It’s likely you have certainly heard about the blockage of the Suez Canal by now, even if you’re someone who doesn’t watch the news it has been quite the big thing, due to as much of 12% of world trade relying on such a small and vulnerable little area that sits in such a precarious region. Little though would have thought it’d be blocked due to a simple mixture of human error and undesirable weather conditions. The Ever Given, a massive gigantic container ship a part of Evergreen sure gave us one chaotic week. Although it does now seem they have managed to start refloating it and have started opening up the canal again.
After initial refloating attempts had failed there developed a worry that all of those big massive heavy containers on the even larger Ever Given would all have to be removed to try and help refloating efforts, which was estimated to have had taken weeks if it were to happen, which would have had far graver impacts on a good chunk of world trade. It is a reminder how seemingly small things can make such a big mess. The oceans may be large and open, but the continental land masses can still be awkward to deal with, having to weave in and out of them to try and get trade through to major ports within ample time, it’s an ever-ongoing situation and really, it’s a miracle there aren’t more disruptions than this.
The Suez Canal is vital as it allows ships carrying cargo to and from countries in Europe, Africa and Asia to not have to travel around the entirety of Africa or Asia instead which would massively increase travel time and costs, which would affect economies and markets. Already with this incident we saw the price of oil increase per barrel, and Syria even begun rationing its oil just in case. Luckily though it would seem that this will no longer be needed and the price of oil should eventually stabilize again, as well as there being less of an impact on other trade items such as auto parts and even livestock.
The Suez Canal can be either accessed from the Arabian Sea which is found in the Indian Ocean or it can be accessed through the Mediterranean Sea. Entering in from the Arabian Sea leads through the Gulf of Aden passing Yemen, Somalia and Djibouti, then from there comes the Red Sea passing Eritrea, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, and towards Egypt, that’s when you come across the Gulf of Suez and the Suez Canal itself which cuts through Egypt and into the Mediterranean to Europe. Travel through the canal has you go past seven countries, now compare that to the alternative route entirely around Africa… you’d pass as many as 28 countries instead. As is quite evident the Suez Canal path is far superior for world trade and extremely important.
The Canal itself is man-made just like how the Panama Canal is man-made which enables ship trade to cut through Central America rather than having to sail around two giant continents. The Suez Canal was built during the time of the Ottoman Empire by the aptly named Suez Canal Company. Before then there had been plans put forth and even attempts made to create canals in the area, many of which failed or were never completed, such often include canals from the Nile to the Red Sea. Napoleon had even considered the construction of a canal to connect the Mediterranean with the Red Sea but it was scrapped as it was incorrectly believed to have needed locks, which would have taken too long and cost too much.
The Suez Canal would not start being constructed until 1859 following the granting of a concession to a former French diplomat called Ferdinand de Lesseps by Mohamed Sa’id Pasha who was the Khedive of Egypt, which was part of the Ottoman Empire, Lesseps had friendly relations with Sa’id Pasha due to Lesseps work as a diplomat. The concession allowed for the creation of a canal that would be open to the ships of all nations. The concession guided for the creation of an international commission to decide on how to build the canal, which included worldwide experts, the conducting of surveys and analyses, and the ultimate creation of a unanimous report to guide the canals construction.
Following the report, the Suez Canal Company would be formed in 1858 and the concession allowed for this company to operate this canal following its construction for 99-years, as will be seen the company did not manage to hold on to it for the full length. There was a lot of skepticism and doubt around the plan to construct the canal, many saw it as folly and undoable and believed it would ultimately fail, this led to many countries not buying any shares in its construction, which caused financial difficulties, it would take connections to bankers to conduct a successful campaign in Europe for investment.
Britain itself opposed the project as it threatened their own self-interests. During this time the British had control over major trading routes (thanks to their imperial holdings in India and the Far East) that would be jeopardized and made obsolete by the Suez Canal, disrupting the British supremacy over commercial and maritime activities.
The construction of the canal was also controversial due to the usage of forced labour, the excavation of the canal took a decade to complete and many are said to have died during the process, mostly due to disease epidemics. But how many died exactly remains highly ambiguous, with estimates ranging all the way from 1,000 to 120,000 deaths. There may have been at least 30,000 working on the canal’s construction at any one time, and as many as 1.5 million people from various countries having worked to build it over the 10-year period.
