Bereits im 19. Jahrhundert, besonders mit dem deutsch-französischen Krieg von 1870-1871, nahm die Eisenbahn eine zunehmende Rolle in der militärischen Taktik ein. Als der Erste Weltkrieg anfängt sind die Eisenbahnen und ihre Netze die Hauptwerkzeuge der Kriegsführung in Deutschland wie in Frankreich. Material, Menschen, Verpflegung, Waffen, Post werden per Bahn transportiert. Die militärische Machtübernahme der Eisenbahnnetze waren, im Kriegsfall 1914, schon lange vorher geplant gewesen. Die Eisenbahnräume spielen eine wichtige Rolle beim Abschied von Angehörigen. Die Bahnhöfe stehen sinnbildlich als Mittelpunkt der Mobilmachung im August 1914 und sind in fast jede Zeugenaussage erwähnt. Eisenbahnräume sind Zwischenräume zwischwen Heimatfront und Front. Abschied - Spionfieber - Schwarzmarkt - Schwerverletzte Umtausch - / Major logistical and tactical tool during the war, the railway network is devoted to the war effort and, both in Germany and France, is placed under the authority of the military command who manages and reorganises it, making use of regulatory stations, according to the war needs. From a railway perspective, waging war depends on civilians (railway workers, Red Cross) and soldiers (transports routes guardsmen, stations quartermasters generals), ready to step up and shoulder a massive workload and, for some of them, to risk their lives. Civilians (particularly refugees), soldiers (among which soldiers on leave, sick, wounded, repatriated critically wounded), and the vast majority of war equipment (ammunitions, weapons, food supply, mails, ...) need to be transported. Nothing, not even some of these types of travellers, is to jeopardize the war though. A war implying a greater human presence in the railway space, which, in turn, leads to spying, spymania, bombings, evacuations, constructions and destructions of railway facilities, curiosity, gatherings, groups phenomena, unruliness, prostitution, spreading of writings and words of protest, additional travels for the industry and agriculture, and black market. This railway network must be defended and maintained, while at the same time making sure railway workers and soldiers are disciplined and in good moral and physical conditions. Goals and wishes less and less in tune with the reality of the ground, made worse by a dragging war, always increasing the cost in human resources and railway equipments.