Italian Egyptians which was to be inaugurated in 1871 with the "Aida" by the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. The Khedivial Opera House or "Cairo Royal Opera House" was the original Opera House in Cairo. It was inaugurated on November 1869 and burned down on October 1971. The opera house was built on the orders of the Khedive Ismail to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal. The Italian Egyptian architects Pietro Avoscani and Mario Rossi designed the building. Pietro Avoscani, before his 1891 death in Alexandria, created even the famous "Corniche" of Alexandria. The fondness of Egyptian monarchs towards Italy appeared in
Raid on the Suez Canal a line of communication and also the site for a military base as the well equipped ports at Alexandria and Port Said made the region particularly useful. However, the popularity of the British was in decline in Egypt as the people disliked the occupation and the imposition of a foreign country and alien religion in control of their country. The Convention of Constantinople of 1888 by the European Powers guaranteed freedom of navigation of the Suez Canal. In August 1914 Egypt was defended by 5,000 men in the Force in Egypt. Abbas Hilmi, the reigning Khedive, who had opposed the