Description
The Trans-Siberian route is the world’s longest (5772 miles) and most famous. It stretches from Moscow to Vladivostok on the Pacific. It was begun in 1891, and the last gap around Lake Baikal was completed in 1904. Despite hasty and shoddy construction in the face of enormous physical and climate challenges, it quickly became and has remained a crucial artery to Russia’s Far East. Millions of peasants from central Russia used it to settle in Siberia. It transported grain and other products, and it was an essential scene of conflict in the 1918-21 Civil War, and later moving men and equipment in World War II. I took it in 1992 and agreed with many other travelers who have marveled at its magnificent vistas of rivers, forests, lakes, and mountains.