| Abstract [eng] |
The dissertation examines the land transport system of the First Republic of Lithuania - the road network, the functioning of the system and the policy pursued towards it. In the first years of independence, the railways were undoubtedly the main part of the system. They, as a small part of the former imperial network, were inherited by the First Republic of Lithuania from the collapsed Russian Empire. However, even before then, during the First World War, the Germans, who occupied the future territory of Lithuania, had a considerable impact on the local railways. Despite the fact that during the first decade of independence there was a rather active search for various ways to manage and develop the national railway network, no major breakthroughs were achieved, primarily due to excessive financial burdens and sometimes due to a lack of will. At the same time, the increasing popularity of motorized vehicles has had an increasing impact on land transport worldwide. Although their development in Lithuania has not reached the level of some of the more developed western countries, even the small number of such vehicles has led to a rethinking of the priorities for the land transport system. Therefore, as early as the 1930s, the adaptation of the system to motorized vehicles became an increasing priority in transport policy-making, and by the 1940s their influence was increasingly felt in wider social spheres. |
