16. Britain Wanted to Steal the Nile
From 1882 to 1952, Egypt was a de facto British client state and protectorate, and Britain had the right to base troops in Egypt to protect her interests. The most important of those interests was safeguarding the Suez Canal, of which the British government was a majority shareholder. Then in 1952, a military coup by nationalist Egyptian officers led by Gamal Abdel Nasser overthrew Egypt’s pro-British king. The new government demanded that British troops leave Egypt, and in 1956, nationalized the Suez Canal. Nasser and his nationalist government infuriated British Prime Minister Anthony Eden, who was determined to cut the Egyptian upstart down to size and put him in his place.
So the British government drew up secret plans to cut off the flow of the water, in an attempt to force Nasser to toe the line. In 1956, Britain still controlled Uganda, where the Owen Falls Dam lay astride the White Nile, the main source of the river flowing into Egypt. The idea was to cut off the flow in Uganda, thus reducing the Nile by seven-eighths by the time it reached Egypt. The plan was ultimately rejected because doing so would deprive other countries between Uganda and Egypt of water, would take too long, and would produce a PR nightmare. Instead, Eden opted for direct military intervention. The result was the 1956 Suez Crisis, which ended with Britain being forced into a humiliating climb down, and the demise of Anthony Eden’s political career.
