ACADEMIC JOURNAL
|
ISSN 2542-1077 (Print) ISSN 1994-5973 (Online) |
World history |
Abidulin A.M. | Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod |
Moiseeva E. N. | Saratov State Law Academy |
Keywords: Ottoman Empire Ferdinand de Lesseps France Great Britain Egypt Suez Canal |
Summary: The article analyzes the preparation for the construction of the Suez Canal. The purpose of the research is to study this idea as the
first in the history of the enterprise, originally planned with foreign capital participation. Ferdinand de Lesseps was the main figure
in it. The study of this issue will significantly expand the understanding of the world economic system formation in the XIX century
and the inclusion of the Ottoman East into it. The historical background described in the memoirs of contemporaries and above all
in Lesseps’s own correspondence makes it possible to understand the attitude to the Suez Canal in the highest political circles of
France, Great Britain, and the Ottoman Empire. The study found that the Suez Canal completely changed the balance of power in
the region, as well as the geopolitical structure of Egypt and the entire Middle East. The analysis of the sources revealed that the
idea of building the canal was implemented within the framework of the philosophical concept of “industrialism”, which emerged
from “Saint-Simonianism” in the 1830s. Saint-Simonian ideas in economics, in their liberal version, were accepted by Napoleon III through his close adviser Michel Chevalier, and Lesseps, being one of the representatives of “industrialism”, was the first to put these ideas into practice in such a large-scale format. |
Displays: 331; |