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The canal was operated by the Suez Company, an Egyptian-chartered company; the area surrounding the canal remained sovereign Egyptian territory and the only land-bridge between Africa and Asia. The canal instantly became strategically important, as it provided the shortest ocean link between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean .
However, even though Egypt gained its independence, it could still be considered de jure occupied by Britain, as many British troops were still stationed in Egypt, while Britain rertained heavy influence over Egypt. [3] Until 1956, the Suez Canal was controlled by the Suez Canal Company, owned by France with
British troops were withdrawn to the Suez Canal area in 1947, but nationalist, anti-British feelings continued to grow after the war. Egypt took part in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, which proved to be disastrous for Egypt and its allies, furtherly increasing the unpopularity of the monarchy.
On 14 October 1956, General Maurice Challe, the deputy chief of staff of the French armed forces, made the suggestion that "Israel would be invited to attack the Egyptian army in Sinai and pose a threat to the Suez Canal and this would provide Britain and France with the pretext to activate their military plans and occupy the Suez Canal Zone ...
One of the trapped ships in 1973. From 1967 to 1975, fifteen ships and their crews were trapped in the Suez Canal after the Six-Day War between Israel and Egypt.The stranded ships, which belonged to eight countries (West Germany, Sweden, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Poland, Bulgaria, and Czechoslovakia), were nicknamed the Yellow Fleet after the desert sand that coated them.
In August, a British army of over 40,000, commanded by Garnet Wolseley, invaded the Suez Canal Zone. He was authorised to destroy 'Urabi's forces and clear the country of all other rebels. [citation needed] [8] The engineer troops had left England for Egypt in July and August 1882. The engineers included pontoon, railway and telegraph troops.
The 1967 war had severely depleted Egypt's military strength, as most of their air force and a large quantity of equipment was destroyed. Soviet assistance helped the Egyptian military to start the rebuilding of their armed forces shortly after the war, and by September 1968 Egyptian ground forces had sufficiently recovered to challenge the Israeli presence east of the Suez canal.
The Israel capture of the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula, 7–8 June 1967, during the Six-Day War Israeli fortifications on the Suez Canal (1973) known as the Bar Lev Line. On 6 June 1967, after the start of the Six-Day War, Egypt closed the Suez Canal, which it owned and operated, and kept it closed until 5 June 1975, through most of the Israeli occupation of the Sinai Peninsula including the east ...