Parting the Desert: The Creation of the Suez Canal

Parting the Desert is a most informative book for those who know nothing of the Suez Canal. Zachary Karabell, the author, explains how the construction of this important waterway was accomplished. I quickly learned that the difficulties in creating the canal were more political than technological.Ferdinand De Lesseps is the major hero in this story. This citizen of France was a diplomat before he became interested in building the Suez Canal. Indeed, the talents of a good diplomat were what was required to deal with all the nations who opposed, impeded, or were skeptical about the canal. De Lesseps played a delicate balancing act that allowed him to outmaneuver Great Britain, the Ottoman Empire, and at least one reluctant Egyptian head of state. At the same time, he rounded up the money to finance such a huge undertaking and kept banks and investors at bay while the project was completed. Unfortunately, after achieving this success, De Lesseps failed miserably attempting a similar canal in Panama. This failure was so great he only escaped being jailed for fraud because of age and ill health.The canal was a wonderful benefit for the western nations. Unfortunately, Egypt was not so lucky. The tragedy of the canal is how little benefit was bestowed upon Egypt and the Egyptian people by its construction and use. Bad financial decisions by Egyptian officials resulted in the country being forced to sell its shares of stock in the canal company, as well as its right to receive profits from ship transit. The country was essentially rendered totally subservient to European powers for decades. The canal only really became Egyptian after 1956.The Suez canal is no longer as important as it once was. Much oil now travels by pipeline instead of tanker ships. Some super tankers are too large to travel through the canal and sail around the horn of Africa instead. None of this diminishes the achievement involved in building the canal, or its importance in the past.Its a most interesting story and one all world historians will enjoy.

This is a very well-written book on the history of the Suez Canal, from the inception of the idea for its digging until today. There's not a lot of description of the actual work that was involved; we are primarily given the political and diplomatic machinations that were involved in the beginning of the work, and continuing until it opened, and beyond. There are thumbnail sketches of the major players, and they were quite interesting. There are also occasional mistakes of fact in the book, which should have been caught by a good editor. The first time Napoleon III is introduced, he's called Napoleon's son, but later in the book he is correctly identified as his nephew. Also, the date for the conquest of Constantinople is given as two different years in two different places. They didn't take away from my enjoyment of the book, but they were distracting nevertheless. Not knowing a lot about the history involved in the Suez Canal, I enjoyed this book very much.

This story of the construction of the Suez Canal tells us the dilemmas of globalization are nothing new. A very brisk telling of that monumental task and the historical background behind it. Like a magnet energizing filings the history of the Canal animates multiple strains of nineteenth century history in concert, from Napoleon in Egypt, to nineteenth century industrialization, the rise of imperialism, the modernization of Egypt, or the era of Napoleon 3. The protagonists are de Lessep, whose determination to get the job done is heroic, and Mohammed and Said Pasha, attempting defensive modernization of Egypt, finally Ismail Pasha, whose misteps lead to the debacle of the British taking over Egypt. This tale is topical, for the Eurocentric exhortations to modernization tend to forget how an almost stronger willingness in the nineteenth century got burned in the attempt by the Mephistopheles of global finance. Very vivid history, and essential background for the current cultural politics of westernization.

Arguably building the Suez Canal presented political challenges and problems as great as the engineering problems. The author, Zachary Karabell, does an excellent job outlining the political challenges encountered in planning and constructing the canal noting "The states of Europe competed over it; the Ottoman Empire tried to prevent its construction; and later, the armies of the modern Middle East destroyed the cities along its banks." The text observes, "The canal was not just a monumental act of engineering and organization. It was the culmination of ideals and ambitions, and a symbol of all that the culture of the 19th century held dear. It was a hundred-mile-long trench that signaled the triumph of science, the creativity of mankind, and the beginning of a wonderful future."Incredibly, in 1798 Napoleon Bonaparte when occupying Alexandria, Egypt investigated digging a canal connecting the Mediterranean and Red Seas. The author narrates the many political differences over a proposed canal especially the opposition of Britain. In 1854, Ferdinand de Lesseps (out of a government job) adopted and promoted the dream of building the Suez Canal but he was strongly opposed by a group of French socialist technocrats and the British government. The book notes "Most of Egypt was desert and had been ruled for centuries by Turkish lords." In November 1854, the viceroy of Egypt, Said Pasha, who "...was intoxicated by the promise of an Egypt restored to prominence and no longer under the control of the Ottoman Empire..." in 1854 gave a written concession to Lesseps to build a canal updating the concession in 1856. Lesseps wanted to follow a direct route, but canal opponents used the route argument to delay or defeat the project. The Suez Canal Company was to be a publicly held stock company. When the stock subscription was under subscribed in November 1858, Said Pasha had Egypt cover the shortfall. As of January 1859, a company existed and work began under an unrealistic schedule. Political problems and maneuvering continued until French Emperor Napoleon III ruled in favor of Lesseps on the latest challenges.The Suez Canal was being built during a time of technological change when steam power was replacing muscle power. With a completion date of November 1869, at the end of 1867 less than half of the canal's excavation was finished. The solution was to mechanize with nearly three hundred special steam powered machines being build for canal work. When the last construction dike was broken on August 15, 1869, the seas flowed quietly and peacefully together putting to rest the age-old fears that something terrible would happen when the waters from the Mediterranean and Red Sea mingled. On November 16 about sixty ships left Port Said on the Mediterranean Sea, and the next day at Ismailia a festive carnival began as the first transit of the Suez Canal was completed. Ironically in 1875, Britain (the canal's greatest critic) purchased 44 percent of the Suez Canal

Parting the Desert tells the story of one of the most important engineering feats of the 19th century. I knew about the canal mostly because of the 1956 crisis, but this book takes you back to its orginis. Parting the Desert is a wonderful read, and it highlights what people can achieve when they come up with a dream and dedicate their lives to it. Who knew that the idea for the modern canal began with Napoloen Bonaparte, or that the Statue of Liberty was orginally designed for the entrance of the Suez Canal? One man, Ferdinand de Lesseps, was the driver of the work, but he was aided by many others, such as the emperor and empress of France, the rulers of Egypt, and talented engineers. But what makes the book so much richer is that it also had a tinge of sadness. Karabell celebrates the people who made the canal, but he also puts the accomplishment in context and shows how the subsequent history of the canal in the 20th century didn't really live up to the dreams and ambitions of its creators. A marvelous book that makes you think about the world today, especially the Middle East, and how it came to be.