View source for Suez Crisis

{{Short description|1956 British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
{{Pp-30-500|small=yes}}

{{Distinguish|text=the [[Raid on the Suez Canal]] or [[2021 Suez Canal obstruction]]}}
{{Very long|words=17,000|date=December 2023}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Suez Crisis
| partof            = the [[Cold War]] and the [[Arab–Israeli conflict]]
| image             = Tanks Destroyed Sinai.jpg
| image_size        = 300px
| caption           = Damaged Egyptian military vehicles in the [[Sinai Peninsula]]
| date              = {{start and end dates|1956|10|29|1956|11|7|df=yes}} <br />({{Age in years, months, weeks and days|month1=10|day1=29|year1=1956|month2=11|day2=7|year2=1956}})
| place             = Egypt (from the [[Occupation of the Gaza Strip by the United Arab Republic|Gaza Strip]] to the [[Suez Canal]])
| casus             = Egypt's nationalization of the [[Suez Canal]] and [[Israeli passage through the Suez Canal and Straits of Tiran|closure of the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping]]
| result            = See: [[#Aftermath|§ Aftermath]]
| territory         = [[Israeli occupation of the Sinai Peninsula]] (and the Gaza Strip) until March 1957
| combatant1        = {{Flag|Israel}}<br />{{Flag|United Kingdom}}<br />{{Flagicon image|Flag of France.svg}}&nbsp;[[French Fourth Republic|France]]
| combatant2        = {{Flagicon image|Flag of Egypt (1952–1958).svg}}&nbsp;[[Republic of Egypt (1953)|Egypt]]
| commander1        = {{Unbulletedlist
| {{Flagdeco|Israel}}&nbsp;'''[[David Ben-Gurion]]'''
| {{Flagdeco|Israel}}&nbsp;[[Moshe Dayan]]
| {{Flagdeco|Israel}}&nbsp;[[Asaf Simhoni]] {{KIA}}
| {{Flagdeco|Israel}}&nbsp;[[Haim Bar-Lev]]
| {{Flagdeco|Israel}}&nbsp;[[Avraham Yoffe]]
| {{Flagdeco|Israel}}&nbsp;[[Israel Tal]]
| {{Flagdeco|Israel}}&nbsp;[[Ariel Sharon]]
| {{Flagdeco|Israel}}&nbsp;[[Uri Ben-Ari]]
| {{Flagdeco|United Kingdom}}&nbsp;'''[[Anthony Eden]]'''
| {{Flagdeco|United Kingdom}}&nbsp;[[Gerald Templer]]
| {{Flagdeco|United Kingdom}}&nbsp;[[Charles Keightley]]
| {{Flagdeco|United Kingdom}}&nbsp;[[Hugh Stockwell]]
| {{Flagdeco|United Kingdom}}&nbsp;[[Denis Barnett]]
| {{Flagdeco|United Kingdom}}&nbsp;[[Manley Laurence Power|Manley Power]]
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of France.svg}}&nbsp;'''[[René Coty]]'''
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of France.svg}}&nbsp;'''[[Guy Mollet]]'''
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of France.svg}}&nbsp;[[Pierre Barjot]]
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of France.svg}}&nbsp;[[André Beaufre]]
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of France.svg}}&nbsp;[[Jacques Massu]]}}
| commander2        = {{Unbulletedlist
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of Egypt (1952–1958).svg}}&nbsp;'''[[Gamal Abdel Nasser]]'''
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of Egypt (1952–1958).svg}}&nbsp;[[Abdel Hakim Amer]]
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of Egypt (1952–1958).svg}}&nbsp;Saadedden Mutawally
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of Egypt (1952–1958).svg}}&nbsp;Sami Yassa
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of Egypt (1952–1958).svg}}&nbsp;Jaafar al-Abd
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of Egypt (1952–1958).svg}}&nbsp;Salahedin Moguy
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of Egypt (1952–1958).svg}}&nbsp;Raouf Mahfouz Zaki}}
| strength1         = {{Flagdeco|Israel}}&nbsp;175,000<br />{{Flagdeco|United Kingdom}}&nbsp;45,000<br />{{Flagicon image|Flag of France.svg}}&nbsp;34,000
| strength2         = {{Flagicon image|Flag of Egypt (1952–1958).svg}}&nbsp;90,000<ref>{{Cite book |title=A Military History of Modern Egypt: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Ramadan War |year=2006 |page = 251}}{{harvnb|McGregor|2006|p=251}}</ref>
| casualties1       = '''Israel:'''{{Unbulletedlist
| 172 killed<ref name="LA Times">{{Cite news |agency=[[Associated Press]] |date=1991-03-08 |title=Casualties of Mideast Wars |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-08-mn-2592-story.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=2023-03-17 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |page=A7}}</ref>
| 817 wounded
| 1 captured}}'''United Kingdom:'''{{Unbulletedlist
| 22 killed
| 96 wounded}}'''France:'''{{Unbulletedlist
| 10 killed
| 33 wounded}}
| casualties2       = {{Unbulletedlist
| 1,650<ref name="Varble 1956, p. 90">{{Harvnb|Varble|2003|p=90}}</ref>–3,000 killed<ref>{{Cite web |title=Armed Conflict Year Index |url=https://www.onwar.com/data/sinai1956.html |first=Ralph |last=Zuljan |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230510153205/http://www.onwar.com/data/sinai1956.html |archive-date=2023-05-10 |access-date=2024-02-04 |website=OnWar.com}}</ref>{{Sfn|Schiff|1974|p=70}}
| 4,900 wounded
| 5,000{{Sfn|Schiff|1974}}{{page needed|date=January 2024}}–30,000+ captured<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0X1qIECZcU#t=0m30s |chapter=Invasion of Egypt! |title=Israel – The Suez War of 1956: U.S. newsreel footage |time=0:30–0:40 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211028/h0X1qIECZcU |archive-date=2021-10-28 |url-status=live}}{{Cbignore}}</ref>}}<hr/>{{Unbulletedlist
| 215+ aircraft destroyed
| 125 tanks destroyed}}
| casualties3       = 1,000 civilians killed<ref name="Varble 1956, p. 90"/>
}}

The '''Suez Crisis'''{{Efn|{{Langx|fr|Crise du canal de Suez}}; {{Langx|ar|أزمة السويس}}; {{Langx|he|משבר תעלת סואץ}}}} also known as the '''Second Arab–Israeli War''',<ref name="Ross2004">{{Cite book |last=Ross |first=Stewart |title=Causes and Consequences of the Arab–Israeli Conflict |url=https://archive.org/details/causesconsequenc0000ross_w6z0/page/76/mode/2up|date=2004 |url-access=registration |publisher=Evans Brothers |isbn=978-0-2375-2585-9 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=sF-vF1fxM8YC&pg=PA76 76ff]}}</ref><ref name="Isacoff2006">{{Cite book |last=Isacoff |first=Jonathan B. |title=Writing the Arab–Israeli Conflict: Pragmatism and Historical Inquiry |date=2006 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-0-7391-1273-1 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=9uEZYuEHZWMC&pg=PA79 79ff]}}</ref><ref name="Caplan1983">{{Cite book |last=Caplan |first=Neil |title=Futile Diplomacy: Operation Alpha and the Failure of Anglo-American Coercive Diplomacy in the Arab–Israeli Conflict, 1954–1956 |date=1983 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-7146-4757-9 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=j05JHMFH-G8C&pg=PR15 15]}}</ref> the '''Tripartite Aggression'''{{Efn|{{Langx|ar|العدوان الثلاثي|Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy}}}} in the [[Arab world]]<ref>{{Cite magazine |author=Egypt Today staff |date=2019-11-03 |title=In 63rd ann. of Tripartite Aggression, members of popular resistance tell heroic stories |magazine=[[Egypt Today]] |url=https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/77427/In-63rd-ann-of-Tripartite-Aggression-members-of-popular-resistance |access-date=2021-03-25}}</ref> and as the '''Sinai War'''{{Efn|{{Langx|he|מלחמת סיני|Milkhemeth Sinai}}}} in [[Israel]],{{Efn|Other names include the '''Suez Canal Crisis''', '''Suez War''', '''1956 War''', '''Suez–Sinai war''', '''1956 Arab–Israeli war''', '''Suez Campaign''', '''Sinai Campaign''', '''Kadesh Operation''' and '''Operation Musketeer'''}} was a British–French–Israeli invasion of [[History of Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser|Egypt]] in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so with the primary objective of re-opening the [[Straits of Tiran]] and the [[Gulf of Aqaba]] as the recent tightening of the eight-year-long [[Israeli passage through the Suez Canal and Straits of Tiran|Egyptian blockade further prevented Israeli passage]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mayer |first=Michael S. |title=The Eisenhower Years |date=2010 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-0-8160-5387-2 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dIhZxpoZVIQC&pg=PR44 44]}}</ref> After issuing a joint ultimatum for a ceasefire, the [[United Kingdom]] and [[French Fourth Republic|France]] joined the Israelis on 5 November, seeking to depose Egyptian president [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] and regain control of the [[Suez Canal]], which Nasser had earlier nationalised by transferring administrative control from the foreign-owned [[Suez Company (1858–1997)|Suez Canal Company]] to Egypt's new government-owned [[Suez Canal Authority]].{{Efn|From an [[Intelligence assessment|Intelligence]] perspective and according to [[CIA]] original operative, [[Miles Copeland Jr.|Miles Copeland]], CIA's internal and external disagreements (with its British counterparts) of the impending Suez Crisis rendered it to be one of indecision by the [[Western world|western powers]]; Copeland described the discoordination with the British Intelligence at the time as "Our British counterparts were apparently in ignorance of what my CIA team had been doing in Cairo during the previous two years". And the only political move of Nasser that the CIA did not acknowledge preemptively (against [[Frank Wisner]]'s insistences): "[[John Foster Dulles|Secretary Dulles]] failed to understand rule number one: 'you can hardly win a game if you don't even know you're in one.' But a winning strategy can come to a sad end if it fails to take into account radical changes in the gameboard itself. Nasser used to say, 'I don't act; I only react.' That made it easy for us – what the hell, let's not mince words: made it easy for me. (one can be too self-effacing, you know.) Oh, yes, there was one move of Nasser's which [[Kermit Roosevelt Jr.|Kim]] and I both failed to predict. When Secretary Dulles announced that we weren't going to help Nasser with his Aswan Dam, we were called to a meeting at the State Department to help figure out how he would react. There were many suggestions, but only Frank Wisner, our beloved boss, mentioned the possibility of Nasser's nationalizing the Suez Canal Company. Kim and I both kicked him under the table (we loved Frank, and didn't want him to make a fool of himself), but he persisted as one or another of the State Department people sitting around the table explained to him, patronizingly, why such an action was unlikely. Well, as everybody now knows, Nasser did eventually nationalize the canal company (not the canal itself, as has been erroneously reported, but the company), and Frank called us to his office to crow. 'When you come', he said, 'would you please bring your notes on the State Department meeting.' Frank was in high I-told-you-so spirits — until he looked through the notes seeking a reference to his prediction. He couldn't find it! 'Don't you remember?' he said, his voice rising. 'I said two or three times how I thought Nasser might nationalize the canal company.' Kim looked at me; I looked at Kim. 'Frank, I don't remember you saying anything like that. Do you, Miles?' 'I didn't hear him,' I said to Kim, then to Frank, 'Are you sure you didn't just think about suggesting it? After all, it would have been a very prescient suggestion, but . . .' 'You know I said it!' Frank kept insisting, but Kim and I, with bewildered looks on our faces, kept saying that we didn't remember. It was a dirty trick, and we've had guilty thoughts about it often, especially after Frank died of his own hand less than a year later after seeing his pet operation, the revolution in Hungary, go sour. I would like to go on record as saying that Frank Wisner unknown to most Americans, was a truly great man and a perfect boss. Stewart Alsop said that he 'died as much a victim of war as any soldier killed in battle', and his friends and underlings were 100 per cent in agreement."{{break}}<br />"When nationalization of the Canal Company was announced, the British immediately took and held the initiatives. We played along with them despite our awareness that British intelligence, for all its superior competence throughout the rest of the Middle East, was grossly uninformed on all that had been going on inside the Nasser government and on the general situation in Egypt. In one of the what-to-do-about-Nasser meetings some of my CIA colleagues and I had with SIS officers a month or so before the Anglo—French—Israeli attack on Egypt, an officer showed me a highly secret document purporting to be a chart showing the organization of the Mukhabarat, the Egyptian intelligence service. I thought he was pulling my leg! It was the chart my [[Booz Allen Hamilton|BA&H]] colleagues and I had drawn up, translated from the Arabic into what we Americans liked to call 'Anglicized English'. The interesting part was the list of the section heads, all friends of mine, some of them misspelled, some without first names, and some entirely wrong due to faulty interpretation of footnotes. Our British counterparts were apparently in ignorance of what my CIA team had been doing in Cairo during the previous two years. What bothered us most, however, was the fact that the British weren't reacting at all like seasoned, cold-blooded gameplayers. Everything our colleagues in SIS and the Foreign Office said to us showed that they had no information that made any sense at all on which Egyptian officers or civilians might constitute a new government if Nasser were to be eliminated, or on the general situation inside Egypt. They were only guessing and making assumptions. And they didn't seem to care. They thought they should just get rid of Nasser, hang the practical consequences, just to show the world that an upstart like him couldn't get away with so ostentatiously twisting the lion's tail. It was as though a chess Grand Master, embarrassed at having been outmaneuvered by an opponent whom he considered an inferior player, wanted to kick over the table."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Copeland |first=Miles |title=The Game Player: Confessions of the CIA's original political operative |date=1989 |publisher=Aurum Press |pages=170–171, 201 |author-link=Miles Copeland Jr.}}</ref>}} Shortly after the invasion began, the three countries came under heavy political pressure from both the [[United States]] and the [[Soviet Union]], as well as from the [[United Nations]], eventually prompting their withdrawal from Egypt. Israel's four-month-long occupation of the [[Occupation of the Gaza Strip by the United Arab Republic|Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip]] and Egypt's [[Sinai Peninsula]] enabled it to attain freedom of navigation through the Straits of Tiran, but the [[Closure of the Suez Canal (1956–1957)|Suez Canal was closed from October 1956 to March 1957]].<ref name="Pierre2014">{{Cite book |last=Pierre |first=Major Jean-Marc |title=1956 Suez Crisis And The United Nations |date=15 August 2014 |publisher=Tannenberg Publishing |isbn=978-1-7828-9608-1 |quote=Still in 1950 Egypt blocked the Straits of Tiran barring Israel from the waterway ( Longgood 1958, xii-xiii).}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Golani |first=Motti |date=1995 |title=The Historical Place of the Czech-Egyptian Arms Deal, Fall 1955 |journal=Middle Eastern Studies |volume=31 |issue=4 |pages=803–827 |doi=10.1080/00263209508701081 |issn=0026-3206 |jstor=4283762 |quote=3. The blockade of the Straits of Eilat (Tiran) had actually been in effect since 1948, but was significantly aggravated on 12 September 1955, when Egypt announced that it was being tightened and extended to the aerial sphere as well. (p. 805)}}</ref>

U.S. president [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] had issued a strong warning to the British if they were to invade Egypt; he threatened serious damage to the British financial system by selling the American government's bonds of [[pound sterling]]. Before their defeat, Egyptian troops blocked all ship traffic by sinking 40 ships in the canal. It later became clear that Israel, the UK, and France had conspired to invade Egypt. These three achieved a number of their military objectives, although the canal was useless.

The crisis strengthened Nasser's standing and led to international humiliation for the British{{snd}}with historians arguing that it signified the end of its role as a world [[superpower]]{{snd}}as well as the French amid the [[Cold War]] (which established the U.S. and the USSR as the world's superpowers).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Abernathy |first=David |title=The Dynamics of Global Dominance: European Overseas Empires, 1415–1980 |date=2000 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-3000-9314-8 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ennqNS1EOuMC&pg=PA139 CXXXIX]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Owen |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Owen (historian)
|title=Suez Crisis |date=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |editor-last=Krieger |editor-first=Joel |edition=2nd |series=The Oxford Companion to the Politics of the World}}{{Page needed|date=May 2023}}</ref><ref name="Economist2006">{{Cite news |date=27 June 2006 |title=An affair to remember |url=http://www.economist.com/node/7218678 |access-date=3 September 2014 |newspaper=[[The Economist]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ellis |first=Sylvia |title=Historical Dictionary of Anglo-American Relations |date=2009 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-6297-5 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=MYs-8OMk_H0C&pg=PA212 212]}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Peden |first=G. C. |title=Suez and Britain's Decline as a World Power |date=December 2012 |journal=The Historical Journal |volume=55 |issue=4 |pages=1073–1096 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X12000246 |author-link=G. C. Peden |doi-access=free|issn = 0018-246X}}</ref><ref name="history_com_1">{{Cite web |last1=Mullen |first1=Matt |last2=Onion |first2=Amanda |last3=Sullivan |first3=Missy |last4=Zapata |first4=Christian |date=2022-09-14 |title=Suez Crisis |url=https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/suez-crisis |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=[[History Channel]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=Simon C. |title=Reassessing Suez 1956: New perspectives on the crisis and its aftermath |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-7546-6170-2 |pages=216–218}}</ref>
As a result of the conflict, the UN established [[United Nations Emergency Force|an&nbsp;emergency force]] to police and patrol the [[Egypt–Israel border]], while British prime minister [[Anthony Eden]] resigned from his position. For his diplomatic efforts in resolving the conflict through UN initiatives, Canadian external affairs minister [[Lester B. Pearson]] received a [[Nobel Peace Prize]]. Analysts have argued that the crisis may have emboldened the USSR, prompting the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956#Soviet perspective|Soviet invasion of Hungary]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mastny |first=Vojtech |author-link= Vojtech Mastny (historian) |date=March 2002 |title=NATO in the Beholder's Eye: Soviet Perceptions and Policies, 1949–56 |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/publication/ACFB01.pdf |url-status=live |access-date=30 April 2018 |website=Cold War International History Project |publisher=Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231127053153/https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/publication/ACFB01.pdf |archive-date=2023-11-27}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Christopher |first=Adam |title=The 1956 Hungarian Revolution: Hungarian and Canadian Perspectives |date=2010 |publisher=University of Ottawa Press |isbn=978-0-7766-0705-4 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=K33FTgZjPFIC&pg=PA37 37]}}</ref>

== Background ==
{{too much detail|section|date=August 2024}}
=== Construction of the Suez Canal ===
{{See also|History of Israel|History of Egypt}}
[[File:Canal de Suez.jpg|thumb|The location of the [[Suez Canal]], which connects the [[Mediterranean]] and the [[Indian Ocean]] via the [[Red Sea]].]]

The [[Suez Canal]] was opened in 1869, after ten years of work financed by the French and Egyptian governments.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turner|2006|pp=21–24}}</ref> The canal was operated by the [[Suez Company (1858–1997)|Suez Company]], an Egyptian-chartered company; the area surrounding the canal remained sovereign Egyptian territory and the only land-bridge between Africa and Asia.

The canal instantly became strategically important, as it provided the shortest ocean link between the [[Mediterranean Sea]] and the [[Indian Ocean]]. The canal eased commerce for trading nations and particularly helped European colonial powers to gain and govern their colonies.

In 1875, as a result of debt and financial crisis, Egypt was forced to sell its shares in the operating company to the British government. They were willing buyers and obtained a 44% share in the company for £4&nbsp;million (equivalent to £{{Inflation|UK|4|1875|r=0}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation/year|UK}}). This maintained the majority shareholdings of the mostly-French private investors. With the 1882 [[Anglo-Egyptian War|invasion and occupation of Egypt]], the UK took ''de facto'' control of the country as well as the canal, its finances and operations.

=== Convention of Constantinople ===
The 1888 [[Convention of Constantinople]] declared the canal a neutral zone under British protection.<ref name="SIS: Suez Canal">{{Cite web |title=Suez Canal |url=http://www.sis.gov.eg/En/Land&people/50th/031700000000000002.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070220163200/http://www.sis.gov.eg/En/Land%26people/50th/031700000000000002.htm |archive-date=20 February 2007 |access-date=18 March 2007 |publisher=Egyptian State Information Service}}</ref> In ratifying it, the [[Ottoman Empire]] agreed to permit international shipping to pass freely through the canal, in time of war and peace.<ref name="Sachar">{{Harvnb|Sachar|1996}}{{Page needed|date=December 2014}}<!-- since the page is missing, why not use a newer edition? --></ref> The Convention came into force in 1904, the same year as the ''[[Entente Cordiale]]'' between Britain and France.

Despite this convention, the strategic importance of the canal and its control were proven during the [[Russo-Japanese War]] of 1904–05, after Japan and Britain entered into a separate bilateral agreement. Following the Japanese attack on the [[Pacific Fleet (Russia)|Russian Pacific Fleet]] at [[Lüshunkou|Port Arthur]], the Russians sent reinforcements from their fleet in the [[Baltic Sea]]. The British denied the [[Baltic Fleet|Russian Baltic Fleet]] use of the canal after the [[Dogger Bank incident]] and forced it to steam around the [[Cape of Good Hope]] in Africa, giving the [[Imperial Japanese Armed Forces]] time to consolidate their position.

