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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Suez Canal
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The United Kingdom, protecting its own well-established systems of communication with India, opposed the construction (on French initiative) of a canal linking the Mediterranean with the Red Sea. The country therefore had no stake in the Suez Canal when it opened to ships in 1869. But in 1875 the bankrupt khedive of Egypt sold his shares to the British government, in a deal clinched by a bold gamble on the part of *Disraeli as prime minister. As a result of his action Britain became the largest single shareholder in the canal, a position which it still held at the time of the *Suez crisis of 1956.
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