Nasser took the Suez Canal back in one speech — and ended the British Empire | THE GATES OF THE WORL

History Onion · 2:52

THE GATES OF THE WORLD Seven narrow passages carry most of the world's shipped goods. Shut one, and the global economy bleeds. A four-part history of chokepoint warfare — the strategy of holding doors between oceans rather than controlling every sea. From the British Empire's four-gate map of Gibraltar–Suez–Aden–Singapore, through the bloodiest battles ever fought for a strait, to the present-day collision in Hormuz where five of the world's seven chokepoints are contested at the same time. Episodes: Part 1 — The chokepoint map: the British Empire's four-gate strategy and why narrow water still decides the world economy.