The importance of the canal as a strategic intersection was again apparent during the First World War, when Britain and France closed the canal to non-[[Allies of World War I|Allied]] shipping. The attempt by the German-led [[Fourth Army (Ottoman Empire)|Ottoman Fourth Army]] to [[Raid on the Suez Canal|storm the canal]] in 1915 led the British to commit 100,000 troops to the defence of Egypt for the rest of the war.<ref>{{Harvnb|Varble|2003|p=11}}</ref>

==== Oil shipments ====
The canal continued to be strategically important after the Second World War for oil shipment.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 12">{{Harvnb|Varble|2003|p=12}}</ref> Petroleum historian [[Daniel Yergin]] wrote: "In 1948, the canal abruptly lost its traditional rationale. ... [British] control over the canal could no longer be preserved on grounds that it was critical to the defence either of India or of an empire that was being liquidated. And yet, at exactly the same moment, the canal was gaining a new role—as the highway not of empire, but of oil. ... By 1955, petroleum accounted for half of the canal's traffic, and, in turn, two thirds of Europe's oil passed through it".<ref>{{Harvnb|Yergin|1991|p=480}}</ref>

Western Europe then imported two million barrels per day from the Middle East, 1,200,000 by tanker through the canal, and another 800,000 via pipeline from the Persian Gulf ([[Trans-Arabian Pipeline]]) and Kirkuk ([[Kirkuk-Baniyas pipeline]]) to the Mediterranean<!-- which was also cut -->, where tankers received it. The US imported another 300,000 barrels daily from the Middle East.<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,824597,00.html State of Business: Middle-East Echoes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805063536/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,824597,00.html |date=5 August 2011}}, ''Time'', 12 November 1956</ref> Though pipelines linked the oil fields of the [[Kingdom of Iraq]] and the [[Arab states of the Persian Gulf|Persian Gulf states]] to the Mediterranean, these routes were prone to suffer from instability, which led British leaders to prefer to use the sea route through the canal.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 12"/> The rise of [[Oil tanker|super-tankers]] for shipping Middle East oil to Europe, which were too big to use the canal, meant British policymakers greatly overestimated the importance of the canal.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 12"/> By 2000, only 8% of the imported oil in Britain arrived via the Suez Canal with the rest coming via the Cape route.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 12"/>

In August 1956 the [[Royal Institute of International Affairs]] published a report "Britain and the Suez Canal" revealing government perception of the Suez area. It reiterated the strategic necessity of the canal to the UK, including the need to meet military obligations under the [[Manila Pact]] in the Far East and the [[Baghdad Pact]] in Iraq, Iran, or Pakistan. The report noted the canal had been used in wartime to transport materiel and personnel from and to the UK's close allies in Australia and New Zealand, and might be vital for such purposes in future. The report cites the amount of material and oil that passes through the canal to the UK, and the economic consequences of the canal being put out of commission, concluding:
{{Blockquote|The possibility of the Canal being closed to troopships makes the question of the control and regime of the Canal as important to Britain today as it ever was.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Donald |last=Watt |title=Britain and the Suez Canal |publisher=Royal Institute of International Affairs |date=1956 |page=8}}</ref>}}

=== After World War II ===
In the [[Aftermath of World War II|aftermath of the Second World War]], Britain's military strength was spread throughout the region, including the vast military complex at Suez with a garrison of 80,000, making it one of the largest military installations in the world. The Suez base was an important part of Britain's strategic position in the Middle East; however, it became a source of growing tension in [[Egypt–United Kingdom relations|Anglo-Egyptian relations]].<ref name="Darwin 207"/>

Egypt's domestic politics were experiencing a radical change, prompted by economic instability, inflation, and unemployment. Unrest began to manifest in the growth of radical political groups, such as the [[Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt]], and an increasingly hostile attitude towards Britain and its presence. Added to this anti-British fervour was the role Britain had played in the [[Mandatory Palestine|creation of Israel]].<ref name="Darwin 207">{{Harvnb|Darwin|1988|loc=p. 207 "Nothing could have been better calculated to lash popular Muslim feeling to new fury ... and to redouble Egyptian hostility to Britain on whose 'betrayal' of the Palestine Arabs the catastrophe could easily be blamed."}}</ref>

In October 1951, the Egyptian government unilaterally abrogated the [[Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936]], the terms of which granted Britain a lease on the Suez base for 20 more years.<ref>{{Harvnb|Butler|2002|p=111}}</ref> Britain refused to withdraw from Suez, relying upon its treaty rights, as well as the presence of the Suez garrison. The price of such action was an escalation in violent hostility towards Britain and its troops in Egypt, which the Egyptian authorities did little to curb.{{Cn|date=October 2022}}

In January 1952, British forces attempted to disarm a troublesome auxiliary police force barracks in [[Ismailia]], resulting in the deaths of 41 Egyptians.<ref name="Darwin 208">{{Harvnb|Darwin|1988|p=208}}</ref> This led to [[Cairo fire|anti-Western riots]] in [[Cairo]] resulting in damage to property and the deaths of foreigners, including 11 British citizens.<ref name="Darwin 208"/> This proved to be a catalyst for the removal of the [[Kingdom of Egypt|Egyptian monarchy]]. On 23 July 1952 a [[Egyptian Revolution of 1952|military coup]] by the Egyptian nationalist '[[Free Officers Movement (Egypt)|Free Officers Movement]]'—led by [[Muhammad Neguib]] and future Egyptian President [[Gamal Abdul Nasser]]—overthrew King [[Farouk of Egypt|Farouk]] and established an Egyptian republic.{{Cn|date=October 2022}}

=== After the 1952 Egyptian Revolution ===

In the 1950s, the Middle East was dominated by four interlinked conflicts:
* the [[Cold War]], the geopolitical battle for influence between the United States and [[Soviet Union]];
* the [[Arab Cold War]], the race between different Arab states for the leadership of the [[Arab world]];<ref name="Vakikiotis, P.J. pp. 230">{{Cite book |last=Vakikiotis |first=P. J. |title=Nasser and His Generation |pages=230–232}}</ref>
* the anti-colonial struggle of [[Arab nationalism|Arab nationalists]] against the two remaining imperial powers, Britain and France, in particular the [[Algerian War]];<ref>{{Cite book |last=Corum |first=James S. |title=Bad Strategies: How Major Powers Fail in Counterinsurgency |date=15 Aug 2008 |publisher=Voyageur Press |page=66}}</ref>
* and the [[Arab–Israeli conflict]], the political and military conflict between Arab countries and Israel.

==== Egypt and Britain ====
Britain's desire to mend Anglo-Egyptian relations in the wake of the coup saw the country strive for rapprochement throughout 1953-54. Part of this process was the agreement, in 1953, to terminate British rule in Sudan by 1956, in return for Cairo's abandoning its claim to [[suzerainty]] over the Nile Valley. In October 1954, Britain and Egypt concluded the Anglo-Egyptian Agreement on the phased evacuation of [[British Armed Forces]] troops from the Suez base, the terms of which agreed to withdrawal of all troops within 20 months, maintenance of the base to be continued, and for Britain to hold the right to return for seven years.<ref>{{Harvnb|Butler|2002|p=112}}</ref> The [[Suez Company (1858–1997)|Suez Company]] was not due to revert to the Egyptian government until 1968 under the terms of the treaty.<ref>{{Cite news |date=26 July 1956 |title=1956: Egypt seizes Suez Canal |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/26/newsid_2701000/2701603.stm |work=BBC News}}</ref>

Britain's close relationship with the two [[Hashemite]] kingdoms of [[Iraq]] and [[Jordan]] were of particular concern to Nasser. In particular, Iraq's increasingly amicable relations with Britain were a threat to Nasser's desire to see Egypt as head of the Arab world. The creation of the [[Central Treaty Organisation|Baghdad Pact]] in 1955 seemed to confirm Nasser's fears Britain was attempting to draw the Eastern Arab World into a bloc centred upon Iraq, and sympathetic to Britain.<ref name="Darwin 210">{{Harvnb|Darwin|1988|p=210}}</ref> Nasser's response was a series of challenges to British influence in the region that would culminate in the Suez Crisis.

==== Egypt and the Arab League ====
In regard to the Arab leadership, particularly venomous was the feud between Nasser and the Prime Minister of Iraq, [[Nuri al-Said]], for Arab leadership, with the Cairo-based [[Voice of the Arabs]] radio station regularly calling for the overthrow of the government in Baghdad.<ref name="Vakikiotis, P.J. pp. 230"/> The most important factors that drove Egyptian foreign policy was a determination to see the entire Middle East as Egypt's rightful sphere of influence, and a tendency on the part of Nasser to fortify his [[Pan-Arabism|pan-Arabist]] and nationalist credibility by seeking to oppose all Western security initiatives in the Near East.<ref name="Vakikiotis, P.J. pp. 230"/>

Despite the establishment of such an agreement with the British, Nasser's position remained tenuous. The loss of Egypt's claim to Sudan, coupled with the continued presence of Britain at Suez for a further two years, led to domestic unrest including an assassination attempt against him in October 1954. The tenuous nature of Nasser's rule caused him to believe that neither his regime nor Egypt's independence would be safe until Egypt had established itself as head of the Arab world.<ref>{{Harvnb|Barnett|1992|pp=82–83}}</ref> This would manifest in the challenging of British Middle Eastern interests throughout 1955.

==== Egypt and the Cold War ====
The US, while attempting to erect an alliance in the form of a Middle East Defense Organization to keep the Soviet Union out of the Near East, tried to woo Nasser into this alliance.<ref name="Gaddis, John Lewis, p. 168">{{Harvnb|Gaddis|1998|p=168}}</ref> The central problem for American policy was that this region was perceived as strategically important due to its oil, but the United States, weighed down by defence commitments in Europe and the Far East, lacked sufficient troops to resist a Soviet invasion of the Middle East.<ref name="Gaddis, John Lewis, p. 167">{{Harvnb|Gaddis|1998|p=167}}</ref> In 1952, General [[Omar Bradley]] of the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]] declared at a planning session about what to do in the event of a Soviet invasion of the Near East: "Where will the staff come from? It will take a lot of stuff to do a job there".<ref name="Gaddis, John Lewis, p. 167"/>

As a consequence, American diplomats favoured the creation of a NATO-type organisation in the Near East to provide the necessary military power to deter the Soviets from invading.<ref name="Gaddis, John Lewis, p. 167"/> The Eisenhower administration, even more than the Truman administration, saw the Near East as a huge gap into which Soviet influence could be projected, and accordingly required an American-supported security system.<ref name="Sayed-Ahmed 1993, p. 90">{{Harvnb|Sayed-Ahmed|1993|p=90}}</ref> American diplomat [[Raymond A. Hare|Raymond Hare]] later recalled:
{{Blockquote|It's hard to put ourselves back in this period. There was really a definite fear of hostilities, of an active Russian occupation of the Middle East physically, and you practically hear the Russian boots clumping down over the hot desert sands.<ref name="Burns, William p. 11">{{Harvnb|Burns|1985|p=11}}</ref>}}
The projected Middle East Defense Organization (MEDO) was to be centered on Egypt.<ref name="Burns, William p. 11"/> A [[United States National Security Council]] directive of March 1953 called Egypt the "key" to the Near East and advised that Washington "should develop Egypt as a point of strength".<ref name="Sayed-Ahmed 1993, p. 90"/>

A dilemma for American policy was that the two strongest powers in the Near East, Britain and France, were the nations whose influence many local nationalists most resented.<ref name="Gaddis, John Lewis, p. 167"/> From 1953 onwards, American diplomacy had attempted unsuccessfully to persuade the powers involved in the Near East, local and imperial, to set aside their differences and unite against the Soviets.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gaddis|1998|pp=167–168}}</ref> The Americans took the view that, just as fear of the Soviet Union had helped to end the historic [[French–German enmity|Franco-German enmity]], so could [[Anti-communism|anti-Communism]] end the Arab–Israeli dispute. It was a source of constant puzzlement to American officials in the 1950s, that Arab states and Israelis had more interest in fighting each other, than uniting against the Soviet Union.{{Citation needed|reason=mistake|date=March 2015}} After his visit to the Middle East in May 1953 to drum up support for MEDO, the Secretary of State, [[John Foster Dulles]] found to his astonishment that the Arab states were "more fearful of [[Zionism]] than of the Communists".<ref name="Neff, Donald p. 43">{{Harvnb|Neff|1981|p=43}}</ref>

The policy of the United States was colored by uncertainty as to whom to befriend. American policy was torn between a desire to maintain good relations with NATO allies such as Britain and France who were major colonial powers, and to align [[Third World]] nationalists with the Free World camp.<ref>{{Harvnb|Neff|1981|pp=18–19, 195}}</ref> Though it would be false to describe the [[Farouk of Egypt#Overthrow|coup deposing King Farouk]] in July 1952 as a [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) coup, Nasser and his Society of Free Officers were in contact with CIA operatives beforehand Nasser maintained links with potential allies, from the [[Egyptian Communist Party (1921)|Egyptian Communist Party]] to the [[Muslim Brotherhood]] on the right.<ref>{{Harvnb|Vatikiotis|1978|pp=41–42}}</ref>

Nasser's friendship with CIA officers in Cairo led Washington to overestimate its influence in Egypt.<ref name="Burns, William p. 11"/> That Nasser was close to CIA officers led them to view Nasser as a CIA "asset".<ref name="Neff, Donald p. 177">{{Harvnb|Neff|1981|p=177}}</ref> In turn, the British who were aware of Nasser's CIA ties resented this relationship, which they viewed as an American attempt to push them out of Egypt.<ref name="Neff, Donald p. 177"/> The reason for Nasser's courting of the CIA before the coup was his hope the Americans would act as a restraining influence on the British, should Britain decide on intervention to put an end to the revolution (until Egypt renounced it in 1951, the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian treaty allowed Britain the right of intervention against foreign and domestic threats).<ref>{{Harvnb|Thornhill|2004|pp=893–894}}</ref> In turn, many American officials, such as Ambassador [[Jefferson Caffery]], saw the British military presence in Egypt as anachronistic, and viewed the Revolutionary Command Council (as Nasser called his government) in a favourable light.<ref>{{Harvnb|Thornhill|2004|p=900}}</ref>

Caffery was consistently positive about Nasser in his reports to Washington, right up until his departure from Cairo in 1955. The regime of King Farouk was viewed in Washington as weak, corrupt, unstable, and anti-American, so the Free Officers' July coup was welcomed.<ref name="Burns, William p. 11"/> Nasser's contacts with the CIA were not necessary to prevent British intervention against the coup as Anglo-Egyptian relations had deteriorated so badly in 1951–52 that the British viewed any Egyptian government not headed by King Farouk as an improvement.<ref>{{Harvnb|Thornhill|2004|p=899}}</ref> In May 1953, during a meeting with Secretary Dulles, who asked Egypt to join an anti-Soviet alliance, Nasser responded by saying that the Soviet Union has

{{Blockquote|never occupied our territory ... but the British have been here for seventy years. How can I go to my people and tell them I am disregarding a killer with a pistol sixty miles from me at the Suez Canal to worry about somebody who is holding a knife a thousand miles away?<ref name="Gaddis, John Lewis, p. 168"/>}}
Dulles informed Nasser of his belief that the Soviet Union was seeking world conquest, that the principal danger to the Near East came from the Kremlin, and urged Nasser to set aside his differences with Britain to focus on countering the Soviet Union.<ref name="Gaddis, John Lewis, p. 168"/> In this spirit, Dulles suggested that Nasser negotiate a deal that would see Egypt assume sovereignty over the canal zone base, but then allow the British to have "technical control" in the same way Ford auto company provided parts and training to its Egyptian dealers.<ref name="Gaddis, John Lewis, p. 168"/>

Nasser did not share Dulles's fear of the Soviet Union and insisted vehemently he wanted to see the end of British influence in the Middle East.<ref name="Gaddis, John Lewis, p. 168"/> The CIA offered Nasser a $3 million bribe if he would join the proposed Middle East Defense Organization; Nasser took the money, but refused to join.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gaddis|1998|p=169}}</ref> Nasser made it clear to the Americans he wanted an Egyptian-dominated Arab League to be the principal defence organisation in the Near East, which might be informally associated with the United States.

After he returned to Washington, Dulles advised Eisenhower that the Arab states believed "the United States will back the new state of Israel in aggressive expansion. Our basic political problem ... is to improve the Moslem states' attitudes towards Western democracies because our prestige in that area had been in constant decline ever since the war".<ref name="Neff, Donald p. 43"/> The immediate consequence was a new policy of "even-handedness" where the United States very publicly sided with the Arab states in disputes with Israel in 1953–54.<ref>{{Harvnb|Neff|1981|pp=43–44}}</ref> Moreover, Dulles did not share any sentimental regard for the Anglo-American "[[Special Relationship|special relationship]]", which led the Americans to lean towards the Egyptian side in the Anglo-Egyptian disputes.<ref>{{Harvnb|Neff|1981|pp=44–45}}</ref> During the difficult negotiations over the British evacuation of the Suez Canal base in 1954–55, the Americans supported Egypt, though trying hard to limit the extent of the damage this might cause to Anglo-American relations.<ref>{{Harvnb|Thornhill|2004|pp=906–907}}</ref>

In the same report of May 1953 to President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] calling for "even-handedness", Dulles stated that the Egyptians were not interested in joining the proposed MEDO; that the Arabs were more interested in their disputes with the British, French, Israelis and each other than in standing against the Soviets; and that the "Northern Tier" states of Turkey, Iran and Pakistan were more useful as allies than Egypt.<ref name="Sayed-Ahmed 1993, p. 90"/> Accordingly, the best American policy towards Egypt was to work towards Arab–Israeli peace and the settlement of the Anglo-Egyptian dispute over the British Suez Canal base, as the best way of securing Egypt's ultimate adhesion to an American sponsored alliance centered on the "Northern Tier" states.<ref>{{Harvnb|Sayed-Ahmed|1993|p=91}}</ref>

The "Northern Tier" alliance was achieved in early 1955 with the creation of the Baghdad Pact comprising Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Iraq and the UK.<ref name="Burns, William p. 24">{{Harvnb|Burns|1985|p=24}}</ref> The presence of the last two states was due to the British desire to continue to maintain influence in the Middle East, and Nuri Said's wish to associate his country with the West, as the best way of counterbalancing the aggressive Egyptian claims to regional predominance.<ref name="Burns, William p. 24"/> The conclusion of the Baghdad Pact occurred almost simultaneously with a dramatic Israeli [[Reprisal operations (Israel)|reprisal operation]] on the [[All-Palestine Protectorate|Gaza Strip]] on 28 February 1955 in retaliation for [[Palestinian Fedayeen insurgency|Palestinian ''fedayeen'' raids into Israel]], during which the Israeli [[Unit 101]] commanded by [[Ariel Sharon]] did damage to [[Egyptian Army]] forces.<ref name="Burns, William p. 24"/>

The close occurrence of the two events was mistakenly interpreted by Nasser as part of coordinated Western effort to push him into joining the Baghdad Pact.<ref name="Sayed-Ahmed 1993, pp. 91">{{Harvnb|Sayed-Ahmed|1993|pp=91–92}}</ref> The signing of the Baghdad Pact and the Gaza raid marked the beginning of the end of Nasser's good relations with the Americans.<ref name="Sayed-Ahmed 1993, pp. 91"/> In particular, Nasser saw Iraq's participation in the Baghdad Pact as a Western attempt to promote his archenemy Nuri al-Said as an alternative leader of the Arab world.<ref>{{Harvnb|Sayed-Ahmed|1993|p=92}}</ref>

===== Nasser and the Soviet Union =====
Instead of siding with either superpower, Nasser took the role of the spoiler, and tried to play them off, to have them compete in attempts to buy his friendship.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gaddis|1998|pp=170–172}}</ref>

Under the new leadership of [[Nikita Khrushchev]], the Soviet Union was making a major effort to win influence in the so-called [[Third World]].<ref name="Gaddis, John Lewis, p. 171">{{Harvnb|Gaddis|1998|p=171}}</ref> As part of the diplomatic offensive, Khrushchev had abandoned Moscow's traditional line of treating all non-communists as enemies and adopted a tactic of befriending so-called "non-aligned" nations, which often were led by leaders who were non-Communists, but were hostile towards the West.<ref name="Gaddis, John Lewis, p. 171"/> Khrushchev had realised that by treating non-communists as being the same thing as being anti-communist, Moscow had needlessly alienated many potential friends over the years in the Third World.<ref name="Gaddis, John Lewis, p. 171"/> Under the banner of anti-imperialism, Khrushchev made it clear that the Soviet Union would provide arms to any left-wing government in the Third World as a way of undercutting Western influence.<ref>{{Harvnb|Love|1969|pp=306–307}}</ref>

Chinese Premier [[Zhou Enlai]] met Nasser at the 1955 [[Bandung Conference]] and was impressed by him. Zhou recommended that Khrushchev treat Nasser as a potential ally.<ref name="Gaddis, John Lewis, p. 171"/> Zhou described Nasser to Khrushchev as a young nationalist who, though no Communist, could if used correctly do much damage to Western interests in the Middle East. Marshal [[Josip Broz Tito]] of [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], who also came to know Nasser at the [[Bandung Conference]] told Khrushchev in a 1955 meeting that "Nasser was a young man without much political experience, but if we give him the benefit of the doubt, we might be able to exert a beneficial influence on him, both for the sake of the Communist movement, and ... the Egyptian people".<ref name="Gaddis, John Lewis, p. 171"/> Traditionally, most of the equipment in the Egyptian military had come from Britain, but Nasser's desire to break British influence in Egypt meant that he was desperate to find a new source of weapons to replace Britain. Nasser had first broached the subject of buying weapons from the Soviet Union in 1954.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gaddis|1998|pp=170–171}}</ref>

===== Nasser and the United States =====
Most of all, Nasser wanted the United States to supply arms on a generous scale to Egypt.<ref name="Burns, William p. 24"/> Nasser refused to promise that any U.S. arms he might buy would not be used against Israel, and rejected out of hand the American demand for a [[Military Assistance Advisory Group]] to be sent to Egypt as part of the arms sales.<ref name="Burns, William pp. 16">{{Harvnb|Burns|1985|pp=16–17, 18–22}}</ref>

Nasser's first choice for buying weapons was the United States. However his frequent [[Anti-Zionism|anti-Zionist]] speeches and sponsorship of the [[Palestinian fedayeen|Palestinian ''fedayeen'']], who made frequent raids into Israel, rendered it difficult for the [[Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower administration]] to get the approval of Congress necessary to sell weapons to Egypt. American public opinion was deeply hostile towards selling arms to Egypt that might be used against Israel. Moreover, Eisenhower feared doing so could trigger a Middle Eastern arms race.<ref name="Burns, William pp. 16"/> Eisenhower very much valued the [[Tripartite Declaration of 1950|Tripartite Declaration]] as a way of keeping peace in the Near East. In 1950, in order to limit the extent that the Arabs and the Israelis could engage in an [[arms race]], the three nations which dominated the arms trade in the non-Communist world, namely the United States, the United Kingdom and France, had signed the Tripartite Declaration, where they had committed themselves to limiting how much arms they could sell in the Near East, and also to ensuring that any arms sales to one side was matched by arms sales of equal quantity and quality to the other.<ref>{{Harvnb|Neff|1981|p=73}}</ref> Eisenhower viewed the Tripartite Declaration, which sharply restricted how many arms Egypt could buy in the West, as one of the key elements in keeping the peace between Israel and the Arabs, and believed that setting off an arms race would inevitably lead to a new war.

