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Quiz about Every Megalomaniacs Dream
Quiz about Every Megalomaniacs Dream

Every Megalomaniac's Dream Trivia Quiz


Some architects plan dams for rivers. Others may plan one for a lake. Herman Sörgel wanted to dam the Mediterranean Sea, in one of the largest architectural plans in history.

A multiple-choice quiz by illiniman14. Estimated time: 8 mins.
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Author
illiniman14
Time
8 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
318,133
Updated
Jul 23 22
# Qns
15
Difficulty
Tough
Avg Score
8 / 15
Plays
400
Awards
Top 35% Quiz
- -
Question 1 of 15
1. After World War I, German architect Herman Sörgel was convinced the Americas and Asia would each combine into large world powers, leaving Europe in the dust. He created the idea of Atlantropa to counter those future behemoths via a combination of Africa and Europe by damming the Mediterranean Sea. How exactly did he plan on uniting the continents? Hint


Question 2 of 15
2. The key behind Sörgel's "Project Atlantropa" was building the largest dam in the history of the world by far. He wanted an 18-mile long, 1.5-mile wide dam to restrict water flow from the Atlantic Ocean into the Mediterranean Sea between Spain and Morocco. What geological feature exists there? Hint


Question 3 of 15
3. As one would imagine, building an 18-mile long dam has its fair share of problems. Which major problem was identified as the most pressing issue for the dam? Hint


Question 4 of 15
4. The second major Atlantropa dam would be much smaller than the first. Instead of damming an ocean, Sörgel planned to simply dam the Black Sea's flow into the Mediterranean. Where would this dam be built? Hint


Question 5 of 15
5. The Black Sea Dam would have been considerably smaller than the first Atlantropa dam, but would still put all other existing dams to shame at the time. If built at Sörgel's proposed location, what would be the dam's length? Hint


Question 6 of 15
6. A third Atlantropa dam would be built to complete the European-African merger. Not only would it provide a tangible transportation route, but it would also veritably cut the Mediterranean Sea in half. What two areas would be connected via this dam? Hint


Question 7 of 15
7. The third Atlantropa dam's bridge from Europe to Africa also incorporated Sörgel's idea for the longest railroad between the two continents. Which two cities was Sörgel hoping to connect via this dam? Hint


Question 8 of 15
8. The Mediterranean split would have serious effects. The western half would drop in water level by around 330 feet, while the eastern half would drop double that amount. The area of new land that would surface following this drop is closest to which of the following European countries? Hint


Question 9 of 15
9. The new land revealed by the dropping sea levels would have a definite drawback, especially to the city of Venice, Italy. According to Sörgel's predictions, Venice would suddenly find itself 170 miles to the nearest water source - the Ligurian Sea. How did he plan on saving Venice, if at all? Hint


Question 10 of 15
10. Not only would coastal cities be affected, but Mediterranean islands as a whole would be completely changed. Which of the following scenarios would happen if the water levels decreased the expected amount? Hint


Question 11 of 15
11. Project Atlantropa wasn't about to let Africa have it easy, as Sörgel had a massive plan for it too. In a predictable move, he proposed to dam an African river to create a large lake in the center of the continent, getting rid of "unproductive forest." What river would be dammed and what lake would be created? Hint


Question 12 of 15
12. Eventually, this African dam would stop enough water as to permit overflow to create a second major water source in Africa. An already-existing lake would be expanded into a sea on the interior of the continent. Which lake would this be, and what would be the name of the new sea? Hint


Question 13 of 15
13. The biggest issues not addressed by Sörgel in Project Atlantropa were the environmental aspects. Which of the following was NOT a major issue that needed to be discussed before implementing this massive plan? Hint


Question 14 of 15
14. Not one to give up easily, Sörgel met with the new Nazi government in 1933 to propose the Atlantropa idea once more. After considering the idea for a short time, the final decision was made. How did the Nazis respond to the plan? Hint


Question 15 of 15
15. With the defeat of the Nazis, Project Atlantropa seemed even more important to prevent more European wars. Herman Sörgel spent the rest of his life trying to push the project unsuccessfully. In fact, he died just before he was to give a speech for the project. How did he die? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. After World War I, German architect Herman Sörgel was convinced the Americas and Asia would each combine into large world powers, leaving Europe in the dust. He created the idea of Atlantropa to counter those future behemoths via a combination of Africa and Europe by damming the Mediterranean Sea. How exactly did he plan on uniting the continents?

