tain.

From this time forward, whether she liked it or not, Britain found
herself effectually saddled with the direction of the government of
Egypt. In this position she became more fully confirmed by the
Anglo-Egyptian military operations against the Soudan in 1885, under
Gordon, and in 1898, under Kitchener. Outstanding differences with
France were dispelled on the conclusion of the Anglo-French Entente
Cordiale, and Britain was left virtually mistress of Egypt.

Let us look for a minute at the military geography of Egypt,
particularly with regard to the security of her frontiers from invasion.
Egypt consists, or prior to the seventies consisted, of the Nile, its
valley and delta, and the country rendered fertile by that river. On
either side of this fertile belt is dry, barren desert. On the north is
the Mediterranean Sea, and on the south the tropical Soudan. Thus, in
the hands of a power that holds the command of the sea, Egypt is well
adapted for defence. The tropical Soudan makes a well-nigh impossible
line of advance for a large hostile force from the south, and the routes
of approach from the east and from the west, across the waterless
deserts, present obstacles scarcely less formidable. Since the
seventies, however, another important factor has entered the problem,
namely, the Suez Canal and the area of cultivation and civilization
which has sprung up along its banks. The large amount of fresh water
required for the maintenance of the Canal, for the use of the towns that
have sprung up along its banks, and for the existence of the large
population which the Canal has attracted, is brought by a Canal known as
the Sweet Water Canal, from the river Nile. This Sweet Water Canal, and
the piped services which it supplied, were, in 1914, wholly upon the
western or Egyptian side of the Suez Canal. This western side was also
well provided with communications. Trunk railways connected Ismailia, at
the centre of the Canal, with Cairo and Alexandria, and lateral
railways, running along the whole length of the Canal, connected it with
Port Said and Suez.

Although, as was subsequently discovered, the problem of defending the
Suez Canal was by no means the same as that of defending Egypt, the
problems may, at first sight, appear identical. An enemy force moving
from Palestine against the Suez Canal and Egypt, would have to cross a
comparatively waterless desert for a distance of over a hundred miles.
On coming into coll