The Suez Crisis 2
The conflict began on 29 October 1956.[149] At about 3: 00 pm, Israeli Air Force Mustangs launched a series of attacks on Egyptian positions all over the Sinai.[148] Because Israeli intelligence expected Jordan to enter the war on Egypt's side,[150] Israeli soldiers were stationed along the Israeli-Jordanian frontier. Sony VPCSD1S1C battery
Sony SVS15 battery
Sony SVE1511Q1E battery The Israel Border Police militarized the Israel-Jordan border, including the Green Line with the West Bank, during the first few hours of the war. Israeli-Arab villages along the Jordanian border were placed under curfew, and orders were given to shoot curfew violators.
Sony SVE1511P1E batteryThis resulted in the killings of 48 civilians in the Arab village of Kafr Qasim in an event known as the Kafr Qasim massacre. The border policemen involved in the killings were later tried and imprisoned, with an Israeli court finding that the order to shoot civilians was "blatantly illegal". Sony VPCSA2Z9E battery
Sony SVE1511M1E batteryThis event had major effects on Israeli law relating to the ethics in war and more subtle effects on the legal status of Arab citizens of Israel, who at the time were regarded as a fifth column.
Early actions in Southern Sinai
Israeli paratrooper near the Mitla Pass
The Israeli Chief of Staff, Major General Moshe Dayan, first planned to take the vital Mitla Pass. Dayan planned for the Battalion 890 of the Paratroop Brigade, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Rafael Eitan, a veteran of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and future head of the IDF, to drop at Parker's Memorial, near one of the defiles of the pass, Jebel Heitan.[15Sony SVS13AA11M battery
Sony SVE1511L1E battery1] The rest of the brigade, under the command of Colonel Ariel Sharon would then advance to meet with the battalion, and consolidate their holdings.[151]
On 29 October, Operation Kadesh – the invasion of the Sinai, began when an Israeli paratrooper battalion was air-dropped into the Sinai Peninsula, east of the Suez Canal near the Mitla Pass. In conjunction with the para drop, Sony SVS131B12M battery
Sony SVE1511K1E battery four Israeli P-51 Mustangs using their wings and propellers, cut all overhead telephone lines in the Sinai, severely disrupting Egyptian command and control.[152][153] Due to a navigation error, the Israeli DC-3 transports landed Eitan's 400 paratroopers three miles away from Parker's Memorial, their intended target.[154Sony SVS151A11M battery
Sony SVE1511F1E battery] Eitan marched his men towards Jebel Heitan, where they dug in while receiving supplies of weapons dropped by French aircraft.[154]
At the same time, Colonel Sharon's 202nd Paratroop Brigade raced out towards the Mitla Pass.[154] A major problem for Sharon was vehicle break-down.[154] Sony SVS151A12M battery
Sony SVE1511A1EW batteryDayan’s efforts to maintain strategic surprise bore fruit when the Egyptian commander Field Marshal Abdel Hakim Amer at first treated the reports of an Israeli inclusion into the Sinai as a large raid instead of an invasion, and as such Amer did not order a general alert.[148] By the time that Amer realized his mistake, the Israelis had made significant advances into the Sinai.[148] Sony SVS1311E3EW battery
Early actions along the Gulf of Aqaba, and the central front
As the paratroopers were being dropped into the Sinai, the Israeli 9th Infantry Brigade captured Ras an-Naqb, an important staging ground for that brigade's later attack against Sharm el-Sheikh.[15
Sony PCG-4121GM battery4] Instead of attacking the town by a frontal attack, they enveloped the town in a night attack, and negotiated their way through some of the natural chokepoints into the rear of the town, surprising the Egyptians before they could ready themselves to defend.[154] The Egyptians surrendered, with no Israeli casualties sustained.