The Egyptians made continuous attempts to purchase heavy arms from [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic|Czechoslovakia]] years before the 1955 deal.<ref name="Laron-p16">{{Cite web |last=Laron |first=Guy |date=February 2007 |title=Cutting the Gordian Knot: The Post-WWII Egyptian Quest for Arms and the 1955 Czechoslovak Arms Deal |url=http://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/cutting-the-gordian-knot-the-post-wwii-egyptian-quest-for-arms-and-the-1955-czechoslovak |publisher=wilsoncenter.org |page=16 |quote="Egyptian representatives were able to sign a new commercial agreement with Czechoslovakia on 24 October 1951, which included a secret clause stating that "the government of Czechoslovakia will provide the Egyptian government with arms and ammunition—to be selected by Egyptian experts—worth about 600 million Egyptian pounds, to be paid in Egyptian cotton." The Egyptian experts requested 200 tanks, 200 armored vehicles, 60 to 100 MIG-15 planes, 2,000 trucks, 1,000 jeeps, and other items.... Czechoslovakia would not be able to supply weapons to Egypt in 1952. And each year, from then until 1955, Prague kept finding new reasons to delay the shipments "}}</ref>

Nasser had let it be known, in 1954–55, that he was considering buying weapons from the Soviet Union, and thus coming under Soviet influence, as a way of pressuring the Americans into selling him the arms he desired.<ref name="Gaddis, John Lewis, p. 171"/> Khrushchev, who very much wanted to win the Soviet Union influence in the Middle East, was more than ready to arm Egypt if the Americans proved unwilling.<ref name="Gaddis, John Lewis, p. 171"/> During secret talks with the Soviets in 1955, Nasser's demands for weapons were more than amply satisfied as the Soviet Union had not signed the Tripartite Declaration.<ref>{{Harvnb|Neff|1981|pp=93–94}}</ref> The news in September 1955 of the Egyptian purchase of a huge quantity of Soviet arms via Czechoslovakia was greeted with shock and rage in the West, where this was seen as a major increase in Soviet influence in the Near East.<ref>Goldman, Marshal ''Soviet Foreign Aid'', New York: Fredrich Prager, 1968, p. 60.</ref> In Britain, the increase of Soviet influence in the Near East was seen as an ominous development that threatened to put an end to British influence in the oil-rich region.<ref>{{Harvnb|Adamthwaite|1988|p=450}}</ref>

==== France and Egypt's support for Algerian rebels ====
{{See also|Algerian War}}
Over the same period, the French Premier [[Guy Mollet]] was facing an increasingly serious rebellion in [[Algeria]], where the Algerian [[National Liberation Front (Algeria)|National Liberation Front (FLN)]] rebels were being verbally supported by Egypt via transmissions of the [[Voice of the Arabs]] radio, financially supported with Suez Canal revenue<ref>p. 102 Alexander, Anne ''Nasser'' Haus Publishing, 1 Sep 2005</ref> and clandestinely owned Egyptian ships were shipping arms to the FLN.<ref>Sirrs, Owen L. ''The Egyptian Intelligence Service: A History of the Mukhabarat, 1910–2009'' Routledge, 25 Feb 2010</ref> Mollet came to perceive Nasser as a major threat.<ref name="Kyle, Keith, p. 115">{{Harvnb|Kyle|2003|p=115}}</ref> During a visit to London in March 1956, Mollet told Eden his country was faced with an Islamic threat to the very soul of France supported by the Soviet Union.<ref name="Kyle, Keith, p. 115"/> Mollet stated: "All this is in the works of Nasser, just as Hitler's policy was written down in ''[[Mein Kampf]]''. Nasser has the ambition to recreate the [[Spread of Islam|conquests of Islam]]. But his present position is largely due to the policy of the West in building up and flattering him".<ref name="Kyle, Keith, p. 115"/>

In a May 1956 gathering of French veterans, [[Louis Mangin]] spoke in place of the unavailable Minister of Defence and gave a violently anti-Nasser speech, which compared the Egyptian leader to Hitler. He accused Nasser of plotting to rule the entire Middle East and of seeking to annex Algeria, whose "people live in community with France".<ref>{{Harvnb|Kyle|2003|pp=116–117}}</ref> Mangin urged France to stand up to Nasser, and being a strong friend of Israel, urged an alliance with that nation against Egypt.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kyle|2003|p=117}}</ref>

==== Fluctuation of the Egyptian–Israeli relationship ====
Prior to 1955, Nasser had pursued efforts to reach peace with Israel and had worked to prevent cross-border Palestinian attacks.<ref name="Nasr1996p40">{{Cite book |last=Nasr |first=Kameel B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QRXURzwdXS4C&pg=PA39 |title=Arab and Israeli Terrorism: The Causes and Effects of Political Violence, 1936–1993 |date=1 December 1996 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-3105-2 |pages=39–40 |quote=Nasser was personally furious; the raid, using sophisticated weapons, had no provocation. Seeing that peace was impossible ... he also allowed Palestinians, who held sizeable demonstrations in Gaza and Cairo after the attack, to organize raids. ... These incursions paved the way for the 1956 Suez War...}}</ref> In February 1955, [[Unit 101]], an Israeli unit under [[Ariel Sharon]], [[Operation Black Arrow|conducted a raid]] on the Egyptian Army headquarters in Gaza in retaliation for a ''[[Palestinian fedayeen]]'' attack that killed an Israeli civilian.<ref>[[Benny Morris]], ''Righteous Victims'', p. 283</ref> As a result of the incident, Nasser began allowing raids into Israel by the Palestinian militants.<ref name="Nasr1996p40"/> Egypt established fedayeen bases not just in Gaza but also in Jordan and Lebanon, from which incursions could be launched with a greater amount of plausible deniability on the part of Nasser's Egypt.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Oren |first=Michael B. |date=April 1989 |title=Escalation to Suez: The Egypt-Israel Border War, 1949–56 |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/002200948902400208 |journal=[[Journal of Contemporary History]] |language=en |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=347–375 |doi=10.1177/002200948902400208 |issn=0022-0094 |s2cid=153741710 |access-date=13 October 2023}}</ref> The raids triggered a series of Israeli [[reprisal operations]], which ultimately contributed to the Suez Crisis.<ref name="Vatikiotis, P.J. pp. 252">{{Harvnb|Vatikiotis|1978|pp=252–253}}</ref><ref name="Nasr1996p40"/>

==== Emergence of a French–Israeli alliance ====
Starting in 1949 owing to shared nuclear research, France and Israel started to move towards an alliance.<ref>{{Harvnb|Neff|1981|p=160}}</ref> Following the outbreak of the Algerian War in late 1954, France began to ship more and more arms to Israel.<ref>{{Harvnb|Neff|1981|pp=160–161}}</ref> In November 1954, the Director-General of Israel's Ministry of Defense [[Shimon Peres]] visited Paris, where he was received by the French Defense Minister [[Marie-Pierre Kœnig]], who told him that France would sell Israel any weapons it wanted to buy.<ref name="Neff, Donald pp. 162">{{Harvnb|Neff|1981|pp=162–163}}</ref> By early 1955, France was shipping large amounts of weapons to Israel.<ref name="Neff, Donald pp. 162"/> In April 1956, following another visit to Paris by Peres, France agreed to totally disregard the [[Tripartite Declaration of 1950|Tripartite Declaration]], and supply even more weapons to Israel.<ref>{{Harvnb|Neff|1981|pp=234–236}}</ref> During the same visit, Peres informed the French that Israel had decided upon war with Egypt in 1956.<ref name="Neff, Donald p. 235">{{Harvnb|Neff|1981|p=235}}</ref> Peres claimed that Nasser was a genocidal maniac intent upon not only destroying Israel, but also exterminating its people, and as such, Israel wanted a war before Egypt received even more Soviet weapons, and there was still a possibility of victory for the Jewish state.<ref name="Neff, Donald p. 235"/>

==== Frustration of British influence in the Middle East ====
Throughout 1955 and 1956, Nasser pursued a number of policies that would frustrate British aims throughout the Middle East, and result in increasing hostility between Britain and Egypt. Nasser saw Iraq's inclusion in the Baghdad Pact as indicating that the United States and Britain had sided with his much hated archenemy [[Nuri al-Said]]'s efforts to be the leader of the Arab world, and much of the motivation for Nasser's turn to an active anti-Western policy starting in 1955 was due to his displeasure with the Baghdad Pact.<ref>{{Harvnb|Burns|1985|pp=24–25, 26–27}}</ref> For Nasser, attendance at such events as the [[Bandung Conference|Bandung conference]] in April 1955 served as both the means of striking a posture as a global leader, and of playing hard to get in his talks with the Americans, especially his demand that the United States sell him vast quantities of arms.<ref>{{Harvnb|Burns|1985|pp=27–28}}</ref>

Nasser "played on the widespread suspicion that any Western defence pact was merely veiled colonialism and that Arab disunity and weakness—especially in the struggle with Israel—was a consequence of British machinations."<ref name="Darwin 210"/> He also began to align Egypt with the kingdom of [[Saudi Arabia]]—whose [[House of Saud|rulers]] were hereditary enemies of the [[Hashemites]]—in an effort to frustrate British efforts to draw [[Syria]], Jordan and [[Lebanon]] into the orbit of the [[Baghdad Pact]]. Nasser struck a further blow against Britain by negotiating an arms deal with communist [[Czechoslovakia]] in September 1955.<ref>{{Harvnb|Darwin|1988|p=211}}</ref>

== Egyptian policies in 1956 ==

=== Nasser and Jordan ===
Nasser frustrated British attempts to draw Jordan into the pact by sponsoring demonstrations in [[Amman]], leading King [[Hussein of Jordan]] in the [[Arabization of the Jordanian Army command]] to dismiss the British commander of the [[Arab Legion]], [[John Bagot Glubb]] (known to the Arabs as Glubb Pasha) in March 1956.<ref name="Kissinger 529">{{Harvnb|Kissinger|1994|p=529}}</ref> After one round of bloody rioting in December 1955 and another in March 1956 against Jordan joining the Baghdad Pact, both instigated by the Cairo-based [[Voice of the Arabs]] radio station, Hussein believed his throne was in danger.<ref>{{Harvnb|Neff|1981|pp=178–179}}</ref>

=== Nasser and Britain ===
British Prime Minister [[Anthony Eden]] was especially upset at the sacking of Glubb Pasha, and as one British politician recalled:
{{Blockquote|For Eden ... this was the last straw.... This reverse, he insisted was Nasser's doing.... Nasser was our Enemy No. 1 in the Middle East and he would not rest until he destroyed all our friends and eliminated the last vestiges of our influence.... Nasser must therefore be ... destroyed.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Mason |first1=Edward |title=The World Bank Since Bretton Woods |last2=Asher |first2=Robert |date=1973 |publisher=Brookings Institution |location=Washington |page=638}}</ref>}}
After the sacking of Glubb Pasha, which he saw as a grievous blow to British influence, Eden became consumed with an obsessional hatred for Nasser, and from March 1956 onwards, was in private committed to the overthrow of Nasser.<ref>{{Harvnb|Neff|1981|p=180}}</ref> The American historian Donald Neff wrote that Eden's often hysterical and overwrought views towards Nasser almost certainly reflected the influence of the amphetamines to which Eden had become addicted following a botched operation in 1953 together with the related effects of sustained sleep deprivation (Eden slept on average about 5 hours per night in early 1956).<ref>{{Harvnb|Neff|1981|pp=182–183}}</ref>

Britain was eager to tame Nasser and looked towards the United States for support. However, Eisenhower strongly opposed British-French military action.<ref>{{Harvnb|Alteras|1993|loc=ch. 7–8}}</ref> The United States, opposed to foreign intervention in Egypt, initially blocked British access to IMF help, pressuring the United Kingdom to withdraw its troops. When the British government, left with no choice, acceded to US demands, the [[International Monetary Fund|IMF]] extended its largest-ever loan to a member (an immediate $561 million drawing to replenish the UK's reserves, with an additional $739 million "stand-by" loan to be provided on an as-needed basis). Smaller loans were extended to France, Israel, and Egypt.<ref>
Eichengreen, Barry, and others, 'Cycles of Debt', In Defense of Public Debt (New York, 2021; online edn, Oxford Academic, 22 Sept. 2022), https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197577899.003.0009, accessed 16 Mar. 2024.
</ref> America's closest Arab ally, Saudi Arabia, was just as fundamentally opposed to the Hashemite-dominated Baghdad Pact as Egypt, and the U.S. was keen to increase its own influence in the region.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gaddis|1998|pp=168–169}}</ref> The failure of the Baghdad Pact aided such a goal by reducing Britain's dominance over the region. "Great Britain would have preferred to overthrow Nasser; America, however uncomfortable with the '[[Czech arms deal]]', thought it wiser to propitiate him."<ref>{{Harvnb|Kissinger|1994|p=528}}</ref>

=== American financing for Egypt's Aswan Dam ===
On 16 May 1956, Nasser officially recognized the [[China|People's Republic of China]], which angered the U.S. and Secretary Dulles, a sponsor of the [[Republic of China]].<ref name="Kissinger 529"/> This move, coupled with the impression that the project was beyond Egypt's economic capabilities, caused Eisenhower to withdraw all American financial aid for the [[Aswan Dam]] project on 19 July.<ref name="Kissinger 529"/>

The Eisenhower administration believed that if Nasser were able to secure Soviet economic support for the high dam, that would be beyond the capacity of the Soviet Union to support, and in turn would strain Soviet-Egyptian relations.<ref name="Gaddis, John Lewis, p. 172">{{Harvnb|Gaddis|1998|p=172}}</ref> Eisenhower wrote in March 1956 that "If Egypt finds herself thus isolated from the rest of the Arab world, and with no ally in sight except Soviet Russia, she would very quickly get sick of the prospect and would join us in the search for a just and decent peace in the region".<ref name="Gaddis, John Lewis, p. 172"/> Dulles told his brother, CIA director [[Allen Dulles]], "If they [the Soviets] do make this offer we can make a lot of use of it in propaganda within the satellite bloc. You don't get bread because you are being squeezed to build a dam".<ref name="Gaddis, John Lewis, p. 172"/>

Finally, the Eisenhower administration had become very annoyed at Nasser's efforts to play the United States off against the Soviet Union, and refused to finance the Aswan high dam. As early as September 1955, when Nasser announced the [[Egyptian–Czechoslovak arms deal|purchase of the Soviet military equipment via Czechoslovakia]], Dulles had written that competing for Nasser's favor was probably going to be "an expensive process", one that Dulles wanted to avoid as much as possible.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gaddis|1998|pp=171–172}}</ref>

=== Nasser-US negotiations ===
In January 1956, to end the incipient arms race in the Middle East (set off by the Soviet Union selling Egypt arms on a scale unlimited by the Tripartite Declaration and with France doing likewise with Israel), which he saw as opening the Near East to Soviet influence, Eisenhower launched a major effort to make peace between Egypt and Israel. Eisenhower sent out his close friend [[Robert B. Anderson (Texas politician)|Robert B. Anderson]] to serve as a secret envoy who would permanently end the Arab–Israeli dispute.<ref>{{Harvnb|Neff|1981|pp=130–131}}</ref> During his meetings with Nasser, Anderson offered large quantities of American aid in exchange for a peace treaty with Israel. Nasser demanded Palestinian refugees be given the opportunity to choose between repatriation or resettlement in Arab countries, wanted to annex the southern half of Israel and rejected direct talks with Israel.<ref name="Alteras1993p166">{{Harvnb|Alteras|1993|loc=pp. 169 "Nasser's personal security and that of his government were at stake. Several times during the conversation Nasser mentioned the murder of King Abdullah."}}</ref> Given Nasser's territorial and refugee-related demands, the Israeli Prime Minister [[David Ben-Gurion]] suspected that Nasser was not interested in a settlement, insteading demanding face-to-face negotiations with Nasser, starting with lower-level negotiations, and weapons from the US.<ref>{{Harvnb|Neff|1981|pp=135–136}}</ref> Nasser was unwilling to accept direct negotiations, citing possible assassinations such as the assassination of [[Abdullah I of Jordan|King Abduallah]].<ref name="Alteras1993p166" />

A second round of secret diplomacy by Anderson in February 1956 was equally unsuccessful.<ref>{{Harvnb|Neff|1981|pp=168–169}}</ref> Nasser sometimes suggested during his talks with Anderson that he was interested in peace with Israel if only the Americans would supply him with unlimited quantities of military and economic aid. In case of Israeli acceptance to the [[Palestinian right of return]] and to Egypt annexing the southern half of Israel, Egypt would not accept a peace settlement. The United States or the [[United Nations]] would have to present the Israeli acceptance to all Arabs as a basis for peace settlements.<ref name="Alteras1993p169">{{Harvnb|Alteras|1993|p=169}}</ref> It is not clear if Nasser was sincerely interested in peace, or just merely saying what the Americans wanted to hear in the hope of obtaining American funding for the Aswan high dam and American weapons.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yahel |first=Ido |date=October 2016 |title=Covert Diplomacy Between Israel and Egypt During Nasser Rule: 1952–1970 |journal=SAGE Open |language=en |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=215824401666744 |doi=10.1177/2158244016667449 |issn=2158-2440 |quote="Although Nasser may have wanted to reach some agreement with Israel, his suspicion and distrust prevented doing so."|doi-access=free }}</ref> The truth will likely never be known as Nasser was an intensely secretive man, who managed to hide his true opinions on most issues from both contemporaries and historians.<ref>{{Harvnb|Vatikiotis|1978|pp=306–307}}</ref> However, the British historian P. J. Vatikitos noted that Nasser's determination to promote Egypt as the world's foremost anti-Zionist state as a way of reinforcing his claim to Arab leadership meant that peace was unlikely.<ref>{{Harvnb|Vatikiotis|1978|p=252}}</ref>

Hasan Afif El-Hasan says that in 1955–1956 the Americans proposed to Nasser that he solve the Arab–Israeli conflict peacefully in exchange for American finance of the High Dam on the Nile river, but Nasser rejected the offer because it would mean siding with the West (as opposed to remaining neutral) in the Cold War. Since the alternative to a peace agreement was a war with unpredictable consequences, Nasser's refusal to accept the proposal was irrational, according to el-Hasan.<ref name="El-Hasan2010p156">{{Cite book |last=El-Hasan |first=Hasan Afif |title=Israel Or Palestine? Is the Two-state Solution Already Dead?: A Political and Military History of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict |date=1 January 2010 |publisher=Algora Publishing |isbn=978-0-8758-6794-6 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=qywm7XKcRvgC&pg=PA156 156] |quote="in 1955...The U.S offered to finance the High Dam on the Nile river...in exchange for Egypt's help to settle the Arab-Israeli conflict peacefully...But Nasser rejected the offer because it would mean siding with the West in the Cold War.... was the quasi alliance with the soviets more important than solving the Palestinian issue peacefully?...since the alternative to a negotiated settlement was a war with unpredictable consequences, Nasser's refusal to accept the Negotiation offer was irrational. "}}</ref>

== Nationalisation of the Suez Canal ==
[[File:1956-07-30 Suez Canal Seized.ogv|thumb|upright=1.15|Nasser announces the nationalisation of the canal ([[Universal Newsreel]], 30 July 1956).]]
[[File:Suez Canal, Port Said - ISS 2.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Port Said]], at the entrance to the Suez Canal from the Mediterranean.]]

Nasser's response was the nationalisation of the [[Suez Canal]]. On 26 July 1956, in a speech in [[Alexandria]], Nasser gave a riposte to Dulles. During his speech he deliberately pronounced the name of [[Ferdinand de Lesseps]], the builder of the canal, a code-word for Egyptian forces to seize control of the canal and implement its nationalisation.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kissinger|1994|p=530}}</ref> He announced that the Nationalization Law had been published, that all assets of the Suez Canal Company had been frozen, and that stockholders would be paid the price of their shares according to the day's closing price on the [[Paris Stock Exchange]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=1956-07-26 |title=1956: Egypt seizes Suez Canal |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/26/newsid_2701000/2701603.stm |access-date=2023-03-17 |work=BBC}}</ref> That same day, Egypt closed the canal to Israeli shipping.<ref name="BBC: 1956: Egypt Seizes Suez Canal">{{Cite news |date=26 July 1956 |title=1956: Egypt Seizes Suez Canal |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/26/newsid_2701000/2701603.stm |access-date=4 March 2007 |publisher=BBC}}</ref> Egypt also closed the [[Straits of Tiran]] to Israeli shipping, and blockaded the [[Gulf of Aqaba]], in contravention of the [[Convention of Constantinople|Constantinople Convention of 1888]]. Many argued that this was also a violation of the [[1949 Armistice Agreements]].<ref name="Sachar455">{{Harvnb|Sachar|1996|p=455}}</ref><ref name="State Dept.: Background Note: Israel">{{Cite web |title=Background Note: Israel |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3581.htm |access-date=4 March 2007 |publisher=US State Department}}</ref>

According to the Egyptian historian Abd al-Azim Ramadan, the events leading up to the nationalisation of the Suez Canal Company, as well as other events during Nasser's rule, showed Nasser to be far from a rational, responsible leader. Ramadan notes Nasser's decision to nationalise the Suez Canal without political consultation as an example of his predilection for solitary decision-making.<ref name="PodehWinckler2004p105">{{Cite book |last1=Podeh |first1=Elie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Z-po72YcH4C |title=Rethinking Nasserism: Revolution and Historical Memory in Modern Egypt |last2=Winckler |first2=Onn |date=1 December 2004 |publisher=University Press of Florida |isbn=978-0-8130-3137-8 |pages=105, 106 |quote=the prominent historian and commentator Abd al-Azim Ramadan, In a series of articles published in AlWafd, subsequently compiled in a book published in 2000, Ramadan criticized the Nasser cult.... The events leading up to the nationalization of the Suez Canal Company, as other events during Nasser's rule, Ramadan wrote, showed Nasser to be far from a rational, responsible leader.... His decision to nationalize the Suez Canal was his alone, made without political or military consultation. ... The source of all this evil. Ramadan noted, was Nasser's inclination to solitary decision making ... the revolutionary regime led by the same individual—Nasser— repeated its mistakes when it decided to expel the international peacekeeping force from the Sinai Peninsula and close the Straits of Tiran in 1967. Both decisions led to a state of war with Israel, despite the lack of military preparedness}}</ref>

=== British response ===
The nationalisation surprised Britain and its [[British Commonwealth|Commonwealth]]. There had been no discussion of the canal at the [[Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference]] in London in late June and early July.<ref name="eayrs1964">{{Cite book |last=Eayrs |first=James |title=The Commonwealth and Suez: A Documentary Survey |date=1964 |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref>{{Rp|7–8}} Egypt's action, however, threatened British economic and military interests in the region. Prime Minister Eden was under immense domestic pressure from Conservative MPs who drew direct comparisons between the events of 1956 and those of the [[Munich Agreement]] in 1938. Since the U.S. government did not support the British protests, the British government decided in favour of military intervention against Egypt to avoid the complete collapse of British prestige in the region.<ref name="Thorpe"/>

