Overview

The Lower Danube—the stretch of Europe’s second longest river between the Romanian-Serbian border and the confluence to the Black Sea—was effectively transformed during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In describing this lengthy undertaking, Luminita Gatejel proposes that remaking two key stretches—the Iron Gates and the delta—not only physically altered the river but also redefined it in a legal and political sense.  Since the late eighteenth century, military conflicts and peace treaties changed the nature of sovereignty over the area, as the expansionist tendencies of the Habsburg and British Empires encountered rival Ottoman and Russian imperial plans. The inconvenience that the river’s physical shape obstructed free navigation and the growth of commercial traffic, was an increasing concern to all parties. This book shows that alongside imperial aspirations, transnational actors like engineers, commissioners and entrepreneurs were the driving force behind the river regulation. In this highly original, deeply researched, and carefully crafted study, Gatejel explores the formation of international cooperation, the emergence of technical expertise and the emergence of engineering as a profession. This constellation turned the Lower Danube into a laboratory for experimenting with new forms of international cooperation, economic integration, and nature transformation.

Full Product Details

Author:   Luminita Gatejel (Senior Researcher, Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies in Regensburg)
Publisher:   Central European University Press
Imprint:   Central European University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.10cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.635kg
ISBN:  

9789633865798

ISBN 10:   9633865794
Pages:   348
Publication Date:   05 January 2023
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements List of Figures List of Acronyms and Abbreviations Introduction Engineering International Cooperation on the Lower Danube Building Infrastructure along the Lower Danube Sources and Outline Chapter 1. Exploring the Danube Knowledge and the Imperial Appropriation of the Lower Danube Luigi Marsigli and Austrian Expansionism on the Lower Danube The First Habsburg Economic Enterprises on the Lower Danube State Support and Renewed Attempts to Upgrade the Danube Route New Habsburg Assessments at the Turn of the Century Why Did the Shipping Connection on the Danube Fail? Russia’s Steady Advance to the Lower Danube Russia’s “Enlightened” Projects Along the Lower Danube Conclusion Chapter 2. Connecting the Danube with the Sea Physical and Symbolic Boundaries at the Iron Gates Military Surveys at the Iron Gates Technical Assessments of the Iron Gates Negotiating the Passage to the Lower Danube First Engineering Breakthrough at the Iron Gates Traveling through the Iron Gates Delays and Damage to the Sulina Channel Circumventing the Danube Delta Conclusion 3. From Confrontation to Cooperation: the Crimean War and Its Aftermath War as an opportunity at the Iron Gates The Danube Delta During the Crimean War The Failed Riverine Commission Engineering Breakthrough at the Mouth of the Danube Hartley’s Provisional Project at the Sulina Bar The Inauguration of Hartley’s Piers Conclusion 4. The Danube Delta: A Success in International Ruling Provisional Regulations for the Delta The Public Act on Navigation Budget Constraints On the Way to Permanency Consolidation Works at Sulina Straightening the Sulina Channel Conclusion 5. The Iron Gates Torn Between Imperial, International and National Interests The Engineer Versus the Entrepreneur The Limited Influence of the International Commission A New Commission of Foreign Experts Public Engineering Debates in Vienna The Regulation of the Iron Gates as a Hungarian State-Building Measure Impact and Consequences of the Regulation Project Conclusion Conclusions Bibliography Index

Reviews

"""Luminita Gatejel’s book is remarkable for the richness of details through which the different stages of the two major projects on the Lower Danube are presented. Many of these are novel and useful for scholars in the field."" https://muse.jhu.edu/article/920548 -- Stelu Şerban * Technology and Culture *"

