The Suez Canal

Built in the nineteenth century by a charismatic go-getter named Ferdinand de Lesseps, the Suez Canal was less an engineering feat than one of diplomacy and "people-managing." The Building of the Suez Canal examines the historical background of the project -- dating back to the Pharoahs -- as well as the diffiulties encountered by the workers as they dug the 100-mile ditch through the African desert.