How Did they Build the Suez Canal? 1859 to Today: Extreme Constructions | Documentary 

When I was six y.o., I travelled to Italy from Australia on the MV Sydney; ( Flotta Lauro) and passed through the Suez Canal in December 1955. Arrived in Port Said at night. On my return to Australia ( late 1956, again on the Sydney) we saw the US ?7th Fleet and the British Mediterranean Fleet gathering off Port Said. We were the last convoy Southbound to pass through...we got the news on board whilst in the Red Sea that Nasser had blocked the canal ( British-French- Israel intervention). At seven years of age, I still can visualize the Railway Swing Bridge, the waterway itself, and the crowds of small boats around the ships in Suez harbor. Still have some photos of both passages...67 years ago...

Thank you for this history on the Suez Canal until now. It reminded me on my seafarer days back in the 70ties, working as a seaman in the German Merchant Navy. I travelled this Canal on my Journey to Japan and Korea in 1972 , a journey I never forgot. On our way back we were got up in Sandstorm blowing the sand through our working cloth right up the skin. A great adventure and I was only 17 years old.

Incredible. An hour long explanation that conveniently skips the questions I wanted answered. How was the water held back while building it? And how was the water released safely once finished?

Confusing timeline... why not just tell the story chronologically rather than constantly jumping back and forth... ?

It being opened in 1869 just blew me away. I hadn't known this, prior to this video. I'm old enough to remember several of the wars in the area, and I hope that all of the regional players can understand the importance of this waterway.

Sailed through the Suez Canal a couple of times both ways on type 23 frigates of the Royal Navy, very impressive

😊I got to assume the dredger wasn't named the I.B.N. Battuta, but was infact called the Ibn Battuta, as that was a famous traveler that explored most of the old world.

Splendid documentary. Good primer on dredging, fascinating engineering history, political history. Should be compulsory viewing for marine engineers and naval architects everywhere.

...."the cutting edge of technology"......is a most apt word considering the work being carried out

Have sailed through the Suez Canal (as a deck cadet) on a general cargo ship, in 1975, it was first reopened. From Port Taufiq to Port Said. Amazing. Nice Videos.

Amazing. Got more about suze history. Thanks

I first went through the canal on the BP Tanker British Loyalty in the November of 1977.. Those steam dredgers were still in operation then.. I can never forget the noise of them.. squealing and screeching like something from the pits of hell..

Thank you for this video

A very interesting vid!

I love that they named the dredger Nicollo Machiavelli.

Mind_ boggling engineering i had no idea !!

Hats off to Ferdinand de Lesseps. Well done the French! Visionaries. That said, I didn't know the pharaohs had dug a huge canal, centuries earlier. Well done.

Great work.

I wonderd so many Times how they built this back then. Thx for this documentary and thx to the algorhytm to. Perfekt timing to watch before going to bed.

Vraiment une belle video. Elle nous montre comment le canal de suez etait construit et opere depuis sa conception par Ferdinand DeLessep jusqu'a aujourd'hui durant la paix et apres le deux guerres recentes. Le canal est le temoin du genie civil francais et la cooperation avec le gouvernement d'Egypte.

Fascinating 🤔

I would have thought that the company that owns the canal owned or would have bought a few of the old giant drag line shovel that went for scrap in the 80's to permanently work they're way up and down, back and fourth to keep the sand at bay

Thanks a lot

fascinating! actually.

Impressive

❤ interesting to know ❤

Staggering feat of ingenious engineering from mid 1900s to today 2024. Excellent history of Suez Canal. A shame the documentary didn't talk about the people of mid 1900s who excavated the Suez, like where they come from, how they died and photos, and what if any their descendants if if they work on the canal today. Thoroughly enjoyable history doc.

Those that control the Suez canal will influence world markets and huge price changes.

Egypt was not a desert in the age of Pharaohs it was a lush grass land .

Oh wow I very badly want to drive one of those mini-freighters!

The 19th century minimalist start to the small proto Suez canal in Egypt and proto Trans Siberian Railway "right of way" in Russia were both the work of conscripted serfs serving their ruling despots. What they accomplished with little more than their bare hands gave later foreign investors the confidence to fund the expensive machinery and other logistics required to successfully complete both projects going forward.