Eden was hosting a dinner for King [[Feisal II]] of Iraq and his Prime Minister, [[Nuri es-Said]], when he learned the canal had been nationalised. They both unequivocally advised Eden to "hit Nasser hard, hit him soon, and hit him by yourself" – a stance shared by the vast majority of the British people in subsequent weeks. "There is a lot of humbug about Suez," [[Guy Millard]], one of Eden's private secretaries, later recorded. "People forget that the policy at the time was extremely popular." Leader of the Opposition [[Hugh Gaitskell]] was also at the dinner. He immediately agreed that military action might be inevitable, but warned Eden would have to keep the Americans closely informed.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turner|2006|p=181}}</ref> After a session of the House of Commons expressed anger against the Egyptian action on 27 July, Eden justifiably believed that Parliament would support him; Gaitskell spoke for his party when he called the nationalisation a "high-handed and totally unjustifiable step".{{R|eayrs1964}}{{Rp|8–9}} When Eden made a ministerial broadcast on the nationalisation, Labour declined its right to reply.<ref name="goodwin2005">{{Cite journal |last=Goodwin |first=Peter |date=2005 |title=Low Conspiracy? — Government interference in the BBC |journal=Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=96–118 |doi=10.16997/wpcc.10 |issn=1744-6708 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

However, in the days that followed, Gaitskell's support became more cautious. On 2 August he said of Nasser's behaviour, "It is all very familiar. It is exactly the same that we encountered from Mussolini and Hitler in those years before the war". He cautioned Eden, however, that "[w]e must not, therefore, allow ourselves to get into a position where we might be denounced in the [[United Nations Security Council|Security Council]] as aggressors, or where the majority of the [[United Nations General Assembly|Assembly]] was against us". He had earlier warned Eden that Labour might not support Britain acting alone against Egypt.{{R|eayrs1964}}{{Rp|8–9}} In two letters to Eden sent on 3 and 10 August 1956, Gaitskell condemned Nasser but again warned that he would not support any action that violated the [[United Nations Charter]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Turner|2006|pp=231–232}}</ref> In his letter of 10 August, Gaitskell wrote:
{{Blockquote|Lest there should be any doubt in your mind about my personal attitude, let me say that I could not regard an armed attack on Egypt by ourselves and the French as justified by anything which Nasser has done so far or as consistent with the Charter of the United Nations. Nor, in my opinion, would such an attack be justified in order to impose a system of international control over the Canal-desirable though this is. If, of course, the whole matter were to be taken to the United Nations and if Egypt were to be condemned by them as aggressors, then, of course, the position would be different. And if further action which amounted to obvious aggression by Egypt were taken by Nasser, then again it would be different. So far what Nasser has done amounts to a threat, a grave threat to us and to others, which certainly cannot be ignored; but it is only a threat, not in my opinion justifying retaliation by war.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turner|2006|p=232}}</ref>}}

Two dozen Labour MPs issued a statement on 8 August stating that forcing Nasser to denationalise the canal against Egypt's wishes would violate the UN charter. Other opposition politicians were less conditional in their support. Former Labour Foreign Minister [[Herbert Morrison]] hinted that he would support unilateral action by the government.{{R|eayrs1964}}{{Rp|9–10}} [[Jo Grimond]], who became [[Leader of the Liberal Party (UK)|Leader of the Liberal Party]] that November, thought if Nasser went unchallenged the whole Middle East would go his way.<ref name="Thorpe"/>

In Britain, the nationalisation was perceived as a direct threat to British interests. In a letter to the British Ambassador on 10 September 1956, [[Ivone Kirkpatrick]], the Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office wrote: {{Blockquote|If we sit back while Nasser consolidates his position and gradually acquires control of the oil-bearing countries, he can and is, according to our information, resolved to wreck us. If Middle Eastern oil is denied to us for a year or two, our [[gold reserves]] will disappear. If our gold reserves disappear, the [[sterling area]] disintegrates. If the sterling area disintegrates and we have no reserves, we shall not be able to maintain a [[British Army of the Rhine|force in Germany]], or indeed, anywhere else. I doubt whether we shall be able to pay for the bare minimum necessary for our defence. And a country that cannot provide for its defence is finished.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kyle|2003|pp=225–226}}</ref>}}

Direct military intervention{{by who|date=July 2024}}, however, ran the risk of angering Washington and damaging Anglo-Arab relations.{{fact|date=July 2024}} As a result, the British government concluded a secret military pact with France and Israel that was aimed at regaining control over the Suez Canal.{{fact|date=July 2024}}

=== French response ===
The French Prime Minister [[Guy Mollet]], outraged by Nasser's move, determined that Nasser would not get his way.<ref name="Kyle, Keith, p. 144">{{Harvnb|Kyle|2003|p=144}}</ref> French public opinion very much supported Mollet, and apart from the [[French Communist Party]], all of the criticism of his government came from the right, who very publicly doubted that a socialist like Mollet had the guts to go to war with Nasser.<ref name="Kyle, Keith, p. 144"/> During an interview with publisher [[Henry Luce]], Mollet held up a copy of Nasser's book ''The Philosophy of the Revolution'' and said: "This is Nasser's ''Mein Kampf''. If we're too stupid not to read it, understand it and draw the obvious conclusions, then so much the worse for us."<ref name="Kyle, Keith, p. 145">{{Harvnb|Kyle|2003|p=145}}</ref>

[[File:Suez nationalization.ogv|thumb|upright=1.15|thumbtime=2:32|1956 newsreels about Western reactions to the nationalisation. Pictured: [[John Foster Dulles]], US Secretary of State, and British Foreign Secretary [[Selwyn Lloyd]] at conference in London.]]

On 29 July 1956, the [[Government of France|French Cabinet]] decided upon military action against Egypt in alliance with Israel, and Admiral Nomy of the French Naval General Staff was sent to Britain to inform the [[leader]]s of that country of France's decision, and to invite them to co-operate if interested.<ref name="Kyle, Keith, p. 145"/> At the same time, Mollet felt very much offended by what he considered to be the lackadaisical attitude of the Eisenhower administration to the nationalisation of the Suez Canal Company.<ref name="Kyle, Keith, p. 156">{{Harvnb|Kyle|2003|p=156}}</ref> This was especially the case because earlier in 1956 the Soviet Foreign Minister [[Vyacheslav Molotov]] had offered the French a deal whereby if Moscow ended its support of the [[National Liberation Front (Algeria)|FLN]] in Algeria, Paris would remain in [[NATO]] but become "semi-neutralist" in the [[Cold War]].<ref name="Kyle, Keith, p. 156"/>

Given the way that Algeria (which the French considered an integral part of France) had become engulfed in a spiral of increasing violence that French leaders longed to put an end to, the Mollet administration had felt tempted by Molotov's offer, but in the end, Mollet, a firm [[Atlanticism|Atlanticist]], had chosen to remain faithful to NATO. In Mollet's view, his fidelity to NATO had earned him the right to expect firm American support against Egypt, and when that support proved not forthcoming, he became even more determined that if the Americans were not willing to do anything about Nasser, then France would act.<ref name="Kyle, Keith, p. 156"/>{{additional citation needed|date=August 2024}}

=== Commonwealth response ===
Among the "White Dominions" of the [[Commonwealth of Nations|British Commonwealth]], Canada had few ties with the Suez Canal and twice had refused British requests for peacetime military aid in the Middle East. It had little reaction to the seizure before military action. By 1956 the [[Panama Canal]] was much more important than Suez to Australia and New Zealand; the following year two experts would write that it "is not vital to the [[Economy of Australia|Australian economy]]". The memory, however, of the two nations fighting in two world wars to protect a canal which many still called their "lifeline" to Britain or "jugular vein", contributed to Australian Prime Minister [[Robert Menzies]] and New Zealand Prime Minister [[Sidney Holland]] supporting Britain in the early weeks following the seizure. On 7 August Holland hinted to his parliament that New Zealand might send troops to assist Britain, and received support from the opposition. On 13 August, Menzies, who had travelled to London from the United States after hearing of the nationalisation and became an informal member of the [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom|British Cabinet]] discussing the issue, spoke on the BBC in support of the Eden government's position on the canal. He called the dispute over the canal "a crisis more grave than any since the Second World War ended".{{R|eayrs1964}}{{Rp|13–16,56–58,84}} An elder statesman of the Commonwealth who felt that Nasser's actions threatened trading nations like Australia, he argued publicly that Western powers had built the canal but that Egypt was now seeking to exclude them from a role in its ownership or management.<ref name="ReferenceB"/><ref name="ReferenceC">Brian Carroll; From Barton to Fraser; Cassell Australia; 1978</ref> South Africa's [[Johannes Strijdom]] stated "it is best to keep our heads out of the beehive". His government saw Nasser as an enemy but would benefit economically and geopolitically from a closed canal, and diplomatically from [[Foreign relations of South Africa during apartheid|not opposing a nation's right to govern its internal affairs]].{{R|eayrs1964}}{{Rp|16–18}}

The "non-white Dominions" saw Egypt's seizing of the canal as an admirable act of [[anti-imperialism]], and Nasser's Arab nationalism as similar to Asian nationalism. Indian Prime Minister [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] was with Nasser when he learned of the Anglo-American withdrawal of aid for the Aswan Dam. As India was a major user of the canal, however, he remained publicly neutral other than warning that any use of force, or threats, could be "disastrous". Suez was also very important to the [[Dominion of Ceylon]]'s economy, and it was renegotiating defence treaties with Britain, so its government was not as vocal in supporting Egypt as it would have likely been otherwise. Pakistan was also cautious about supporting Egypt given their rivalry as leading Islamic nations, but its government did state that Nasser had the right to nationalise.{{R|eayrs1964}}{{Rp|18–24,79}}

=== Western diplomacy ===
On 1 August 1956, a tripartite meeting was opened at [[10 Downing Street]] between British Foreign Secretary [[Selwyn Lloyd]], U.S. Ambassador [[Robert Daniel Murphy|Robert D. Murphy]] and French Foreign Affairs Minister [[Christian Pineau]].<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.ina.fr/video/AFE85006880 |title=Le canal de Suez et la nationalisation par le Colonel Nasser |date=1 August 1956 |type=Television production |language=French |publisher=[[Institut national de l'audiovisuel]] |access-date=3 July 2021 |work=Les Actualités françaises}}</ref>

[[File:Portrait Menzies 1950s.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Australian Prime Minister [[Robert Menzies]] led an international committee in negotiations with Nasser in September 1956, which sought to achieve international management of the Suez Canal. The mission was a failure.]]

Almost immediately after the nationalisation, Eisenhower suggested to Eden a conference of maritime nations that used the canal. The British preferred to invite the most important countries, but the Americans believed that inviting as many as possible amid maximum publicity would affect world opinion. Invitations went to the eight surviving signatories of the [[Convention of Constantinople|Constantinople Convention]] and the 16 other largest users of the canal: Australia, Ceylon, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, West Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Portugal, Soviet Union, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. All except Egypt—which sent an observer, and used India and the Soviet Union to represent its interests—and Greece accepted the invitation, and the 22 nations' representatives met in London from 16 to 23 August.<ref name="life19560827">{{Cite magazine |date=27 August 1956 |title=Compromise-Minded Conferees |magazine=Life |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=6UcEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA43 43]}}</ref>{{Sfn|Kingseed|1995|pp=66–67}}{{R|eayrs1964}}{{Rp|81–89}}

Fifteen of the nations supported the American-British-French position of international operation of the canal; Pakistan chose its western allies over its sympathy for Egypt's anti-western position despite resulting great domestic controversy. Ceylon, Indonesia, and the Soviet Union supported India's competing proposal—which Nasser had preapproved—of international supervision only. India criticised Egypt's seizure of the canal, but insisted that its ownership and operation now not change. The majority of 18 chose five nations to negotiate with Nasser in Cairo led by Menzies, while their proposal for international operation of the canal would go to the Security Council.{{R|eayrs1964}}{{Rp|81–89}}<ref name="ReferenceB">{{Cite book |last=Menzies |first=R. G. |title=Speech is of Time |date=1958 |publisher=Cassell |location=London}}</ref>{{Sfn|Kingseed|1995|pages=66–67}}

Menzies' 7 September official communique to Nasser presented a case for compensation for the Suez Canal Company and the "establishment of principles" for the future use of the canal that would ensure that it would "continue to be an international waterway operated free of politics or national discrimination, and with financial structure so secure and an international confidence so high that an expanding and improving future for the Canal could be guaranteed" and called for a convention to recognise Egyptian sovereignty of the canal, but for the establishment of an international body to run the canal. Nasser saw such measures as a "derogation from Egyptian sovereignty" and rejected Menzies' proposals.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> Menzies hinted to Nasser that Britain and France might use force to resolve the crisis, but Eisenhower openly opposed the use of force and Menzies left Egypt without success.<ref name="ReferenceC"/>

Instead of the 18-nation proposal, the United States proposed an association of canal users that would set rules for its operation. Whereas 14 of the other nations, not including Pakistan, agreed. Britain, in particular, believed that violation of the association rules would result in military force, but after Eden made a speech to this effect in parliament on 12 September, the US Ambassador Dulles insisted "...we do not intend to shoot our way through" the canal.{{R|eayrs1964}}{{Rp|89–92}} The United States worked through diplomatic channels to resolve the crisis without military conflict. "The British and French reluctantly agreed to pursue the diplomatic avenue but viewed it as merely an attempt to buy time, during which they continued their military preparations."<ref>{{Harvnb|Risse-Kappen|1997|p=86}}</ref> The British, [[Special Relationship|Washington's closest ally]], disregarded Eisenhower's argument that the American people would not accept a military solution.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shaw |first=Tony |title=Eden, Suez and the Mass Media: Propaganda and Persuasion During the Suez Crisis |date=1996 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |isbn=978-1-8504-3955-4 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ElFPJNo3n6UC&pg=PA171 171]}}</ref>

On 25 September 1956 the Chancellor of the Exchequer [[Harold Macmillan]] met informally with Eisenhower at the [[White House]]. Macmillan doubted that Eisenhower had a determination to avoid war, and told Eden that the Americans would not in any way oppose the attempt to topple Nasser.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=Charles |title=Harold Macmillan |date=2009 |pages=250–252}}</ref> The Americans refused to support any move that could be seen as [[imperialism]] or [[colonialism]], seeing the US as the champion of [[Decolonization|decolonisation]]. Eisenhower felt the crisis had to be handled peacefully; he told Eden that American public opinion, and the international community, "would be outraged" unless all peaceful routes had been exhausted, and even then "the eventual price might become far too heavy".<ref>{{Harvnb|James|1986|loc=pp. 462–465, quote p. 472 dated 31 July 1956}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Skardon |first=C. Philip |title=A Lesson for Our Times: How America Kept the Peace in the Hungary-Suez Crisis of 1956 |date=2010 |pages=194–195}}</ref> Eden and other leading British officials believed Nasser's support for [[Palestinian fedayeen]] against Israel, as well as his attempts to destabilise pro-western regimes in Iraq and other Arab states, would deter the US from intervening with the operation. London believed that Nasser's engagement with communist states would persuade the Americans to accept British and French actions if they were presented as a ''[[fait accompli]]''.{{fact|date=August 2024}}

== Motives for invading Egypt ==
{{See also|Protocol of Sèvres}}

=== Britain and France ===
Britain was anxious lest it lose efficient access to the remains of its empire. Both Britain and France were eager that the canal should remain open as an important conduit of oil.{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}

Both the French and the British felt that Nasser should be removed from power. The French "held the Egyptian president responsible for assisting the anti-colonial rebellion in Algeria".<ref>{{Harvnb|Risse-Kappen|1997|p=85}}</ref> France was nervous about the growing influence that Nasser exerted on its North African colonies and protectorates.

=== Israel ===
On the eve of the invasion, [[David Ben-Gurion]] outlined to [[Guy Mollet]], the French Prime minister, his plan for a 'new order' in the Middle East. This consisted of (a) Israel occupying and annexing both the Gaza Strip and the Sinai;(b) an Israeli annexation of [[Southern Lebanon]], and the creation of a [[Maronites|Christian Maronite state]] in the remaining territory; (c) the dismantling of Jordan by dividing its land between Israel and Iraq, with Israel annexing the [[West Bank]] and Iraq undertaking in a peace treaty to absorb the Palestinian refugees in the former, and in Jordanian refugee camps. Aspiring also to overthrow Nasser, the plan foresaw Israeli exercising control over the [[Gulf of Aqaba]].<ref>[[Nur Masalha]], [https://www.jstor.org/stable/195819 The 1956-57 'Occupation of the Gaza Strip: Israeli Proposals to Resettle the Palestinian Refugees,'] [[British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies]], Vol. 23, No. 1  May 1996, pp. 55-68 p.57.</ref>

Israel wanted to reopen the [[Straits of Tiran]] leading to the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping, and saw the opportunity to strengthen its southern border and to weaken what it saw as a dangerous and hostile state. This was particularly felt in the form of attacks injuring approximately 1,300 civilians emanating from the Egyptian-held [[Gaza Strip]],<ref>Chaim Herzog and Shlomo Gazit, ''The Arab–Israeli Wars: War and Peace in the Middle East from the 1948 War of Independence to the Present'' (3rd ed. 2008) pp. 113–117</ref> during the period of [[Israel's Border Wars, 1949–1956|Israel's Border Wars]]

The Israelis were also deeply troubled by Egypt's procurement of large amounts of Soviet weaponry that included 530 armoured vehicles, of which 230 were tanks; 500 guns; 150 [[MiG-15]] jet fighters; 50 [[Ilyushin Il-28]] bombers; submarines and other naval craft. The influx of this advanced weaponry altered an already shaky balance of power.{{Sfn|Schiff|1974|pp=65–66}} Israel was alarmed by the Czech arms deal, and believed it had only a narrow window of opportunity to hit Egypt's army.<ref name="Kandil2012p47">{{Cite book |last=Kandil |first=Hazem |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y5ShC2rO40YC |title=Soldiers, Spies and Statesmen: Egypt's Road to Revolt |date=13 November 2012 |publisher=Verso Books |isbn=978-1-8446-7962-1 |page=47 |quote=(Israel) "was alarmed by the Czech arms deal, and believed it had only a narrow window of opportunity to cripple Cairo's drive for military parity".}}</ref> Additionally, Israel believed Egypt had formed a secret alliance with Jordan and Syria.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ben-Gurion Exchange with Soviet Premier Bulganin Regarding Threat to Israel (November 1956) |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ben-gurion-exchange-with-soviet-premier-bulganin-regarding-threat-to-israel-november-1956 |access-date=2023-03-17 |website=Jewish Virtual Library}}</ref>

Notably, the strategic alignment of Israel and Britain leading up to the Suez invasion, as represented in the [[Protocol of Sèvres]], "marked the end of the estrangement between [[United Kingdom|Britain]] and the [[Zionist movement]] that went back to the [[White Paper of 1939]]."<ref>Khalidi, Rashid. ''The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017''. Ebook edition. London: Profile Books, 2020, 179.</ref>

== Forces ==

=== British ===
[[File:1956-08-06 Suez Crisis.ogv|thumb|upright=1.15|thumbtime=0:34|Universal Newsreel from 6 August about the departure of British and French ships for Egypt]]

British troops were well-trained, experienced, and had good morale, but suffered from the economic and technological limitations imposed by post-war austerity.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 15">{{Harvnb|Varble|2003|p=15}}</ref> The 16th Independent Parachute Brigade Group, which was intended to be the main British strike force against Egypt, was heavily involved in the [[Cyprus Emergency]], which led to a neglect of paratroop training in favour of [[Counterinsurgency|counter-insurgency operations]].<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 15"/> The [[Royal Navy]] could project formidable power through the guns of its warships and aircraft flown from its carriers, but lacked amphibious capability.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 16">{{Harvnb|Varble|2003|p=16}}</ref>

The [[Royal Navy]] had just undergone a major and innovative carrier modernisation program. The [[Royal Air Force]] (RAF) had just introduced two [[long-range bomber]]s, the [[Vickers Valiant]] and the [[English Electric Canberra]], but owing to their recent entry into service the RAF had not yet established proper bombing techniques for these aircraft.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 16"/> Despite this, General [[Charles Keightley]], the commander of the invasion force, believed that [[Airpower|air power]] alone was sufficient to defeat Egypt.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 16"/> By contrast, General [[Hugh Stockwell]], the Task Force's ground commander, believed that methodical and systematic armoured operations centred on the [[Centurion tank|Centurion]] battle tank would be the key to victory.<ref>{{Harvnb|Varble|2003|pp=16–17}}</ref>

=== French ===
French troops were experienced and well-trained but suffered from cutbacks imposed by post-war politics of economic austerity.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 17">{{Harvnb|Varble|2003|p=17}}</ref> In 1956, the [[French Armed Forces]] was heavily involved in the Algerian war, which made operations against Egypt a major distraction.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 17"/> French paratroopers of the elite ''[[2nd Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment|Regiment de Parachutistes Coloniaux]]'' (RPC) were extremely experienced, battle-hardened, and very tough soldiers, who had greatly distinguished themselves in the fighting in Indochina and in Algeria.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 17"/> The men of the RPC followed a "shoot first, ask questions later" policy towards civilians, first adopted in Vietnam, which was to lead to the killing of a number of Egyptian civilians.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 17"/> The rest of the French troops were described by the American military historian Derek Varble as "competent, but not outstanding".<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 17"/>

The main French (and Israeli) tank, the [[AMX-13]], was designed for mobile, flanking operations, which led to a tank that was lightly armoured but agile.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 17"/> General [[André Beaufre]], who served as Stockwell's subordinate, favoured a swift campaign of movement in which the main objective was to encircle the enemy.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 17"/> Throughout the operation, Beaufre proved himself to be more aggressive than his British counterparts, always urging that some bold step be taken at once.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 17"/> The [[French Navy]] had a powerful carrier force which was excellent for projecting power inland, but, like its British counterpart, suffered from a lack of landing craft.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 17"/>

=== Israeli ===
[[File:AMX-13 at Latrun4.JPG|thumb|An Israeli [[AMX-13]], shown here from the rear and side]]

American military historian Derek Varble called the [[Israel Defense Forces]] (IDF) the "best" military force in the Middle East while at the same time suffering from "deficiencies" such as "immature doctrine, faulty logistics, and technical inadequacies".<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 18">{{Harvnb|Varble|2003|p=18}}</ref> The IDF's Chief of Staff, Major General [[Moshe Dayan]], encouraged aggression, initiative, and ingenuity among the Israeli officer corps while ignoring logistics and armoured operations.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 18"/> Dayan, a firm infantry man, preferred that arm of the service at the expense of armour, which Dayan saw as clumsy, pricey, and suffering from frequent breakdowns.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 18"/>

At the same time, the IDF had a rather disorganised logistics arm, which was put under severe strain when the IDF invaded the Sinai.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 18"/> Most of the IDF weapons in 1956 came from France.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 18"/> The main IDF tank was the AMX-13 and the main aircraft were the Dassault [[Dassault Mystère IV|Mystère IVA]] and the [[Dassault Ouragan|Ouragan]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Varble|2003|pp=18–19}}</ref> Superior pilot training was to give the Israeli Air Force an unbeatable edge over their Egyptian opponents.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 18"/> The [[Israeli Navy]] consisted of two destroyers, seven frigates, eight minesweepers, several landing craft, and fourteen torpedo boats.

