Suez Crisis

SUEZ CRISIS

SUEZ CRISIS. In the summer of 1956, British, French, and Israeli leaders deemed the conduct of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser as provocative. The European powers were humiliated by his nationalization of their shares in the Universal Suez Canal Company. They were concerned about Nasser's increasing contacts with the Soviet bloc, his founding role in the nonaligned movement, and his opposition to European influence in the Arab world, especially to French colonial rule in Algeria. Israel, agitated over continuous cross-border infiltration from Egypt and the blockade of maritime routes in the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, found more cause for worry in Egypt's forthcoming arms supplies from the Soviet bloc. Thus, Britain, France, and Israel joined forces in a surprise attack on Egypt, triggering the Suez Crisis on 29 October 1956.

On that day, Israel invaded the Sinai peninsula and the Gaza Strip. Two days later the British and the French bombed major Egyptian cities, then conquered the Suez Canal area in early November.

The Americans and the Soviets collaborated to denounce and reverse what they viewed as a gross violation of Egyptian sovereignty by colonial powers. Using their military, economic, and political supremacy, they forced a cease-fire, then a full withdrawal of British, French, and Israeli troops. The United States gave assurances to Israel that it would enjoy safe passage in the Gulf of Aqaba, and UN peacekeepers were deployed as a buffer between Egypt and Israel.

The United States also was concerned about Soviet encroachments in the Arab world. President Dwight D. Eisenhower was personally incensed with the timing of the crisis, which occurred in the final days of his reelection campaign and during a crisis in Hungary, where the Soviets were crushing a regime that wanted to leave the Warsaw Pact. He felt betrayed by Britain and France and viewed the assault as a challenge to his authority, but he also wanted to preserve Western influence.

The proximity of interests between the United States and Egypt was temporary given Nasser's aspirations to lead the Arabs and to display "positive neutrality" in the Cold War. Already, on 5 January 1957, the Eisenhower Doctrine, approved by the U.S. Senate two months later, promised U.S. economic assistance, military support, and even armed intervention to sustain regimes opposed to "international communism" in the Middle East. Egypt, a recipient of Soviet aid, quickly became a U.S. antagonist over influence in Syria, Iraq, and Jordan.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Holland, Matthew. America and Egypt: From Roosevelt to Eisenhower. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1996.

Sneh, Itai. "Viewpoint: The Antagonism between the United States and Egypt Arose from the American View of Gamal Abdel Nasser as a Soviet Puppet." In Benjamin Frankel, ed., History in Dispute: Political and Social Movements, Vol. 2: American Social and Political Movements, 1945–2000: Pursuit of Liberty. Detroit, Mich.: St. James Press, 2000.

Woodward, Peter. Nasser. London and New York: Longman, 1992.

Itai Sneh

See also Arab Nations, Relations with ; Egypt, Relations with .