The Sinay War
The Suez Crisis was a war fought on Egyptian territory in 1956. The conflict pitted Egypt against Israel, the United Kingdom, and France.
During the British colonial era, the Suez Canal had been important in the Middle East, as well as for the penetration of Africa and in maintaining control of India. For this reason the British considered it important to keep the canal out of Egyptian control. Thus in 1875, Isma'il Pasha, under the pressure of foreign debt, sold his country's share in the canal to the United Kingdom, and the Convention of Constantinople (1888) declared the canal a neutral zone under British protection.[2]
The United Kingdom gained control over the canal under the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936. However, in 1951 Egypt declared this treaty null and void, and by 1954 the United Kingdom agreed to pull out.[2]
The United Kingdom objected strongly when the Egyptian leader, Gamal Abdel Nasser, nationalized the Suez Canal Company on July 26, 1956.[3] According to the Treaty of 1954, Nasser had guarantee Britain the regime of the canal until 1968, this violation of the treaty became the source of an international tension. The Free World Allies opened a discussion on August 1st, with a tripartite meeting at 10 Downing Street between British Foreign Affairs Secretary Selwyn Lloyd, U.S. Ambassador Robert D. Murphy and French Foreign Affairs Minister Christian Pineau [4]
By this stage, half of Europe's oil was being imported via the canal. Soon an alliance was formed between British Prime Minister Anthony Eden and French Prime Minister Guy Mollet, with headquarters based in London. Chief of Staff was made of General Stockwell and Admiral Barjot. The United Kingdom sought cooperation with the United States throughout 1956 to deal with what it maintained was a threat of Israeli attack against Egypt, to little effect.
On her side, France used her secret connection with Israel which was the only option for the British-French joint intervention even though the United States nuclear umbrella was deactivated. [5]
The alliance between the United Kingdom, France, and Israel was largely one of convenience; the European empires had economic and trading interests in the Suez Canal, while Israel wanted to reopen the canal for Israeli shipping and end Egyptian-supported fedayeen incursions and hit-and-run raids.
When the Soviet Union threatened to intervene on behalf of Egypt, Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs Lester B. Pearson feared a larger war and proposed a plan to separate the opposing forces by placing United Nations forces between them to act as a buffer zone or 'human shield'.
Eventually, economic pressure from the United States forced the United Kingdom to withdraw, soon followed by France and Israel. The crisis resulted in the resignation of the British Conservative Prime Minister, Sir Anthony Eden. This marked the completion of the shift in the global balance of power from European powers to the United States and the USSR, it was a milestone in the decline of the British Empire and in France's distrust and independence toward the Allies.