The 4th Infantry Brigade, under the command of Colonel Josef Harpaz, captured al-Qusaymah, which would be used as a jumping off point for the assault against Abu Uwayulah.[15
Sony PCG-41214M battery4] Colonel Harpaz out-flanked al-Qusaymah with two pincers from the south-east and north-east in a night attack.[155] In a short battle lasting from 3:00 am to sunrise, the IDF stormed al-Qusaymah.[155]
Battle of Jebel Heitan, Paratroop Brigade under attack
Israeli paratroopers dig in near the Parker Memorial.
The portion of the Paratroopers under Sharon's command continued to advance to meet with the 1st Brigade. En route, Sharon assaulted Themed in a dawn attack, and was able to storm the town with his armor through the Themed Gap.[15Sony SVS1511L3ES battery
Sony PCG-41414M battery6] Sharon routed the Sudanese police company, and captured the settlement.[156] On his way to the Nakla, Sharon's men came under attack from Egyptian MIG-15s.[156] On the 30th, Sharon linked up with Eytan near Nakla.[156] Sony SVS1511M3EW battery
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Dayan had no more plans for further advances beyond the passes, but Sharon decided to attack the Egyptian positions at Jebel Heitan.[156] Sharon sent his lightly armed paratroopers against dug-in Egyptians supported by aircraft, tanks and heavy artillery.[156] Sharon's actions were in response to reports of the arrival of the 1st and 2nd Brigades of the 4th Egyptian Armored Division in the area, which Sharon believed would annihilate his forces if he did not seize the high ground.[1Sony SVS1511T9ES battery
56] Sharon sent two infantry companies, a mortar battery and some AMX-13 tanks under the command of Mordechai Gur into the Heitan Defile on the afternoon of 31 October 1956.[156]
The Egyptian forces occupied strong defensive positions and brought down heavy anti-tank, mortar and machine gun fire on the IDF force.[157] Gur's men were forced to retreat into the "Saucer", where they were surrounded and came under heavy fire.[1Sony SVS1511V9EB battery
Sony PCG-41218M battery57] Hearing of this, Sharon sent in another task force while Gur's men used the cover of night to scale the walls of the Heitan Defile.[157] During the ensuing action, the Egyptians were defeated and forced to retreat. A total of 260 Egyptian and 38 Israeli soldiers were killed during the battle.[157] Sony SVS1511V9ES battery
Although the battle was an Israeli victory, the casualties sustained would surround Sharon with controversy.[158] In particular, Sharon was criticized for ordering the attack on Jebel Heitan without authorization, and not realizing that with the Israeli Air Force controlling the skies, his men were in not such danger from the Egyptian tanks as he believed.[158] Sony SVS1511W9EB battery
Dayan himself maintained that Sharon was correct to order the attack without orders, and that under the circumstances, Sharon made the right decision; instead he criticized Sharon for his tactics of attacking the Egyptians head-on, which Dayan claimed led to unnecessary casualties.[158] Sony VPCSA3Q9E battery
Most of the deaths sustained by the Israelis in the entire operation were sustained at Jebel Heitan.
Air operations, first phase
Universal Newsreel from 1 November about the attack on Egypt
From the outset, the Israeli Air Force flew paratroop drops, supply flights and medevac sorties. Israel's new French-made Dassault Mystere IV jet fighters provided air cover for the transport aircraft. In the initial phase of the conflict, the Egyptian Air Force flew attack missions against advancing Israeli ground forces.
Sony PCG-41213M battery The Egyptian tactic was to use their new Soviet-made MiG-15 jets as fighter escorts, while their older British-made De Havilland Vampire and Gloster Meteor jets conducted strikes against Israeli troops and vehicles.[159] Sony VPCSB4S9E battery
In air combat, Israeli aircraft shot down between seven and nine Egyptian jets[159] with the loss of one plane,[160] but Egyptian strikes against the ground forces continued through to 1 November.[1
Sony PCG-41211M battery61] With the attack by the British and French air forces and navies, President Nasser ordered his pilots to disengage and fly their planes to bases in Southern Egypt. The Israeli Air Force was then free to strike Egyptian ground forces at will, as Israeli forces advanced into the Western Sinai.
