In 1869 the 120-mile Suez Canal, which connected the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea through the Red Sea, was completed under the supervision of French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps. Ismail Pasha, the khedive of Egypt and the Sudan, opened the canal for business in November 1869. This canal greatly facilitated world trade, though it cut off most of Egypt from the Sinai peninsula.
In 1888 the Convention of Constantinople granted access to all nations for maritime use. Control of the canal though became part of a larger imperial rivalry, with Great Britain winning control in the 1880s. Protecting British shipping lanes became more vital during the First World War, and in 1936 the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty reinforced British control. The canal’s strategic and geographic importance in turn only increased during the Second World War when threatened by German and Italian forces. Change was in the wind, though, when Egypt withdrew from the treaty in 1951, and again in 1956 when Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser wanted to rid Egypt of British and French influence. He was further pressured to take drastic steps when the United States withdrew funding for his long awaited Aswan Dam across the Nile.
Emboldened by Soviet support and money, Nasser announced the nationalization of the canal under Egyptian control. A joint British-Israeli-French force invaded Egypt in October 1956. Egypt shut down trade in the canal for five months by blockading the shipping lanes with sunken ships. The Soviets immediately responded by sending aid to Egypt. The British in turn wanted U.S. assistance, but President Eisenhower, embarrassed by the attack and fearful that this would only embolden more Soviet-inspired revolts, urged the British-Israeli-French force to withdraw from Egyptian soil under threat of withholding promised loans. Suddenly, this combined invasion force found themselves without allies, and against world opinion, quickly withdrew.
In a paper address the following:
Given that the canal ran through a 120-mile stretch of water and was important for world trade, which country, in your opinion and based on course theories, should have had rightful control of the Suez Canal?