=== Egyptian ===
In the [[Egyptian Armed Forces]], politics rather than military competence was the main criterion for promotion.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 19">{{Harvnb|Varble|2003|p=19}}</ref> The Egyptian commander, Field Marshal [[Abdel Hakim Amer]], was a purely political appointee who owed his position to his close friendship with Nasser. A heavy drinker, he would prove himself grossly incompetent as a general during the Crisis.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 19"/> In 1956, the Egyptian military was well equipped with weapons from the Soviet Union such as [[T-34]] and [[IS tank family#IS-3|IS-3]] tanks, [[MiG-15]] fighters, [[Ilyushin Il-28]] bombers, [[SU-100]] self-propelled guns and assault rifles.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 19"/>

Rigid lines between officers and men in the Egyptian Army led to a mutual "mistrust and contempt" between officers and the men who served under them.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 20">{{Harvnb|Varble|2003|p=20}}</ref> Egyptian troops were excellent in defensive operations, but had little capacity for offensive operations, owing to the lack of "rapport and effective small-unit leadership".<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 20"/>

== Invasion of Egypt ==
{{Main|Timeline of the Suez Crisis}}

=== Casualties ===
{{Seealso|Khan Yunis massacre}}
British casualties stood at 22 dead<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2006-07-08 |title=Jonathan Steele and Ian Black: An act of folly |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/jul/08/egypt.military |access-date=2022-05-19 |website=the Guardian |language=en |quote=British forces suffered only 22 dead, the French 10; Egyptian casualty estimates range from 750 to 2,500.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Doyle |first=Col E. D. |title=Suez affair highlighted Britain's fall from major world power |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/suez-affair-highlighted-britain-s-fall-from-major-world-power-1.101871 |access-date=2022-05-19 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en |quote=In all 3,000 Egyptians were killed, 1,100 in Port Said about 800 of them civilians. The British lost 22 killed, and the Israelis 200. British accounts rarely mention civilian casualties.}}</ref> and 96 wounded,<ref name="Dupuy 1343">{{Cite book |last1=Dupuy |first1=R. Ernest |title=The Collins Encyclopedia of Military History |last2=Dupuy |first2=Trevor N. |date=1994 |publisher=HarperCollins |page=1343 |author-link2=Trevor N. Dupuy}}</ref> while French casualties were 10 dead<ref name=":0"/> and {{Citation needed span|text=33 wounded.|date=May 2022}} The Israeli losses were 172 dead and 817 wounded.<ref name="LA Times"/> The number of Egyptians killed was "never reliably established".<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 91">{{Harvnb|Varble|2003|p=91}}</ref> Egyptian casualties to the Israeli invasion were estimated at 1,000–3,000 dead and 4,000 wounded, while losses to the Anglo-French operation were estimated at 650 dead and 900 wounded.{{Sfn|Schiff|1974|p=70}}<ref>{{Harvnb|Neff|1981|loc=p. 414. Quotes UN report: "thousands of wounded and dead bodies all over Sanai (sic)". Neff estimates 4000 Egyptians wounded and 6000 captured or missing in Sinai and a further 900 wounded by the Anglo-French.}}</ref> 1,000 Egyptian civilians are estimated to have died.<ref name="Varble 1956, p. 90"/>

== End of hostilities ==
{{Overly detailed|section|date=June 2024}}
=== British anti-war protests ===
[[File:1956-11-12 Near East Crisis.ogv|thumbtime=0:08|thumb|Newsreel from 12 November 1956 about the end of the invasion]]

Although the public believed the British government's justification of the invasion as a separation of Israeli and Egyptian forces,{{R|fairhall20110630}} protests against the war occurred in Britain after it began. On the popular television talk show ''Free Speech'', an especially bitter debate took place on 31 October with the leftist historian [[A. J. P. Taylor]] and the Labour journalist and future party leader [[Michael Foot]] calling their colleague on ''Free Speech'', the Conservative MP [[Robert Boothby, Baron Boothby|Robert Boothby]], a "criminal" for supporting the war.<ref name="Cole, Robert, p. 149">{{Cite book |last=Cole |first=Robert |title=A.J.P. Taylor the Traitor Within the Gates |location=London |publisher=Macmillan |date=1993 |page=149}}</ref>

One television critic spoke of ''Free Speech'' during the war that "the team seemed to not only on the verge of, but actually losing their tempers.... Boothby boomed, Foot fumed and Taylor trephined, with apparent real malice...."<ref name="Cole, Robert, p. 149"/> The angry, passionate, much-watched debates about the Suez war on ''Free Speech'' mirrored the divided public response to the war.<ref name="Cole, Robert, p. 149"/> The British government pressured the BBC to support the war,{{R|goodwin2005}} and seriously considered taking over the network.{{R|fairhall20110630}}

Eden's major mistake had been not to strike in July 1956 when there was widespread anger at Nasser's nationalisation of the Suez Canal Company, as by the fall of 1956 public anger had subsided, with many people in Britain having come to accept the ''[[fait accompli]]'', and saw no reason for war.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turner|2006|pp=230, 254–255}}</ref> This was especially the case as Eden's claims that the Egyptians would hopelessly mismanage the canal had proven groundless, and that by September 1956 it was clear that the change of management had not affected shipping.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turner|2006|p=254}}</ref>

Even more importantly, Eden's obsession with secrecy and his desire to keep the preparations for war as secret as possible meant that the Eden government did nothing in the months running up to the attack to explain to the British people why it was felt that war was necessary.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turner|2006|p=210}}</ref> Many of the reservists who were called up for their [[National Service]] in the summer and fall of 1956 recalled feeling bewildered and confused as the Eden government started preparing to attack Egypt while at the same time Eden insisted in public that he wanted a peaceful resolution of the dispute, and was opposed to attacking Egypt.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turner|2006|pp=206–210}}</ref> The British author [[David Pryce-Jones]] recalled that as a young officer, after the ultimatum was submitted to Egypt, he had to explain to his troops why war with Egypt was necessary without believing a word that he was saying.<ref>Pryce-Jones, David ''The Closed Circle: An Interpretation of the Arabs'', Chicago: Ivan Dee, 2002, p. 4.</ref> Only one British soldier, however, refused to fight.{{R|fairhall20110630}}

Gaitskell was much offended that Eden had kept him in the dark about the planning for action against Egypt, and felt personally insulted that Eden had just assumed that he would support the war without consulting him first.<ref>{{Harvnb|Neff|1981|p=388}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Turner|2006|pp=230–231}}</ref> On 31 October he cited in Parliament the fact that, despite Eden's claim that the British government had consulted closely with the Commonwealth, no other member nation did; in the Security Council, not even Australia had supported the British action. He called the invasion{{R|eayrs1964}}{{Rp|208–209}}
{{Blockquote|an act of disastrous folly whose tragic consequences we shall regret for years. Yes, all of us will regret it, because it will have done irreparable harm to the prestige and reputation of our country ... we shall feel bound by every constitutional means at our disposal to oppose it.}}

The stormy and violent debates in the House of Commons on 1 November 1956 almost degenerated into fist-fights after several Labour MPs compared Eden to Hitler.<ref>{{Harvnb|Neff|1981|pp=388–389}}</ref> Yet the Prime Minister insisted, "We [are not] at war with Egypt now.[...] There has not been a declaration of war by us. We are in an armed conflict."<ref>{{Hansard|1956/nov/01/egypt-and-israel|access-date=29 April 2020}}</ref> The British historian [[A. N. Wilson]] wrote that "The letters to ''The Times'' caught the mood of the country, with great majority opposing military intervention...."<ref>{{Harvnb|Wilson|2008|p=65}}</ref> The journalist [[Malcolm Muggeridge]] and actor [[Robert Speaight]] wrote in a public letter that
{{Blockquote|The bitter division in public opinion provoked by the British intervention in the Middle East has already had one disastrous consequence. It has deflected popular attention from the far more important struggle in Hungary. A week ago the feelings of the British people were fused in a single flame of admiration for the courage and apparent success of the Hungarian revolt. Now, that success seems threatened by Russian treachery and brute force, and Hungary has appealed to the West.... It is the first, and perhaps will prove the only opportunity to reverse the calamitous decisions of Yalta.... The Prime Minister has told us that 50 million tons of British shipping are at stake in his dispute with President Nasser. What is at stake in Central Europe are rather more than 50 million souls. It may be objected that it is not so easy to help the Hungarians; to this excuse they are entitled to reply that it was not so easy to help themselves.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wilson|2008|pp=65–66}}</ref>}} The Suez Crisis played a key role in the reconciliation of the [[Gaitskellite]] and [[Bevanism|Bevanite]] factions of the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]], which both condemned the invasion, after the [[1955 Labour Party leadership election|1955 leadership election]]. Gaitskell was so impressed by his erstwhile rival [[Aneurin Bevan]]'s forceful condemnation of the invasion that he offered him the role of [[Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs|Shadow Foreign Secretary]], replacing [[Alfred Robens, Baron Robens of Woldingham|Alfred Robens]].<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Campbell |first=John |url=https://archive.org/details/pistolsatdawntwo0000camp/13960/t6wx5mm07 |title=Pistols at Dawn: Two Hundred Years of Political Rivalry from Pitt and Fox to Blair and Brown |date=2010 |publisher=Vintage |isbn=978-1-8459-5091-0 |location=London |pages=216–228 |oclc=489636152}}</ref>

Lady [[Violet Bonham Carter]], an influential Liberal Party member, wrote in a letter to the ''Times'' that
{{Blockquote|I am one of the millions who watching the martyrdom of Hungary and listening yesterday to the transmission of her agonizing appeals of help (immediately followed by our "successful bombings" of Egyptian "targets") who have felt a humiliation, shame and anger which are beyond expression.... We cannot order Soviet Russia to obey the edict of the United Nations which we ourselves have defied, nor to withdraw her tanks and guns from Hungary while we are bombing and invading Egypt. Today we are standing in the dock with Russia.... Never in my lifetime has our name stood so low in the eyes of the world. Never have we stood so ingloriously alone.<ref name="Wilson, A.N. p. 66">{{Harvnb|Wilson|2008|p=66}}</ref>}}

According to public opinion polls at the time, 37% of the British people supported the war while 44% were opposed.<ref name="Walsh 2006">{{Cite web |last=Walsh |first=Lynn |date=October 2006 |title=The Suez Fiasco 1956 |url=http://www.socialismtoday.org/104/suez.html |access-date=22 August 2011 |publisher=Socialism Today}}</ref><ref name="Adamthwaite pages 449-464">{{Harvnb|Adamthwaite|1988|p=463}}</ref> ''[[The Observer]]'' newspaper in a leader (editorial) attacked the Eden government for its "folly and crookedness" in attacking Egypt while ''[[The Manchester Guardian]]'' urged its readers to write letters of protest to their MPs.<ref name="Turner, Barry, p. 354">{{Harvnb|Turner|2006|p=354}}</ref> ''[[The Economist]]'' spoke of the "strange union of cynicism and hysteria" in the government and ''[[The Spectator]]'' stated that Eden would soon have to face "a terrible indictment".<ref name="Turner, Barry, p. 354"/> The majority of letters written to MPs from their constituents were against the Suez attack.<ref>{{Harvnb|Adamthwaite|1988|pp=455–456}}</ref> Significantly, many of the letters came from voters who identified as Conservatives.<ref>{{Harvnb|Adamthwaite|1988|pp=456–457}}</ref> The historian [[Keith Feiling]] wrote "the harm done seems to me terrifying: for my part I have resigned from the party while the present leader is there".<ref name="Adamthwaite pages 449">{{Harvnb|Adamthwaite|1988|p=456}}</ref> The law professor and future Conservative cabinet minister [[Norman St John-Stevas, Baron St John of Fawsley|Norman St. John-Stevas]] wrote at the time:
{{Blockquote|I had wanted to stand for the party at the next election, but I cannot bring myself to vote for the party at the moment, let alone stand for it. I am thinking of joining the Labour Party and am having lunch with Frank Pakenham next week.<ref name="Adamthwaite pages 449"/>}}

The historian [[Hugh Trevor-Roper]] expressed regret that no senior minister resigned and hoped "some kind of national Tory party can be saved from the wreck".<ref name="Adamthwaite pages 449"/> A master at Eton College in a letter to his MP declared:
{{Blockquote|I write to you to express my complete abhorrence of the policy which the government is pursuing.... I have voted Conservative in the last three elections, but I am quite sure my next vote will be for a Labour candidate.<ref name="Adamthwaite pages 449"/>}}

The Labour Party and the Trade Union Congress organised nation-wide anti-war protests, starting on 1 November under the slogan "Law, not war!"<ref name="Walsh 2006"/> On 4 November, at an anti-war rally in Trafalgar Square attended by 30,000 people (making it easily the biggest rally in London since 1945), the Labour MP [[Aneurin Bevan]] accused the government of "a policy of bankruptcy and despair".<ref name="Aneurin Bevan 1956">{{Cite web |date=4 February 2010 |title=Aneurin Bevan 1956 |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2010/02/aneurin-bevan-1956-speech |access-date=22 August 2011 |website=New Statesman |location=UK}}</ref> Bevan stated at the Trafalgar rally:
{{Blockquote|We are stronger than Egypt but there are other countries stronger than us. Are we prepared to accept for ourselves the logic we are applying to Egypt? If nations more powerful than ourselves accept the absence of principle, the anarchistic attitude of Eden and launch bombs on London, what answer have we got, what complaint have we got? If we are going to appeal to force, if force is to be the arbiter to which we appeal, it would at least make common sense to try to make sure beforehand that we have got it, even if you accept that abysmal logic, that decadent point of view.<br /><br />We are in fact in the position today of having appealed to force in the case of a small nation, where if it is appealed to against us it will result in the destruction of Great Britain, not only as a nation, but as an island containing living men and women. Therefore I say to Anthony, I say to the British government, there is no count at all upon which they can be defended.<br /><br />They have besmirched the name of Britain. They have made us ashamed of the things of which formerly we were proud. They have offended against every principle of decency and there is only way in which they can even begin to restore their tarnished reputation and that is to get out! Get out! Get out!<ref name="Aneurin Bevan 1956"/>{{Dead link|date=October 2021}}}}

Inspired by Bevan's speech, the crowd at [[Trafalgar Square]] then marched on [[10 Downing Street]] chanting "Eden Must Go!", and attempted to storm the Prime Minister's residence.<ref name="Kyle, Keith 2011, p. 441">{{Harvnb|Kyle|2003|p=441}}</ref> The ensuing clashes between the police and the demonstrators which were captured by television cameras had a huge demoralising effect on the Eden cabinet,<ref>{{Harvnb|Kyle|2003|pp=441–442}}</ref> which was meeting there.<ref name="Kyle, Keith 2011, p. 441"/> The British historian Anthony Adamthwaite wrote in 1988 that American financial pressure was the key factor that forced Eden to accept a ceasefire, but the public protests, declining poll numbers and signs that many Conservative voters were deserting the government were important secondary factors.<ref name="Adamthwaite pages 449-464"/>

=== Domestic support for Eden ===
According to some historians, the majority of British people were on Eden's side.<ref name="fairhall20110630">{{Cite news |last=Fairhall |first=John |date=30 June 2011 |title=Drama sparks Suez Crisis memories |url=http://www.edp24.co.uk/norfolk-life/drama_sparks_suez_crisis_memories_1_949446 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141102190920/http://www.edp24.co.uk/norfolk-life/drama_sparks_suez_crisis_memories_1_949446 |archive-date=2 November 2014 |access-date=21 January 2015 |work=[[Eastern Daily Press]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Braddon |first=Russell |title=Suez: Splitting of a Nation |date=1973 |publisher=Collins |location=London |pages=111, 113}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Sked |first1=Alan |title=Post-War Britain: A Political History |last2=Cook |first2=Chris |date=1984 |publisher=Penguin |location=London |page=134}}</ref> On 10 and 11 November an opinion poll found 53% supported the war, with 32% opposed.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sandbrook |first=Dominic |title=Never Had It So Good: A History of Britain from Suez to the Beatles |date=2006 |publisher=Abacus |location=London |page=18}}</ref>

The majority of Conservative constituency associations passed resolutions of support to "Sir Anthony".<ref name="Adamthwaite pages 449"/> [[Gilbert Murray]] was among Oxford scholars who signed a statement supporting Eden; such an act by the famous advocate of [[Internationalism (politics)|internationalism]] amazed both sides. He explained that, if not stopped, he believed [[Nasserism]] would become a Soviet-led worldwide anti-western movement.{{R|eayrs1964}}{{Rp|202–203}} British historian [[Barry Turner (journalist)|Barry Turner]] wrote that
{{Blockquote|The public reaction to press comment highlighted the divisions within the country. But there was no doubt that Eden still commanded strong support from a sizeable minority, maybe even a majority, of voters who thought that it was about time that the upset Arabs should be taught a lesson. The ''Observer'' and ''Guardian'' lost readers; so too did the ''News Chronicle'', a liberal newspaper that was soon to fold as a result of falling circulation.<ref name="Turner, Barry, p. 354"/>}} A. N. Wilson wrote that
{{Blockquote|although the bulk of the press, the Labour Party and that equally influential left-leaning party, the London dinner party, were all against Suez, together with the rent-a-mob of poets, dons, clergy and ankle-socked female graduates who deplored British action, they did not necessarily constitute [[silent majority|the majority of ''unexpressed'' public opinion]].<ref name="Wilson, A.N. p. 66"/>}} The economist [[Roy Harrod]] wrote at the time that the "more level-headed British, whom I believe to be in the majority though not the most vocal" were supporting the "notable act of courage and statesmanship" of the government.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wilson|2008|pp=66–67}}</ref> Eden himself claimed that his mail went from eight to one against the military action immediately after its start, to four to one in support on the day before the ceasefire.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Eden |first=Anthony |title=Full Circle |date=1960 |publisher=Cassell |location=London |page=546 |author-link=Anthony Eden}}</ref>

The conflict exposed the division within the Labour Party between its middle-class internationalist intelligentsia who opposed the conflict, and working-class voters who supported it.<ref>Sandbrook, p. 19.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Harrison |first=Brian |title=Seeking a Role: The United Kingdom, 1951–1970 |date=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=105, 112}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Black |first=Lawrence |date=Autumn 2001 |title='The Bitterest Enemies of Communism': Labour Revisionists, Atlanticism and the Cold War |journal=Contemporary British History |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=50–51|doi=10.1080/713999414 }}</ref>{{Efn|"As late as 1956 it was the middle class, not the working class, who opposed the Anglo-French invasion of Egypt".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barnett |first=Correlli |title=The Collapse of British Power |date=1972 |publisher=Eyre Methuen |location=London |page=52, n. 2}}</ref>}} One Conservative MP wrote: "I have lost my middle-class followers, but this has been at least balanced by backing from working-class electors who normally vote Socialist and who favour a strong line on Suez".<ref>{{Cite book |last=James |first=Lawrence |title=The Rise and Fall of the British Empire |date=1998 |publisher=Abacus |location=London |page=583}}</ref>

The Labour MP [[Richard Crossman]] said that "when the Labour Party leadership tried to organise demonstrations in the Provinces of the kind they'd held in Trafalgar Square, there was great reluctance among the working classes, because we were at war. It was Munich in reverse. And it was very, very acute". Fellow Labour MP [[James Callaghan]] agreed: "The [[wikt:horny-handed|horny-handed]] sons of toil rallied to the call of the bugle. They reacted against us in the same way as they did against [[Neville Chamberlain|Chamberlain]] a few months after Munich".{{Sfn|Braddon|1973|p=111}}

"My working mates were solidly in favour of Eden", recalled future Labour and SDP MP [[David Owen]]. Comparing opposition to Suez to what he described as the [[Cambridge Apostles]]'s "defeatist, even traitorous" support of pre-World War II [[appeasement]], Owen told [[Kenneth Harris (journalist)|Kenneth Harris]], "there was Gaitskell ... criticizing Eden, and here were these men working alongside me, who should have been his natural supporters, furious with him. The ''[[Daily Mirror]]'' backed Gaitskell, but these men were tearing up their ''Daily Mirror''s every day".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Kenneth |title=David Owen: Personally Speaking |publisher=Pan Books Ltd |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-3303-0608-9 |page=17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Marquand |first=David |title=The Progressive Dilemma: From Lloyd George to Blair |date=1999 |publisher=Phoenix |location=London |page=203}}</ref> Callaghan recalled that up until the fighting started "we had public opinion on our side; but as soon as we actually went to war, I could ''feel'' the change".{{Sfn|Braddon|1973|p=113}} Another Labour MP, [[Barbara Castle]], recalled that Labour's protest against the conflict was "drowned in a wave of public jingoism".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Castle |first=Barbara |title=Fighting All The Way |date=1994 |publisher=Pan |location=London |page=253 |author-link=Barbara Castle}}</ref>

During the [[1957 Lewisham North by-election|Lewisham North]] and [[1957 Warwick and Leamington by-election|Warwick and Leamington]] by-elections held in February and March 1957, Labour instructed its activists not to emphasise their opposition to Suez because the government's action had considerable support.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Morgan |first=Kenneth O. |title=Britain Since 1945: The People's Peace |date=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=156}}</ref> Callaghan believed that the Conservatives increased their majority at the [[1959 United Kingdom general election|1959 election]] in part because working-class voters were still angry at the party for opposing the conflict.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Callaghan |first=James |title=Time and Chance |date=1987 |publisher=Collins |location=London |page=515 |author-link=James Callaghan}}</ref> The Labour MP [[Stanley Evans]] resigned from his seat and his membership of the party due to his support for British action in Suez.{{Sfn|Sked|Cook|1984|p=134}}

