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For a variety of reasons but they can be categorised mainly into Economic and Strategic. In terms of economic reasons it is because Britain had lots of shares in the Suez Canal meaning that they wished to protect these. Gladstone (the prime-minister at the time) even had shares in the canal himself. In terms of strategic the Suez Canal was a really useful trade route to India am so Britain was keen to protect it. Also at one point Russia was trying to take control over Constantinople (which could have prevented the use of the Suez Canal for Britain) do they felt pressured to take control of it. There was also a (egyptian) nationalist uprising led by Pasha Arabi and Britain felt that he may attack the Suez Canal. I hope this helps, sorry I couldn't be more detailed but this is fom memory.

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12y ago

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