The Suez Canal Crisis, also known as the Suez War, Suez Campaign, or Operation Kadesh, was a war that broke out in 1956 on Egyptian territory. The conflict broke out between Egypt and a secret alliance, the Protocol of Sèvres, formed by the State of Israel, France and the United Kingdom, following the unilateral nationalization of the Suez Canal by Egypt.
This alliance between two European states and Israel responded to common interests:European nations had economic and commercial interests in the Suez Canal, and Israel needed the opening of the canal to ensure its maritime transport (the latter justified its military intervention against Egypt as a response to the fedayeen attacks which he was increasingly subjected to on his territory). In addition, this crisis is considered particularly important because it occurred during the Cold War period. More than the interests of European countries, it also symbolizes a still disputed union of the Soviet Union and the United States (two opposing blocs) and therefore constitutes a key moment in this period of conflict. The union remains contested because it seems that it could also have been interpreted as a kind of "exchange of good practices" between the two powers. It was these two states that imposed an end to the conflict by sending French and British forces home.
Origins of the conflict
The Suez Canal, which forms a shortcut between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, was opened in 1869. It was financed by France and the Egyptian government. The UK then bought out Egypt's share of the canal. At the independence of India, the strategic weight of the canal changed:it was no longer the crucial point of passage between the United Kingdom and its Empire. On the other hand, the canal becomes a strategic crossing point for oil.
The origins of this conflict date back to 1952, when the monarchy of Farouk I was overthrown by officers of the Egyptian army. This social and national "revolution" abolished the monarchy in Egypt, first under the leadership of General Neguib, and endeavored to fight against foreign imperialism. Following this overthrow, the new government abandoned the clauses of cooperation with European forces and adopted a nationalist and authoritarian tendency. This change of position led to a conflict with Europe over the Suez Canal, which until then had been in the hands of Franco-British capital.
During 1956, tension increased between Israel and Egypt with raids by Egyptian fighters (fedayeen) on Israeli territory. Egypt, led by Gamal Abdel Nasser, blocks the Gulf of Aqaba and closes the Suez Canal to Israeli ships. At the same time, it nationalized the canal, a vital trade route then 44% owned by the British economy. The company responded by withdrawing its British and French technicians. They are replaced by others, provided by non-aligned countries, India in particular.
The British Prime Minister, Anthony Eden, then tries to convince public opinion of the need for a war against Egypt. For this, he appeals to the patriotism inherited from the Second World War by comparing the nationalization of the canal by Nasser to the nationalism of Mussolini and Hitler twenty years earlier. Eden, opposing Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement, declares that a show of force is necessary in order to dissuade Nasser from making Egypt a new military threat and passes him off as the "Mussolini of the Nile".
Seen from France, the anti-colonialist, anti-imperialist, third-worldist, socialist, nationalist and Arabist (pan-Arab) line of Nasser appears as a threat. The Algerian FLN, in armed struggle against France, has its headquarters in Cairo and receives significant material and moral aid from Egypt. Guy Mollet, head of the French government, is committed to the cause of French Algeria and support for Israel.
On July 26, 1956, Nasser operated the nationalization of the canal and the sequestration of the property of the Universal Suez Canal Company, during a speech in Alexandria:
“Poverty is not a shame, but it is the exploitation of peoples that is. We will take back all our rights, because all these funds are ours, and this canal is the property of Egypt (...) I assign today the agreement of the government on the establishment of the Canal Company. »
In addition, for several years there has been talk for Egypt of building a dam in Aswan, in order to protect agricultural land from the flooding of the Nile and to produce electricity. However, funds were requested from the Soviet Union and Western states, but the latter suspended their funds after the receipt of weapons from the Eastern bloc by Egypt.
Sèvres Accords
During the months following the nationalization of the canal, a secret agreement was signed between France (Christian Pineau), the United Kingdom (Patrick Dean) and Israel (David Ben Gurion) in Sèvres. Their objective is then to overthrow Nasser and recover the canal. The Sèvres Protocols state:
“The Jewish state will attack Egypt on October 29, 1956 in the evening and will charge towards the Suez Canal. Taking advantage of this "surprise" aggression, London and Paris issued an ultimatum the next day to the two belligerents to withdraw from the canal zone. If Egypt does not comply with the injunctions, the Franco-British troops will go into action on October 31. »
This agreement, which was to remain secret, establishes the role of each party. The allies agree that Israel engages militarily against Egypt, leaving it to France and the United Kingdom to intervene then by asking the two belligerents to withdraw their troops from the banks of the canal and then by conducting a Franco-British intervention in Port Said, known since as "Operation Musketeer".
Conflict progress
Preparations
Among the plans drawn up by the British, one of them was to cut off the flow of Nile waters to Egypt from the Owen Falls dam in Uganda, so as to damage the agricultural sector and cut off communications. The military presented this plan to Prime Minister Anthony Eden six weeks before the invasion. It was abandoned for fear that it would provoke violent riots among the Egyptian population, which it would have taken months to set up and which it would also have damaged other countries such as Kenya and Uganda.
At the level of the Allied forces, 155 warships including 5 aircraft carriers are engaged:103 from the Royal Navy, 52 from the French Navy, to which are added a hundred requisitioned ships, including 53 French.