A French company build to Canal. The Suez canal company. Was given a 99 year lease to build and operator the canal

Oh, please, why must these fascinating documentaries have the loud annoying music? 🙄

Ooh, I like the pharonic caps.

Mrs Richards: "I paid for a room with a view !" Basil: (pointing to the lovely view) "That is Torquay, Madam ." Mrs Richards: "It's not good enough!" Basil: "May I ask what you were expecting to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window ? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically past?..." Mrs Richards: "Don't be silly! I expect to be able to see the sea!" Basil: "You can see the sea, it's over there between the land and the sky." Mrs Richards: "I'm not satisfied. But I shall stay. But I expect a reduction." Basil: "Why?! Because Krakatoa's not erupting at the moment ?"

There is a terrific movie about this named Suez.

The simulator at 45:00 is fascinating.

SUEZ CANAL “In 1863, after several years work had been spent on the Suez Canal works, the canal was in a very bad way indeed, and but for the timely help the operation would then have been entirely suspended. The progress made up to this point was trifling and superficial, French methods and machinery being quite unequal to the requirements. M. de Lesseps in his dilemma, communicated with the late Walter Montgomerie Neilson, of Glasgow, and a deputation of French engineers was sent to the Clyde to inspect the system there of excavating and dredging. Following on this, M. de Lesseps introduced a staff of Scotch engineers and qualified workmen; contracts being entered into with the former for the completion within five years from 1864 of that part of the Canal which had proved most troublesome. To save the credit of France as the sole constructors of the Canal, M. de Lesseps, in 1865, after suitable machinery and plant had been laid down and set to work, and eventual success made certain, made overtures to the gentlemen named to ensure concealment of their engagements. He offered to take over all machinery, tools, etc. This was agreed to. Thus did the diplomacy of Ferdinard de Lesseps ensure an apparent success for the French www.genealogy.com/ftm/s/t/a/Simon-Stanley/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0225.html

Completely disjointed. Why not start at the beginning and explain how the original canal was built and then go on to explain the new section.

1) I've known a little bit about the geopolitical situation and the subsequent constitution in the 1860. Seems I only knew a very little. 2) It appears that this video was made prior to the Evergiven grounding, ironic to see Evergreen shipping in the video. 3) It seems there is a constant tension between how big a vessel can be made and how much time and money can be devoted to the mantance and expansion of the canal.

That's the most ambitious time for human beings, America built the transcontinental railroad and Egyptians dug the Suez canal ❤

As Deflageration has been used for a lot of years , it may have been made obsolete! This method uses a Nuclear boring which melts the rock and material so that they then become the walls of the tunnel. As there are some 32,000 miles around the world.

It did not separate africa and asia It separated africa from africa All this money for production and you get that basic facts incorrect

Egypt: we need 8 billion euros to reconstruct the canal The people: 💸 💰

My ship was part of the first United States Navy nuclear task force to transit the Suez. There were three ships. Two cruisers and an aircraft carrier.

This documentary says that thousands of manual workers died during the construction of the Suez Canal, but its focus is not the humanitarian tragedy. All the attention of those who watch the documentary is drawn to the success of the technologies created to accelerate the construction of the original channel and used to expand it recently. In the "business as usual" world, machines have life and are revered as if they were living beings. But the poor workers who died have no right to be humanized. No one needs to know their names, how old they were and what the details of the deadly accidents were? Did their families suffer? Are there any descendants of theirs who could give testimony? These questions were considered irrelevant, because as if it were a Pyramid, the Suez Canal devoured the lives of thousands of manual workers and their stories as well.

Japan created wonder❤❤❤❤❤

Hi there and thanks for the video. Btw it's the "Mediterranean Sea" not the "Mediterranean Ocean"

Too much jumping for no reason. Would have been more effective and digestible if you would have kept it more chronological.

45:21 Jean-Paul JeanJean that's really his name? That's like if an American had to suddenly come up with a fake French name, 'My name? Why, yes of course its...Let's see here... its...Jean-uuuuhhhhh...Paul....uuuhhh..Jean....um...Jean?'

I've been through the Suez but the best canal was the Panama canal, it was far more interesting.

I only know of 3 ship canals in rhe world this one Panama and Manchester ship canal wonder if there is any more

Excuse me? From the first line you said THE MEDITERRANEAN OCEAN😂😂😂 HAHAHA.

