Among the many issues that arose from the breakup of the Habsburg empire, the fate of an empire-wide rail network was one of the most complicated, on both political and economic levels. Italy was especially interested as Rome had previously recovered several railway sections after the war. Beyond that, to take hold of at least part of the rail system of the former empire was a valuable chess piece which could be played later in larger negotiations on the future of Central Europe and could also aid in Italy’s desire to take over as the region’s great power after Austria.
