Chapter 1150 Suez Canal

Chapter 1150 Suez Canal

Franz was not the first person to propose connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. According to an inscription from 2000 BC, there had been large-scale excavation activities at that time.

The canal was completed during the reign of Pharaoh Senusret III in the 12th Dynasty of Egypt (1884-1849 BC). The canal existed for at least several centuries until it was abandoned around 1300 BC.

Around 600 BC, the Egyptian pharaoh at that time wanted to rebuild the canal, and he recruited 120,000 slaves at one time, which can be said to be the power of the whole country.

However, due to the rise of Persia and the increased pressure of war, he gave up continuing to build the canal.

After that, Persia invaded Egypt. In 512 BC, Darius I finally opened the canal in order to consolidate his rule, and made many modifications. It was called the "Persian Canal" in history.

However, although Darius I's canal reduced costs, it could only be used when the Nile River flooded.

His descendants did not pay much attention to it, and soon the so-called "Persian Canal" disappeared in the memory of history. The descendants of the Persians even thought that the Persian Canal was in the Mesopotamian Basin.

Around 250 BC, the Greeks widened the canal between the Big and Small Bitter Lakes, making it accessible in all seasons, and dug out the prototype of the modern Suez Canal.

In the years that followed, the Romans and Arabs successively ruled Egypt, and the canal was repeatedly built and diverted.

In the end, the Abbasid Caliph ordered the blocking of the Grand Canal in order to suppress the popular uprising in the Medina region, and this time it was interrupted for a thousand years.

On March 15, 1672, Leibniz, a German mathematician known as the "Aristotle of the 17th Century", met with the "Sun King" Louis XIV at the Palace of Versailles in Paris with his Grand Canal plan.

This all-rounder convinced Louis XIV's staff with his amazing talent, and the latter did have the ambition to conquer the East and even the world.

However, it was more than a hundred years later when the plan for the Suez Canal was mentioned again. In 1784, Wornetz, who had just returned from Egypt, began to preach that Egypt was already weak, and now was a good time to seize Egypt and open the Suez Canal.

In 1798, Napoleon went on an expedition to Egypt, and he immediately had a seemingly crazy idea. Open the Suez Canal to destroy the British dominance in business.

Napoleon was a practical man. After he had an idea, he started to act. It happened that there were some scientists and surveyors in his army.

But Napoleon was a strange person. He laughed at Fulton, who could help him conquer Britain, and believed in the data given by several scientists who did not conduct field investigations.

According to unofficial historical records, the scientists sent by Napoleon came to an astonishing conclusion after investigating the brothels and taverns in Egypt. The water level difference between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea was as high as ten meters.

One of the authoritative figures even pointed out that once the two oceans were connected, it would be a world-destroying natural disaster like Noah's flood, and the whole of Europe would be submerged.

In any case, Napoleon never mentioned the construction of the Suez Canal again in the days that followed.

In 1830, British engineers re-measured the water level of the Suez Canal, and this report was enough to overturn the conclusion of the French.

However, Palmerston keenly sensed the business opportunities and suppressed the report.

However, the historical line was broken here. The Second Turkish-Egyptian War was completely changed due to the participation of Austria.

Egypt and France were at odds with each other, and at the same time, they were at odds with Britain. Muhammad Ali retained a stronger military force than in history.

Austria's strong rise made the British throw the plan to open the Suez Canal into the fireplace. After all, the most direct beneficiaries of the opening of the canal were Austria and France.

The Governor of Alexandria committed suicide after being attacked by the Austrian Navy, and Muhammad Ali's fourth son, Muhammad Said, died in a naval battle with the British.

Originally, these two people should have played a key role in the construction of the Suez Canal.

The legendary French explorer participated in the Congo expedition organized by the Austrian Empire, and his life and death are currently unknown.

However, it is common sense that people die for money and birds die for food. It is normal for an explorer to participate in a riskier expedition for higher rewards and greater challenges.

Franz did not expect so many chain reactions when he offered a high reward to the brave warriors who crossed the Great Falls and explored the Congo Basin.

At this time, he had to take on the role of proposing the Suez Canal plan, but this was a good thing for the Austrian Empire itself.

The Suez Canal Development Company in history was too small and its capacity was ridiculous, so that this Suez Canal was also too small to meet the development of the times.

In the early days, the British thought that 250,000 pounds could get the Suez Canal done, and the French were even more exaggerated and even claimed that 150,000 francs could dig through the Suez Isthmus. In fact, the final cost was 18.6 million pounds.

The result of this bragging contest was that the progress of the project was extremely slow. It took nearly ten years from the proposal to the start of construction.

For Austria, the sooner the Suez Canal was opened, the better. On the one hand, it could share the profits of the Eastern trade, and on the other hand, it could better operate East Africa and even promote the transfer of the world trade center again.

Franz dared to bet that once this plan was announced, Venice and the Italian states would be crazy about it, and the Venetians were even willing to dig the canal themselves.

Mohammed Ali also turned from his initial ecstasy to a bit of sinisterness. Digging a canal is a very useless thing. He just took this opportunity to eliminate domestic opposition forces and those pro-British and pro-French factions.

In addition, laborers can be recruited from the Sudan region, which can not only save costs but also weaken local resistance forces.

Old Ali was not going to hang on to a tree for the construction of the canal. He also pulled in other powers, so as to prevent the Austrian Empire from being the only one, and to implement his national policy of using barbarians to control barbarians.

Before the construction of the canal started, he asked the European powers, and after the construction of the canal started, the European powers asked him to complete the canal.

There is nothing more refreshing than holding the emperor hostage to command the princes.

Thinking that all the powers were played in his hands, he couldn't help but feel secretly happy.

Franz didn't care what Old Ali thought, and toasted him from a distance. Mohammed Ali also quickly picked up the glass and drank it all, and the two sides smiled at each other.

This glass is really sweet and refreshing!

Muhammad Ali believed that the arrogant young man in front of him would definitely pay the price for his behavior today.

"Old Ali has infinite wisdom, young people should not be too aggressive."

Franz still had a polite smile on his face. This emotionless smile was hard to understand, and it also made Old Ali feel a little uneasy.

"Old man, your plan is just to make wedding clothes for my career."