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In this episode of History for Cocktail Parties, hosts James Ottley and Thornton Kennedy unpack the dramatic rise and fall of the French attempt to build the Panama Canal. Led by Ferdinand de Lesseps, famed for the Suez Canal but lacking any engineering background, the effort was plagued by deadly disease, financial mismanagement, and brutal terrain. The discussion highlights key figures like Jules Dingler, whose personal tragedies mirrored the larger collapse of the project. From the underestimated power of the Chagres River to the fatal missteps at the Culebra Cut, this story captures the high cost of ambition gone awry. It also sets the stage for the eventual American takeover, where a new strategy, and new politics, would reshape one of the modern world’s greatest engineering feats.