Posted
on June 18, 2015
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| When I say "British troops," I am including troops from the "crown colonies," including Australia. I bet, when you got up today, you didn't think to yourself, I wonder if I will see a photo of a soldier playing with a kangaroo in front of the Egyptian pyramids...did you? |
You
probably know that Egypt was the site of one of the world's earliest
great civilizations. Yet, Great Britain occupied and ruled over this
nation, as it did so many others, starting in the late 1800s.
Although Egypt was able to implement a constitution with elections
and a Parliament and other trappings of democracy, Britain still
wielded a lot of influence. Finally, in 1952 there was a revolution,
a military overthrow of the rulers and and end to the British
occupation of the country.
And
when I say that the 1952 revolution ended the British occupation, I
mean that it BEGAN to end it. There were still British forces there,
and in 1954 Britain and Egypt signed the Anglo-Egyptian Agreement,
and in that treaty Britain agreed to withdraw its forces during the
next 20 months.
Finally,
on June 13, 1956, the very last British soldier left territory of
independent Egypt. And on this date in 1956, the Egyptians
ceremoniously rose the national flag above the last freed building in
Port Said. Officially and in actual fact, the British occupation was
finally over.
The
commemoration of this date has been widely (and, I read, joyously)
celebrated, but other national holidays such as Revolution Days in
both January and July and Armed Forces Day in October are more
important at this point.
Why
did the British occupy Egypt in the first place?
Do
you remember the early days of world exploration and trading, when
Europeans kept sailing and sailing (and sailing and sailing), trying
to figure out how big Africa was, trying to get around Africa and to
those coveted riches and spices of India, China, Japan, and the “East
Indies”?
It turns out, Africa is pretty big! For centuries European ships had to travel ALL the way around this 5,000 mile (8,000 km) long continent to get to Eastern Asia. And everyone realized that they would save a lot of time and money by punching through the Isthmus of Suez, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, instead of going so far around.
It turns out, Africa is pretty big! For centuries European ships had to travel ALL the way around this 5,000 mile (8,000 km) long continent to get to Eastern Asia. And everyone realized that they would save a lot of time and money by punching through the Isthmus of Suez, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, instead of going so far around.
Canals
are big-time projects that take a lot of time and money to build. A
French man spearheaded the construction project; surprisingly, the
British government was against construction of the canal because it
would interfere with their dominance in trade with India! However,
once the canal opened under French control, the first ship that
traveled all the way through the canal was British! Apparently, the
opening of the canal was all planned out, and the first ship to go
through was supposed to be a French ship, L'Aigle, but Captain
George Nares navigated the HMS Newport in total darkness,
without lights, through the waiting ships, until it was in front of
L'Aigle. Once there, there was no way for L'Aigle to pass the
Newport (the canal basically fits only one ship at a time, although
there are several spots where ships can duck into a wider bit so that
two ships can pass).
So, when dawn broke on opening day, the French were really upset to see a British ship of the Royal Navy was first in line!
So, when dawn broke on opening day, the French were really upset to see a British ship of the Royal Navy was first in line!
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| Because of Nares's bold AND SNEAKY action, history books will forevermore say that, when the Suez Canal opened in 1869, the HMS Newport led the way. |
The
opening of the Suez Canal had an immediate effect of world trade, of
course, effectively “shrinking” the world. Apparently British
trade did suffer, as people feared it would; however, Britain gained control of the canal when one of Egypt's rulers asked
Britain for help to suppress a revolt against his rule.
To learn more about the Suez Canal, check out this earlier post.
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on this date:
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Nice and informative. Keep it up.
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