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The Suez Canal when opened was of enormous economic and military importance. Trade with the East (China, the Spice Islands, and India) was of enormous importance. Actually there were battles over Suez before the Canal exsisted. That was because goods vand people were transported over land before the Canal was dug. The most famous military campaign wassurely Napoleion's exotic Egyptian mis-adventures (1798-1801). Britain fought two wars with China over trade -- the Opium Wars (1840s and 60s). And India was the jewel in the British crown. Suez was vital for this trade, significantly reducing shipping costs. Security was guaranteed by the Royal Navy. No other country could challenge the Royal Navy. In Europe after the Napoleonic Wars, here was a long peace. The major War was the Crimean War (1854-56)with Britain and France fought to prevent Russia from projecting naval power into the Mediterranean. Prussia waged Germany unification wars, but they were very short wars. The 20h century was very different. Germany challenged the Royal Navy with its modern new High Seas Fleet. This was in the North Sea, but the Germans did deploy U-boats in the Mediterranean. The threat to Suez, however, came from a land offensive from the Ottoman Empire--the same country they had attempted to aid in the Crimean War.The Ottomans joined the Central Powers. Germany provide arms and technical assistance The Ottoman offensive failed and in the end the British conducted offensives into the Arab lands of the Ottoman Empire. After the War, Britain moved to provide independence to Egypt. While Egypt was not a colony, it The was a protectorate. And Britain held on the Suez Canal Zone. The rise of the NAZIs caused Britain tease back on full independence. The Arabs and Iranians saw the NAZIs as a way of ending British and French colonial controls. Few in the region bothered to look how the Germans treated the areas it occupied, including Allies. World War II brought a real naval challenge --the Italian fleet as well as anther land offensive -- the German Afrika Korps (1940-43). Britain managed to hang on, but for 3 years, the Mediterranean was closed off the British shipping. After the War, a much diminished Britain hoped to hang on to Suez. Egypt is a large country--mostly desert of no economic value. Suez was a rare economic asset. her was also nationalist fervor. This led to President Nasser nationalized the Canal (1956) and the short Suez War (1956). After independence a focus of the Egyptian government was to destroy Israel. The Egyptians spent enormous sums on the military--lancing a series wars that they did not win (1948. 53, 66, and 73). Just as the Egyptians and most other Arabs moved toward the NAZIs, before World War II, Egypt moved toward the Soviets after the War. After the Yom Kipur War (1973), the Camp David Accords returned Sinai and the Canal to Egypt (1978). Since this there has been an uneasy peace with Israel with the Canal open. The barbaric Hamas October 7, 2023 attack on Israel did not directly impact the Canal, but the Houthis attack on shipping has substantially reduced shipping, ending a valuable source of revenue to Egypt, .
The Ottoman Empire inclkuded Arabia and Palestine. possessions only a few mles from the Suez Canal. whgen World War I broke out. And the Ottoons joined theCentralmPowers and dclared war on Britain, France and Russia. Their greates objective was lnd lost to the REussias, but Egypt had once been part of the Ottoman Empire. The Central Powers (Ottomans with German assistance) tried to take Suez by land, attacking from Palestine in World War I (1915). The offensive was a complete failure and the British would eventually mount an offensive into Palestine from Egypt. The Ottomans would be distracted by the Arab revolt stoked by Lawrence, including the seizure of Aqaba. Because France was in the War throughout to support the Royal Navy, the Allies controlled the Mediterranean throughout the War. Italy unlike World War II joined the Allies. Thus Allied naval ships and cargo vessels were able to use Suez and the short route to India. The tiny Austrian Navy was bottled up in the northern Adriatic. The only real danger was German U-boats which succeeded in sinking some ships, including a hospital ship. Notably, a young Karl Dönitz would lose his U-boat and be captured by the British. A fleet of Japanese destroyers helped the Allies with anti-submarine warfare.
World War II was very different than World War I. Italy entered the War on the Axis side and France was knocked out of the War by the Germans (1940). The Royal Navy was not only smaller than in World War I, but they had to try to hold the line in the Mediterranean alone without the French. And the great bulk of the Royal Navy was fully committed in he Atlantic. The Italians essentially closed off the Mediterranean to Allied shipping when they entered the War (June 1940). The Itlians not only had a powerful. modern fleet, but a large army in Libya on he Egyotian boirder. Of course at the same time, British control of Suez isolated the Italians in East Africa and unlike the Allies, the Italians could not go around the Cape. Not only would there be air strikes from Italy, but the under-strength Royal Navy would have to fight it out with the powerful Italian fleet. This meant that that cargo vessels supping the Desert Army and India and the Far East had to make the much longer route around the Cape of Good Hope. Suez as a result was not used heavily. The Allied freighters docked at Port Tewfiq, and used the railway to convey supplies and troops to the Desert Army. The canal was used by warships and the occasional freighter intended for Malta or Tobruk. Most Malta convoys, however, came from the western end of the Mediterranean. This longer Allied freighter route was significant because the greatest restraint on the Allied war effort was shipping. And closing the Mediterranean meant that these trips would require even more shipping. The Axis (Italians and Germans) attempted a much more significant effort to take Suez, this time from Italian Libya (1940-42). And Rommel's Afrika Korps came very close to taking Suez only being stopped at El Alamein, a few miles from Alexandria and the Canal (July 1942). The Egyptian Young Officer Movement was already active in the Egyptian Army and would have welcomed the Germans with open arms. .
Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser emerged as the most influential Arab leader. He was determined to defeat Israel and in his view liberate Palestine. He accepted an offer from the Soviets for modern arms including planes and tanks on generous terms (1955). This permitted him to build very powerful forces to attack Israel from Egyptian bases in the Sinai. He also allowed the Fedayeen freer rein to carry out terrorist attacks. He announced without mincing words, "Egypt has decided to dispatch her heroes, the disciples of pharaoh and the sons of Islam and they will cleanse the Land of Israel .... There will be no peace on Israel's border because we demand vengeance, and vengeance is Israel's death." (August 31, 1955) At the time, Egyptian intelligence was heavily involved in training and equipping the Fedayeen. This involved Jordan because the Fedayeen operated primarily from bases in Jordan which had seized the West Bank in the 1948 War. Egyptian Sinai was distant from Israeli population centers. The West Bank was, however, was right next to potential Israeli targets. This was the beginning of a familiar pattern. The Fedayeen attacks were largely on Israeli civilians. They violated the 1949 armistice agreement which prohibited provision that prohibited attacks by paramilitary forces. Even so, when Israel struck back it was censured by the U.N. Security Council for its counterattacks. The situation worsened when Nasser closed the Straits of Tiran, essentially blockading Eilat at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba. Nasser further escalated the situation by nationalizing the Suez Canal (July 1956). Nasser left no doubt about his intentions. "I am not solely fighting against Israel itself. My task is to deliver the Arab world from destruction through Israel's intrigue, which has its roots abroad. Our hatred is very strong. There is no sense in talking about peace with Israel. There is not even the smallest place for negotiations." (October 14) The Arab strategy was to launch a combined three pronged invasion of Israel. Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, the front-line states, signed a tripartite agreement (October 25). Jordan and Syria agreed to give Nasser command of their armies. Israel decided to act before the three countries could launch a coordinated invasion.
The Six Days War changed the dynamic of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. The United Nations for 8 years patrolled the Israeli-Egyptian border in the Sinai. Nasser backed with an infusion of Soviet weapons decided to confront Israel militarily. Nasser organized an alliance with Syria and Jordan. He moved 100,000 troops to the border armed with 1,000 tanks. He ordered the United Nations out. An audacious Israeli air attack destroyed the Egyptian Air force on the ground. Egyptian Air Force commanders were at first afraid to tell Nasser what had happened. Nasser spoke on radio and television claiming that the Israeli Air Force had been destroyed. The Arab public was ecstatic. Nasser urged the Syrians and Jordanians to join the war with Israeli. He assured them that Egypt was winning the war in the Sinai. Israeli armor decimated the Egyptians and pushed to Suez. The Israelis then turned on the Jordanians and Syrians that had invaded. The Israelis managed to seize the rest of Jerusalem. The Canal became the frontier between and Egypt, meaning it was closed to all traffic.
The Egyptians with modern Soviet-supplied weapons surprised Israel with a lighting crossing of the Suez defenses on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur (October 6, 1973). The Israelis relied heavily on signals intelligence which the Egyptians avoided and was a major factor in the Egyptian ability to surprise the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). The Syrians attacked in the north. This time, however, the Jordanians did not participate in the attack on Israel. Large numbers of Israeli tanks and planes were destroyed as a result of new anti-tank missiles weaponry provided by the Soviets and for which the IDF was unprepared. The Israeli Air Force was also hit by Soviet surface to air (SAM) missiles. During the 19 days of fighting the Israelis lost 109 planes which was 35 percent of their air force. Because of the Soviet involvement, the United States resupplies Israel with American equipment. This was the first direct American involvement in Israel's defense.. The IDF drove the Egyptians back to the Canal. After the War, the Camp David accords returned Sinai and the Canal to Egypt.
The barbaric Hamas October 7, 2023 attack on Israel did not directly impact the Canal, but the Houthis attack on shipping has substantially reduced shipping, ending a valuable source of revenue to Egypt. the Suez Canal is still open and operational, but its traffic has been significantly reduced due to the Red Sea attacks and related security concerns. While ships still use the canal, many shipping companies have chosen to reroute around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope to avoid the Red Sea attacks, which has caused a major drop in canal transits and revenues Egypt was earning. The attacks greatly disrupted transits through Egypt's Suez Canal, which links the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. This at first added sunstantial costs and Israel was not the most seriously impacted. Shippers quickly adjuted. nd because shipping is a minor cost in international trade, the world ecomomy was not seriously impcterd. The country that was impcted was Egypt. The Canal was one of the top providers of hard currency for Egypt, providing it $10 billion in 2023 as its wider economy struggles. The International Monetary Fund in July said the Houthi attacks "reduced foreign exchange inflows from the Suez Canal by $6 billion in 2024".
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