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On 3 November, four Israeli warplanes attacked a British warship, the Black Swan class sloop HMS Crane as it was patrolling the approaches to the Gulf of Aqaba. According to the IDF, Crane had been identified as an Egyptian warship, and the Israeli General Staff authorized the attack. Three rockets penetrated the ship's hull and caused significant internal damage, Sony VPCSE2F1E battery
including severed power mains and a ruptured oil tank. The ship also sustained some external damage from shrapnel and cannon fire, and three crewmen were wounded. Crane shot down one Israeli plane and damaged another during the engagement.[162][163][164] Sony VPCSE2V9E battery
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Naval operations
The Ibrahim el Awal after its capture by the Israeli Navy.
On 30 October, the Egyptian Navy dispatched the Ibrahim el Awal, an ex-British Hunt class destroyer, to Haifa with the aim of shelling that city’s coastal oil installations. On 31 October the Ibrahim el Awal reached Haifa and began bombarding the city with its four 102mm (4-inch) guns. The French destroyer Kersaint, Sony SVE1511W1E battery
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which was guarding Haifa port as part of Operation Musketeer, returned fire but failed to score any hits. The Ibrahim el Awal disengaged and turned northwest. Israeli destroyers INS Eilat and INS Yaffo then gave chase and caught up with the Egyptian warship. The Israeli destroyers, together with two Israeli Air Force Dassault Ouragans, Sony SVE1512C6E battery
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succeeded in damaging the destroyer's turbo generator, rudder and antiaircraft guns. Left without power and unable to steer, the Ibrahim el Awal surrendered to the Israeli destroyers. The Egyptian destroyer was subsequently incorporated into the Israeli Navy and renamed INS Haifa (K-38).[159][165][166] Sony SVE1512K1E battery
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On the night of 31 October in the northern Red Sea, the British light cruiser HMS Newfoundland challenged and engaged the Egyptian frigate Domiat, reducing it to a burning hulk in a brief gun battle. The Egyptian warship was then sunk by escorting destroyer HMS Diana, with 69 surviving Egyptian sailors rescued.[167] Sony SVE1513C4E battery
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The Hedgehog-Abu Uwayulah operations
The village of Abu Uwayulah in the central Sinai served as the road centre for the entire Sinai, and thus was a key Israeli target.[157] To the east of Abu Uwayulah were several ridges that formed a natural defensive zone known to the Israelis as the "Hedgehog".[15Sony SVE1513D1E battery
Sony SVE1513E9E battery
Sony SVE1511A1E battery7] Holding the "Hedgehog" were 3,000 Egyptians of the 17th and 18th battalions of the 3rd Infantry Division commanded by Colonel Sami Yassa.[157] Yassa's men held a series of well-fortified trenches.[157] The "Hedgehog" could only be assaulted from the east flank of Umm Qataf ridge and the west flank of Ruafa ridge.[157] Sony SVE1513H1E battery
Sony SVE1513Q1E battery
On 30 October, a probing attack by Israeli armour under Major Izhak Ben-Ari turned into an assault on the Umm Qataf ridge that ended in failure.[168] During the fighting at Umm Qataf, Colonel Yassa was badly wounded and replaced by Colonel Saadedden Mutawally.[169] To the south, another unit of the Israeli 7th Armored Brigade discovered the al-Dayyiqa gap in the Jebel Halal ridge of the "Hedgehog".[16Sony SVE1711R1E battery
Sony SVE15 battery] The Israeli forces stormed and took the al-Dayyiqa gap.[168] Colonel Mutawally failed to appreciate the extent of the danger to his forces posed by the IDF breakthrough at al-Dayyiqa.[168]
Led by Colonel Avraham Adan, an IDF force entered the al-Dayyiqa and at dawn on 31 October attacked Abu Uwayulah.[170] After an hour's fighting, Abu Uwayulah fell to the IDF.[171] At the same time, another IDF battalion attacked the Ruafa ridge.[171] Sony PCG-41311M battery
