. Is such a case Great Britain with the way its land and water transportation modes developed in the period of the 17th-20th centuries posses one of the most prominent economic positions in the world.

“The average overland speed by horse was between 8 to 15 kilometers per hour and maritime speeds were barely above these figures” [1].

“In 1830 there were about 2,000 miles of canals in Britain and by the end of the canal era in 1850, there were 4,250 miles of navigable waterways”[1].

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