SUEZ CANAL-CRITICAL ARTERY FOR TRADE
The canal across Egypt’s Isthmus of Suez bridging the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea means linking the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. This man-made canal has been an essential vessel for global trade since the mid-19th century. Once the channel is blocked, European ships have to pass a long distance to reach Asia and do trading. The idea of bridging two continents via sea had excited the Egyptian rulers as well as the colonizers.
Pharaoh Senusret III(1887–1849 BC) built the first canal bridging the Erythraean Sea( today’s Red Sea) and the Nile river and opening a waterway to the Mediterranean. Many new emperors tried to build new canals to reduce traffic. Many geologists believe that the coastlines of the Red Sea have moved southwards away from the lakes in Suez. Continuous accumulations of silt made it hard to maintain the water channel. For centuries, Egyptian rulers avoided this waterway until the arrival of Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798 as part of his global campaign to dwindle the British Empire. Napoleon wanted to construct a canal across Suez under his banner(French control). That would benefit Napoleon in two ways. It would be a perfect blow to the British. One, It would provide Bonaparte a quicker and safer path to the Indian Ocean. Two, by opening a new trade route from Europe to Asia and vice-versa. The twin blow out could hurt the British who controlled the existing way around the Cape of Good Hope. But Napoleon’s plan wasn’t fructified due to a miscalculation in geological study about the territory that prompted Napoleon to terminate the project.
But the idea of the Suez canal outlived the emperor. In the mid-19th century, Ferdinand De Lesseps, a French diplomat and engineer, received permission from Egypt’s Ottoman. In 1858, Universal Suez Ship Canal Company began to collect its resources, and construction work started a year later. Britain continuously opposed the Suez canal project as a new waterway would hurt its interests. British became a key beneficiary from being an adversary when the Egyptian government sold its stake in the canal to London in 1875.
Previously, the Suez Canal was closed for navigation in 1967 due to the Six-Day War between Israel and Arab nations. Before that, the way had been closed for a year during the Suez War of 1956. Why this war? Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egypt’s socialist President, nationalized the channel in 1956. On October 29, 1956, the Israeli troops attacked the Egyptian Sinai. Later, the French and British shook a hand with Israel. The motto of the war was to take control of the canal and suppress Abdel Nasser. But the invasion didn’t go as planned. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev threatened Israel, Britain, and France with missiles. US President Dwight D. Eisenhower, partly upset that the British went to invade without American approval. Also, President Hower was concerned that invasion would play into the hands of the Soviet Union. The US pressurized the British with Economic Sanctions unless they withdrew the troops. By March 1957, the troops were called-off.
Originally published at https://weekendblogbydk.blogspot.com on April 5, 2021.