Answer: Providing power and transportation routes to both continents so they could join peacefully

Herman Sörgel did not fight in World War I, but as a German citizen he saw the amount of destruction such a war could cause. Some scholars predicted that every country from North and South America would combine into one giant unified continent, and every country in Asia would do the same in order to create enormous economic powers. There was no such plan for the rest of the world, so Sörgel took charge of making sure that Europe was not left behind.

His proposed dam system around the Mediterranean Sea would allow Europe and Africa to be combined into its own single continent. The massive amount of water that flows through the Strait of Gibraltar and the Dardanelles would provide massive amounts of hydroelectric energy to solve much of the foreseen energy crisis coming from nonrenewable resources. Water level would drop, allowing a dam built between Sicily and Tunisia to be built to connect the two continents. A fourth dam would be built on the Congo River in order to completely revamp the interior of Africa with two new large bodies of water. Other smaller works would also be included.
2. The key behind Sörgel's "Project Atlantropa" was building the largest dam in the history of the world by far. He wanted an 18-mile long, 1.5-mile wide dam to restrict water flow from the Atlantic Ocean into the Mediterranean Sea between Spain and Morocco. What geological feature exists there?

Answer: Strait of Gibraltar

In 2008, China completed the Three Gorges Dam, the largest electricity-generating plant in the world at the time. It was 1.45 miles long and 377 feet wide at the base. The proposed Main Gibraltar Dam (Gibraltar Hauptdamm) would have been over 12 times longer and nearly 22 times wider than the Three Gorges Dam. Strangely, Sörgel decided that the best place to put the dam was not the narrowest point of the strait, where it is only 9 miles wide.

Instead, he proposed that the dam would be built farther out towards the Atlantic Ocean. Perhaps a 9-mile long dam wouldn't have that same aesthetic appeal.
3. As one would imagine, building an 18-mile long dam has its fair share of problems. Which major problem was identified as the most pressing issue for the dam?

Answer: There was not enough concrete produced in the entire world to complete it

China's Three Gorges Dam was built with a volume of around 950 million cubic feet. With the given dimensions of the proposed Gibraltar Dam, that project alone would have had a volume of over 750 trillion cubic feet, or about 800 times larger than the Three Gorges Dam. Unfortunately for Sörgel, there may not have been enough concrete in the entire world to finish that single dam, let alone the other proposed dams.
4. The second major Atlantropa dam would be much smaller than the first. Instead of damming an ocean, Sörgel planned to simply dam the Black Sea's flow into the Mediterranean. Where would this dam be built?

Answer: The Dardanelles at Gelibolu

Sörgel only considered two sites for the Black Sea Dam - the Dardanelles at Gelibolu or across the Bosporus River. If he were to build a dam across the Sea of Marmara, it would (in most places) have to have been larger than the Gallipoli Dam, and a dam where the Aegean Sea meets the Dardanelles at Seddülbahir would be an odd choice since there are plenty of narrower choices on the Dardanelles (despite the fact Sörgel did not choose the narrowest point with Gelibolu).

One possible reason for the location at Gelibolu would be another connection of Europe to the Middle East. Since the Bosporus River could easily be crossed by several existing bridges, a dam at Gelibolu would open up a new high-profile crossing connecting the European continent (even though still part of Turkey) to the heart of Turkey. If built at Seddülbahir, travelers would have to go to the far western border of Turkey and travel up the entire Gallipoli Peninsula. A Gelibolu Dam would give easy European access to Lapseki, Turkey (on the other side of the Dardanelles from Gelibolu), which connects to both Çan and Biga, the two largest cities in the area.
5. The Black Sea Dam would have been considerably smaller than the first Atlantropa dam, but would still put all other existing dams to shame at the time. If built at Sörgel's proposed location, what would be the dam's length?