Concurrently, another attack was launched on the eastern edge of the "Hedgehog" by the IDF 10th Infantry Brigade (composed mostly of reservists) that ended in failure.[172] By noon, the Israeli Air Force had carried out a series of punishing airstrikes on the Egyptian positions, sometimes accidentally hitting IDF ground forces.[172] Sony SVE1711F1E battery
Sony SVE14A1S1E batterySuch was the tendency of the IAF to stage "friendly fire" incidents the IAF was arguably as much as danger to the Israeli troops as to the enemy.[172] Sony VGP-BPS13 Battery
After taking Abu Uwayulah, Adan committed all of his forces against the Ruafa ridge of the "Hedgehog".[173] Sony SVE1711X1E battery
Sony SVE14 batteryAdan began a three-pronged attack with one armored force striking northeastern edge of Ruafa, a mixed infantry/armored force attacking the north edge and a feint attack from a neighbouring knoll.[1
Sony SVE1511W1ESI battery73] During the evening attack on 31 October, a chaotic battle raged on Ruafa ridge with much hand-to-hand fighting.[174] Though every IDF tank involved was destroyed, after a night's fighting, Ruafa had fallen to the IDF.[ Sony SVE1712Q1E battery
Sony SVE1511V1EW battery175] Another IDF assault that night, this time by the 10th Infantry Brigade on Umm Qataf was less successful with much of the attacking force getting lost in the darkness, resulting in a series of confused attacks that ended in failure.[17Sony VGP-BPS13/Q battery
Sony VGP-BPS21A battery5] Sony SVE1712Z1E battery
Sony SVE1511R9ESI battery Dayan, who had grown impatient with the failure to storm the "Hedgehog", sacked the 10th Brigade's commander Colonel Shmuel Golinda and replaced him with Colonel Israel Tal.[175]
On the morning of 1 November, Israeli and French aircraft launched frequent napalm attacks on the Egyptian troops at Umm Qataf.[1Sony SVE1713C5E battery
Sony SVE1511Q1EB battery75] Joined by the 37th Armored Brigade, the 10th Brigade again assaulted Umm Qataf, and was again defeated.[175] However, the ferocity of the IDF assault combined with rapidly dwindling stocks of water and ammunition caused Colonel Mutawally to order a general retreat from the "Hedgehog" on the evening of 1 November.[175] Sony SVE1713S1E battery
Sony SVE1511A1EB battery
The Gaza Strip operations
US newsreel on the Sinai and Gaza invasions
The city of Rafah was strategically important to Israel because control of that city would sever the Gaza Strip from the Sinai and provide a way to the main centres of the northern Sinai, al-Arish and al-Qantarah.[1Sony SVE14A1S1EB battery
Sony SVE14A1S1EP battery76] Holding the forts outside of Rafah were a mixture of Egyptian and Palestinian forces in the 5th Infantry Brigade commanded by Brigadier General Jaafar al-Abd.[176] In Rafah itself the 87th Palestinian Infantry Brigade was stationed.[176Sony VGP-BPS13A/B battery
Sony VGP-BPS21 battery] Assigned to capture Rafah were 1st Infantry Brigade led by Colonel Benjamin Givli and 27th Armored Brigade commanded by Colonel Haim Bar-Lev of the IDF.[ Sony SVE1511R9E battery
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176] To the south of Rafah were a series of mine-filled sand dunes and to the north were a series of fortified hills.[176]
Dayan ordered the IDF forces to seize Crossroads 12 in the central Rafah area, and to focus on breaking through rather than reducing every Egyptian strongpoint.[176Sony VGP-BPS13/S battery
Sony VGP-BPL21 battery] The IDF assault began with Israeli sappers and engineers clearing a path at night through the minefields that surrounded Rafah.[17Sony SVE1512X9E battery
Sony SVE171A11M battery6] French warships led by the cruiser Georges Leygues provided fire support, through Dayan had a low opinion of the French gunnery, complaining that the French only struck the Egyptian reserves.[177] Sony SVE1513A4E battery
