Editing Suez Canal (section)

==History of the Suez Canal==
=== Interim period ===
[[File:Suez1856.jpg|thumb|[[Bathymetric chart]], northern [[Gulf of Suez]], route to [[Old Cairo|Cairo]], 1856]]

Despite the construction challenges that could have been the result of the alleged difference in sea levels, the idea of finding a shorter route to the east remained alive. In 1830, General [[Francis Rawdon Chesney|Francis Chesney]] submitted a report to the British government that stated that there was no difference in elevation and that the Suez Canal was feasible, but his report received no further attention. [[Thomas Fletcher Waghorn|Lieutenant Waghorn]] established his "Overland Route", which transported post and passengers to India via Egypt.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Wilson Sir Arnold T. |url=http://archive.org/details/suezcanal032262mbp |title=The Suez Canal |date=1939 |publisher=Oxford University Press. |others=Osmania University, Digital Library Of India}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Addison|first=Herbert|date=1 April 1958|title=Thomas Waghorn and the overland route|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/03068375808731637|journal=Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society|volume=45|issue=2|pages=179–185|doi=10.1080/03068375808731637|issn=0035-8789|access-date=24 March 2021|archive-date=27 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210327124336/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03068375808731637|url-status=live}}</ref> The usefulness of this route for the British Empire was shown when dealing with the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]], with 5,000 British troops having passed through Egypt.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Parry |first=Jonathan |date=2021-03-31 |title=Suez canal: what the 'ditch' meant to the British empire in the 19th century |url=https://theconversation.com/suez-canal-what-the-ditch-meant-to-the-british-empire-in-the-19th-century-158169 |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=The Conversation |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[Louis Maurice Adolphe Linant de Bellefonds|Linant de Bellefonds]], a French explorer of Egypt, became chief engineer of [[Egyptian Public Works|Egypt's Public Works]]. In addition to his normal duties, he surveyed the [[Isthmus of Suez]] and made plans for the Suez Canal. French [[Saint-Simonianism|Saint-Simonianists]] showed an interest in the canal and in 1833, [[Barthélemy Prosper Enfantin]] tried to draw [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt|Muhammad Ali's]] attention to the canal but was unsuccessful. [[Alois Negrelli]], the [[Italians|Italian]]-[[Austrian Empire|Austrian]] railroad pioneer, became interested in the idea in 1836.

In 1846, Prosper Enfantin's [[Société d'Études du Canal de Suez]] invited a number of experts, among them [[Robert Stephenson]], Negrelli and [[Paul-Adrien Bourdaloue]] to study the feasibility of the Suez Canal (with the assistance of Linant de Bellefonds). Bourdaloue's survey of the isthmus was the first generally accepted evidence that there was no practical difference in elevation between the two seas. Britain, however, feared that a canal open to everyone might interfere with its [[British Raj|India]] trade and therefore preferred a connection by train from [[Alexandria]] via [[Cairo]] to Suez, which Stephenson eventually built.

===Construction by the Suez Canal Company===

====Preparations (1854–1858)====
[[File:SuezCanalKantara.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|left|Suez Canal, 1869]]
In 1854 and 1856, [[Ferdinand de Lesseps]] obtained a concession from [[Sa'id of Egypt|Sa'id Pasha]], the [[Khedive]] of [[Khedivate of Egypt|Egypt and Sudan]], to create a company to construct a canal open to ships of all nations. The company was to operate the canal for 99 years from its opening. De Lesseps had used his friendly relationship with Sa'id, which he had developed while he was a French diplomat in the 1830s. As stipulated in the concessions, de Lesseps convened the [[International Commission for the piercing of the isthmus of Suez]] (''Commission Internationale pour le percement de l'isthme de Suez'') consisting of 13 experts from seven countries, among them [[John Robinson McClean]], later President of the [[Institution of Civil Engineers]] in London, and again Negrelli, to examine the plans developed by [[Louis Maurice Adolphe Linant de Bellefonds|Linant de Bellefonds]], and to advise on the feasibility of and the best route for the canal. After surveys and analyses in Egypt and discussions in Paris on various aspects of the canal, where many of Negrelli's ideas prevailed, the commission produced a unanimous report in December 1856 containing a detailed description of the canal complete with plans and profiles.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/percementdelist00lessgoog/page/n401 <!-- pg=377 --> ''Percement de l'isthme de Suez. Rapport et Projet de la Commission Internationale''. Documents Publiés par M. Ferdinand de Lesseps.] Troisième série. Paris aux bureaux de l'Isthme de Suez, Journal de l'Union des deux Mers, et chez Henri Plon, Éditeur, 1856. On Google Books (french)</ref> The Suez Canal Company (''[[Compagnie universelle du canal maritime de Suez]]'') came into being on 15 December 1858.
[[File:Открытие Суэцкого канала, 1869.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Opening of the Suez Canal, 1869]]
The British government had opposed the project from the outset to its completion. The British, who controlled both the [[Cape route]] and the Overland route to India and the Far East, favored the ''status quo'', given that a canal might disrupt their commercial and maritime supremacy. [[Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston|Lord Palmerston]], the project's most unwavering foe, confessed in the mid-1850s the real motive behind his opposition: that Britain's commercial and maritime relations would be overthrown by the opening of a new route, open to all nations, and thus deprive his country of its present exclusive advantages.<ref>Lord Kinross, ''Between Two Seas. The Creation of the Suez Canal'', William Morrow & Company, Inc., New York, 1969, p. 87.{{ISBN?}}</ref> As one of the diplomatic moves against the project when it nevertheless went ahead, it disapproved of the use of "forced labour" for construction of the canal. Involuntary labour on the project ceased, and the viceroy condemned the corvée, halting the project.<ref>Oster (2006)</ref>