Due to the concession and the fact that the Suez Canal Company was formed by a Frenchman, the Suez Canal itself first come under French operation. The grand opening of the Suez Canal was a massive occasion attended by royalty, world leaders, and other famous people, and included mass celebrations such as fireworks and a military march past. A procession of ships also made their way through the canal for the first time, a French ship called the Peluse would accidentally swing around and ground itself after anchoring at Lake Timsah, blocking passage into the lake from the canal, in what would appear to be the first case of this happening, but it was luckily not too hard to move, being hauled out of the way on the following morning.
Financial difficulties initially were a problem as operations got off to a slower than expected start, not reaching expected capacity, and the fact the cost was more than double expected for the construction. Eventually though as is obvious today the Suez Canal became a majorly revolutionary piece of engineering for world trade, but also a point that can be vulnerable to regional tensions, which can lead to major disruptions.
In 1888 the canal was officially made a neutral zone and put under the protection of the British via the Convention of Constantinople agreed to by the major European powers of the time including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Spain, the Netherlands, the Russian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. At the time the British had occupied Egypt and Sudan at the invitation of Mohamed Tewfiq Pasha of Egypt for support in suppressing the Urabi Revolt. During the 1st World War the canal was defended by the British against a German-led Ottoman raid in 1915 and the British managed to hold on to the canal throughout the war.
British control of the canal was further cemented in 1936 by the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty, although the treaty stipulated that the British must withdraw their troops from Egyptian soil, they were allowed to keep troops stationed at the Suez Canal to protect it. This agreement would prove crucial during World War 2 with the British managing to hold on to the canal against German and Italian attempts to take it, and British-control of the canal allowed the Allies to block Axis ships from using it, giving major strategic benefits.
Following the 2nd World War Egypt would transition into a nationalist phase which included rejection of the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty and withdrawal of British troops from the Suez Canal. This would ultimately lead to the Suez Crisis in 1956 after major powers including the UK withdrew their support for the Aswan Dam, leading to Egypt to retaliate by nationalizing the Suez Canal, transferring its ownership over to the state-owned Suez Canal Authority. Tensions further increased when Egypt also shut of the Straits of Tiran to Israeli ships. Tensions hit a boiling point when Israel invaded Egypt, which led to Britain and France deciding to take advantage and also invade with the pretext to restore stability, but the true reason was an attempt to overthrow the Egyptian government and retake control of the Suez Canal.
The Suez Crisis was eventually settled by a UN resolution which kept the canal under Egyptian control but put the canal under protection of a UN peacekeeping force to maintain its neutrality and of which would only agree to leave if both Egypt and Israel agreed. Following this resolution, the British were pressured towards a ceasefire and an end to the conflict, certainly a humiliation, but something which could have been a lot worse if the conflict had been left to continue.
Further Arab-Israeli wars would go on to cause disruption in the Suez Canal in the 1960s and 1970s, namely the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War, these wars served to entirely shutdown the Suez Canal for a period of time, with the Canal not going into operation again until 1975. The UN peacekeeping force mandate expired in 1979 and could not be renewed due to the threat of Soviet veto related to Arab opposition. Instead, a new agreement was made for a Sinai peacekeeping force outside of the UN in 1981 which gained enough backing, called the Multinational Force and Observers.
Since then, very little has disrupted the Suez Canal’s vital operations, there were some small incidents such as in 2004 when the Canal was blocked for three days due to an oil tanker called the Tropic Brilliance getting stuck and in 2017 a large cargo ship called the OOCL Japan ran aground and obstructed the canal but only for three hours. The Ever Given obstruction this year can be argued to be the worst obstruction to the operation of the Suez Canal since the 1960s and 70s, lasting almost a week. And as said, it could certainly have been many more weeks.
I hope you enjoyed this blogpost about the Suez Canal, funnily enough it took the grounding of a whole massive cargo ship and the blocking of the entire canal for a whole week to inspire me to right this, which is pretty amusing to me. British involvement in the canal’s history also gave me some inspiration as well, this blog covers stuff related to Britain and also anything to do with the Commonwealth and other things in British imperial history, which is all very interesting.
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