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Using the two paths cleared through the southern minefields, IDF tanks entered the Rafah salient.[177] Under Egyptian artillery fire, the IDF force raced ahead and took Crossroads 12 with the loss of 2 killed and 22 wounded.[177Sony VGP-BPS13/B battery
Sony VGP-BPS13B/B battery] In the north, the Israeli troops fought a confused series of night actions, but were successful in storming Hills 25, Sony SVE1513B4E battery
Sony VPCCA3E1E battery25A, 27 and 29 with the loss of six killed.[177] In the morning of 1 November, Israeli AMX-13s encircled and took Hills 34 and 36.[178] At that point, General al-Abd ordered his forces to abandon their posts outside of Rafah and retreat into the city.[179] Sony SVE1513M1E battery
With Rafah more or less cut off and Israeli forces controlling the northern and eastern roads leading into the city, Dayan ordered the AMX-13s of the 27th Armored Brigade to strike west and take al-Arish.[179Sony VGP-BPS13B/S battery
Sony VGP-BPS13B battery
Sony VPCCB4X1E battery] By this point, Nasser had ordered his forces to fall back towards the Suez Canal, so at first the Bar-Lev and his men met little resistance as they advanced across the northern Sinai.[179] Hearing of the order to withdraw, General al-Abd and his men left Rafah on the morning of 1 November through a gap in the Israeli lines, and headed back towards the Canal Zone.[179
VPCCB3P1E battery] Three hours later, the Israelis took Rafah.[17Sony VGP-BPS13A battery
Sony VGP-BPS13AB battery9] It was reported that after taking Rafah, Israeli troops killed 111 people, including 103 refugees, in Rafah's Palestinian refugee camp.[180][181] Not until the Jeradi Pass in the northern Sinai did the IDF run into serious opposition.[179]
Sony VPCCB3 batteryA series of hooking attacks that out-flanked the Egyptian positions combined with airstrikes led to an Egyptian defeat at the Jeradi Pass.[179] On 2 November, Bar-Lev's forces took al-Arish.[182] Sony SVE1513V1E battery
Meanwhile, the IDF attacked the Egyptian defenses outside of Gaza City late on 1 November.[182] After breaking through the Egyptian lines, the Israeli tanks headed into Gaza City.[1
Sony VGP-BPS13A/R battery82] Joined by infantry, the armor attacked the al-Muntar fortress outside of Gaza City, killing or capturing 3,500 Egyptian National Guard troops.[182Sony SVE1713Z1E battery
Sony VPCCB2S1E battery] By noon of 2 November, there was no more Egyptian opposition in the Gaza City area.[182] On 3 November, the IDF attacked Egyptian and Palestinian forces at Khan Yunis.[1
Sony VGP-BPS13A/Q battery82] After a fierce battle, the Israeli 37th Armored Brigade's Sherman tanks broke through the heavily fortified lines outside of Khan Yunis held by the 86th Palestinian Brigade.[183] Sony SVE17 battery
After some street-fighting with Egyptian soldiers and Palestinian fedayeen, Khan Yunis fell to the Israelis.[183] There are claims that after taking Khan Yunis, the IDF committed a massacre. Israel maintained that the Palestinians were killed in street-fighting, Sony VPCCA1C5E battery
Sony VPCCB2M1E batterywhile the Palestinians claimed that Israeli troops started executing unarmed Palestinians after the fall of Khan Yunis.[18Sony VGP-BPS13A/S battery
4] The claims of a massacre were reported to the UN General Assembly on 15 December 1956 by the Director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, Henry Labouisse,
Sony VPCCB2M0E batterywho reported from "trustworthy sources" that 275 people were killed in the massacre of which 140 were refugees and 135 local residents.[185][186]
In both Gaza City and Khan Yunis, street-fighting led to the deaths of "dozens, Sony VPCCA1S1E battery
Sony VPCCB2 battery perhaps hundreds, of non-combatants".[187] Sony VGP-BPS13AS battery
Sony VGP-BPS13S battery During the Gaza Strip fighting, anarchy reigned in the streets, and the warehouses belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) were sacked by Palestinian mobs, leading to a humanitarian crisis as many people in the Gaza were left without food and medicine.[187Sony VPCCA2 battery
