Dera - Haifa railway line construction and effects on regional politics(1902-1906)

Haifa, which stood out as a fishing town in the Eastern Mediterranean in the XIXth century, is today a centre of industry, culture and trade. It is one of the largest and most developed cities in Israel. From the end of the nineteenth century to the twentieth century and from then until World War I, the city went through a critical period of political, social and economic turmoil. Especially with the opening of the Hejaz Railway to the Mediterranean Sea via Haifa in 1905, radical changes occurred in the social and economic structure of the town. In this study, the radical and profound changes brought about by the railway, which affected the development of the town, are discussed. The Mediterranean basin has been the scene of great conflicts throughout history. Since the beginning of the XIXth century, the struggle for the interests and influence of the Western great powers in the Middle East has gained considerable momentum and started to manifest itself in concrete form. In the following period, Haifa, which became the important gateway of the Hejaz railway project to the Mediterranean, accelerated its development process with its harbour and the establishment of the railway line. The planning of the route known in the sources as the branch line/Haifa side road of the Hejaz Railway, the start of construction and the opening process led to very active political developments. Unforeseen problems arose in the adventure of the city of Haifa, the grape land of the Mediterranean, to have a railway. The transport of the material to be used could only be carried out through the Port of Beirut, which was owned by a French company. While the Ottoman administration constantly wanted to establish a line to Haifa, it did not want to rely on the French company operating the Beirut-Damascus Line. Therefore, a dispute arose between the Ottoman administration and the French DHP company. When the French company claimed that its rights were violated, the Ottoman administration, not wanting to escalate the problem, had to grant some railway concessions to this company. In order not to damage the competitive environment, the Hejaz railway commission purchased the unfinished Haifa line from the British. This new 161-kilometre line, which was started to be constructed in 1903 and connected to Haifa in today's Israel via the Yarmouk Valley, was completed in October 1905. Thus, Haifa, due to its strategic location, was always preferred for the Hejaz railway because it was safer than the city of Acre. Located at the foot of the Carmel Mountains, Haifa was a small settlement in the shadow of the city of Acre in the late 19th century, with the Haifa railway station starting right at the foot of the old walls of Haifa. When the city was connected to the Hejaz railway, it began to grow and expand beyond its historic boundaries. As a result, the city would soon become one of the most important ports in the Middle East. Line construction. The necessary materials were initially unloaded from Europe to the port of Beirut by sea. In order to reduce transport costs, the Ottoman administration started to apply a 45% discount tariff on the transport fee tax to the French company in 1903. This led to a partial decrease in the cost of line construction. In this study, in which the relationship of the railway line to the city, regional trade and international relations is discussed, the Ottoman archive documents that have survived from the past to the present were first identified through the scanning/compiling method, and then these documents were translated. Finally, the documents were analysed and transcribed into text. In addition to archival documents, newspapers, books, articles and papers prepared by local and foreign authors were utilised in the thesis. In addition, secondary sources such as master's and doctoral theses on the subject were utilised. The Haifa line, which was implemented in the 20th century, was a huge project for the Middle East. In fact, it would not be wrong to say that the Haifa line is a complement to the Hejaz Railway. The line starts from Damascus and meets the Jordan River from the river bends in the Havran Plateau and Yarmuk valley as a side road at the Der'a junction; It overcomes mountainous, difficult geographical conditions. The construction of 15 bridges and seven tunnels and the laying of rails in a short period of two years is a significant engineering achievement. The experience and experience gained in the construction of this entire line will form the technical staff and technical knowledge of the railway investments that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk will initiate in the young Republic of Turkey.