Beirut 1898: The French Consul Who Saved a City from the Desert
Long before cars and highways, the Beirut-Damascus road was the city's economic lifeline—and a chokepoint for Ottoman control. In 1898, an ambitious French consul named Joseph Garabed negotiated a contract to build a modern carriage road across the rugged Mount Lebanon range, connecting Beirut's thriving port to the Syrian interior. But the project faced sabotage from local warlords, extortion by Druze chieftains, and competition from a rival British scheme. Lucas and Luna trace the engineering feats, the political intrigue, and the surprising role of an Algerian exile who knew the terrain better than any European. This episode reveals how a single road reshaped Lebanon's economy, triggered a shift in regional power from Damascus to the coast, and set the stage for the French Mandate—all before the first car ever reached Beirut.
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