=== International reaction ===

====Response by Western governments====
[[File:1956-08-09 Press Parley.ogv|thumb|thumbtime=0:43|Eisenhower press conference about the crisis, 9 August]]
The operation,<ref name="autogenerated1">{{Harvnb|Varble|2003|p=88.n}}</ref> aimed at taking control of the Suez Canal, [[Gaza Strip|Gaza]], and parts of Sinai, was highly successful for the invaders from a military point of view, but was a disaster from a political point of view, resulting in international criticism and diplomatic pressure. Along with the Suez crisis, the United States was also dealing with the near-simultaneous [[Hungarian revolution of 1956|Hungarian revolution]]. Vice-President [[Richard Nixon]] later explained: "We couldn't on one hand, complain about the Soviets intervening in Hungary and, on the other hand, approve of the British and the French picking that particular time to intervene against Nasser".<ref name="BorhiContRoll">{{Cite journal |last=Borhi |first=László |year=1999 |title=Containment, Rollback, Liberation or Inaction? The United States and Hungary in the 1950s |journal=Journal of Cold War Studies |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=67–108 |doi=10.1162/152039799316976814 |s2cid=57560214}}</ref> Beyond that, it was Eisenhower's belief that if the United States were seen to acquiesce in the attack on Egypt, that the resulting backlash in the Arab world might win the Arabs over to the Soviet Union.<ref>{{Harvnb|Neff|1981|p=391}}</ref>

Despite having no commercial or military interest in the area, many countries were concerned with the growing rift between Western allied nations. The Swedish ambassador to the Court of St. James's, [[Gunnar Hägglöf]] wrote in a letter to the anti-war Conservative M.P. [[Edward Boyle, Baron Boyle of Handsworth|Edward Boyle]],
{{Blockquote|I don't think there is any part of the world where the sympathies for England are greater than in Scandinavia. But Scandinavian opinion has never been more shocked by a British government's action—not even by the [[Anglo-German Naval Agreement|British-German Naval Agreement of 1935]]—than by the Suez intervention.<ref name="Adamthwaite pages 449"/>}}

When Israel refused to withdraw its troops from the Gaza Strip and [[Sharm el-Sheikh]], Eisenhower declared, "We must not allow Europe to go flat on its back for the want of oil." He sought UN-backed efforts to impose economic sanctions on Israel until it fully withdrew from Egyptian territory. Senate Majority Leader [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] and minority leader [[William Knowland]] objected to American pressure on Israel. Johnson told the Secretary of State [[John Foster Dulles]] that he wanted him to oppose "with all its skill" any attempt to apply sanctions on Israel.<ref name=Divine/>

Dulles rebuffed Johnson's request, and informed Eisenhower of the objections made by the Senate. Eisenhower was "insistent on applying economic sanctions" to the extent of cutting off private American assistance to Israel which was estimated to be over $100&nbsp;million a year. Ultimately, the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]-controlled [[United States Senate|Senate]] would not co-operate with Eisenhower's position on Israel. Eisenhower finally told Congress he would take the issue to the American people, saying, "America has either one voice or none, and that voice is the voice of the President – whether everybody agrees with him or not."<ref name="Divine">{{Cite book |last=Divine |first=Robert |title=Eisenhower and the Cold War |date=1981 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |pages=64–66}}</ref> The President spoke to the nation by radio and television where he outlined Israel's refusal to withdraw, explaining his belief that the UN had "no choice but to exert pressure upon Israel".<ref name=Divine/>

====Reception in the Muslim world====
The attack on Egypt greatly offended many in the [[Muslim world]]. In [[Pakistan]], 300,000 people took part in a rally in [[Lahore]] to show solidarity with Egypt, and a violent mob in [[Karachi]] chanting anti-British slogans burned down the [[British High Commission]].<ref>Pike, Francis ''Empires at War'', London: I.B. Tauris 2009, p. 303.</ref> In [[Syria]], the government blew up the [[Kirkuk–Baniyas pipeline]], which had allowed Iraqi oil to reach tankers in the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]], to punish [[Kingdom of Iraq|Iraq]] for supporting the invasion and to cut Britain off from one of its main routes for taking delivery of Iraqi oil.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turner|2006|p=328}}</ref> King [[Saud of Saudi Arabia]] imposed a total oil embargo on Britain and France.<ref>Lacey, Robert ''The Kingdom'', New York: Avon 1981, p. 315.</ref>

====U.N. General Assembly Resolution 997====
[[File:Nasser and Eisenhower, 1960.jpg|thumb|Presidents Eisenhower and Nasser meeting in New York, 1960]]
On 30 October, the Security Council held a meeting, at the request of the United States, when it submitted a draft resolution calling upon Israel immediately to withdraw its armed forces behind the established armistice lines. It was not adopted because of British and French vetoes. A similar draft resolution sponsored by the Soviet Union was also rejected.<ref name="UNEFbkgr">[https://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/past/unef1backgr2.html Establishment of UNEF, Background] at UN.org</ref> On 31 October, also [[Protocol of Sèvres|as planned]], France and the UK launched an air attack against targets in Egypt, which was followed shortly by a landing of their troops at the northern end of the canal zone. Later that day, considering the grave situation created by the actions against Egypt, and with lack of unanimity among the permanent members preventing it from exercising its primary responsibility to maintain international peace and security, the Security Council passed [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 119|Resolution 119]]; it decided to call an [[emergency special session]] of the [[United Nations General Assembly|General Assembly]] for the [[First emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly|first time]], as provided in the 1950 "Uniting for Peace" [[United Nations General Assembly Resolution 377|resolution]], in order to make appropriate recommendations to end the fighting.<ref name="UNEFbkgr"/>

[[File:1956-04-12 Full Scale War Looms.ogv|thumb|thumbtime=1:14|Universal Newsreel from 4 December about Dag Hammarskjöld's meeting with Nasser]]

The emergency special session was convened 1 November; the same day Nasser requested diplomatic assistance from the U.S., without requesting the same from the Soviet Union; he was at first sceptical of the efficacy of U.S. diplomatic efforts at the UN, but later gave full credit to Eisenhower's role in stopping the war.<ref name="Love557">{{Harvnb|Love|1969|pp=557–558}}</ref>

In the early hours of 2 November, the General Assembly adopted the United States' proposal for Resolution 997 (ES-I); the vote was 64 in favour and 5 opposed (Australia, New Zealand, Britain, France, and Israel) with 6 abstentions.<ref>John Allphin Moore and Jerry Pubantz, ''Encyclopedia of the United Nations'' (2008) 2:399</ref> It called for an immediate ceasefire, the withdrawal of all forces behind the [[1949 Armistice Agreements#With Egypt|armistice lines]], an arms embargo, and the reopening of the Suez Canal, which was now blocked. The Secretary-General was requested to observe and report promptly on compliance to both the Security Council and General Assembly, for further action as deemed appropriate in accordance with the UN Charter.<ref name="UNEFbkgr"/>

Over the next several days, the emergency special session consequently adopted a series of enabling resolutions, which established the first [[United Nations Emergency Force]] (UNEF), on 7 November by Resolution 1001.<ref name="UNGAfschwaESSs">[https://www.un.org/ga/sessions/emergency.shtml UNGA Emergency Special Sessions]. Un.org. Retrieved on 8 September 2011.</ref> This proposal of the emergency force and the resulting cease-fire was made possible primarily through the efforts of [[Lester B. Pearson]], the [[Minister of Foreign Affairs (Canada)|Secretary of External Affairs of Canada]], and [[Dag Hammarskjöld]], the [[Secretary-General of the United Nations]]. Britain and France agreed to withdraw from Egypt within a week; Israel did not.

The role of Nehru, both as Indian Prime minister and a leader of the [[Non Aligned Movement]] was significant; the Indian historian Inder Malhotra wrote that "Now Nehru—who had tried to be even-handed between the two sides—denounced Eden and co-sponsors of the aggression vigorously. He had a powerful, if relatively silent, ally in the U.S. president Dwight Eisenhower who went to the extent of using America's clout in the [[International Monetary Fund|IMF]] to make Eden and Mollet behave".<ref name="IndExNoth"/> The Indian historian Inder Malhotra wrote about Nehru's role that: "So the Suez War ended in Britain's humiliation. Eden lost his job. Nehru achieved his objective of protecting Egypt's sovereignty and Nasser's honour".<ref name="IndExNoth">{{Cite web |last=Malhotra |first=Inder |date=2010-03-05 |title=Nothing common and there is no wealth |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/nothing-common-and-there-is-no-wealth |url-access=subscription |access-date=2023-03-17 |website=The Indian Express}}</ref>

===== Condemnation of the U.N. in West Germany =====
A rare example of support for the Anglo-French actions against Egypt came from [[West Germany]]. Though his Cabinet was divided, West Germany's Chancellor [[Konrad Adenauer]] was furious with the United States for its "chumminess with the Russians" as Adenauer called the U.S. refusal to intervene in Hungary and voting with the Soviet Union at the UN Security Council. Adenauer told his Cabinet on 7 November that Nasser was a pro-Soviet force that needed to be cut down to size, and in his view the attack on Egypt was completely justified.<ref>Schwarz, Hans-Peter ''Konrad Adenauer: A German Politician and Statesman in a Period of War, Revolution and Reconstruction, 1952–1967'' Oxford: Berghahn Books, 1995 pp. 241–242.</ref>

What appalled Adenauer about the crisis was that the United States had come out against the attack on Egypt and voted with the Soviet Union at Security Council against Britain and France, which led Adenauer to fear that the United States and Soviet Union would "carve up the world" according to their own interests with no thought for the interests of European states.<ref name="Schwarz, Hans-Peter p. 242"/> Adenauer was especially worried by the fact that the American embassy in [[Bonn]] would not provide a clear answer as to what was the American policy in response to the Bulganin letters.<ref name="Schwarz, Hans-Peter p. 244">Schwarz, Hans-Peter ''Konrad Adenauer: A German Politician and Statesman in a Period of War, Revolution and Reconstruction, 1952–1967'' Oxford: Berghahn Books, 1995 p. 244.</ref> Adenauer maintained to his Cabinet that the French had every right to invade Egypt because of Nasser's support for the FLN in Algeria, but the British were partly to blame because they "inexplicably" shut down their Suez Canal base in 1954.<ref name="Schwarz, Hans-Peter p. 242">Schwarz, Hans-Peter ''Konrad Adenauer: A German Politician and Statesman in a Period of War, Revolution and Reconstruction, 1952–1967'' Oxford: Berghahn Books, 1995 p. 242.</ref>

Subsequently, the traditionally [[Francophile]] Adenauer drew closer to Paris.<ref name="Dietl 2008, p. 273">{{Harvnb|Dietl|2008|p=273}}</ref> On 5–6 November 1956, he refused to cancel a planned visit to Paris, and his summit with Mollet was clearly meant to be seen as a gesture of moral support.<ref name="Dietl 2008, p. 273"/> One of Adenauer's aides, Fritz von Eckardt, commented regarding the opening ceremony in Paris where Mollet and Adenauer stood side by side that the national anthems were played "[i]n the most serious hour France had experienced since the end of the war[;] the two governments were standing shoulder by shoulder".<ref name="Schwarz, Hans-Peter p. 244"/> During the summit in Paris, Mollet commented to Adenauer that a Soviet nuclear strike could destroy Paris at any moment, which added considerably to the tension and helped to draw the French and Germans closer.<ref name="Schwarz, Hans-Peter p. 244"/>

====Post-invasion Israeli initiatives====
On 7 November, David Ben-Gurion addressed the [[Knesset]] and declared a great victory, saying that the [[1949 Armistice Agreements|1949 armistice agreement]] with Egypt was dead and buried, and that the armistice lines were no longer valid and could not be restored. Under no circumstances would Israel agree to the stationing of UN forces on its territory or in any area it occupied.<ref name="AlterasIkeIsr">{{Harvnb|Alteras|1993|p=246}}</ref><ref name="PerlmRestl">{{Cite book |last=Brecher |first=Michael |title=A Restless Mind: Essays in Honor of Amos Perlmutter |date=1996 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-7146-4607-7 |editor-last=Frankel |editor-first=Benjamin |pages=104–143 |chapter=Eban and Israeli Foreign Policy: Diplomacy, War and Disengagement |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qkK_j0qz9EgC&pg=PA105}}</ref>{{Rp|104–117}} He also made an oblique reference to his intention to annex the Sinai Peninsula.<ref name="AlterasIkeIsr"/> Isaac Alteras writes that Ben-Gurion 'was carried away by the resounding victory against Egypt' and while 'a statesman well known for his sober realism, [he] took flight in dreams of grandeur.'

The speech marked the beginning of a four-month-long diplomatic struggle, culminating in withdrawal from all territory, under conditions far less palatable than those envisioned in the speech, but with conditions for sea access to [[Eilat]] and a UNEF presence on Egyptian soil.<ref name="AlterasIkeIsr"/> The speech immediately drew increased international pressure on Israel to withdraw.<ref name="PerlmRestl"/> That day in New York, the emergency session passed Resolution 1002, again calling for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops to behind the armistice lines, and for the immediate withdrawal of British and French troops from Egyptian territory.<ref name="UNEFbkgr"/> After a long Israeli cabinet meeting late on 8 November, Ben-Gurion informed Eisenhower that Israel declared its willingness to accept withdrawal of Israeli forces from Sinai, 'when satisfactory arrangements are made with the international force that is about to enter the canal zone'.<ref name="AlterasIkeIsr"/>

====Soviet sabre-rattling====
Although the [[Soviet Union]]'s position in the crisis was as helpless as was the United States' regarding Hungary's uprising, Premier [[Nikolai Bulganin]] threatened to intervene on the Egyptian side, and to launch rocket attacks on Britain, France and Israel.<ref name="AlterasIkeIsr"/><ref name="Shlaim181">{{Cite book |last=Shlaim |first=Avi |title=The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World |date=2001 |publisher=W. W. Norton |isbn=978-0-3933-2112-8 |location=New York |page=181 |author-link=Avi Shlaim}}</ref> Bulganin accused Ben-Gurion of supporting European colonialism, and Mollet of hypocrisy for leading a socialist government while pursuing a right-wing foreign policy.

The Soviet threat to send troops to Egypt to fight the Allies led Eisenhower to fear that this might be the beginning of World War III.<ref name="Neff, Donald p. 403">{{Harvnb|Neff|1981|p=403}}</ref> One of Eisenhower's aides Emmet Hughes recalled that the reaction at the White House to the Bulganin letters was "sombre" as there was fear that this was the beginning to the countdown to World War III, a war that if it occurred would kill hundreds of millions of people.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turner|2006|p=368}}</ref> In private, Eisenhower told Undersecretary of State [[Herbert Hoover Jr.]] of his fears that: {{Blockquote|The Soviet Union might be ready to undertake any wild adventure. They are as scared and furious as Hitler was in his last days. There's nothing more dangerous than a dictatorship in that frame of mind.<ref name="Neff, Donald p. 403"/>}}

If the Soviet Union did go to war with NATO allies Britain and France, then the United States would be unable to remain neutral, because the United States' obligations under NATO would come into effect, requiring them to go to war with the Soviet Union in defence of Britain and France. Likewise, if the Soviet Union attacked Israel, though there was no formal American commitment to defend Israel, the Eisenhower administration would come under heavy domestic pressure to intervene. From Eisenhower's viewpoint, it was better to end the war against Egypt rather than run the risk of this escalating into the Third World War, in case Khrushchev was serious about going to war in defence of Egypt as he insisted in public that he was.{{Sfn|Kyle|2003|p=458}}

Eisenhower's reaction to these threats from the Soviet Union was: "If those fellows start something, we may have to hit 'em — and, if necessary, with everything in the bucket."{{Cn|date=February 2023}} Eisenhower immediately ordered [[Lockheed U-2]] flights over Syria and Israel to search for any Soviet air forces on Syrian bases, so the British and French could destroy them. He told Hoover and CIA director [[Allan Dulles]], "If the Soviets attack the French and British directly, we would be in a war and we would be justified in taking military action even if Congress were not in session."{{Sfn|Kyle|2003|p=458}} The Americans excluded Israel from the guarantee against Soviet attack, however, alarming the Israeli government.{{R|AlterasIkeIsr}} The U-2 showed that Soviet aircraft were not in Syria despite the threats.<ref name="cia1992">{{Cite book |last1=Pedlow |first1=Gregory W. |url=http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB434 |title=The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance: The U-2 and OXCART Programs, 1954–1974 |last2=Welzenbach |first2=Donald E. |date=1992 |publisher=History Staff, Central Intelligence Agency |isbn=978-0-7881-8326-3 |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=113–120}}</ref>

Khrushchev often claimed to possess a vast arsenal of nuclear-tipped [[Intercontinental ballistic missile|ICBMs]], and while disclaiming any intention of starting a war, maintained that he would be more than happy to turn a conventional war into a nuclear one if war did come.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gaddis|1998|pp=237–240}}</ref> U-2 flights over the Soviet Union, which were intended to discover if the country really did have the nuclear arsenal that it claimed to have, only started in July 1956, and it was not until February 1959 that it firmly established that Khrushchev had [[Missile gap|vastly exaggerated his nuclear strength]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Gaddis|1998|pp=245–246}}</ref>

The supposedly huge Soviet arsenal of ICBMs, with which Khrushchev would wipe out the cities of Britain, France, Israel, and if necessary the United States consisted only of four ''[[R-7 Semyorka|Semyorka]]'' missiles stationed at a swamp south of [[Arkhangelsk]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Gaddis|1998|p=240}}</ref> From the viewpoint of Eisenhower, in 1956 he had no way of knowing for certain whether Khrushchev's nuclear braggadocio was for real or not.{{Sfn|Gaddis|1998|pp=239–240}}

Earlier in 1956, Dulles had warned Eisenhower that Khrushchev was "the most dangerous person to lead the Soviet Union since the [[October Revolution]]" as Khrushchev was "not a coldly calculating person, but rather one who reacted emotionally. He was obviously intoxicated much of the time and could be expected to commit irrational acts."{{Sfn|Gaddis|1998|pp=239–240}} Khrushchev later admitted in his memoirs that he was not seriously "thinking of going to war" in November 1956 as he claimed at the time as he lacked the necessary ICBMs to make good his threats.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gaddis|1998|p=239}}</ref>

=== Economic pressure on Britain and France ===
The United States also put financial pressure on the UK to end the invasion. Because the [[Bank of England]] had lost $45 million between 30 October and 2 November, and Britain's oil supply had been restricted by the closing of the Suez Canal, the British sought immediate assistance from the IMF, but it was denied by the United States. Eisenhower in fact ordered his Secretary of the Treasury, [[George M. Humphrey]], to prepare to sell part of the US Government's [[Gilt-edged securities|Sterling Bond]] holdings. The UK government considered invading [[Kuwait]] and [[Qatar]] if oil sanctions were put in place by the US.<ref>Williams, Charles ''Harold Macmillan'' (2009) pp. 259–261</ref>

Britain's [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]], [[Harold Macmillan]], advised his Prime Minister, [[Anthony Eden]], that the United States was fully prepared to carry out this threat. He also warned his Prime Minister that Britain's [[foreign exchange reserves]] simply could not sustain the [[devaluation]] of the pound that would come after the United States' actions; and that within weeks of such a move, the country would be unable to import the food and energy supplies needed to sustain the population on the islands. However, there were suspicions in the Cabinet that Macmillan had deliberately overstated the financial situation in order to force Eden out. What Treasury officials had told Macmillan was far less serious than what he told the Cabinet.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kyle|2003|p=464}}</ref>

In concert with U.S. actions, [[Saudi Arabia]] started an oil embargo against Britain and France. The U.S. refused to fill the gap until Britain and France agreed to a rapid withdrawal. Other NATO members refused to sell oil they received from Arab nations to Britain or France.<ref>{{Harvnb|Love|1969|p=651}}</ref>

=== Ceasefire ===
[[File:1957-02-14 Tel Aviv Israel.ogv|thumbtime=0:12|thumb|Israelis protesting against the UN order to evacuate Gaza and Sinai, 14 February 1957]]

Because the British government faced political and economic pressure, the Prime Minister, [[Anthony Eden]], announced a cease fire on 6 November, warning neither France nor Israel beforehand. Troops were still in Port Said and on operational manoeuvres when the order came from London. Port Said had been overrun, and the military assessment was that the Suez Canal could have been completely taken within 24 hours.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Trueman |first=C N |date=25 May 2015 |title=The Suez Crisis of 1956 |url=https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/modern-world-history-1918-to-1980/the-cold-war/the-suez-crisis-of-1956 |access-date=2023-03-17 |website=The History Learning Site |language=en-GB}}</ref> Eisenhower initially agreed to meet with Eden and Mollet to resolve their differences, but then cancelled the proposed meeting after Secretary of State Dulles advised him it risked inflaming the Middle Eastern situation further.<ref name="qjmed.oxfordjournals.org">{{Cite journal |last=Owen |first=CH |date=6 May 2005 |title=The effect of Prime Minister Anthony Eden's illness on his decision-making during the Suez crisis |url=http://qjmed.oxfordjournals.org/content/98/6/387.full |url-status=bot: unknown |journal=QJM: An International Journal of Medicine |volume=98 |issue=6 |pages=387–402 |doi=10.1093/qjmed/hci071 |issn=1460-2393 |pmid=15879438 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111114034940/http://qjmed.oxfordjournals.org/content/98/6/387.full |archive-date=14 November 2011 |access-date=6 May 2021 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

Eisenhower was not in favour of an immediate withdrawal of British, French and Israeli troops until the US ambassador to the United Nations, [[Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.]] pushed for it. Eden's predecessor [[Winston Churchill]] commented on 22 November, "I cannot understand why our troops were halted. To go so far and not go on was madness."<ref>{{Harvnb|Alteras|1993|p=243}}</ref> Churchill further added that while he might not have dared to begin the military operation, nevertheless once having ordered it he would certainly not have dared to stop it before it had achieved its objective. Without further guarantee, the Anglo-French Task Force had to finish withdrawing by 22 December 1956, to be replaced by Danish and Colombian units of the UNEF.<ref>[http://www.ecpad.fr/ecpa/PagesDyn/result.asp?reportageid=1012 Service Cinématographique des Armées SCA reportage de Paul Corcuff, 22 December 1956] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206002311/http://www.ecpad.fr/ecpa/PagesDyn/result.asp?reportageid=1012 |date=6 December 2008}} French Ministry of Defense archives ECPAD MO56141AR14</ref>