Invasion
On October 29, Israel invaded the Gaza Strip and the Sinai and quickly reached the Canal Zone. As agreed during the Sevres agreement, the United Kingdom and France offer to occupy the area and separate the belligerents. Nasser, whose decision to nationalize the canal had been enthusiastically welcomed by the Egyptian population, rejected the proposal and thus gave a pretext to European forces to ally with Israel to regain control of the canal and overthrow the regime in place. On October 31, France and the United Kingdom begin a wave of bombardments on Egypt in order to force the reopening of the canal.
On the evening of November 5, part of the 2nd French colonial parachute regiment, supported by 11th Shock commandos, jumped near the railway line bordering the canal south of Port Said, was sent to Al-Gamil airport, takes control of the area and establishes a secure point to ensure the arrival of air reinforcements. On the morning of November 6, the 40th and 42nd commando battalions of the British Royal Marines took over the beaches using World War II landing craft. Their assault is supported by the salvoes of the ships of the Royal Navy and the French Navy posted offshore and causing enormous damage to the Egyptian defense batteries. The city of Port Said was affected by numerous fires and experienced significant damage on this occasion.
The 45th commando progresses inland and marks an innovation in the military field by making use of helicopters during the assaults. However, some of them are shot down by the Egyptian batteries. On the other hand, the commando as well as the headquarters suffer losses due to friendly fire from the Royal Air Force. The urban combat carried out during this operation sees the allied forces slowed down by Egyptian snipers.
The Egyptian inhabitants, equipped with automatic weapons and convinced of the arrival of Russian reinforcements, put up resistance to the European forces. However, faced with the speed of the invasion and the aerial supremacy of the commandos, the Egyptian army was forced to capitulate. The commandos then take control of the canal and head south towards Cairo.
Political reactions to the conflict
In France, the Mollet government obtains an almost unanimous vote of confidence on October 30, minus the abstention of the Communists and the Poujadists. In Great Britain, on the contrary, the opposition is unleashed. Labor, and even some of the Conservatives, denounce the anachronistic nature of this colonial policy, and the risk of a break with the Commonwealth countries. Eden is booed in the House of Commons, where the deputies reproach him for presenting them with a fait accompli, without having consulted, as was the custom, the Leader of the Opposition. The Law not war demonstrations (the law and not the war) multiply, the most important taking place on November 4, just before the landing. Concern grows when disruption of canal traffic threatens oil supplies.
Ceasefire and withdrawal of armies
As the Israeli army seized the Sinai peninsula and reached the Suez Canal, a very firm warning from the Soviet Union halted the offensive; Israel had to withdraw to its 1949 borders. The USSR then bluffed by threatening France, England and Israel with a nuclear response. NATO reminds the USSR that it will retaliate in this case. The United States, passive until then, demanded the withdrawal of Western forces to defuse the crisis, increased the pressure against the British government by launching a monetary attack on the pound sterling and sent its naval and air forces to interfere in the Anglo apparatus. -French.
The General Assembly of the United Nations, meeting in emergency extraordinary session from November 2 to 10, 1956, adopts resolutions providing for the intervention of the UNEF (United Nations Emergency Force) whose aim is to replace the French forces -British from November 15, 1956 in order to restore peace; it was the first multilateral operation of the United Nations, described as "first generation". From then on, the "Blue Helmets" were born. Canada's Minister of External Affairs at the time, Lester B. Pearson, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for his role in calming the Suez Crisis and for his initiative to deploy a neutral UN force between the warring parties.
Consequences
The most serious consequences are assumed by the British, whose crisis announces both the end of the empire and submission to the United States. Due to the pressure exerted, in particular the devaluation of the Pound Sterling, from now on any isolated attempt was doomed to failure.
France, like the United Kingdom, makes a fool of itself at the end of this war. The proof is made that the countries of Europe are no longer the dominant powers in this region. The United States and the USSR wanted to show that the colonial era was over, and that no policy in the Middle East could be done without them.
The USSR gains prestige in the Middle East, and greatly tightens its alliance with Egypt. For the Soviets, the Suez crisis also served as a diversion from events in Hungary, where Russian tanks crushed the Budapest uprising on November 4.
The Egyptian regime, despite the military defeat, emerges triumphant from this crisis. The humiliation of France and the triumph of Egypt strengthens the FLN in the Algerian conflict. Sudan, an Anglo-Egyptian condominium, gains independence. In 1958, Hashemite Iraq and vassal of the West, by a revolution, passed to the pro-Nasserites (friends of the USSR). Lebanon in 1958 was rocked by a mini civil war between Western-oriented Christians and Arab-oriented Muslims.
Israel is consolidating itself as a military power, the operation has destroyed part of Egypt's military potential and France has strengthened its military cooperation with the Jewish state with, among other things, the delivery of the first jet planes from the Israeli air force, (Mystère II , Mystère IV, Vautour, AMX-13 light tanks and nuclear cooperation -donation of a detonator-, in accordance with the Sèvres protocol.
The withdrawal of the British -following American pressure- without notifying their allies, as well as the American veto are at the origin of a major strategic change for France. Following this crisis, De Gaulle will proceed with the nuclear armament of the French Republic, the Strike Force, not only against the USSR, but against all potential threats, including the United States. On the other hand, the adoption of the withdrawal despite the success of the operations, following the disgraceful resolution of the Indochinese conflict in 1954, will continue to aggravate the mistrust of part of the military command vis-à-vis the French government. This distrust will change into distrust during the Putsh of the Generals in Algiers in 1961 in which General Challe, member of the French delegation during the Sèvres agreements, will take part.
France's opposition to the United States and the British during the planned invasion of Iraq in 2002 could be a direct consequence of the tensions that emerged during the Suez crisis.