Sony VPCCA3 battery] This was compounded by a widespread view in Israel that the responsibility for the care of the Palestinian refugees rested with the UNRWA, not Israel, which led the Israelis to be slow with providing aid.[188] Sony VPCCA2S0E battery
Sony VPCCA2Z0E battery By noon of 3 November, the Israelis had control of almost the entire Gaza Strip save for a few isolated strongpoints, which were soon attacked and taken.[1Sony VGP-BPL8 Battery
Sony VGP-BPL21 Battery83] The UN estimated that in total 447 to 550 Palestinian civilians were killed by Israeli troops during the first weeks of Israeli occupation of the strip.[189] Sony SVE1711T1EB battery
Sony VPCCA3S1E battery
The Sharm el-Sheikh operations
By 3 November, with the IDF having successfully taken the Gaza Strip, Arish, the Hedgehog, and Mitla Pass, Sharm el-Sheikh was the last Israeli objective.[183] The main difficulty faced by Colonel Abraham Yoffe's 9th Infantry Brigade was logistical.[183] Sony SVE1711K1EW battery
Sony VPCCB3M1E batteryThere were no good roads linking Ras an-Naqb to Sharm el-Sheikh.[183] After taking the border town of Ras an-Naqb on 30 October, Daylan ordered Yoffe to wait until air superiority was ensured.[190] Sony SVE1711V1EB battery
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To outflank Sharm el-Sheikh, Dayan ordered paratroopers to take the town of Tor in the western Sinai.[190] Sony VGP-BPL9 Battery
Sony VGP-BPL15/S Battery The Egyptian forces at Sharm el-Sheikh had the advantage of holding one of the most strongly fortified positions in the entire Sinai, but had been subjected to heavy Israeli air attacks from the beginning of the war.[1Sony SVE1711X1EB battery
Sony SVE1511J1EW battery90] Yoffe set out for Sharm el-Sheikh on 2 November, and his major obstacles were the terrain and vehicle break-down.[190] Israeli Navy ships provided support to the 9th Division during its advance.[191] Sony SVE1511G1EW battery
After numerous skirmishes on the outskirts of Sharm el-Sheikh, Yoffe ordered an attack on the port around midnight on 4 November.[192Sony VGP-BPL11 Battery
] After four hours of heavy fighting, Yoffe ordered his men to retreat.[1
Sony SVE1511H1ESI battery92] On the morning of 5 November, Israeli forces launched a massive artillery barrage and napalm strikes against Egyptian forces defending Sharm el-Sheikh.[192] At 9:30 am on 5 November, the Egyptian commander, Colonel Raouf Mahfouz Zaki, surrendered Sharm el-Sheikh.[192]
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Anglo-French task force
See also: Operation Musketeer (1956) and Operation Telescope
A battle-damaged de Havilland Sea Venom on HMS Eagle.
To support the invasion, large air forces had been deployed to Cyprus and Malta by Britain and France and many aircraft carriers were deployed. Sony VGP-BPL12 Battery
Sony VGP-BPL15/B BatteryThe two airbases on Cyprus were so congested that a third field which was in dubious condition had to be brought into use for French aircraft. Even RAF Luqa on Malta was extremely crowded with RAF Bomber Command aircraft.
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The British deployed the aircraft carriers HMS Eagle, Albion and Bulwark and France had the battleship Jean Bart and aircraft carriers Arromanches and La Fayette on station. In addition, HMS Ocean and Theseus acted as jumping-off points for Britain's helicopter-borne assault (the world's first).
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Revise: Phases I and II
In the morning of 30 October Britain and France sent ultimatums to Egypt and Israel. They initiated Operation Musketeer on 31 October, with a bombing campaign.[ Sony VGP-BPL13 Battery
Sony VGP-BPL15 Battery193] Nasser responded by sinking all 40 ships present in the canal closing it to all shipping – shipping would not move again until early 1957.