International opinion was initially skeptical, and shares of the Suez Canal Company did not sell well overseas. Britain, [[Austrian Empire|Austria]], and [[Russian Empire|Russia]] did not buy a significant number of shares. With assistance from the [[Qatawi family|Cattaui banking family]], and their relationship with [[James Mayer de Rothschild|James de Rothschild]] of the [[Rothschild banking family of France|French House of Rothschild]] bonds and shares were successfully promoted in France and other parts of Europe.<ref>There is differing information on the exact amounts</ref> All French shares were quickly sold in France. A contemporary British skeptic claimed "One thing is sure... our local merchant community doesn't pay practical attention at all to this grand work, and it is legitimate to doubt that the canal's receipts... could ever be sufficient to recover its maintenance fee. It will never become a large ship's accessible way in any case."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arte.tv/fr/connaissance-decouverte/aventure-humaine/Cette_20semaine/1291022.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110819201458/http://www.arte.tv/fr/connaissance-decouverte/aventure-humaine/Cette_20semaine/1291022.html|url-status=dead|title=(reported by German historian Uwe A. Oster)|archive-date=19 August 2011}}</ref>

====Construction (1859–1869)====
Work started on the shore of the future [[Port Said]] on 25 April 1859.

[[File:Suez Canal drawing 1881.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|1881 drawing of the Suez Canal]]

The excavation took some 10 years, with [[forced labour]] ([[corvée]]) being employed until 1864 to dig out the canal.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Tools of Empire : Technology and European Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century|last=Headrick|first=Daniel R.|date=1981|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-502831-7|pages=151–153|oclc=905456588}}</ref> Some sources estimate that over 30,000 people were working on the canal at any given period, that more than 1.5 million people from various countries were employed,{{sfn|Wilson|1939}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arte.tv/fr/connaissance-decouverte/aventure-humaine/Cette_20semaine/1291022.html |title=Le canal de Suez – ARTE |publisher=Arte.tv |date=13 August 2006 |access-date=24 August 2011 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110819201458/http://www.arte.tv/fr/connaissance-decouverte/aventure-humaine/Cette_20semaine/1291022.html |archive-date=19 August 2011 }}</ref> and that tens of thousands of labourers died, many of them from [[cholera]] and similar epidemics.

Estimates of the number of deaths vary widely with [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] citing 120,000 deaths upon nationalisation of the canal in a 26 July 1956 speech and the company's chief medical officer reporting no higher than 2.49 deaths per thousand in 1866.<ref name=":0"/> Doubling these estimates with a generous assumption of 50,000 working staff per year over 11 years would put a conservative estimate at fewer than 3,000 deaths. More closely relying on the limited reported data of the time, the number would be fewer than 1,000.<ref name=":0"/>

=== Company towns ===
From its inauguration, till 1925, the Suez Canal Company built a series of [[company town]]s along the canal to serve its operation. They included ports and their facilities as well as housing for employees segregated by race or nationality.<ref>{{Citation |last=Piaton |first=Claudine |title=European construction companies in the towns along the Suez Canal |date=2 March 2021 |url=http://books.openedition.org/inha/12729 |work=Building Beyond The Mediterranean: Studying The Archives of European Businesses (1860–1970) |pages=92–103 |editor-last=Godoli |editor-first=Ezio |series=Hors collection |place=Paris |publisher=Publications de l'Institut national d'histoire de l'art |language=en |isbn=979-10-97315-01-6 |access-date=2 January 2023 |editor2-last=Peyceré |editor2-first=David}}</ref> These were [[Port Said]] (1869) and [[Port Fuad]] (1925) at the canal's northern entrance by the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranenan]], [[Ismailia]] (1862) near the middle and north of [[Lake Timsah]], and [[Suez Port|Port Twefik]] (1867) at the canal's southern entrance on the Red Sea.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Carminati |first=Lucia |date=2020 |title=Port Said and Ismailia as Desert Marvels: Delusion and Frustration on the Isthmus of Suez, 1859–1869 |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0096144218821342 |journal=Journal of Urban History |language=en |volume=46 |issue=3 |pages=622–647 |doi=10.1177/0096144218821342 |s2cid=150024329 |issn=0096-1442}}</ref>

===Inauguration (17 November 1869)===
[[File:Suez Canal, Egypt. Lantern Slide.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|left|Suez Canal, Egypt. Early 1900s. Goodyear Archival Collection. [[Brooklyn Museum]].]]