Answer: Just over 2.5 miles

If built at the narrowest point around Gelibolu, the Black Sea Dam would be roughly 2.6 miles, though it is difficult to get an exact location of where Sörgel planned on building the dam. The other possible choices were where the Sea of Marmara meets the Dardanelles (just under 12 miles), one point in the narrows of the Dardanelles (just over 1.25 miles), and on the Bosporus River (0.5 miles). Why Sörgel chose the Gelibolu location may never be known, especially since so much focus is on the Gibraltar Dam.
6. A third Atlantropa dam would be built to complete the European-African merger. Not only would it provide a tangible transportation route, but it would also veritably cut the Mediterranean Sea in half. What two areas would be connected via this dam?

Answer: Sicily and Tunisia

The length of the Sicily-Tunisia Dam is very hard to accurately measure. As the Mediterranean water level lowered, new land around Sicily and Tunisia would suddenly appear. The resulting gap between the two areas seems very narrow according to Sörgel's predictions.

While the gap between Tunisia and Sicily lies at just under 90 miles, the lowered waters could allow the new dam to be under 20 miles. While that still leaves it longer than the Gallipoli Dam, the volume would be significantly smaller since the Gallipoli Dam would have to hold back the entire Atlantic Ocean.
7. The third Atlantropa dam's bridge from Europe to Africa also incorporated Sörgel's idea for the longest railroad between the two continents. Which two cities was Sörgel hoping to connect via this dam?

Answer: Berlin and Cape Town

Staying true to his German roots, Sörgel planned the most lucrative railway to connect Berlin with Cape Town, and thereby the whole of Africa. The small gap between Italy and Sicily would have already been dried up with the lowering sea level, providing a much easier route for a railroad to be built. According to the plan, the railroad would go from Berlin through Rome (possibly via Venice and other stops), Naples, Tunis, and all the way down to Cape Town, South Africa.

A second major railway would connect Paris to Dakar, Senegal, on the western coast of Africa, via the Gibraltar Dam.
8. The Mediterranean split would have serious effects. The western half would drop in water level by around 330 feet, while the eastern half would drop double that amount. The area of new land that would surface following this drop is closest to which of the following European countries?

Answer: United Kingdom

The resulting drop in sea level would provide over 90,000 square miles of new land to Europe and Africa, close to the land area of the United Kingdom. In the 2001 census, the United Kingdom had a population of just under 60,000,000 people. Sörgel undoubtedly saw this as an unprecedented opportunity to grow the Atlantropan population, creating a stronger economic and military force to stave off the American and Asian continents.
9. The new land revealed by the dropping sea levels would have a definite drawback, especially to the city of Venice, Italy. According to Sörgel's predictions, Venice would suddenly find itself 170 miles to the nearest water source - the Ligurian Sea. How did he plan on saving Venice, if at all?

Answer: A 186-mile canal would be built from the remaining Adriatic Sea to the Venetian Lagoon

Venice would be the hardest hit by Project Atlantropa by far, so Sörgel allowed it special consideration by planning a canal from the Adriatic Sea to Venice, with a small dam at the opening of the Venetian Lagoon to keep water levels the same. The Adriatic Sea would dry up all the way to the Adriatic Basin, roughly between Bari, Italy, and Montenegro. That would literally make Venice's closest water source (without the canal) at Genoa, Italy, straight across the Italian countryside.

However, the shoreline around Genoa would also recede making it a slightly longer distance, but this gives it a good estimate.
10. Not only would coastal cities be affected, but Mediterranean islands as a whole would be completely changed. Which of the following scenarios would happen if the water levels decreased the expected amount?

