Suez Canal Crisis

1
Suez Canal Crisis
2
History of the Canal

• Canal was open in 1869
• Financed by France and Egyptian government
• Operating company was the Universal Company of
  the Suez Maritime Canal (Suez Canal Company)
• Company was Egyptian-chartered
• In 1875, the British government bought out
  Egyptian shares
• Gained partial control of canals operations

• In 1882, the UK took de facto control of the
  canal
• Anglo-Egyptian agreement
• Great Britain protector of Egyptian territorial
  interests
• Canal very important for strategy during WWI and
  WWII
• During WWI, canal was closed to non-Allied
  shipping
• During WWII, it was defended during the North
  African Campaign

3
Tension with Egypt and Europe Begins

• In 1956, Egypt (under President Gamal Abdel
  Nassar) called for the nationalization of the
  Suez Canal Company
• Nationalization called for to raise revenues for
  the construction of the Aswan High Dam on the
  Nile River
• The U.S began to try and reduce the tensions in
  July but was unsuccessful
• International conferences were organized to
  secure agreements on the canal operations but no
  agreement was reached

4
Secret Meeting

• Britain and France met with Israeli to deal with
  Egypt
• States agree that Israeli would invade Sinai
• Therefore Britain and France would have to
  intervene
• They would Instructing that both the Israeli and
  Egyptian forces withdraw their forces from the
  canal
• From this it would be shown Egypt couldnt manage
  canal and canal should be put under Anglo-France
  management
• Britain made sure not to take counsel with the
  U.S
• Believed that Nasser's engagement with communist
  states would persuade the U.S to accept Britain
  and French actions
• Big mistake!

5
Israeli Invasion

• October 29, 1956 Israeli invaded the Gaze Strip
  and Sinai Peninsula
• France and Britain offered to intervene to stop
  Israeli
• Nasser declined their offer
• October 29, 1956 the Kafr Qasim massacre
  occurred
• 48 Arab-Israeli citizens were killed by Israeli
  forces
• October 31, 1956 Operation Musketeer took place
• Bombing campaign
• Nasser in response, sank all 40 ships that were
  in the canal at that time and closed it to
  further shipping

6
Reaction from France and Britain

• November 6, 1956 Royal Marines stormed the
  beaches at El Gamil
• Large amount of damage occurred to Egyptian
  batteries and gun emplacements
• Port Said also had a large amount of destruction
• 500 paratroopers from France secured the al-Raswa
  bridges
• 2 French soldiers were killed
• Many close-air missions that ruined several
  SU-100s
• 2 large oil storage tanks in Port Said were hit
  and went up in flame
• Egyptian resistance varied
• 522 French Paras were also dropped off at Port
  Fuad
• 10 French Soldiers were killed and and 30 injured
• British commandoes met strong resistance
• Several helicopters were hit
• British carrier-borne crafts caused several
  deaths from friendly fire
• Egyptian snipers caused more causalities

7
Cease-Fire Called

• Eisenhower administration called for a cease-fire
  on Britain and France
• US sponsored resolutions for the UN security
  council for a cease-fire be called in the
  invasion
• Britain and France vetoed this
• US appealed to General Assembly and proposed a
  resolution for a cease-fire and withdraw of
  forces
• Called proposal Uniting for Peace
• Emergency session called and resolution passed
• Britain and France withdrew forces
• Britain and France forces withdrew completely by
  December 1956
• Israeli Forces withdrew completely by March 1957

8
UN Involvement

• Lester Pearson suggested to form a United Nations
  Emergency Force (UNEF) in the Suez canal area
• Pearson said the reason for this is to keep the
  borders at peace while a political settlement is
  being worked out
• UN had a tense debate over this
• Neutral force sent not involving the US, France,
  Britain, and the majority of the Soviet Bloc to
  stabilize the area
• Pearson awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 1957
• Thought to be the father of modern peacekeeping

9
Outcome

• Showed weakness of the NATO alliance
• Signaled weakness of French and United Kingdom
• Both losing their global powers
• Marked transports of global powers to US and
  Soviet Union
• Suez Canal Crisis came to be seen as Eisenhower's
  greatest foreign policy mistake
• Last TIME Britain has gone to war without U.S
  supporting them
• Hastened Decolonization

10
Sources

• Hoskins, H. The Suez Canal as an International
  Waterway The American Journal of International
  Law. 22.1(1943) p.81-82. 7 March 2007
  http//www.jstor.org/view/00029300/di981649/98p025
  62/0?currentResult000293002bdi9816492b98p02562
  2b02cFF3FsearchUrlhttp3A2F2Fwww.jstor.org2F
  search2FBasicResults3Fhp3D2526si3D126Query3
  Dsuez2Bcanal2Bcrisis26wc3Don
• Evans Suez Canal Crisis. 2000, NOva 8 March 2007
  http//novaonline.nvcc.vccs.edu/eli/evans/his135/E
  vents/Suez56.htm
• Fraser, Wright, Shupe, Hipel. Nationalization
  of the Suez canal A hypergame analysis The
  Journal of conflict resolution. 24.3
  (Sep.,1980) p.477-493. 7 March 2007
  http//www.jstor.org/view/00220027/ap010084/01a000
  50/0?currentResult002200272bap0100842b01a00050
  2b02cEFB303searchUrlhttp3A2F2Fwww.jstor.org
  2Fsearch2FBasicResults3Fhp3D2526si3D126Query
  3Dsuez2Bcanal2Bcrisis26wc3Don
• Neely The Suez crisis. October 2006. Bodleian
  Library of the University of oxford. 6 March 2007
  http//www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/projects/su
  ez/suez.html

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The Suez Crisis The Other Side of Suez -The Suez
Crisis (1 of 9) - http//youtube.com/watch?vQnsBH
L7PDv0 -The Suez Crisis (2 of 9) -
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ated -The Suez Crisis (7 of 9) -
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ated -The Suez Crisis (9 of 9) -
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