Border guards and passports as we conceive them didn&#x27;t really exist until the 20th century.  The historian Paul Fussell wrote in his book <i>Abroad</i>:<p>&quot;[B]efore 1915 His Majesty&#x27;s Government did not require a passport for departure, nor did any European state require one for admittance except the two notoriously backward and neurotic countries of Russia and the Ottoman Empire.&quot;<p>And it wasn&#x27;t until 1945 that Americans were generally required to hold a passport to travel abroad during peacetime. [1]<p>[1]: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.archives.gov&#x2F;research&#x2F;passport&#x2F;index.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.archives.gov&#x2F;research&#x2F;passport&#x2F;index.html</a>