Answer: Corsica and Sardinia would become one landmass, and also be physically connected to Italy

At their closest points, Sardinia and Corsica are less than 10 miles away from each other, so it's certainly not a stretch they would be connected if the sea level dropped. However, the 50-mile gap between Corsica and Italy would also dry up, connecting the new Corsica-Sardinia to Italy, albeit at a strange location - on or just north of Capraia.

The other choices are simply too far away or the water between the two locations is so deep that it would not dry up. Mallorca is over 100 miles from Spain, Crete is around 60 miles from Greece, and Cyprus and Italy have the Adana Trough running between them.
11. Project Atlantropa wasn't about to let Africa have it easy, as Sörgel had a massive plan for it too. In a predictable move, he proposed to dam an African river to create a large lake in the center of the continent, getting rid of "unproductive forest." What river would be dammed and what lake would be created?

Answer: Congo River and Congo Lake

No exact estimate for how large Congo Lake would be was given by Sörgel, but based on the maps he produced, it would be smaller than the 135,000 square mile Chad Sea, putting it at around 100,000 square miles. If this Congo Dam had been built, the cities of Mbandaka, Ilebo, Lisala, Kisangani, and Ubundu would most likely not exist.

The dam would presumably be built near Brazzaville, and the lake would not reach as far east as Lake Kivu or Lake Tanganyika.
12. Eventually, this African dam would stop enough water as to permit overflow to create a second major water source in Africa. An already-existing lake would be expanded into a sea on the interior of the continent. Which lake would this be, and what would be the name of the new sea?

Answer: Lake Chad would be the Chad Sea

Overflow coming from Congo Lake would allow Lake Chad, normally a very shallow lake (average depth of about 5 feet) covering just over 520 square miles, to expand into a 135,000 square mile sea. It was Sörgel's hope that this sea would irrigate at least part of the Sahara region, and allow higher agricultural production as a result. Eventually, once Congo Lake and the Chad Sea filled to capacity, the overflow would make its way to the Mediterranean, but of course by that time another dam could always be built to regulate the flow.
13. The biggest issues not addressed by Sörgel in Project Atlantropa were the environmental aspects. Which of the following was NOT a major issue that needed to be discussed before implementing this massive plan?

Answer: More water would be pulled in from the Suez Canal, causing massive erosion

Sörgel planned on lengthening the Suez Canal in order to make up for the new coastline, but water would still flow from the Mediterranean into the canal, done so by regulation with the Sicily-Tunisia Dam. However, the Mediterranean would increase in its salinity level so much that without some kind of counterbalance much of the life in the sea would not be able to survive. Also, the major changes of the world's waterways from the Atlantic Ocean to global precipitation might undergo massive changes, but these concerns were seemingly avoided by Sörgel since they could only go against his plan.
14. Not one to give up easily, Sörgel met with the new Nazi government in 1933 to propose the Atlantropa idea once more. After considering the idea for a short time, the final decision was made. How did the Nazis respond to the plan?

Answer: It was rejected because it helped all of Europe and Africa, and Nazi Germany was not out to help everyone else

When the Nazis rose to power, they did so thanks to a sentiment of German unification, not European. They had no intention of trying to help the rest of Europe, and especially Africa, since this would only make them all stronger (assuming the plan even worked to its proposed effectiveness).

While it might seem logical that they also rejected it due to high costs while Germany was busy rearming, Hitler decided to openly rearm in March 1935, so when Sörgel proposed the plan the Nazis were not fully rearming themselves yet.
15. With the defeat of the Nazis, Project Atlantropa seemed even more important to prevent more European wars. Herman Sörgel spent the rest of his life trying to push the project unsuccessfully. In fact, he died just before he was to give a speech for the project. How did he die?

Answer: He was hit by a car while riding a bike to his speech

According to reports of Sörgel's death, he was riding on his bicycle on a road "as straight as a die" when he was struck by a car, killing him. The driver was never found. It was actually Christmas Day 1952 when this tragedy occurred, and it signaled the ultimate downfall of Project Atlantropa. By 1960, the Atlantropa Institute was completely gone, and the Mediterranean Sea remains as open as it ever was.
Source: Author illiniman14

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