The Fall of the Dynasties: The Collapse of the Old Order: 1905-1922

by Edmond Taylor

Passports were not yet required in most European countries, and the leading currencies could be exchanged everywhere; no customs inspector’s eyes turned hard if he heard the chink of gold sovereigns, francs or marks as a traveler’s luggage was shifted. This glorious freedom of movement has inspired some writers to draw an overidyllic picture of pre-1914 Europe as a continent practically without internal frontiers. In reality much depended on who you were and what you were traveling for; there were few restrictions for wealthy and titled pleasure seekers, but some 400,000 of Francis Joseph’s poorer subjects were annually forced by economic pressures to slip by stealth through the primitive iron curtain set up to halt emigration from his realms, while the long Russian borders were policed almost as closely then as now. Despite

105 years later, Democrats would love to have this today in america