Pillars of Empire: The Middle East

Abstract

The British Empire in the Middle East was relatively recent, and differed in important respects from other imperial possessions. Except for Egypt there was little direct imperial government, but rather a series of treaties entered into by Britain to defend her influence in the Persian Gulf; and that interest was stimulated by the need to defend thereby another interest, that of the routes to India, especially after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. The Canal was not the only route to India; there were the overland routes via the north Syrian desert, the Euphrates Valley and the Persian Gulf; and another via Alexandria, Suez town and the Red Sea. There was also the sea route by way of the Cape.¹ But the Canal downgraded these alternative routes, despite its disadvantages; for the Canal was highly vulnerable, and might be seized by an enemy such as France. Moreover, the Canal exposed Britain to more dangers; the Russian threat to the Turkish empire was ever-present, and the hopes entertained of sustaining that empire against Russian depredations were slender. Britain’s stake in the area was illustrated by Disraeli’s purchase, in 1875, of 177,000 out of 400,000 Suez Canal ordinary shares.