Engineering the Lower Danube is a highly original, deeply researched, and carefully crafted work. By exploring how a diverse cast of characters--diplomats, engineers, soldiers, and sailors--transformed the Iron Gates and the Danube Delta between the late 1700s and the early 1900s, Gatejel shows how the river was not just physically remade but also redefined in a legal and political sense as an international river with free navigation. In so doing, the book contributes to a growing scholarly literature on rivers and other bodies of water; the Danube has not been studied as closely as other great rivers, which adds to this project's importance. --Robert Nemes Merging the insights of transnational history with the study of science and technology, Luminita Gatejel offers a sweeping account of the transformations in a major European waterway at the crossroads of multiple imperial and knowledge regimes. As political contexts shifted from the late 18th century on, British, Habsburg, Ottoman, and Russian interests clashed for the political control and technological management of the Danube River. Particularly noteworthy is Gatejel's masterful analysis of the role of civil engineers in taming nature, innovating with technology, and contributing to the constant remaking of the international order of the long 19th century. --Theodora Dragostinova Gatejel provides a comprehensive and informative account of the transformation of the Lower Danube during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with a focus on imperial politics and the internationalization of the river. The approach is interdisciplinary, combining insights from transnational history, international relations, and the history of science and technology. By placing the Iron Gates and the Lower Danube in a comparative perspective and exploring the links between diplomacy and great power politics, on the one hand, and engineers, on the other, the book offers a novel and refreshing theoretical framework for approaching the history of the Danube river. --Constantin Iordachi

""Luminita Gatejel’s book is remarkable for the richness of details through which the different stages of the two major projects on the Lower Danube are presented. Many of these are novel and useful for scholars in the field."" https://muse.jhu.edu/article/920548 -- Stelu Şerban * Technology and Culture * ""Luminita Gatejel’s work is impressive, informative, and insightful. Its conclusions help to redefine the nature of state-building projects in the nineteenth century as we see the contributions of both river-level engineers and supranational organizations in this process, helping to draw and blur the lines of state sovereignty, imperial competition, and international cooperation."" https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/370E5F783F7356F6D54B0335EB754193/S0067237824000110a.pdf/luminita-gatejel-engineering-the-lower-danube-technology-and-international-cooperation-in-an-imperial-borderland-budapest-central-european-university-press-2022-pp-348.pdf -- Robert Shields Mevissen * Austrian History Yearbook *

"""Luminita Gatejel’s book is remarkable for the richness of details through which the different stages of the two major projects on the Lower Danube are presented. Many of these are novel and useful for scholars in the field."" https://muse.jhu.edu/article/920548 -- Stelu Şerban * Technology and Culture * ""Luminita Gatejel’s work is impressive, informative, and insightful. Its conclusions help to redefine the nature of state-building projects in the nineteenth century as we see the contributions of both river-level engineers and supranational organizations in this process, helping to draw and blur the lines of state sovereignty, imperial competition, and international cooperation."" https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/370E5F783F7356F6D54B0335EB754193/S0067237824000110a.pdf/luminita-gatejel-engineering-the-lower-danube-technology-and-international-cooperation-in-an-imperial-borderland-budapest-central-european-university-press-2022-pp-348.pdf -- Robert Shields Mevissen * Austrian History Yearbook *"

"""Engineering the Lower Danube is a highly original, deeply researched, and carefully crafted work. By exploring how a diverse cast of characters--diplomats, engineers, soldiers, and sailors--transformed the Iron Gates and the Danube Delta between the late 1700s and the early 1900s, Gatejel shows how the river was not just physically remade but also redefined in a legal and political sense as an international river with free navigation. In so doing, the book contributes to a growing scholarly literature on rivers and other bodies of water; the Danube has not been studied as closely as other great rivers, which adds to this project's importance.""--Robert Nemes ""Merging the insights of transnational history with the study of science and technology, Luminita Gatejel offers a sweeping account of the transformations in a major European waterway at the crossroads of multiple imperial and knowledge regimes. As political contexts shifted from the late 18th century on, British, Habsburg, Ottoman, and Russian interests clashed for the political control and technological management of the Danube River. Particularly noteworthy is Gatejel's masterful analysis of the role of civil engineers in taming nature, innovating with technology, and contributing to the constant remaking of the international order of the long 19th century.""--Theodora Dragostinova ""Gatejel provides a comprehensive and informative account of the transformation of the Lower Danube during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with a focus on imperial politics and the internationalization of the river. The approach is interdisciplinary, combining insights from transnational history, international relations, and the history of science and technology. By placing the Iron Gates and the Lower Danube in a comparative perspective and exploring the links between diplomacy and great power politics, on the one hand, and engineers, on the other, the book offers a novel and refreshing theoretical framework for approaching the history of the Danube river.""--Constantin Iordachi"

Author Information

Luminita Gatejel is a senior researcher at the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies in Regensburg. 

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