The canal opened under French control in November 1869. The opening ceremonies began at Port Said on the evening of 15 November, with illuminations, fireworks, and a banquet on the yacht of the [[Khedive]] [[Isma'il Pasha]] of [[Khedivate of Egypt|Egypt and Sudan]]. The royal guests arrived the following morning: the [[Franz Joseph I of Austria|Emperor Franz Joseph I]], the [[Eugénie de Montijo|French Empress Eugenie]] in the Imperial yacht ''L'Aigle'', the [[Frederick III, German Emperor|Crown Prince]] of [[Prussia]], and [[Louis III, Grand Duke of Hesse|Prince Louis of Hesse]].<ref name=Scotsman>{{cite book|first=Alexander|last=Russel|title=Egypt: The Opening of the Great Canal|date=1869|publisher="Scotsman" Office|place=Edinburgh|url=https://archive.org/details/egyptopeninggre00russgoog}}</ref> Other international guests included the American natural historian [[H. W. Harkness]].<ref name="Zoe-1891">{{cite journal |title=Harvey Wilson Harkness |journal=Zoe |date=1891 |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=1–2 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/14453#page/5/mode/1up |access-date=12 November 2020 |archive-date=12 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112211555/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/14453#page/5/mode/1up |url-status=live }}</ref> In the afternoon there were blessings of the canal with both Muslim and Christian ceremonies, a temporary mosque and church having been built side by side on the beach. In the evening there were more illuminations and fireworks.<ref name=Scotsman/>

[[File:Admiralty Chart No 233 The Suez Canal - The Soundings in the Canal were taken by Captain Nares and the Officers of H.M.S. Newport in February 1870 and April 1871 RMG F0136, Published 1870 (cropped).tiff|thumb|upright=1.1|Nautical chart of the Suez Canal published shortly after the inauguration, with survey data from [[HMS Newport (1867)|HMS ''Newport'']] under [[George Nares]].]]
On the morning of 17 November, a procession of ships entered the canal, headed by the ''L'Aigle''. Among the ships following was&nbsp;[[HMS Newport (1867)|HMS ''Newport'']], captained by [[George Nares]], which surveyed the canal on behalf of the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]] a few months later.<ref name="Ritchie">{{cite book |last=Ritchie |first=G.S. |title=The Admiralty Chart |date=1967 |publisher=Hollis & Carter |location=London |pages=317–319}}</ref> The ''Newport'' was involved in an incident that demonstrated some of the problems with the canal. There were suggestions that the depth of parts of the canal at the time of the inauguration were not as great as promised, and that the deepest part of the channel was not always clear, leading to a risk of grounding.<ref name=Scotsman/><ref>{{cite journal|first=G.H.|last=Richards|title=Suez Canal, with directions for is pilotage|date=1869|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London|volume=14|issue=1|pages=75–78|jstor=1799610|doi=10.2307/1799610}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first=J.F.|last=Bateman|title=Some Account of the Suez Canal, in a Letter to the President|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London
|date=1870|volume=18|pages=132–144|url=https://archive.org/details/philtrans03089805|doi=10.1098/rspl.1869.0034|s2cid=178734036}}</ref> The first day of the passage ended at [[Lake Timsah]], {{convert|41|nmi|km|order=flip}} south of Port Said. The French ship ''Péluse'' anchored close to the entrance, then swung around and grounded, the ship and its hawser blocking the way into the lake. The following ships had to anchor in the canal itself until the ''Péluse'' was hauled clear the next morning, making it difficult for them to join that night's celebration in [[Ismailia]]. Except for the ''Newport'': Nares sent out a boat to carry out soundings, and was able to manoeuver around the ''Péluse'' to enter the lake and anchor there for the night.<ref name=PallMall>{{cite news|title=The Opening of the Suez Canal|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000098/18691130/014/0011|access-date=5 October 2019|work=Pall Mall Gazette (the paper's correspondent was on board HMS Newport)|date=30 November 1869|location=London|page=11}}</ref><ref>This incident appears to have been the basis for a myth that the ''Newport'' manoeuvered around the assembled yachts on the night of 16th/17 November, and beat the ''Aigle'' to be the first through the canal (see Talk)</ref>

