1. Introduction -- 2. Mittel-Europeanization on waterways -- 3. Canal as artery for Nazi expansion -- 4. Linking the Soviet Volga ; not the Rhine! -- 5. Mastering three seas -- 6. Conclusion
1. Introduction -- Infrastructure Historiography -- Canal as a Laboratory of Europe -- 2. Mittel-Europeanization on Waterways -- On Mittel-Europeanization -- Building Mitteleuropa on Waterways before Versailles -- De-Austrianization: Shaping the Czechoslovak State -- Mittel-Europeanization beyond the State? -- 3. Canal as Artery for Nazi Expansion -- On Nazification -- Constructing the Grossraum -- From Grand Opening to Inauspicious End -- 4. Linking the Soviet Volga; not the Rhine! -- On Sovietization -- Projecting a Soviet Canal -- Sovietization "Beyond the State" -- The Final Plan -- 5. Mastering Three Seas -- On Europeanization -- Across the Curtain -- Europeanization of the Canal Design -- Canalizing Europe -- 6. Conclusion
Summary
The Danube-Oder-Elbe Canal promised to create an integrated waterway system across Europe, linking Black Sea ports to Atlantic markets and giving landlocked Czech nation its own connections to the ocean. The fascinating history of this never-completed project, European Coasts of Bohemia tells the story of the experts who confronted and contributed to different and often conflicting geopolitical visions of Europe. Jíra Janác shows how the canal-backers adapted themselves to various political developments, such as the break-up of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire and the integration into the Soviet