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cover of episode The Great Frenchman's Folly (Panama Disaster 1)

The Great Frenchman's Folly (Panama Disaster 1)

2025/5/16
logo of podcast Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford
AI Deep Dive AI Chapters Transcript
People
C
Charles
D
Delegate
E
Engineer
F
Ferdinand de Lesseps
F
Ferdinand de Lesseps' first wife
M
Madame d'Anglais
M
Monsieur d'Anglais
Topics
Ferdinand de Lesseps: 我是费迪南·德·雷赛布，被称为“伟大的法国人”。我建造了苏伊士运河，现在我正在尝试在巴拿马再次建造运河。我相信那些不相信成功的人永远不会取得任何成就。我认为建造运河的唯一正确方法是在海平面上建造，就像我在苏伊士所做的那样。苏伊士运河有120英里，巴拿马地峡只有40多英里，这有多难？当然存在问题，苏伊士运河也存在问题，但天才们会发明机器来解决巴拿马的问题。既然一位将军赢得了一场战斗，并且被邀请赢得另一场战斗，他为什么要拒绝？ Ferdinand de Lesseps' first wife: 每个人都喜欢我的丈夫费迪南·德·雷赛布，这真是太棒了。 Charles: 我曾经对父亲说，你在苏伊士的成功是一个奇迹！

Deep Dive

Chapters
This chapter introduces Ferdinand de Lesseps, the 'Great Frenchman,' and recounts his success in building the Suez Canal. It highlights his lack of engineering experience but emphasizes his charisma and ability to secure funding and rally support, ultimately questioning whether his success was due to skill or circumstance.
  • Ferdinand de Lesseps, despite lacking engineering expertise, successfully built the Suez Canal.
  • He achieved this through charisma, securing investments from the public.
  • The chapter questions whether his success was due to skill or luck.

Shownotes Transcript

Ferdinand De Lesseps, "the Great Frenchman", is convinced that he is the man to build the Panama Canal. No, he isn't an engineer and, no, he's never actually been to Panama before. But he managed to dig the Suez Canal, and everyone said that would be impossible too. How hard can it be?

For a full list of sources, see the show notes at timharford.com).

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