Ismailia was the scene of more celebrations the following day, including a military "march past", illuminations and fireworks, and a ball at the Governor's Palace. The convoy set off again on the morning of 19 November, for the remainder of the trip to Suez.<ref name=Scotsman/> After Suez, many of the participants headed for Cairo, and then to the Pyramids, where a new road had been built for the occasion.{{sfn|Wilson|1939}}

An [[Anchor Line (steamship company)|Anchor Line]] ship, the S.S. ''Dido'', became the first to pass through the Canal from South to North.<ref>Glasgow Herald, 17 November 1903</ref><ref>History of the Anchor Line 1852–1911. 1911. Glasgow, UK: John Horn, for Anchor Line.</ref>

====Initial difficulties (1869–1871)====
[[File:L'inauguration du canal de Suez, 17 November 1869 Gal18 riou 001f.jpg|thumb|upright=1.7|''Inauguration ceremony of the Suez canal at Port Said, 17 November 1869'', by French artist [[Édouard Riou]].]]
Although numerous technical, political, and financial problems had been overcome, the [[Cost overrun|final cost]] was more than double the original estimate.

The Khedive, in particular, was able to overcome initial reservations held by both British and French creditors by enlisting the help of the [[Sursock family]], whose deep connections proved invaluable in securing much international support for the project.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kassir |first=Samir |year=2011 |orig-year=2010 |title=Beirut |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=97owDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA127 |translator=M. B. DeBevoise |edition=1st |location=Berkeley, Calif. |publisher=University of California Press |page=127 |isbn=9780520271265 |oclc=1083962708 |access-date=25 July 2019 |archive-date=18 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818212454/https://books.google.com/books?id=97owDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA127 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Fawaz |first=Leila Tarazi |year=1983 |title=Merchants and Migrants in Nineteenth-Century Beirut |url=http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/art.php?aid=152780 |series=Harvard Middle Eastern Studies no. 18 |page=92 |isbn=9780674569256 |oclc=993333677 |access-date=25 July 2019 |archive-date=16 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151116121306/http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/art.php?aid=152780 |url-status=live }}</ref>

After the opening, the Suez Canal Company was in financial difficulties. The remaining works were completed only in 1871, and traffic was below expectations in the first two years. De Lesseps therefore tried to increase revenues by interpreting the kind of net ton referred to in the second concession (''tonneau de capacité'') as meaning a ship's cargo capacity and not only the theoretical [[net tonnage]] of the "[[Moorsom System]]" introduced in Britain by the Merchant Shipping Act in 1854. The ensuing commercial and diplomatic activities resulted in the International Commission of Constantinople establishing a specific kind of net tonnage and settling the question of tariffs in its protocol of 18 December 1873.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/documentsdiplom21trgoog#page/n125/mode/1up Protocol of the Commission] (in Ffrench)</ref> This was the origin of the Suez Canal Net Tonnage and the Suez Canal Special Tonnage Certificate, both of which are still in use today.

=== Growth and reorganisation ===
[[File:Suez Canal (ca 1914).jpg|thumb|upright|Suez Canal, c. 1914]]
[[File:Canal Maritime de Suez 1924.jpg|thumb|Share of the Comp. Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez, issued 2 June 1924]]
[[File:A Ship in the Suez Canal.tif|thumb|A ship sailing down the Suez Canal in 1955]]
The canal had an immediate and dramatic effect on [[Global trade|world trade]]. Combined with the [[First transcontinental railroad|American transcontinental railroad]] completed six months earlier, it allowed the world to be circled in record time. It played an important role in increasing [[European colonization of Africa]]. The construction of the canal was one of the reasons for the [[Panic of 1873]] in Great Britain, because goods from the Far East had, until then, been carried in sailing vessels around the [[Cape of Good Hope]] and stored in British warehouses. An inability to pay his bank debts led Said Pasha's successor, [[Isma'il Pasha]], in 1875 to sell his 44% share in the canal for £4,000,000 ($19.2 million), equivalent to £432 million to £456 million ($540 million to $570 million) in 2019, to the government of the United Kingdom.<ref>(£1 in 1875 = £109–114; 2019 Historical Uk Inflation Rates and Calculator; UK Inflation (CPI) Calculator – What's the Cost)</ref> French shareholders still held the majority.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 24429312|title = Disraeli, Derby and the Suez Canal, 1875: Some Myths Reassessed|journal = History|volume = 97|issue = 2 (326)|pages = 182–203|last1 = Hicks|first1 = Geoffrey|year = 2012|doi = 10.1111/j.1468-229X.2012.00548.x}}</ref> Local unrest caused the British to [[Anglo-Egyptian War|invade in 1882]] and take full control, although nominally Egypt remained part of the [[Ottoman Empire]]. The British representative from 1883 to 1907 was [[Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer]], who reorganized and modernized the government and suppressed rebellions and corruption, thereby facilitating increased traffic on the canal.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 175255|title = Lord Cromer: Practitioner and Philosopher of Imperialism|journal = Journal of British Studies|volume = 2|issue = 2|pages = 142–159|last1 = Tignor|first1 = Robert L.|year = 1963|doi = 10.1086/385467| s2cid=145087661 }}</ref>

