The twentieth century was littered with hair-brained grand schemes, and here’s a classic example for today’s weird wikipedia article…
Atlantropa was a scheme that proposed building a huge hydroelectric dam across the Straits of Gibraltar, and also building three other dams in other parts of the Mediterranean with the aim of providing unlimited electrical power to Europe. If built, it would have led to sea levels in the med lowering by up to 200 metres, and the creation of huge new areas of land for farming and colonisation. Understandably perhaps, it never caught on.
Read more about Atlantropa on Wikipedia
