Both
nations canceled the offer in July 1956
for reasons not entirely known. A secret
Egyptian arms agreement with the USSR
and Egyptian recognition of the People's
Republic of China are cited as possible
reasons. As a response, Nasser nationalized
the British and French-owned Suez Canal,
intending to use tolls to subsidize the
High Dam project. In retaliation, Israel,
Britain, and France attacked Egypt and
occupied the Suez Canal precipitating
the Suez Crisis. The United Nations, US
and USSR forced the invaders to withdraw
and the canal was left in Egyptian hands.
The Egyptian government intended to continue
the project alone and use the revenues
of the Suez Canal to help pay for construction.
But in the Cold War struggle for influence
in Africa the Soviet Union stepped in
1958, and possibly a third of the cost
of the dam was paid for as a gift. They
also provided technicians and heavy machinery.
The enormous rock and clay dam was designed
by the Russian Zuk Hydroproject Institute.
Construction
began in 1960. The High Dam, El Saad al
Aali, was completed on July 21, 1970,
with the first stage finished in 1964.
The reservoir began filling in 1964 while
the dam was still under construction and
first reached capacity in 1976. The reservoir
raised concerns from archaeologists and
a rescue operation was begun in 1960 under
UNESCO. Sites were surveyed and excavated
and 24 major monuments were moved to safer
locations (see Abu Simbel) or granted
to countries that helped with the works
(such as the Debod temple in Madrid).
The Aswan High Dam is 3,600 m in length,
980 m wide at the base, 40 m wide at the
crest and 111 m tall. It contains 43 million
m³ of material. At maximum, 11,000
m³ of water can pass through the
dam every second. There are further emergency
spillways for an extra 5000 m³ per
second and the Toshka Canal links the
reservoir to the Toshka Depression. The
reservoir, named Lake Nasser, is 480 km
long and 16 km at its widest with a surface
area of 6,000 km² and holds 150 to
165 km³.
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