The Damming of the Alps: Environment and Energy in Europe, 1850–1945

The Alps are one of the world's most iconic landscapes.  For many, the lofty peaks represent the essence of sublime, Romantic nature.  Fewer are aware that over a period of one hundred years, from the mid-nineteenth through the mid-twentieth century, the hydrology of the Alps was completely reordered in the interests of energy.  To generate water power, European engineers moved mountains and bent rivers, diverting Alpine streams, and converting mountain lakes into reservoirs. These efforts culminated in the construction of dozens of gigantic dams throughout the chain.  Valleys—often inhabited—disappeared under the reservoirs that formed behind these concrete walls.  To increase energy production, these new lakes were also frequently recipients of water diverted through mountain walls from neighboring drainage basins.  By 1945, the dammed Alps were one of the premier sources of electricity on the Continent, and Alpine alternating current was being transported to places as far away as the Ruhr in northwest Germany. 

In my paper, I will present my dissertation project, a history of the damming of the Alps.  I seek to show why and how the Alpine landscape was transformed into one of the most important energy producing regions in Europe.  I argue that the evolving search for an alternative energy source to coal in Europe in this time period focused on the water of the unique Alpine environment.