The Early Modern Stagecoach Revolution: Causes, Innovations, Cultural Controversies

When historians speak of major turning points in the history of mobility and transportation, they often refer to transformational moments in modern times, such as the ‘railway revolution’ or the ‘automobile revolution’. What tends to be forgotten in such technocentric narratives is that the premodern period saw ‘transport revolutions’ of its own kind. One such consequential transformation was what may be called the ‘stagecoach revolution’ in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe. This article argues that the stagecoach revolution was nothing less than a cultural revolution for early modern Europeans, fundamentally challenging and changing the way in which they experienced and conceptualized mobility. The preliminary exploration of this transformative process proceeds from multiple vantage points. The first section outlines the structural and cultural factors that contributed to the stagecoach revolution. The second section describes how this process unfolded in different parts of Europe (England, France, and the Holy Roman Empire). The final sections scrutinize traditional narratives about progress and innovation, with particular attention to early modern anti-coach discourses.