The European [[Mediterranean region|Mediterranean countries]] in particular benefited economically from the Suez Canal, as they now had much faster connections to Asia and East Africa than the North and West European maritime trading nations such as Great Britain, the Netherlands or Germany. The biggest beneficiary in the Mediterranean was Austria-Hungary, which had participated in the planning and construction of the canal. The largest Austrian maritime trading company, [[Österreichischer Lloyd]], experienced rapid expansion after the canal was completed, as did the port city of [[Trieste]], then an Austrian possession. The company was a partner in the Compagnie Universelle du Canal de Suez, whose vice-president was the Lloyd co-founder Pasquale Revoltella.<ref name="auto">Mary Pelletier "A brief history of the Suez Canal" In: Apollo 3 July 2018.</ref><ref>Hubert Bergmann "Selfmademan und Tycoon mit Weitblick: Pasquale Freiherr von Revoltella (German: Self-made man and tycoon with a vision: Pasquale Freiherr von Revoltella" In: Der Standard 25 June 2020.</ref><ref>See: Pasquale Revoltella "Österreich's Betheiligung am Welthandel: Betrachtungen und Vorschläge" (2020).</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.srf.ch/news/international/bauwerk-der-superlative-wie-der-suezkanal-in-150-jahren-die-welt-veraendert-hat |title=German: How the Suez Canal changed the world in 150 years |date=16 November 2019 |access-date=9 January 2021 |archive-date=11 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111132735/https://www.srf.ch/news/international/bauwerk-der-superlative-wie-der-suezkanal-in-150-jahren-die-welt-veraendert-hat |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.triesteallnews.it/2020/06/16/pasquale-revoltella-storia-del-barone-veneziano-che-rese-grande-la-citta-di-trieste/ |title=Pasquale Revoltella, l'imprenditore veneziano che rese grande la città di Trieste |date=16 June 2020 |access-date=18 January 2021 |archive-date=27 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210327124349/https://www.triesteallnews.it/2020/06/16/pasquale-revoltella-storia-del-barone-veneziano-che-rese-grande-la-citta-di-trieste/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1900, a dredging trial was held by the Suez Canal Company to determine which ship would assist in the widening and deepening of the canal.<ref name=":7">{{Cite news |date=17 December 1900 |title=QUEENSLAND DREDGES: Hercules in the Suez Canal |page=5 |work=The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 – 1933) |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19049476 |access-date=30 January 2023 |issn=1833-5551}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=6 April 1901 |title=Dredge Hercules. Arrival in Brisbane |page=11 |work=The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 – 1947) |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article174988788 |access-date=30 January 2023 |issn=2203-790X}}</ref><ref name=":8"/> One of the ships trialed in the dredging was The ''Hercules'', a ship owned by the [[Queensland Government]] in [[Australia]].<ref name=":8">{{Cite news |date=25 January 1901 |title=Widening Suez Canal. Great Engineering Scheme |page=8 |work=The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 – 1947) |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article174950867 |access-date=30 January 2023 |issn=2203-790X}}</ref> The ''Hercules'' dredged deposits of granite and limestone, but it was determined at the end of the trial that the ''Hercules'' would not be used for the dredging of the Suez Canal.<ref name=":7"/> The ship was then returned to [[Brisbane|Brisbane, Australia]] in January 1901.<ref name=":7"/>

The [[Convention of Constantinople]] in 1888 declared the canal a neutral zone under the protection of the British, who had occupied Egypt and Sudan at the request of [[Khedive]] [[Tewfik Pasha|Tewfiq]] to suppress the [[Urabi Revolt]] against his rule. The revolt went on from 1879 to 1882. The British defended the strategically important passage against a major [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] [[First Suez Offensive|attack]] in 1915, during the [[First World War]].<ref name="FWW87">''First World War'' – Willmott, H.P. [[Dorling Kindersley]], 2003, p.87</ref> Under the [[Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936]], the UK retained control over the canal. With outbreak of [[World War II]] the canal was again strategically important; Italo-German attempts to capture it were repulsed during the [[North Africa Campaign]], which ensured the canal remained closed to [[Axis powers|Axis]] shipping. After the war the British Army continued to maintain a large garrison of some 70,000 troops in the Suez Canal Zone.

=== Suez Crisis ===
{{Main|Suez Crisis|Closure of the Suez Canal (1956–1957)}}
[[File:Port Said from air.jpg|thumb|left|Smoke rises from oil tanks beside the Suez Canal hit during the initial [[Operation Musketeer (1956)|Anglo-French assault]] on [[Port Said]], 5 November 1956.]]

