Turning Point : The Suez Canal

Between 1919 and 1952, Egypt struggled to obtain independence and develop a national identity (Botman 1991, 55). The majority of Egyptians were peasants or fallahins who were in a cycle of poverty as a result of the structure of landownership and the division of land through inheritance (Botman 1991, 73). The Wafd, a nationalist body in Egypt, espoused the anti-British movement for the masses and expressed the need for legitimate self-rule (Botman 1991, 55). The British had occupied Egypt since 1882 as a way to restore order and safeguard Egypt’s foreign population (Gordon 1992, 15). However, Egypt’s strategic importance led the British to prolong their short stay and after World War I, Britain declared a protectorate over Egypt (Gordon 1992, 15). Thinking that a postwar settlement might lead to Egyptian independence, a committee of

BBC Documentary. "The Other Side of Suez." Youtube. Video file, 55:59. July 22, 2012. Accessed May 19, 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETOUALw2EIs.

Egypt, in contrast to Palestine, was the leader of the Arab world. In the 1800s, Egypt, under the leadership of Muhammad Ali, began a campaign of “defensive modernization”; that is, an importation of military and economic principles of the West in an effort to rejuvenate the Arab world and its culture. The khedives (rulers) who succeeded Ali continued his campaign of modernization by constructing new facilities; the Suez Canal, an important position in trade between Europe and the Far East, was constructed in 1869. However, this modernization invited the imperialism that Egypt sought to avoid ; in 1883, Egypt became a “veiled protectorate” (an unofficial colonial dependency), and on the eve of World War I, a formal British protectorate was established until the Egyptian Revolution of 1952.

Said granted a French company a contract to build a canal through the Isthmus of Suez. The canal shortened sailing route between Europe and Eastern Asia by connecting the Red sea and the Mediterranean sea. It became known as the Suez canal in 1869. Egypt then sold the Suez canal to British government in 1875 to pay off debts created by Ismail, Said’s nephew from 1863 to 1879. This is how the british empire gained control of Egypt, by the Suez

The Suez War had profound short term significance in many aspects. It can be argued to be one of the first wars in the Arab-Israeli conflict which involved substantial foreign involvement. Although Britain and France were humiliated and lost their influence in the Middle East, it highlighted the rising importance of Cold War politics in the Middle East. Egypt and Israel can be considered as winners of the Suez War; Egypt gained complete control of the Suez Canal and Israel had access to the Straits of Tiran. However, both countries were to remain hostile and the legacy of the Suez War will be conflict, not peace.

Going Solo, Roald Dahl's memoir of his work in East Africa and his service in the RAF, covers the buildup to World War II and his involvement in it. In the book mention is made of the Suez Canal. The Suez Canal plays large role in the memoir as...... Dahl says about the Suez Canal that," I found myself at a large RAF station on the Suez Canal" (pg. 93). In fact, the Suez Canal is important because it allowed better transportation and protection of supplies and soldiers.

The Suez Canal Crisis was one of many events of the Cold War. The Canal opened in 1869, after 10 years of construction by Ferdinand de Lesseps of France, connecting the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. The canal held a neutral position, allowing access to all countries. The British -who had the strongest naval force in the world- controlled the traffic going through it. They ensured that the Canal was open to all countries. In 1914, the traffic control changed to include the French military.

The Suez Crisis was a military and political conflict in Egypt. Directly linking the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, the Suez Canal was constructed by Egyptian workers under the French and British-owned Suez Canal Company. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser seized the canal and the rationale for nationalizing the canal was to use the shipping tolls to finance the construction of the Aswan Dam. Since, the canal was a vital route for oil travelling to Britain, the move worried western governments because if Egypt blocked the flow of oil, British economy would suffer. As a result of diplomacy failing to produce a solution, without informing the NATO allies, France, Britain and Israel secretly plotted to attack. Canada’s secretary of state for external affairs (foreign minister), Lester B. Pearson, created a peaceful solution, but even though the votes were for the solution, British and French paratroops ignored the vote. The Suez Crisis relates to the themes of peacekeeping and international relations.