The Israelis refused to host any UN force on Israeli-controlled territory and withdrew from the Sinai and Gaza in March 1957. Before the withdrawal the Israeli forces systematically destroyed infrastructure in the Sinai peninsula such as roads, railways and telephone lines, and all houses in the villages of [[Abu Ageila]] and El Quseima.<ref name="Chomsk">{{Cite book |last=Chomsky |first=Noam |url=https://archive.org/details/fatefultriangleu00chom |title=The Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel and the Palestinians |date=1983 |publisher=[[South End Press]] |isbn=978-0-8960-8187-1 |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/fatefultriangleu00chom/page/194 194] |url-access=registration}}</ref> Before the railway was destroyed, Israeli troops confiscated [[Egyptian National Railways]] equipment including six locomotives<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cotterell |first=Paul |title=The Railways of Palestine and Israel |date=1984 |publisher=Tourret Publishing |isbn=978-0-9058-7804-1 |pages=100–101}}</ref> and a 30-ton [[Crane (railroad)#Breakdown cranes|breakdown crane]] for use by [[Israel Railways]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gallery |url=http://www.rail.co.il/EN/Fun/Museum/Pages/gallery.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120619041704/http://rail.co.il/EN/Fun/Museum/Pages/gallery.aspx |archive-date=19 June 2012 |access-date=25 May 2011 |website=Fun |publisher=Israel Railways |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

The UNEF was formed by forces from countries that were not part of the major alliances, [[NATO]] and the [[Warsaw Pact]]. [[Canadian Armed Forces]] troops participated in later years, since Canada had spearheaded the idea of a neutral force. By 24 April 1957, the canal was fully reopened to shipping.<ref name="ucsb">{{Cite web |date=14 January 1958 |title=Message to the Congress Transmitting the 11th Annual Report on United States Participation in the United Nations |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=11356 |access-date=5 March 2009 |publisher=University of California Santa Barbara}}</ref><ref name="usatoday">{{Cite news |date=28 August 2001 |title=Suez crisis, 1956 |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/mideast/timeline.htm |access-date=5 March 2009 |work=The Arab–Israeli Conflict, 1947–present}}</ref>

== Aftermath ==
[[File:Suez Crisis aftermath.ogv|thumb|1957 newsreels about the aftermath of the crisis]]

The conflict resulted in a military victory for the Coalition,<ref name="Tal"/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mart |first=Michelle |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=siDi1WTHjOUC&pg=PA159 |title=Eye on Israel: How America Came to View the Jewish State as an Ally |date=2006-02-09 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0-7914-6687-2 |page=159}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Stewart|2013|p=133}}</ref> but a political victory for Egypt.<ref name="Tal">{{Harvnb|Tal|2001|p=203}}</ref> Egypt maintained control of the canal.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Why Was The Suez Crisis So Important? |url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/why-was-the-suez-crisis-so-important |website=[[Imperial War Museums]] |language=en}}</ref>

In retirement, Anthony Eden, the British Prime Minister at the time, maintained that the military response had prevented a much larger war in the Middle East. In the context of the [[Egyptian–Czechoslovak arms deal|massive armament of Egypt via Czechoslovakia]], Israel had been expecting an Egyptian invasion in either March or April 1957, as well as a Soviet invasion of Syria.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kyle|2003|p=493}}</ref> The crisis may also have hastened [[decolonisation]], as many of the remaining British and French colonies gained independence over the next few years. Some argued that the imposed ending to the Crisis led to over-hasty [[Decolonisation of Africa|decolonisation in Africa]], increasing the chance of civil wars and military dictatorships in newly independent countries.<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk">{{Cite news |date=30 October 2006 |title=Suez: The 'betrayal' of Eden |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6085264.stm |access-date=2023-03-17 |work=BBC |language=en-GB}}</ref>

The fight over the canal also laid the groundwork for the [[Six-Day War]] in 1967 due to the lack of a peace settlement following the 1956 war and rising of tensions between Egypt and Israel.<ref name="novaonline.nvcc.edu">{{Cite web |last=Evans |first=C. T. |date=2010 |title=Suez Canal Crisis |url=https://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/evans/his135/Events/Suez56.htm |access-date=2023-03-17 |website=North Virginia Community College |type=undergraduate course assignment}}{{Bsn|date=July 2023}}</ref> Additionally, the Soviet Union was able to avoid most repercussions from its concurrent violent suppression of the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956|rebellion in Hungary]], and were able to present an image at the United Nations as a defender of small powers against [[imperialism]].<ref>Delauche, Frederic ''Illustrated History of Europe: A Unique Guide to Europe's Common Heritage'' (1992) p. 357</ref>

As a direct result of the Crisis and in order to prevent further Soviet expansion in the region, Eisenhower asked Congress on 5 January 1957 for authorisation to use military force if requested by any Middle Eastern nation to check aggression and, secondly, to set aside $200&nbsp;million to help Middle Eastern countries that desired aid from the United States. Congress granted both requests and this policy became known as the [[Eisenhower Doctrine]].<ref name="novaonline.nvcc.edu"/>

The Soviet Union made major gains with regards to influence in the Middle East.<ref name="Gaddis, John Lewis, p. 173">{{Harvnb|Gaddis|1998|p=173}}</ref> As American historian [[John Lewis Gaddis]] wrote:
{{Blockquote|When the British-French-Israeli invasion forced them to choose, Eisenhower and Dulles came down, with instant decisiveness, on the side of the Egyptians. They preferred alignment with Arab nationalism, even if it meant alienating pro-Israeli constituencies on the eve of a [[1956 United States presidential election|presidential election]] in the United States, even if it meant throwing the [[NATO]] alliance into its most divisive crisis yet, even if it meant risking whatever was left of the Anglo-American '[[Special Relationship|special relationship]]', even if it meant voting ''with'' the Soviet Union in the United Nations Security Council at a time when the Russians, themselves, were invading Hungary and crushing—far more brutally than anything that happened in Egypt—[[Hungarian Revolution of 1956|a rebellion]] against their own authority there. The fact that the Eisenhower administration itself applied crushing economic pressure to the British and French to disengage from Suez, and that it subsequently forced an Israeli pull-back from the Sinai as well—all of this, one might thought<!--did Gaddis really write this, or was something omitted?-->, would won the United States the lasting gratitude of Nasser, the Egyptians and the Arab world. Instead, the Americans lost influence in the Middle East as a result of Suez, while the Russians gained it.<ref name="Gaddis, John Lewis, p. 173"/>}}

[[File:Statue of de Lesseps.jpg|thumb|Statue of [[Ferdinand de Lesseps]], a Frenchman who built the Suez Canal, being removed following the nationalisation of the Suez Canal in 1956.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kyle|2003|p=522}}</ref>]]

[[Nikita Khrushchev]]'s much publicised threat expressed through letters written by [[Nikolai Bulganin]] to begin rocket attacks on 5 November on Britain, France, and Israel if they did not withdraw from Egypt was widely believed at the time to have forced a ceasefire.<ref name="Gaddis, John Lewis, p. 173"/><ref name="war&peace">{{Cite book |last=Gavin |first=James Maurice |url=https://archive.org/details/warpeaceinspacea00gav_7q4/page/18/mode/2up?view=theater |title=War And Peace In The Space Age |publisher=Harper |edition=1958 |page=18 |format=hardcover |asin=B000OKLL8G |lccn=58011396 |access-date=April 3, 2015 |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Accordingly, it enhanced the prestige of the Soviet Union in Egypt, the Arab world, and the Third World, who believed the USSR was prepared to launch a [[Nuclear warfare|nuclear attack]] on Britain, France, and Israel for the sake of Egypt. Though Nasser in private admitted that it was American economic pressure that had saved him, it was Khrushchev, not Eisenhower, whom Nasser publicly thanked as Egypt's saviour and special friend. Khrushchev boasted in his memoirs:<ref name="Gaddis, John Lewis, p. 173"/>
{{Blockquote|Our use of international influence to halt England, France and Israel's aggression against Egypt in 1956 was a historic turning point...Previously they had apparently thought that we were bluffing, when we openly said that the Soviet Union possessed powerful rockets. But then they saw that we really had rockets. And this had its effect.}}

Khrushchev took the view that the Suez crisis had been a great triumph for Soviet nuclear [[brinkmanship]], arguing publicly and privately that his threat to use nuclear weapons was what had saved Egypt. Khrushchev claimed in his memoirs:<ref name="Gaddis, John Lewis, p. 236">{{Harvnb|Gaddis|1998|p=236}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|The governments of England and France knew perfectly well that Eisenhower's speech condemning their aggression was just a gesture for the sake of public appearances. But when we delivered our own stern warning to the three aggressors, they knew we weren't playing games with public opinion. They took us seriously.}}

The conclusion that Khrushchev drew from the Suez crisis, which he saw as his own personal triumph, was that the use of nuclear blackmail was a very effective tool for achieving Soviet foreign policy goals.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gaddis|1998|pp=236–237}}</ref> Therefore, a long period of crises began, starting with the [[Berlin Crisis of 1958–1959|Berlin crisis]], beginning later in November 1958, and culminating in the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] of 1962.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gaddis|1998|pp=236–239}}</ref> U.S. Secretary of State [[John Foster Dulles]] perceived a [[power vacuum]] in the Middle East, and he thought the United States should fill it. His policies, which ultimately led to the [[Eisenhower Doctrine]], were based on the assumption that Nasser and other Arab leaders shared America's fear of the Soviet Union, which was emphatically not the case.<ref name="Gaddis, John Lewis, pp. 173–174">{{Harvnb|Gaddis|1998|pp=173–174}}</ref>{{Efn|[[CIA]] original operative, [[Miles Copeland Jr|Miles Copeland]] later wrote: "When the dust had settled after the Suez affair, it was clear that we had made at least temporary gains on the international gameboard. Nasser emerged from it stronger and more popular than ever before, not only in Egypt but throughout the Middle East...I find it difficult to believe, but I have been told by sources in whom I have confidence that, at the UN, delegates from Third World countries were actually smiling at our delegates as they passed them in the halls. But it didn't last, because our way of capitalizing on [[Raymond A. Hare|Ray Hare]]'s suggestion that 'we must seize this opportunity to establish a strong position' was something called the 'Eisenhower Doctrine'. Ah, the Eisenhower Doctrine! Announced with the remarkable sense of timing we had come to associate with our Secretary of State, it was an offer by the US Government to commit American troops to the defence of any Middle Eastern government 'endangered by overt armed aggression from any nation controlled by international Communism'. At the time, there were no Middle Eastern nations controlled by international Communism, and no nations threatened by Communist aggression. On the contrary, the Soviets were offering arms, economic aid and political support to any Middle Eastern country that would accept. The Eisenhower Doctrine infuriated those Arab states which our political action campaigns were trying to bring into line, and only stimulated the prevailing inclinations to venality among our political mercenaries."{{Sfn|Copeland|1989|pp=204–205}}}} In fact, Nasser never wanted Egypt to be aligned with one single superpower, and instead preferred the Americans and Soviets vying for his friendship.<ref name="Gaddis, John Lewis, p. 171"/>

Nasser saw the Eisenhower Doctrine as a heavy-handed American attempt to dominate the Middle East (a region that Nasser believed he ought to dominate), {{Citation needed|date=December 2013}} and led him to ally Egypt with the Soviet Union as an effective counter-weight. It was only with the quiet abandonment of the Eisenhower Doctrine in a National Security Council review in mid-1958 that Nasser started pulling away from the Soviet Union to resume his preferred role as an opportunist who tried to use both superpowers to his advantage, playing on their animosity.<ref name="Gaddis, John Lewis, pp. 174–175">{{Harvnb|Gaddis|1998|pp=174–175}}</ref>

The American historian [[Arthur L. Herman]] said that the episode ruined the usefulness of the United Nations to support American geopolitical aims.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Herman |first=Arthur |author-link=Arthur L. Herman |date=July 31, 2006 |title=A Man, A Plan, A Canal What Nasser wrought when he seized Suez a half century ago |url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/012/484pbqjx.asp?page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106120817/http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/012/484pbqjx.asp?page=2 |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 January 2012 |access-date=20 June 2012 |website=The Weekly Standard}}</ref>

=== Military thought ===
{{Singlesource|section|date=August 2023}}
The great military lesson that was reinforced by the Suez War was the extent that the desert favoured highly fluid, mobile operations and the power of aerial interdiction. French aircraft destroyed Egyptian forces threatening paratroopers at Raswa and Israeli air power saved the IDF several days' worth of time. To operate in the open desert without air supremacy proved to be suicidal for the Egyptian forces in the Sinai. The Royal Marine helicopter assault at Port Said "showed promise as a technique for transporting troops into small landing zones".<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 91"/> Strategic bombing proved ineffective.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 92">{{Harvnb|Varble|2003|p=92}}</ref>

Revise Phase II failed to achieve its aim of breaking Egyptian morale while at the same time, those civilian deaths that did occur helped to turn world opinion against the invasion and especially hurt support for the war in Britain. Egyptian urban warfare tactics at Port Said proved to be effective at slowing down the Allied advance. Finally, the war showed the importance of diplomacy. Anglo-French operations against Egypt were militarily successful, but proved to be counterproductive as opinion in both the home front in Britain and France and the world abroad, especially in the United States, was against the operation.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 92"/>

=== Europe ===
In West Germany, the Chancellor [[Konrad Adenauer]] was shocked by the Soviet threat of nuclear strikes against Britain and France, and even more by the quiescent American response to the Soviet threat of nuclear annihilation against two of NATO's key members. The Bulganin letters showcased Europe's dependence upon the United States for security against Soviet nuclear threats while at the same time seeming to show that the American nuclear umbrella was not as reliable as had been advertised.{{Sfn|Dietl|2008|pp=273–274}}{{npov inline|date=September 2024}}

As a result, the French became determined to acquire their own nuclear weapons rather than rely upon the Americans, while Germany became even more interested in the idea of a European "Third Force" in the Cold War. This helped to lead to the formation of the [[European Economic Community]] under the 1957 [[Treaty of Rome]], which was intended to be the foundation of the European "Third Force".{{Sfn|Dietl|2008|pp=273–274}} The European Economic Community was the precursor to the [[European Union]].

=== Egypt ===
[[File:Nasser_and_Quwatli_clasp_hands.jpg|alt=Nasser_and_Quwatli_clasp_hands|thumb|212x212px|Presidents [[Shukri al-Quwatli]] (left) and Gamal Abdel Nasser (right) clasp hands in front of jubilant crowds in [[Damascus]] days after the union of Syria and Egypt into the [[United Arab Republic]], 1958]]
With the prompt withdrawal of UK and French troops, later followed by Israeli troop withdraw, Egypt kept control of the Suez Canal.<ref name="Economist2006"/> After the fighting ended, the Egyptian Chief-of-Staff [[Abdel Hakim Amer]] accused Nasser of provoking an unnecessary war and then blaming the military for the result.<ref name="Kandil2012p50">{{Cite book |last=Kandil |first=Hazem |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y5ShC2rO40YC |title=Soldiers, Spies and Statesmen: Egypt's Road to Revolt |date=13 November 2012 |publisher=Verso Books |isbn=978-1-8446-7962-1 |page=50 |quote=meeting on November 15 (1956) ... Amer also lashed out at Nasser, accusing him of provoking an unnecessary war and then blaming the military for the result.}}</ref> The British historian [[D. R. Thorpe]] wrote that the outcome gave Nasser "an inflated view of his own power",<ref name="Thorpe">{{Cite news |last=Thorpe |first=D. R. |author-link=D. R. Thorpe |date=1 November 2006 |title=What we failed to learn from Suez |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3656288/What-we-failed-to-learn-from-Suez.html |access-date=5 July 2016 |work=Daily Telegraph |location=London}}</ref> thinking he had overcome the combined forces of the United Kingdom, France and Israel, failing to attribute their withdrawal to pressure from the superpowers.<ref name="Thorpe"/><ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 84">{{Harvnb|Varble|2003|p=84}}</ref>

Nasser emerged a hero in the Arab world. American historian Derek Varble commented, "Although Egyptian forces fought with mediocre skill during the conflict, many Arabs saw Nasser as the conqueror of European colonialism and Zionism, simply because Britain, France and Israel left the Sinai and the northern Canal Zone."<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 84"/> The historian Andrew McGregor argued that the retreat from Sinai was not a complete rout, since it preserved most of the regular army for fighting the larger enemy – Britain and France.{{Sfn|McGregor|2006|p=256}} Historian [[P. J. Vatikiotis]] described Nasser's speeches in 1956 and after as providing "superficial explanations of Egypt's military collapse in Sinai, based on some extraordinary strategy" and that "simplistic children's tales about the Egyptian air force's prowess in 1956 were linked in the myth of orderly withdrawal from Sinai. All this was necessary to construct yet another myth, that of [[Port Said]]. Inflating and magnifying odd and sporadic resistance into a [[Battle of Stalingrad|Stalingrad-like]] tenacious defense, Port Said became the spirit of Egyptian independence and dignity."<ref>{{Harvnb|Vatikiotis|1978|p=275}}</ref>

During the Nasser era, the fighting at Port Said became a symbol of Egyptian victory, linked to a global anti-colonial struggle.<ref>{{Harvnb|Vatikiotis|1978|p=277}}</ref> Of Nasser's post-Suez hubris, Thorpe wrote, "The [[Six-Day War]] against Israel in 1967 was when reality kicked in—a war that would never have taken place if the Suez crisis had had a different resolution."<ref name="Thorpe"/> Of [[Tawfiq al-Hakim]]'s writings about the 1956 and 1967 wars, Vatikiotis summarizes: "Were bluffing and histrionics in the nature of Nasser? It was bluffing that led to the crushing of Egypt in 1967, because of the mass self-deception exercised by leaders and followers alike ever since the non-existent 'Stalingrad which was Port Said' in 1956."<ref>{{Harvnb|Vatikiotis|1978|p=321}}</ref>

==== Crackdown on Egyptian Jews ====
{{Further|1956–1957 exodus and expulsions from Egypt|Jewish exodus from the Muslim world#Egypt}}
{{Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries}}

In October 1956, when the Suez Crisis erupted, Nasser brought in a set of sweeping regulations abolishing civil liberties and allowing the state to stage mass arrests without charge and strip away [[Egyptian nationality law|Egyptian citizenship]] from any group it desired; these measures were mostly directed against the [[History of the Jews in Egypt|Jews of Egypt]]. As part of its new policy, 1,000 Jews were arrested and 500 Jewish businesses were seized by the government.<ref>{{Harvnb|Laskier|1995|pp=579–580}}</ref>

A statement branding the Jews as "Zionists and enemies of the state" was read out in the mosques of Cairo and Alexandria. Jewish bank accounts were confiscated and many Jews lost their jobs. Lawyers, engineers, doctors and teachers were not allowed to work in their professions. Thousands of Jews were ordered to leave the country.<ref name="Laskier 1995, p. 581">{{Harvnb|Laskier|1995|p=581}}</ref>

They were allowed to take only one suitcase and a small sum of cash, and forced to sign declarations "donating" their property to the Egyptian government. Some 25,000 Jews, almost half of the Jewish community, left Egypt, mainly for Israel, Europe, the United States and South America. By 1957, the Jewish population of Egypt had fallen to 15,000.<ref name="JVL">{{Cite web |title=Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-refugees-from-arab-countries |access-date=2023-03-17 |website=Jewish Virtual Library}}</ref>

=== Britain ===
[[File:Nasser_and_Macmillan.jpg|alt=Nasser_and_Macmillan|thumb|280x280px|Nasser and [[Harold Macmillan]], 1960]]
The political and psychological impact of the crisis had a fundamental impact on [[Politics of the United Kingdom|British politics]]. [[Anthony Eden]] was accused of misleading parliament and resigned from office on 9 January 1957. Eden had been prime minister for less than two years when he resigned, and his unsuccessful handling of the Suez Crisis eclipsed the successes he had achieved in the previous 30 years as foreign secretary in three Conservative governments.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/biographies/eden.html WWII Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West . Biographies . Anthony Eden] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216000224/http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/biographies/eden.html |date=16 December 2013}}. PBS. Retrieved on 8 September 2011.</ref>

Eden's successor, Harold Macmillan, accelerated the process of decolonisation and sought to restore Britain's special relationship with the United States.<ref>{{Citation |title=The Oxford History of the British Empire, Vol. 4: The Twentieth Century |date=1999 |editor-first=J. M. |editor-last=Brown |editor2-first=W. R. |editor-last2=Louis}}{{pagenumber|date=May 2024}}</ref>{{page number|date=May 2024}} He enjoyed a close friendship with Eisenhower, dating from the [[North African Campaign#Operation Torch|North African campaign]] in World War II, where General Eisenhower commanded allied invasion forces and Macmillan provided political liaison with [[Winston Churchill]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Horne|2008|p=158}}</ref> Benefiting from his personal popularity and a healthy economy, Macmillan's government increased its Parliamentary majority in the [[1959 United Kingdom general election|1959 general election]].<ref name="autogenerated449"/>

The Suez crisis, though a blow to British power in the Near East, did not mark its end. Britain intervened successfully in Jordan to put down riots that threatened the rule of King Hussein in 1958 and in 1961 deployed troops to Kuwait to successfully deter an Iraqi invasion. The latter deployment had been a response to the threats of the Iraqi dictator General [[Abd al-Karim Qasim]] that he would invade and annex Kuwait. At the same time, though British influence continued in the Middle East, Suez was a blow to British prestige in the Near East from which the country never recovered.<ref name="autogenerated449">{{Harvnb|Adamthwaite|1988|p=449}}</ref> Britain evacuated all positions [[East of Suez]] by 1971, though this was due mainly to economic factors.