In 1951 Egypt repudiated the 1936 treaty with Great Britain. In October 1954 the UK tentatively agreed to remove its troops from the Canal Zone. Because of Egyptian overtures towards the [[Soviet Union]], both the United Kingdom and the United States withdrew their pledge to financially support construction of the [[Aswan Dam]]. Egyptian President [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] responded by [[nationalization|nationalising]] the canal on 26&nbsp;July&nbsp;1956<ref>{{cite web|title=The Suez Canal formally opened to ships|url=http://stratscope.com/the-suez-canal-formally-opened-to-ships/|website=stratscope.com|publisher=StratScope|access-date=19 May 2017|archive-date=20 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170920064136/http://stratscope.com/the-suez-canal-formally-opened-to-ships/|url-status=live}}</ref> and transferring it to the [[Suez Canal Authority]], intending to finance the dam project using revenue from the canal. On the same day that the canal was nationalised Nasser also closed the [[Straits of Tiran]] to all Israeli ships.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/26/newsid_2701000/2701603.stm|title=1956: Egypt seizes Suez Canal|date=26 July 1956|work=BBC News|access-date=17 December 2015|archive-date=17 March 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070317034109/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/26/newsid_2701000/2701603.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> This led to the [[Suez Crisis]] in which the UK, France, and Israel invaded Egypt. According to the pre-agreed war plans under the [[Protocol of Sèvres]], Israel invaded the [[Sinai Peninsula]] on 29&nbsp;October, forcing Egypt to engage them militarily, and allowing the [[Operation Musketeer (1956)|Anglo-French]] partnership to declare the resultant fighting a threat to stability in the Middle East and enter the war – officially to separate the two forces but in reality to regain the Canal and bring down the Nasser government.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Dean Memorandum |url=https://nationalarchives.gov.uk/releases/2006/december/dean.htm |website=The National Archives |publisher=Government of UK |access-date=29 October 2020 |archive-date=7 December 2016 |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20161207014859/https://nationalarchives.gov.uk/releases/2006/december/dean.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Rhodes James |first=Robert |title=Excerpt from 'Anthony Eden: A Biography' |url=https://nationalarchives.gov.uk/releases/2006/december/fco-73-205-1.htm |website=The National Archives |publisher=Government of UK |access-date=29 October 2020 |archive-date=7 December 2016 |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20161207034157/https://nationalarchives.gov.uk/releases/2006/december/fco-73-205-1.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Shlaim |first=Avi |title=The Protocol of Sèvres, 1956: Anatomy of a War Plot |journal=International Affairs |date=1997 |volume=73 |issue=3 |pages=509–530 |doi=10.2307/2624270 |jstor=2624270 |url=http://users.ox.ac.uk/~ssfc0005/The%20Protocol%20of%20Sevres%201956%20Anatomy%20of%20a%20War%20Plot.html |access-date=29 October 2020 |archive-date=5 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405191936/http://users.ox.ac.uk/~ssfc0005/The%20Protocol%20of%20Sevres%201956%20Anatomy%20of%20a%20War%20Plot.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

To save the British from what he thought was a disastrous action and to stop the war from a possible escalation, Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs [[Lester B. Pearson]] proposed the creation of the first United Nations peacekeeping force to ensure access to the canal for all and an Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula. On 4&nbsp;November&nbsp;1956, a majority at the United Nations voted for Pearson's peacekeeping resolution, which [[Mandate (international law)|mandated]] the UN peacekeepers to stay in Sinai unless both Egypt and Israel agreed to their withdrawal. The United States backed this proposal by putting pressure on the British government through the selling of [[Pound sterling|sterling]], which would cause it to depreciate. Britain then called a ceasefire, and later agreed to withdraw its troops by the end of the year. Pearson was later awarded the [[Nobel Peace Prize]]. As a result of damage and ships sunk under orders from Nasser [[Closure of the Suez Canal (1956–1957)|the canal was closed]] from November&nbsp;1956 to April&nbsp;1957, when it was cleared with UN assistance.<ref>''The Other Side of Suez'' (documentary) – 2003</ref> A UN force ([[United Nations Emergency Force|UNEF]]) was established to maintain the free navigability of the canal, and peace in the Sinai Peninsula.

===Arab–Israeli wars of 1967 and 1973===
{{see also|Closure of the Suez Canal (1967-1975)}}
[[File:Egyptianbridge.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Egyptian vehicles crossing the Suez Canal on 7 October 1973, during the [[Yom Kippur War]]]]
[[File:Israeli Tanks Cross the Suez Canal - Flickr - Israel Defense Forces.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|An Israeli [[M60 tank|M60]]/[[Magach]] tank crosses the Suez Canal, 1973 ]]
After the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]], Egypt closed the Canal to Israeli shipping,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Khadduri |first=Majid |date=1968 |title=Closure of the Suez Canal to Israeli Shipping |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1190847 |journal=Law and Contemporary Problems |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=147–157 |doi=10.2307/1190847 |issn=0023-9186 |jstor=1190847}}</ref> despite UN Security Council resolutions from 1949 and 1951 urging it not to, on the grounds that hostilities had ended with the [[1949 Armistice Agreements|1949 armistice agreement]].