Using Karabell’s social history Parting the Desert, for nineteenth century Egypt, and al-Zayyat’s novel The Open Door for twentieth century Egypt, this essay observes Egyptian Nationalism throughout the period. Parting the Desert tells the tale of the Suez Canal, its design, financing, building, and eventual war. The Open Door presents a twentieth century coming of age during the period Britain viewed the Suez Canal as a vital strategic asset, Egypt took control of the Suez Canal and nationalized it, starting war. First part of the paper will discuss the drivers of nationalism for both books. Then, the comparison of Egyptian Nationalism will start with Parting the

Barely a month after his election as President of Egypt, Gamel Abdel Nasser delivered an inspiring speech to thousands of Egyptians in the city of Alexandria. Inducing Arab revisionism and anti-imperialism that had been steadily increasing since the early 1950’s (Israeli, 2013, p. 147), Nasser shockingly announced he would be nationalizing the Suez Canal under Egyptian control. Throughout his speech, Nasser cited the builder of the Suez Canal, Ferdinand de Lesseps over 13 times. According to Israeli, 2013, “Ferdinand de Lesseps, it turned out, was the code word for the Egyptian army to start the seizure and nationalization of the canal,” (p. 151). The progression of events during the following five months had a profound economic and political impact on the stability of one of the most strategically important regions of the globe.

The original Suez Canal opened almost 150 years ago linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea. The canal took almost ten years to dredge and was opened for navigation in 1869. Ships were then able to bypass the long route around the southern tip of Africa by going through the 101-mile Egyptian waterway. On the other side of the world and about ten years later, the French began construction on the Panama Canal. However, engineering problems and diseases caused construction on the canal to stop. In 1904, the United States resumed construction on the canal. Finally, in 1914, the project was complete and the canal was opened connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Because of increased interest in the area due to French occupation, Egypt began a process of modernization. Once Napoleon failed to take control of Egypt, a former Ottoman government worker named Muhammed Ali came into power. Ali fought a series of battles in order to gain control of Syria and Arabia. He made economic reforms, such as shifting Egyptian agriculture to the cash crop cotton, that brought Egypt into the international marketplace, but at the cost of food for many peasants. Isma'il, the grandson of Ali, continued his grandfather's modernization efforts by constructing the man-made Suez Canal. The canal connected the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, and was paid for primarily with loans. Though it, and other projects of the time such as irrigation efforts and communication networks, were celebrated they put Egypt deep in a debt that it was not able to pay. As a result, Britain occupied Egypt by

Canals are human-made and completely subject to the sovereignty of the state in which they are located. Canals are internal waters that have no right of innocent passage through canals. Typically, there are only two canals in the world - Panama Canal and Suez Canal. Panama Canal opened on 15 August 1914 with a total length of 80.5km (50 miles). Panama Canal is the integral link for shipping traffic from the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean in North U.S. (refer Fig. 1). Panama Canal consist a system of locks to raise or lower the ships to a new level. When a ships goes through one of the gates the water level decreases or increases depending on the level of the next lock. When the water level is the same as the next lock then the gate opens (Mitchell, 2011) (refer Fig 2). This combination successfully reduced the journey between east and west of US by 13,000 km (refer Fig 3) (Rodrigue et al., 2014). Thus, it is the main route from Europe to West of US and Pacific Ocean, accommodating an estimated 5% of the world’s total cargo volume (U.S. Department of Transportation and Maritime Administration, 2013). There are about 1,200 ships passed through the canal every day and more than 14,000 ships transit the canal, 70% of the containerized freight is inbound or outbound from the U.S. East Coast annually (Knight, 2008).

Clearly, this period was marked by political instability of which the communists sought to take advantage of. In 1954, Khalid Bakdash won a seat in parliament as the first communist elected to an Arab parliament. The Suez Canal Crisis of 1956 strengthened the communist influence in Syria after signing a pack with the Soviet Union in exchange for military equipment. Soviet support to Syria was part of the greater strategic battle playing out in the Middle East between the Western and Eastern blocs. It was apparent that Syrian political power was likely to shift towards communism at this point. The Communist Party of Syria was becoming highly organized and the army’s chief of staff, Afif al-Bizri, was a Communist sympathizer (Irvine, 2013).

The Suez Crisis is often cited by some historians as one of the worst historical decisions that imprinted an indelible mark on the then British premier Sir Antony Eden. More often than not the decision by Eden to invade Egypt following a disagreement about nationalization of the Suez Canal is often cited as a the worst foreign policy decision that destroyed Eden political career and humiliated British empire in its wake. The decision by Eden to use military force against Nasser is often viewed by many as arising from a personal grudge towards Nasser, while only a few defend the fact that Eden had attempted to resolve the looming conflict peacefully.