Increasingly, British foreign policy thinking turned away from acting as a great imperial power. During the 1960s there was much speculation that Prime Minister [[Harold Wilson]]'s continued refusals to send British troops to the [[Vietnam War]], even as a token force, despite President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]'s persistent requests, were partially due to the Americans not supporting Britain during the Suez Crisis. [[Edward Heath]] was dismayed by the U.S. opposition to Britain during the Suez Crisis; as Prime Minister in October 1973 he refused the U.S. permission to use any of the UK's air bases to resupply during the [[Yom Kippur War]],<ref>[http://spyinggame.wordpress.com/2011/07/30/us-uk-special-relationship-06 US-UK Special Relationship 06 | Intelligence Analysis and Reporting] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120413192315/http://spyinggame.wordpress.com/2011/07/30/us-uk-special-relationship-06 |date=13 April 2012}}. Spyinggame.wordpress.com (30 July 2011). Retrieved on 8 September 2011.</ref> or to allow the Americans to gather intelligence from [[Akrotiri and Dhekelia|British bases in Cyprus]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=2002 |title=Dangerous liaisons: post-September 11 intelligence alliances |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb137/is_3_24/ai_n28939894 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111110085303/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb137/is_3_24/ai_n28939894 |archive-date=10 November 2011 |work=Harvard International Review}}</ref>

However, the British relationship with the United States did not suffer lasting consequences from the crisis. "The Anglo-American '[[Special Relationship|special relationship]]' was revitalised immediately after the Suez Crisis", writes Risse Kappen.<ref>{{Harvnb|Risse-Kappen|1997|p=99}}</ref> The United States wanted to restore the prestige of its closest ally and thus "The two governments...engaged in almost ritualistic reassurances that their 'special relationship' would be restored quickly". One example came with Britain's first [[Thermonuclear weapon|hydrogen bomb]] test [[Operation Grapple]] which led to the [[1958 U.S.–UK Mutual Defence Agreement]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Risse-Kappen|1997|p=98}}</ref> Six years after the crisis, the Americans amazed the British by selling them state-of-the-art missile technology at a moderate cost, which became the [[UK Polaris programme]].<ref name="jstor2009841">{{Cite journal |last1=Dawson |first1=R. |last2=Rosecrance |first2=R. |date=1966 |title=Theory and Reality in the Anglo-American Alliance |journal=World Politics |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=21–51 |doi=10.2307/2009841 |jstor=2009841 |s2cid=155057300}}</ref>

The war led to the eviction of [[GCHQ]] from several of its best foreign [[signals intelligence]] collection sites, including [[Far East Combined Bureau|the new Perkar, Ceylon site]], recently developed at a cost of £2 million, equivalent to £{{Inflation|UK|2|1955}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation/year|UK}}, and [[RAF Habbaniya]], Iraq.<ref name="aldrich-2011">{{Cite book |last=Aldrich |first=Richard J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l9i5bt1-7HYC |title=GCHQ |date=2011 |publisher=Harper Press |isbn=978-0-0073-1266-5 |location=London |pages=160–162}}</ref>

=== France ===
Risse-Kappen argued that [[France–United States relations|Franco-American ties]] never recovered from the Suez crisis. There were various reasons for this. Previously there had already been strains in the Franco-American relationship triggered by what Paris considered U.S. betrayal of the French war effort in Indochina at [[Battle of Dien Bien Phu|Dien Bien Phu]] in 1954.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Harvnb|Risse-Kappen|1997|p=103}}</ref> According to Risse-Kappen, this incident demonstrated the weakness of the [[NATO]] alliance by not planning and co-operating beyond the European stage. Mollet believed Eden should have delayed calling the Cabinet together until 7 November, taking the whole canal in the meantime, and then veto with the French any UN resolution on sanctions.<ref>{{Harvnb|Risse-Kappen|1997|p=84}}</ref>

From the point of view of General [[Charles de Gaulle]], the Suez events demonstrated to France that it could not rely on its allies. The British had initiated a ceasefire in the midst of the battle without consulting the French, while the Americans had opposed Paris politically. The damage to the ties between Paris and Washington, D.C., "culminated in President de Gaulle's 1966 decision to withdraw from the military integration of NATO".<ref>{{Harvnb|Risse-Kappen|1997|p=84}}</ref>

The Suez war had an immense impact on French domestic politics. Much of the French Army officer corps felt that they been "betrayed" by what they considered to be the spineless politicians in Paris when they were on the verge of victory just as they believed they had been "betrayed" in Vietnam in 1954, and accordingly became more determined to win the war in Algeria, even if it meant overthrowing the [[French Fourth Republic|Fourth Republic]] to do so. The Suez crisis thus helped to set the stage for the military disillusionment with the Fourth Republic, which was to lead to the [[May 1958 crisis in France|collapse of the republic]] in 1958.<ref name="Sowerwine, Charles p. 278">Sowerwine, Charles ''France Since 1870'', London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009 p. 278.</ref> According to the protocol of Sèvres agreements, France secretly transmitted parts of its [[France and weapons of mass destruction|own atomic technology]] to Israel, including a detonator.<ref>''[http://www.france5.fr/programmes/articles/histoire/734-affaire-de-suez-le-pacte-secret.php Affaire de Suez, Le Pacte Secret] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120419060224/http://www.france5.fr/programmes/articles/histoire/734-affaire-de-suez-le-pacte-secret.php |date=19 April 2012}}'', Peter Hercombe et Arnaud Hamelin, France 5/Sunset Presse/Transparence, 2006</ref>

=== Israel ===
[[File:Tiran Guns IMG 0937.JPG|thumb|An Israeli soldier stands next to an Egyptian gun that had blocked the [[Tiran Straits]].]]

The Israel Defense Forces gained confidence from the campaign.{{According to whom|date=July 2016}} The war demonstrated that Israel was capable of executing large scale military manoeuvres in addition to small night-time raids and counter-insurgency operations. [[David Ben-Gurion]], reading on 16 November that 90,000 British and French troops had been involved in the Suez affair, wrote in his diary, 'If they had only appointed a commander of ours over this force, Nasser would have been destroyed in two days.'<ref name="lrb.co.uk">{{Cite book |last=Lucas |first=W. Scott |title=Divided we Stand: Britain, the US and the Suez Crisis |date=September 1991 |publisher=Hodder |isbn=978-0-3405-3666-7}}<br />Cited in {{Cite news |last=Kyle |first=Keith |date=25 February 1993 |title=Lacking in style |url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v15/n04/keith-kyle/lacking-in-style |access-date=2023-03-17 |work=London Review of Books |language=en |volume=15 |issue=4 |issn=0260-9592}}</ref>

The war also had tangible benefits for Israel. The [[Straits of Tiran]], closed by Egypt since 1950,<ref name="Pierre2014"/> were re-opened. Israeli shipping could henceforth move freely through the Straits of Tiran to and from Africa and Asia. The Israelis also secured the presence of UN Peacekeepers in Sinai. Operation Kadesh bought Israel an eleven-year lull on its southern border with Egypt.<ref>{{Harvnb|Herzog|1982|p=141}}</ref>

Israel escaped the political humiliation that befell Britain and France following their swift, forced withdrawal. In addition, its stubborn refusal to withdraw without guarantees, even in defiance of the United States and United Nations, ended all Western efforts, mainly American and British ones, to impose a political settlement in the Middle East without taking Israel's security needs into consideration.<ref name="Alteras"/>

In October 1965 Eisenhower told Jewish fundraiser and Republican party supporter [[Max M. Fisher]] that he greatly regretted forcing Israel to withdraw from the Sinai peninsula; Vice-President Nixon recalled that Eisenhower expressed the same view to him on several occasions.<ref name="Alteras">{{Harvnb|Alteras|1993}}</ref>

=== Canada ===
[[Lester B. Pearson]], who would later become the [[Prime Minister of Canada]], was awarded the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] in 1957 for his efforts in creating a mandate for a United Nations Peacekeeping Force, and he is considered the father of the modern concept of [[peacekeeping]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=24 November 2004 |title=The price of a Pearson |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/the-price-of-a-pearson/article747254 |access-date=30 August 2018 |work=The Globe and Mail}}</ref> The Suez Crisis contributed to the adoption of a new national [[flag of Canada]] in 1965, as the Egyptian government had objected to [[Canadian peacekeeping]] troops on the grounds that their flag at that time included a [[British ensign]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thorner |first=Thomas |url=https://archive.org/details/countrynourished00thor |title=A Country Nourished on Self-Doubt: Documents in Post-Confederation Canadian History |date=2003 |publisher=Broadview Press |isbn=978-1-5511-1548-1}}{{page number|date=May 2024}}</ref>{{page number|date=May 2024}}

=== Soviet Union ===
The Soviet Union, once outside what was considered a Western sphere of influence, was now a friend of the Arabs. Shortly after it reopened, the canal was traversed by the first [[Soviet Navy]] warships since [[World War I]]. The Soviets' burgeoning influence in the Middle East, although it was not to last, included acquiring Mediterranean bases, introducing multipurpose projects, supporting the budding [[Palestinian nationalism|Palestinian liberation movement]] and penetrating the Arab countries.<ref name="militaria.forum-xl.com">[http://militaria.forum-xl.com/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=599 MILITARIA Toon onderwerp – Suez Crisis: Operation Musketeer] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121073530/http://militaria.forum-xl.com/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=599 |date=21 January 2012}}. Militaria.forum-xl.com. Retrieved on 8 September 2011.</ref>{{unreliablesource|date=May 2024}}

== See also ==
* [[Closure of the Suez Canal (1967–1975)]]
* [[Protocol of Sèvres]]
* [[Operation Tarnegol]]
* [[Egyptian National Military Museum]] 1956 war hall
* [[1956 riots in Iraq]]

'''General'''
* [[United Kingdom–United States relations]]
* [[France–United Kingdom relations]]
* [[France–United States relations]]
* [[Israel–United States relations]]
* [[Israeli casualties of war]]
* [[List of modern conflicts in the Middle East]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

=== Works cited ===
{{Refbegin|indent=yes|30em}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Adamthwaite |first=Anthony |date=1988 |title=Suez revisited |journal=International Affairs |volume=64 |issue=3 |pages=449–464 |doi=10.2307/2622851 |issn=1468-2346 |jstor=2622851}}
* {{Cite book |last=Alteras |first=Isaac |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oYb9jwEACAAJ |title=Eisenhower and Israel: U.S.-Israeli Relations, 1953–1960 |date=1993 |publisher=University Press of Florida |isbn=978-0-8130-1206-3}}
* {{Cite book |last=Barnett |first=Michael N. |title=Confronting the Costs of War: Military Power, State, and Society in Egypt and Israel |date=1992 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-6910-7883-0 |location=Princeton}}
* Bromberger, Merry and Serge ''Secrets of Suez'' Sidgwick & Jackson London 1957 (translated from French ''Les Secrets de l'Expedition d'Egypte'' by James Cameron)
* {{Cite book |last=Burns |first=William J. |title=Economic Aid and American Policy toward Egypt, 1955–1981 |date=1985 |publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=978-0-8739-5868-4 |location=Albany}}
* {{Cite book |last=Butler |first=L. J. |title=Britain and Empire: Adjusting to a Post-Imperial World |date=2002 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |isbn=978-1-8606-4449-8 |location=London}}
* {{Cite book |last=Darwin |first=John |title=Britain and Decolonisation: The Retreat From Empire in the Post-War World |date=1988 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-0-3332-9258-7}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Dietl |first=Ralph |date=April 2008 |title=Suez 1956: A European Intervention? |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=259–273 |doi=10.1177/0022009408089032 |s2cid=159816012}}
* Doran, Michael. ''Ike's Gamble'', Free Press. Oct.2016.
* {{Cite book |last=Gaddis |first=John Lewis |title=We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1987-8071-7 |location=Oxford}}
* {{Cite book |last=Herzog |first=Chaim |title=The Arab-Israeli Wars: War and Peace in the Middle East |date=1982 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-0-3945-0379-0 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite book |last=Horne |first=Alistair |title=Macmillan: The Official Biography |date=2008 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-2307-1083-2 |edition=Twentieth anniversary |location=London |author-link=Alistair Horne |orig-date=1988}}
* {{Cite book |last=James |first=Robert Rhodes |title=Anthony Eden: A Biography |date=1986 |publisher=McGraw Hill Book Company Inc |asin=B0040YOVBQ |author-link=Robert Rhodes James}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kingseed |first=Cole Christian |title=Eisenhower and the Suez Crisis of 1956 |date=1995 |publisher=Louisiana State Press |isbn=978-0-8071-1987-7}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kissinger |first=Henry |title=Diplomacy |date=1994 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0-6715-1099-2 |location=New York, NY |author-link=Henry Kissinger}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kyle |first=Keith |title=Suez: Britain's End of Empire in the Middle East |date=2003 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |isbn=978-1-8606-4811-3 |author-link=Keith Kyle}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Laskier |first=Michael M. |date=1995 |title=Egyptian Jewry under the Nasser Regime, 1956–70 |journal=Middle Eastern Studies |volume=31 |issue=3 |pages=573–619 |doi=10.1080/00263209508701070 |jstor=4283743}}
* {{Cite book |last=Love |first=Kenneth |title=Suez The Twice Fought War |date=1969 |publisher=McGraw-Hill}}
* {{Cite book |last=Neff |first=Donald |title=Warriors at Suez : Eisenhower takes America into the Middle-East |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-6714-1010-0 |location=New York}}
* Pearson, Jonathan. (2002) ''Sir Anthony Eden and the Suez Crisis: Reluctant Gamble'' (Springer, 2002). [http://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/file%20uploads%20/jonathan_pearson_sir_anthony_eden_and_the_suez_cbook4you.org_.pdf online]
* {{Cite book |last=Risse-Kappen |first=Thomas |title=Cooperation among Democracies: The European Influence on U.S. Foreign Policy |date=1997 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=978-0-6910-1711-2 |edition=2nd |location=Princeton, NJ |author-link=Thomas Risse |orig-date=1995}}
* {{Cite book |last=Sayed-Ahmed |first=Muhammad Add al-Wahab |title=Contemporary Egypt: Through Egyptian Eyes : Essays in Honour of Professor P.J. Vatikiotis |date=1993 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-4150-6103-2 |editor-last=Tripp |editor-first=Charles |pages=89–99 |chapter=Relations between Egypt and the United States of America in the 1950s |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zu5ynOwsrsAC}}
* {{Cite book |last=Sachar |first=Howard Morley |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7qS0aRI5omwC |title=A History of Israel: From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time |date=1996 |publisher=A.A. Knopf |isbn=978-0-6797-6563-9}}
* {{Cite book |last=Schiff |first=Zeev |title=A History of the Israeli Army: 1870–1974 |date=1974 |publisher=Straight Arrow Books |isbn=978-0-8793-2077-5 |oclc=1188936 |ol=5068460M}}
* Shlaim, Avi. "The Protocol of Sevres, 1956: Anatomy of a War Plot." ''International Affairs'' 73#3 1997, pp.&nbsp;509–530. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2624270 online].
* Smith, Simon C. ed. ''Reassessing Suez 1956: New perspectives on the crisis and its aftermath'' (Routledge, 2016).
* {{Cite book |last=Stewart |first=Dona J. |title=The Middle East Today: Political, Geographical and Cultural Perspectives |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-4157-8243-2}}
* {{Cite book |title=The 1956 War |date=2001 |publisher=Frank Cass Publishers |isbn=978-0-7146-4394-6 |editor-last=Tal |editor-first=David |editor-link=David Tal (historian) |location=London}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Thornhill |first=M. T. |date=1 September 2004 |title=Britain, the United States and the Rise of an Egyptian Leader: The Politics and Diplomacy of Nasser's Consolidation of Power, 1952-4 |journal=The English Historical Review |volume=119 |issue=483 |pages=892–921 |doi=10.1093/ehr/119.483.892 |issn=0013-8266}}
* {{Cite book |last=Turner |first=Barry |title=Suez 1956 The World's First War for Oil |date=2006 |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |isbn=978-0-3408-3768-9 |location=London}}
* Troen, S. Ilan. "The Protocol of Sèvres: British/French/Israeli Collusion Against Egypt, 1956." ''Israel Studies'' 1.2 (1996): 122-139 [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ilan_Troen/publication/236703755_The_Protocol_of_Svres_BritishFrenchIsraeli_Collusion_Against_Egypt_1956/links/55a7d18608ae1dca686fcef1.pdf online].
* {{Cite book |last=Varble |first=Derek |title=The Suez Crisis 1956 |date=2003 |publisher=Osprey |isbn=978-1-8417-6418-4 |location=London}}
* {{Cite book |last=Vatikiotis |first=Panayiotis |title=Nasser and His Generation |date=1978 |publisher=Croom Helm |isbn=978-0-8566-4433-7 |location=London}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Andrew |title=Our Times The age of Elizabeth II |date=2008 |publisher=Hutchinson |isbn=978-0-0917-9671-6 |location=London |author-link=A. N. Wilson}}
* {{Cite book |last=Yergin |first=Daniel |title=The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power |title-link=The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power |date=1991 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0-6715-0248-5 |location=New York City |author-link=Daniel Yergin}}. Chapter 24 is devoted entirely to the Suez Crisis.
{{Refend}}

== Further reading ==
{{Refbegin|indent=yes|30em}}
* {{Cite book |last=Arnstein |first=Walter L. |title=Britain Yesterday and Today: 1830 to the Present |date=2001 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |isbn=978-0-6180-0104-0 |location=Boston}}
* {{Cite book |last=Beaufre |first=André |title=The Suez Expedition 1956 |date=1969 |publisher=Praeger |isbn=978-0-5710-8979-6 |location=New York |author-link=André Beaufre}} (translated from French by Richard Barry)
* {{Cite book |last=Bregman |first=Ahron |title=Israel's Wars: A History Since 1947 |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-4152-8716-6 |location=London |author-link=Ahron Bregman}}
* {{Cite book |last=Childers |first=Erskine B. |title=The Road To Suez |date=1962 |publisher=MacGibbon & Kee |asin=B000H47WG4 |author-link=Erskine Barton Childers}}
* {{Cite book |last=Heikal |first=Mohamed |title=Cutting The Lion's Tail: Suez Through Egyptian eyes |date=1986 |publisher=Deutsch |isbn=978-0-2339-7967-0 |location=London |author-link=Mohamed Hassanein Heikal}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hyam |first=Ronald |title=Britain's Declining Empire: The Road to Decolonisation 1918–1969 |date=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5216-8555-9}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kunz |first=Diane B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8lG54d7vzKkC |title=The Economic Diplomacy of the Suez Crisis |date=1991 |publisher=U. of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-1967-8 |author-link=Diane Kunz}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Lahav |first=Pnina |title=The Suez Crisis of 1956 and Its Aftermath: A Comparative Study of Constitutions, Use of Force, Diplomacy and International Relations |journal=Boston University Law Review |volume=95 |date=July 2015 |pages=1297–1354 |url=https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1199&context=faculty_scholarship |issn=0006-8047}}
* {{Cite book |last=Leuliette |first=Pierre |title=St. Michael and the Dragon: Memoirs of a Paratrooper |date=1964 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lucas |first=Scott |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zLfnAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA120 |title=Britain and Suez: The Lion's Last Roar |date=1996 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-0-7190-4579-0 |pages=118–130}} pp.&nbsp;118–130 on historiography
* {{Cite book |last=Marshall |first=S. L. A. |title=Sinai Victory : Command Decisions In History's Shortest War, Israel's Hundred-Hour Conquest of Egypt East of Suez, Autumn, 1956 |date=1958 |publisher=Battery Press |isbn=978-0-8983-9085-8 |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/sinaivictorycomm00mars |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=McGregor |first=Andrew |title=A Military History of Modern Egypt: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Ramadan War |publisher=Praeger |year=2006 |isbn=978-0275986018}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Painter |first=David S. |author-link=David S. Painter |date=2012 |title=Oil and the American Century |journal=[[The Journal of American History]] |volume=99 |issue=1 |pages=24–39 |doi=10.1093/jahist/jas073 |doi-access=free}}
* {{Cite book |last=Reynolds |first=David |title=Brittania Overruled: British Policy and World Power in the Twentieth Century |date=1991 |publisher=Longman |isbn=978-0-5823-8249-7 |author-link=David Reynolds (English historian)}}
* {{Cite book |last=Sharon |first=Ariel |url=https://archive.org/details/warriorautobiogr00shar |title=Warrior: The Autobiography Of Ariel Sharon |date=1989 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0-6716-0555-1 |location=New York |author-link=Ariel Sharon |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Verbeek |first=Bertjan |title=Decision-Making in Great Britain During the Suez Crisis. Small Groups and a Persistent Leader |date=2003 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |isbn=978-0-7546-3253-5 |location=Aldershot}}
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Suez Crisis}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070110234732/http://www.azure.org.il/magazine/magazine.asp?id=355 Israel's Second War of Independence], essay in Azure magazine.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120106120817/http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/012/484pbqjx.asp?page=2 A Man, A Plan and A Canal] by [[Arthur L. Herman]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061001211346/https://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/maps/sinai.html Sinai Campaign 1956]
* [http://www.suezcrisis.ca Canada and the Suez Crisis]
* July 2006, [[BBC]], [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5199392.stm Suez 50 years on]
* [http://www.isj.org.uk/index.php4?id=249&issue=112 ''Suez and the high tide of Arab nationalism''] ''International Socialism'' 112 (2006)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061125122924/http://www.servicehistorique.sga.defense.gouv.fr/04histoire/dossierdushd/suez/suezcarr2.htm Detailed report on the Suez campaign by Ground Forces Chief of Staff General Beaufre, French Defense Ministry archive] ('''French''')
* [http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/projects/suez/suez.html Bodleian Library Suez Crisis Fiftieth anniversary exhibition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170221121959/http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/projects/suez/suez.html |date=21 February 2017 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101120140143/http://britains-smallwars.com/suez/suez-index.html Suez index] at Britains-smallwars.com – accounts by British servicemen who were present
* [http://www.cvce.eu/obj/speech_by_gamal_abdel_nasser_26_july_1956-en-d0ecf835-9f40-4c43-a2ed-94c186061d2a.html 26 July speech by Gamal Abdel Nasser] (French translation)
* [http://nasser.bibalex.org/Speeches/browser.aspx?SID=495 Speech by Gamal Abdel Nasser] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311161610/http://nasser.bibalex.org/Speeches/browser.aspx?SID=495 |date=11 March 2012 }} (Original text in Arabic)
* {{Internet Archive short film|id=gov.archives.arc.653946|name=The Middle East (1963)}}

'''Media links'''
* [http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=61875 Newsreel film, British Prime Minister's broadcast] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120107101156/http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=61875 |date=7 January 2012}} at Britishpathe.com
* ''[https://www.nfb.ca/film/blue_vanguard Blue Vanguard]'' (1957), National Film Board of Canada film for the United Nations about its role in restoring peace after the Suez Crisis (60 min, Ian MacNeill, dir.)

{{British colonial campaigns}}
{{Israeli wars}}
{{Arab-Israeli Conflict}}
{{Suez Canal}}
{{Cold War}}
{{Egypt–Israel relations}}
{{Arab nationalism}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Suez Crisis| ]]
[[Category:1956 in All-Palestine (Gaza)]]
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