The Suez Crisis

*Includes pictures

*Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading

"Nobody was kept more completely in the dark than the President of the United States." - Anthony Nutting, British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

World War II changed the dynamics of colonization irrevocably. India was granted independence in 1947, and that set the tone for decolonization across the European imperial spectrum. But as it turned out, decolonization was preempted in Egypt by a military coup in 1952. On January 25, 1952, British forces in the Suez Canal region took aggressive action when it ordered a police post in Ismailia to surrender for alleged support of anti-British activities. When the commander of the police post refused and mounted defenses, the British attacked, killing approximately 40 and injuring 70 Egyptian policemen. Outrage spilled out onto the streets in the form of protests and riots, leading to violence, looting, and the burning down of foreign businesses in Cairo.

This coup, a minor revolutionary movement, had begun with the limited objective of overthrowing King Farouk, the incumbent ruler, but it became a far larger, anti-West, anti-imperialist and non-aligned nationalist movement. The country fell under the control of an armed forces council known as the Free Officers Movement, and the coup was initially led by Major General Mohammed Naguib, but it would bring about the rise of Nasser.

Naturally, Nasser's disdain and distrust of the British and French was wholly reciprocated. The French were fighting insurgencies in Algeria and Morocco, which Nasser was openly supporting, while the British were attempting to adjust to its vastly reduced relevance in the post-war world. Faced with inevitable decolonization, the British government sensed that standing up to a belligerent bully like Nasser would be seen at home as defending Britain's declining international significance.

On July 26, 1956, in a historic speech that stunned the world, Nasser announced the nationalization of the Suez Canal. By doing this, Nasser was not only emphasizing Egyptian independence and political might, but also creating another source of tax revenue for the country, which would ultimately be used for the Aswan High Dam project and other social and infrastructure projects. Though many of his advisors expressed their doubts with this abrupt maneuver to nationalize one of the most economically significant canals in the world, the Egyptian people were in full support of Nasser, whose popularity skyrocketed as a result.

Of course, Nasser's sudden move was viewed as an abrupt slap against the countries with vested interests in the Suez Canal and the region at large. In October 1956, Britain, France, and Israel struck Egypt simultaneously - Israel from the ground, and Britain and French from the air - seizing key bases in the Sinai, and in one swift sweep, bombarding all the aircraft that Egypt had bought from the Soviets. Egypt hastily asked for aid from the Soviet Union, which pointedly refused. Aid ultimately came not from the Soviet Union, nor from neighboring Arab countries, but from the most unexpected country: the United States. Angered by the fact that the leader of the democratic bloc and Western alliance had not been forewarned about the coming aggression, and deeply affronted by the unilateralism of his European allies, President Dwight D. Eisenhower demanded that the three countries immediately halt their advance and withdraw their troops.

Britain, France, and Israel - just as surprised about the forcefulness of the U.S. as Egypt was - had no choice but to comply. Egypt emerged largely unscathed and maintained full control of the Suez Canal, though without the intervention of the U.S., it would have certainly been defeated. The Suez Crisis: The History of the Suez Canal's Nationalization by Egypt and the War that Followed examines the tense events and the aftermath.