Skanderoon (M&D)

[Michael J. Hußmann]

mikebailey at speakeasy.net (mikebailey at speakeasy.net) wrote:

>      "I have seen some accounts of an English scheme to build a
> railroad from Alexandretta to the Euphrates, and from thence down the
> river to the Persian Gulf, so as to form a quite route to India. Is it
> the design to run it through this pass?" [58]
>
>      "It is," he replied, "if it is ever built. Thus far the imbecile
> Turkish Government has hindered the project. It would start at
> Skanderoon (Alexandretta), run east to the Euphrates, which is only a
> hundred miles from here at this point, and thence down its valley to
> Bagdad. It will be built sometime, because England must have it, but no
> one can tell how soon."

It was built by Germany, eventually -- the "Bagdadbahn" (Baghdad
Railway), connecting Konia and Baghdad via Adana, Aleppo, and Mossul.
Work on this railway started in 1903, but it took nearly four decades to
be completed (by Syria and Iraq in 1940). The Baghdad Railway was later
extended to Basra by the British Army.

- Michael


Michael J. Hußmann

E-mail: michael at michael-hussmann.de
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