On 16 May 1967, Nasser ordered [[United Nations Emergency Force|UNEF]] peacekeeping forces out of the [[Sinai Peninsula]], including the Suez Canal area. Egyptian troops were sent into Sinai to take their place. On 21 May, Israel protested Nasser's order to close the [[Straits of Tiran]] to Israeli trade.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Anderson |first=Betty S. |title=A History of the Modern Middle East: Rulers, Rebels, and Rogues |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |year=2016 |location=Stanford, California |pages=331–336}}</ref>

After the 1967 [[Six-Day War]], [[Israel Defense Forces|Israeli forces]] occupied the Sinai Peninsula, including the entire east bank of the Suez Canal. In the following years the tensions between Egypt and Israel intensified and from March 1969 until August 1970, a war of attrition took place as the then Egyptian president, [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]], tried to retake the territories occupied by Israel during the conflict. The fighting ceased after the death of Nasser on 28 September 1970. After this conflict there were no changes in the distribution of territory, but the underlying tensions persisted.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=War of Attrition {{!}} History, Combatants, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/War-of-Attrition-1969-1970 |access-date=17 May 2022 |website=britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

Unwilling to allow the Israelis to use the canal, Egypt imposed a blockade which closed the canal to all shipping immediately after the beginning of the Six-Day War. The canal remained blocked for eight years. There was no anticipation of this event and consequently fifteen cargo ships, known as the "[[Yellow Fleet]]", were trapped in the canal, and remained there until its reopening in 1975.<ref>Feyrer, James. 2021. "Distance, Trade, and Income — the 1967 to 1975 Closing of the Suez Canal as a Natural Experiment." ''Journal of Development Economics'' 153 (102708): 1–32.</ref>

On 6 October 1973, during the [[Yom Kippur War]], the Canal was the scene of [[Operation Badr (1973)|Operation Badr]], in which the Egyptian army crossed into Israeli-occupied Sinai. Much wreckage from this conflict remains visible along the canal's edges.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Dunstan |first=Simon |title=The Yom Kippur War 1973: 2, the Sinai. |publisher=[[Osprey]] |year=2003 |location=London |pages=35–60}}</ref>  On 22 October 1973, Israeli forces counter-attacked by crossing the Suez Canal into Egypt and advancing towards Suez City,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=L. Carl |last2=Rabinovich |first2=Abraham |date=2004 |title=The Yom Kippur War: The Epic Encounter That Transformed the Middle East |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/20034020 |journal=Foreign Affairs |volume=83 |issue=3 |pages=154 |doi=10.2307/20034020 |jstor=20034020 |issn=0015-7120}}</ref> where they remained until after Israel and Egypt signed on 18 January 1974, an agreement, commonly known as Sinai I, with the official name of ''Sinai Separation of Forces Agreement,'' which included a withdrawal of Israeli forces from the western side of the Suez Canal.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Egyptian - Israeli Agreement on Disengagement of Forces in Pursuance of the Geneva Peace Conference (Sinai I) {{!}} UN Peacemaker |url=https://peacemaker.un.org/egyptisrael-disengagementforces74#:~:text=Document%20Retrieval-,Egyptian%20-%20Israeli%20Agreement%20on%20Disengagement%20of%20Forces%20in%20Pursuance%20of,later%20known%20as%20Sinai%20I). |access-date=2024-02-16 |website=peacemaker.un.org}}</ref>

