WI: Roman Empire with Suez and Rhine-Danube canals

In my current timeline Caesarion has become Rome's third emperor, conquered Armenia and Mesopotamia and expanded Roman rule north to the Danube. I want to know what the effects (political, economic, military/strategic) would be if he was to construct canals linking the Med-Red Sea and the Rhine-Danube. The Egyptian canal could either go directly into the Med or into the Nile, and the Rhine-Danube canal could be a navigable course of lakes instead of a proper canal per se.

1. How long would these two projects take? In another thread the estimate was about 4 years for the Egyptian canal, so I'm guessing slightly less for the German..
2. How costly would they be? Would the cost be viable for the treasury/personal wealth of Emperor?
3. What would the effects of their construction be - Would communication be faster? Would a conquest of Germany be facilitated? Would a conquest of Arabia be facilitated?

Any feedback or additional ideas welcome!
 
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I'm guessing that a Suez canal is highly unlikely without explosives. A Nile-Red Sea canal however would probably be feasible and was made in antiquity in OTL.
 
Looking at a map, creating a Rhine-Danube Canal in Southern Baden by connecting the Danube and Rhine to Lake Constance at their closest points (the latter being closer)
seems the most plausable way to go about it as opposed to the modern Canal.


Based on some Google Earth caluclations by eyeing it, we'd get the following distances;

Rhine-Constance Section - 30 miles (48 Km)
Danube-Constance Section - 15 miles (24 Km)

In comparison the OTL Canal that connects the Danube to the Rhine via the Main that's a single 106 mile (171 Km) section.
 
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Thanks guys.

The Rhine-Danube canal I was thinking of ignoring the Main altogether and doing something along the lines of Charlemagne's "Fossa Carolina", 3 kilometres of navigable ponds, lakes and dikes connecting the Swabian Rezat river to the Altmühl river (the Rhine basin to the Danube basin).

geographie_02_03.gif


The idea is that this canal would then be used in the transport of troops from the Rhineland to Italy and Illyricum (and vice-versa). Perhaps facilitating in the expansion of Roman control eastward into Germania?

Looking at a map, creating a Rhine-Danube Canal in Southern Baden by connecting the Danube and Rhine to Lake Constance at their closest points (the latter bing closer)
seems the most plausable way to go about it as opposed to the modern Canal.

Based on some Google Earth caluclations by eyeing it, we'd get the following distances;

Rhine-Constance Section - 30 miles (48 Km)
Danube-Constance Section - 15 miles (24 Km)

In comparison the OTL Canal that connects the Danube to the Rhine via the Main that's a single 106 mile (171 Km) section.

Thanks for that. Definitely a better alternative than the Main, but I think it might be too far south (and therefore too long a journey) to have the impact I'd want it to have. What do you think about moving a bit north and using the Neckar for a Neckar-Danube canal instead? Might even be interesting to stretch an additional canal between Danube and Lake Constance, for maximum transportation.

the-rhine0.gif
 
well, regarding the canal to the red sea, it's mostly already there. Probably needs a large overhaul, but nothing impossible, seeing as Trajan seems to have done it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canal_of_the_Pharaohs

Thanks for the link, has some useful maps. It seems to have had the tendency to silt up a lot, but if Ptolemy II had the technology for locks etc to make it workable, I'm guessing the best engineers of Rome would be capable of doing something similar.

And I can't see enough trade volume without the Roman Empire basicly spreading out a lot further north and east than in OTL.

Really? The Egyptians traded with Kush, east Africa and Arabia, and it seems likely that ancient Egyptians even sailed all the way around Africa. I can see the canal of the Pharaohs facilitating this trade significantly and making trade between Egypt and Arabia/India a lot easier/more frequent. It would allow Rome to cut out Persia and the Silk Road and trade with the Far East quasi-directly.

Likewise linking up the Danube and Rhine would allow faster movement of troops and supplies between the Rhineland and the Roman balkans, permitting faster responses in times of crisis and perhaps allowing Roman legions to be stationed deeper into Germany than was viable OTL.

Basically I'd reckon that better transportation would allow for better and more frequent trade farther afield - maybe resulting in deeper penetration of Roman trade/culture into the Baltic or east Africa.
 
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