As Europe grapples with how to house hundreds of thousands of refugees seeking out safe new lands, RN Afternoons digs up a remarkable 1920s German architect's plan to dam the Mediterranean Sea, create a new supercontinent, solve energy needs and achieve cross-continental peace.

Imagine for a second that the combined powers of Europe pooled their resources and built a mega dam in the Mediterranean, creating a new land mass that could house millions of displaced people.

It was seen as a fairly reasonable plan until the 1950s. What was so compelling about it was his idea of peace and energy, and tying the two together. Ricarda Vidal

Is it so harebrained an idea that it might actually work?

No.

For three decades though, the idea of damming the Mediterranean was treated with the utmost seriousness.

Architects and engineers were consulted, plans for new cities were drawn up and the new land was even given a name: Atlantropa.

The man responsible for the idea in 1922 was Herman Sörgel, a German architect with a enthusiasm for hydropower.

He saw the plan as succeeding across a number of lofty ideals: creating a new land for European migration, solving the continent's energy and employment problems and achieving peace among its nations.

While it reads as a slightly cracked vision perfectly at home in the early 20th century, Sörgel's concept still represents a jumble of futurist ideas that hold eerie parallels to modern dilemmas faced by European policy makers.

Ricarda Vidal, from the Department of Culture, Media and Creative Industries at King's College in London, has studied Sörgel's idea of Atlantropa.

'It was taken seriously by policy makers and social engineers for a while,' she says.

'He thought that the Mediterranean was this fantastic energy resource, so if you dammed it, you could actually produce enough energy [through hydropower] for the whole of Africa and Europe.'

The 23-kilometre-long dam was planned to block off the Strait of Gilbratar from Tarifa at the southern tip of Spain to Tangier in Morroco.

'That is where the Mediterranean is at its shallowest, though it is still 300 metres deep,' says Vidal.

'There is the objection that there is not enough concrete in the world to do that.'

Sörgel believed that technological advances over time would make the project possible.

Remarkably, he saw its unfathomable cost as being part of the attraction.

'The idea was he was trying to get all of the European leaders to agree on building the dam. The dam would cost so much money that no one would have any money left to wage war,' says Vidal.

'It was also a solution to unemployment, because you would need so many people to help build it.'

Sörgel estimated his dream would require 1,000,000 people over the project's lifespan to build the dam.

Over time, he imagined a new land mass the combined size of France and Belgium would emerge. That, in turn, would irreparably alter existing cities and coastlines.

'Port cities would be left stranded inland. Genoa or Marseille, for instance, would no longer be at the sea,' says Vidal.

Sörgel intended to create new port cities where fishing would be possible, and leave the old ones as tourist attractions.

'He didn't really take into account that the sea would probably turn into a dead sea because it would have been completely oversalted.'

One of the most mind-boggling aspects of Sörgel's plan was the way in which Europe's energy, generated through the dam's hydropower system, would be controlled.

Believing the need for energy would prove a major driver in future world wars, he wanted each country's power supply to be controlled by the United Nations.

'The UN would have a switch with a country's name on it, so if Italy started to wage war on its neighbour, you could just flick the Italy switch and they would not get any power anymore,' says Vidal.

The entire project was anticipated to take 150 years to fully complete, though it was believed the dam would begin developing power within the first 15 years.

What might have happened had the plan been seen through to its conclusion?

'We might all be dead by now, because of the catastrophic consequences to the climate and the environment,' says Vidal.

After three decades of support from across Europe, enthusiasm for the idea began to dwindle.

'It was seen as a fairly reasonable plan until the 1950s,' says Vidal.

'What really killed it off was the discovery of nuclear power. In the 1950s, when they realised that they could use nuclear energy not just for a bomb but for power, hydro energy became uninteresting.'

Sörgel died in 1952 and with him died the dream of Atlantropa. His vision was undeniably flawed and potentially disastrous for human civilisation, but Vidal insists there is merit to some aspects of his thinking.

'What was so compelling about it was his idea of peace and energy, and tying the two together.

'Just to have the vision and the thought that you could change the world and create peace with just one idea is pretty amazing.'

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