===Mine clearing operations (1974–75)===
[[File:Sadat_and_A_Ismail.jpg|thumb|President [[Anwar Sadat]] and Minister of Defense [[Ahmad Ismail Ali|Ahmed Ismail]] in the re-opening of Suez Canal, 5 June 1975|200x200px]]
After the Yom Kippur War, the United States initiated [[Operation Nimbus Moon]]. The [[amphibious assault ship]] [[USS Inchon (LPH-12)|USS ''Inchon (LPH-12)'']] was sent to the Canal, carrying 12 [[CH-53 Sea Stallion|RH-53D]] minesweeping helicopters of Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron 12. These partly cleared the canal between May and December 1974. It was relieved by the LST [[USS Barnstable County|USS ''Barnstable County'']] (LST1197). The British [[Royal Navy]] initiated Operation Rheostat and Task Group 65.2 provided for Operation Rheostat One<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060020618|title=Operationl Rheostat One – Royal Navy Minesweepers Arrive at Port Said to Help Clear the Suez Canal |website=Imperial War Museums|access-date=22 October 2015|archive-date=13 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160213050529/http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060020618|url-status=live}}</ref> (six months in 1974), the minehunters HMS ''Maxton'', HMS ''Bossington'', and [[HMS Wilton (M1116)|HMS ''Wilton'']], the Fleet Clearance Diving Team (FCDT)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060020621|title=Operation Rheostat One – Fleet Clearance Diving Team at Work on the Wreck of the Mecca |website=Imperial War Museums|access-date=22 October 2015|archive-date=13 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160213002642/http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060020621|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[HMS Abdiel (N21)|HMS ''Abdiel'']], a practice minelayer/MCMV support ship; and for Operation Rheostat Two<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060020626|title= Operation Rheostat Two – The Suez Canal is Opened|website= Imperial War Museums |access-date= 22 October 2015|archive-date= 13 February 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160213005716/http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060020626|url-status= live}}</ref> (six months in 1975) the minehunters HMS ''Hubberston'' and HMS ''Sheraton'', and HMS ''Abdiel''. When the Canal Clearance Operations were completed, the canal and its lakes were considered 99% clear of mines. The canal was then reopened by Egyptian President [[Anwar Sadat]] aboard an Egyptian destroyer, which led the first convoy northbound to Port Said in 1975,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/nan/backissues/1970s/1974/sep74.pdf |title=Naval Aviation News |date=Sep 1974 |access-date=30 October 2009 |archive-date=8 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131208081410/http://www.history.navy.mil/nan/backissues/1970s/1974/sep74.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> at his side stood the Iranian Crown Prince [[Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran|Reza Pahlavi]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.usslittlerock.org/Historic%20Events/Little_Rock_Suez_Canal.html |title=The Stars and Stripes |date=7 June 1975 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150622141419/http://www.usslittlerock.org/Historic%20Events/Little_Rock_Suez_Canal.html |archive-date=22 June 2015 }}</ref>

===UN presence===
The [[United Nations Emergency Force|UNEF]] mandate expired in 1979. Despite the efforts of the United States, Israel, Egypt, and others to obtain an extension of the UN role in observing the peace between Israel and Egypt, as called for under the [[Egypt–Israel peace treaty]] of 1979, the mandate could not be extended because of the veto by the [[Soviet Union]] in the [[UN Security Council]], at the request of [[Syria]]. Accordingly, negotiations for a new observer force in the Sinai produced the [[Multinational Force and Observers]] (MFO), stationed in Sinai in 1981 in coordination with a phased Israeli withdrawal. The MFO remains active under agreements between the United States, Israel, Egypt, and other nations.<ref>([http://www.mfo.org/ Multinational Force and Observers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060819021345/http://www.mfo.org/ |date=19 August 2006 }})</ref>

=== Bypass expansion ===
[[File:New Suez Canal.jpeg|thumb|2015 additions to the canal]]
In 2014, months after taking office as [[President of Egypt]], [[Abdel Fattah el-Sisi]] ordered the expansion of the Ballah Bypass from {{convert|61|m}} wide to {{convert|312|m}} wide for {{convert|35|km}}. The project was called the [[New Suez Canal]], as it allows ships to transit the canal in both directions simultaneously.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.marinelink.com/news/completes-waterway-egypt394813.aspx|title=Egypt Completes New Waterway in Suez Canal|first=Aiswarya|last=Lakshmi|date=17 July 2015|access-date=6 August 2015|agency=MarineLink|archive-date=20 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150720233652/http://www.marinelink.com/news/completes-waterway-egypt394813.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/3/12/135544/Business/Economy/Egypt-completes-dredging-for-new-waterway-in-Suez-.aspx|title=Egypt completes dredging for new waterway in Suez Canal|date=16 July 2015|access-date=6 August 2015|work=Al-Ahram|archive-date=22 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150822122420/http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/3/12/135544/Business/Economy/Egypt-completes-dredging-for-new-waterway-in-Suez-.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref> The project cost more than LE 59.4 billion (US$9 billion) and was completed within a year. Sisi declared the expanded channel open to business in a ceremony on 6 August 2015.<ref name=":6"/>

=== Second channel extension ===
Following the [[2021 Suez Canal obstruction|grounding of the vessel]] [[Ever Given]] in 2021, Egypt accelerated plans to extend and widen the canal's second channel. In early 2025, new sections of this extension had begun to be tested, with the [[Suez Canal Authority]] reporting two vessels had passed through the canal with no issues.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-12-28 |title=Egypt completes trial run of new Suez Canal channel extension |url=https://english.alarabiya.net/News/north-africa/2024/12/28/egypt-completes-trial-run-of-new-suez-canal-channel-extension |access-date=2025-01-13 |website=Al Arabiya English |language=en}}</ref>