The Suez Crisis
Nasser nationalises the Suez Canal; Britain, France and Israel invade, but under US and Soviet pressure they withdraw, and Nasser emerges as the hero of the Arab world.
- Suez: Britain's End of Empire in the Middle East — Keith Kyle, I. B. Tauris (2003)
- Modern Egypt: The Formation of a Nation-State — Arthur Goldschmidt Jr., Westview Press (2004)
- The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World — Avi Shlaim, W. W. Norton (2014)
- The Arabs: A History — Eugene Rogan, Basic Books (2009)
In July 1956 the United States and Britain withdrew their offer to fund the Aswan High Dam, irritated by Nasser’s arms deal with the Soviet bloc. On 26 July, in a speech in Alexandria, Nasser announced that Egypt was nationalising the Suez Canal Company, whose revenues would pay for the dam. Crowds across the Arab world cheered.
- Suez: Britain's End of Empire in the Middle East — Keith Kyle, I. B. Tauris (2003)
- Modern Egypt: The Formation of a Nation-State — Arthur Goldschmidt Jr., Westview Press (2004)
Britain and France, the company’s main owners, secretly agreed with Israel at Sèvres on a plan: Israel would invade Sinai, and the two powers would then intervene, posing as peacemakers, to “separate” the sides and seize the canal. Israel attacked on 29 October; British and French planes bombed Egyptian airfields, and on 5–6 November their paratroopers and marines landed at Port Said, where fighting and bombardment caused heavy civilian casualties.
- Suez: Britain's End of Empire in the Middle East — Keith Kyle, I. B. Tauris (2003)
- The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World — Avi Shlaim, W. W. Norton (2014)
The United States, furious at not being consulted, and the Soviet Union demanded a halt. Under American financial pressure Britain agreed to a ceasefire on 6 November, and by the end of December British and French troops had left; Israel left Sinai in March 1957. Egypt kept the canal, and Nasser, beaten on the battlefield, won politically.
- Suez: Britain's End of Empire in the Middle East — Keith Kyle, I. B. Tauris (2003)
- The Arabs: A History — Eugene Rogan, Basic Books (2009)
- Modern Egypt: The Formation of a Nation-State — Arthur Goldschmidt Jr., Westview Press (2004)
Egypt exercised its sovereign right to nationalise a company on its own soil, offering compensation, to fund the High Dam after the West withdrew its loan. Britain, France and Israel colluded in a secret plan to invade and topple Nasser, and Egyptians, civilians included, resisted at Port Said.
- Suez: Britain's End of Empire in the Middle East — Keith Kyle, I. B. Tauris (2003)
- Modern Egypt: The Formation of a Nation-State — Arthur Goldschmidt Jr., Westview Press (2004)
Nasser was a dictator, compared by Prime Minister Anthony Eden to Mussolini, who had seized a vital international waterway and was backing rebels in French Algeria. Most historians now judge the secret collusion with Israel a deception and the operation a disaster that marked the end of Britain as an imperial power.
- Suez: Britain's End of Empire in the Middle East — Keith Kyle, I. B. Tauris (2003)
Israel fought to stop cross-border fedayeen raids from Gaza and to break Egypt's blockade of the Straits of Tiran. It withdrew from Sinai in 1957 but won free passage through the straits and a UN buffer force, which kept the border quiet until 1967.
- The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World — Avi Shlaim, W. W. Norton (2014)
Why it matters today
Egyptians call it the "Tripartite Aggression" and remember it as a victory: the moment Egypt took back its canal and faced down two empires. Port Said's resistance is a national legend, and the canal, run by Egyptians ever since, is a symbol of sovereignty and a vital source of income.