Its a pitty that it seems not possible to evolve and develop such a film strighter and with more Conduction! So it is a chaotic noise Event with awfull repetitions etc...

Love RU-vid!!!! 14 commercial ads in a 51 minute video....Do they not realize no one actually watches these.....One every 3.64 minutes!!!!

Wait, if they opened a second canal how come the evergreen ship was able to shut it down?

😲Sungai BESAR saja di keruk .. agar Tembus Ke SeeaL, Land' 🤦🏻‍♀️👍🏻👍🏻🏌️‍♂️🤝🏻

The fish must freak the fuck out

Its the Japan created Technology wonder❤❤❤

Why is it when you google original construction photos of the Suez Canal all images are drawings or paintings and not photos? I'll tell you why. Because the original Suez canal was old world construction which happened well before 1859. Yes there were cameras in 1859. The first camera was invented in 1816 by Joseph Nicephore Niepce. Question the time line narrative folks. We've been lied to on a grand scale.

just getting started but by 3:50 my questions are: How much did they pay the workers, with "deaths of thousands of men" among them, and; Did the people living in Suez ever get asked for their consent to have this thing built? Are they free to move across it? Let us find out!

So I imagine during the construction and dredging they discovered oil on the banks of these countries and now they’re trying to hide it and take it over.

The current one is the second or possibly third canal. I understand the last ancient canal was built by Pharoah Ptolemy 2. It remained in use for about 900 years. Its last documented use was in 767 AD.

Ads every 4-6 minutes? You're at an all-time low, RU-vid.

Oh my sheeshness. I'm going back to Gomer Pyle or something.

de Lesseps went from hero to zero when he took on the Panama Canal

Child's play ,next to the Panama Canal.

Canals into the #African #desert and building islands with extra #sand, possible bridge of islands from #Africa to #Brazil ? #China

In Egypt, of course, volume is measured in Cheops' Pyramids.

Read all about the suez canal with our subtitle intensive documentary, between constant bombardment of intrusive, offensive, unusually long advertisements.

Suez was Mr. Lesseps high point and Panamá his low point. There's no comparison between the two.

disappointingly superficial given the title: how did they build it

Under water volcanoes and polar ice melt? All plans should consider rotating mass

Clear as mud...must have been made in the sixties.

So, why did the 'Evergreen' get stuck??😢

Found in money's coins and currency given realization of 7.07 better in different configuration with current tech

Well, the Egyptians have proven to be the greatest builders through the millenia! Awesome work our Egyptian brothers and sisters! Aussies luv ya!

As with all modern documentaries , this one too is ruined by adding annoying and too loud dramatic music .

So you say they dug the 89 km long canal with shovels. 89 km and No locks. Yes Earth is a Plane and HIS-STORY IS NOT OUR STORY.

Difficult to hear with background music

*Not the "best method" to **_show & tell_** a story.* I still dislike it when documentaries "show me pictures while expecting me to read a text" _at the same time._ Even more so when all I had was cable/antenna, and had only one chance to do one or the other, and could not go back to "do both". (watch & read) Sometimes it's a hassle, but at least now I have the option to watch it as many times as I like.

Ihminen yhdisti kaksi viemäriä yhteen,vain hakeekseen taloudellista voittoa.

Witness my all knowing

With Shovels...lol

and Egypt charges sometimes over a million dollars each to transit the canal

👍

You just called a cutter suction and a trailer suction the same thing. Do better, just do better

It’s the Mediterranean Sea, not the Mediterranean Ocean!

Only the Europeans could have done this

How does the water not seep thru the sand.?

37:20 the Mediterranean Ocean.. 🤣😂🤣😂

Are there sharks in the waterway?

29:15 yeah, easy for you to say.

The Mediterranean Ocean ?)

The Canal is flat, and the Earth also!!

The Mediterranean Ocean? Thank you and bye-bye.

Why can't French people speak English like every other European?

The water will become lower which will allow another contract to follow through such as a mediteranean pipe to flow it with more waters, should not exceed 60 million dollars

How can you make something so interesting so bloody boring?

Can the Suez Canal handle a US Aircraft Carier the size of the Gerald Ford?