The author discusses the creation of modern transport infrastructure in Austrian Silesia in 1742–1914 against a broad comparative background. This area, due to the exposed geographical location on the border with Prussia, Upper Hungary and Poland, was of strategic importance. Because due to hydrological relations it was not possible to create effective water transport here, the formation of modern transport infrastructure took place here in the field of road and rail transport.

The first phase of the transport revolution in Austrian Silesia took place in a relatively long time: from the accession of the enlightened rulers to the start of the industrialization process. By 1848, the construction of the state road network was substantially completed. The second phase of the transport revolution begins with the development of railways and, therefore, mechanized transport. It brings with it a change in the course of main transport routes, and thus changes in the importance of individual cities and regions. The third phase of the transport revolution, related to the use of internal combustion propulsion and electric current, although visible here already before 1914, did not develop until the interwar period.