This illustration, which dates to the early 1900s, shows the bombardment of Alexandria in Egypt by the British Fleet. The importance of Egypt to Britain rose dramatically after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. At a stroke there was a new route from Europe to the Far East that halved the journey time between Britain and India. Some Egyptians resented the European control of their economy and the extortion interest rates of the loans. In 1882, the British invaded and conquered Egypt to put down a revolt of Egyptian army officers. Colonel Urabi of the Egyptian army—with support from disgrun
This illustration, which dates to the early 1900s, shows the bombardment of Alexandria in Egypt by the British Fleet. The importance of Egypt to Britain rose dramatically after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. At a stroke there was a new route from Europe to the Far East that halved the journey time between Britain and India. Some Egyptians resented the European control of their economy and the extortion interest rates of the loans. In 1882, the British invaded and conquered Egypt to put down a revolt of Egyptian army officers. Colonel Urabi of the Egyptian army—with support from disgruntled officers—overthrew the Khedive. With the Egyptian government refusing to remove all the guns, British Admiral Seymour gave the order for the bombardment of the gun emplacements in the forts around Alexandria. At 07:00 on 11 July 1882 the first shell in the bombardment was fired by HMS Alexandra and aimed at Fort Adda (or Ada). The whole fleet was engaged by 07:10 and the bombardment lasted until 17:30, a total of 10 and a half hours.
Size: 5340px × 3486px
Photo credit: © Ivy Close Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1880s, 1882, 19th, ada, adda, admiral, alexandria, army, bombard, bombardment, britain, british, canal, century, colonel, egypt, egyptian, england, fleet, fort, history, opening, seymour, suez, urabi, war