Sony SVE1511S1ESI battery Despite the risk of an invasion in the Canal Zone, Field Marshal Abdel Hakim Amer ordered Egyptian troops in the Sinai to stay put, as Amer confidently assured Nasser that the Egyptians could defeat the Israelis in the Sinai and then defeat the Anglo-French forces once they came ashore in the Canal Zone.[194] Sony SVE1511G1ESI battery
Amer also advised Nasser to send more troops into the Sinai to inflict his promised defeat on Israel, even though the risk of their being cut off if the Canal Zone were seized by Anglo-French forces was enormous.[194Sony SVE1511G1EB battery
Sony SVE1511S1EW battery] Not until late on 31 October, did Nasser disregard Amer's rosy assessment and ordered his forces to disengage in the Sinai and to retreat back to the Canal Zone to face the expected Anglo-French invasion.[194] Sony VPCZ11 battery
Sony VGP-BPS20 battery Eden and Mollet ordered Phase I of Operation Revise to begin 13 hours after the Anglo-French ultimatum.[195] Sony VGP-BPL14 Battery
British bombers based in Cyprus and Malta took off to Cairo with the aim of destroying Cairo airport, only to be personally ordered back by Eden when he learned that American civilians were being evacuated at Cairo airport.[19Sony VPCZ11X9E battery
5] Fearful of the backlash that might result if American civilians were killed in a British bombing attack, Eden sent the Valiant bombers back to Malta while the Canberra’s were ordered to hit Almaza airbase outside of Cairo.[195Sony VPCZ11X9E/B battery
Sony VPCZ23N9E battery] British night bombing proved ineffective.[195]
Starting on the morning of 1 November, carrier-based de Havilland Sea Venoms, Chance-Vought Corsairs and Hawker Sea Hawks began a series of daytime strikes on Egypt.[195] By the night of 1 November the Egyptian Air Force had lost 200 planes.[19Sony VPCZ11Z9E battery
5] With the destruction of Egypt's air force, Keightley ordered the beginning of Revise Phase II.[196] Sony VGP-BPL14/B Battery
Sony VGP-BPL14B Battery As part of Revise Phase II, a wide-ranging interdiction campaign began.[197] On 3 November F4U-7 Corsairs from the 14.F and 15.F Aéronavale taking off from the French carriers Arromanches and La Fayette, attacked the aerodrome at Cairo. Sony VPCZ11Z9E/B battery
The very aggressive French General Beaufre suggested at once that Anglo-French forces seize the Canal Zone with airborne landings instead of waiting the planned ten days for Revise II to be worked through, Sony VPCZ12C7E/B battery
and that the risk of sending in paratroopers without the prospect of sea-borne landings for several days be taken.[198] By 3 November, Beaufre finally convinced Keightley and Stockwell of the merits of his approach, and gained the approval for Operation Telescope as Beaufre had code-named the airborne assault on the Canal Zone.[19Sony VPCZ12M9E battery
On 2 November 1956 the First Sea Lord Admiral Mountbatten sent a letter to Eden telling him to stop the invasion before troops landed in the Canal Zone as the operation had already proved to be too costly politically.[20Sony VPCZ12M9E/B battery
Sony VPCZ23M9E battery0] The next day, Mountbatten made a desperate phone call to Eden asking for permission to stop the invasion before it began, only to be refused.[201] Mountbatten's views led to clash of personalities with the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, General Gerald Templer who supported the invasion.[2Sony VPCZ12V9E battery
Sony VPCZ21X9R battery02] In response to Mountbatten's call to cancel the invasion, Templer penned a memo, which read: Sony VGP-BPS8 Battery
"Some people in England today say that what we're done in the Middle East will have terrible effects in the future...The reality is that we have checked a drift. With a bit of luck we're not only stopped a big war in the Middle East, but we're halted the march of Russia through the Middle East and on to the African continent".[2Sony VPCZ12V9E/B battery
03]
Telescope Modified: the Paratroops land
Smoke rises from oil tanks beside the Suez Canal hit during the initial Anglo-French assault on Port Said, 5 November 1956. Sony VGP-BPS10 Battery
On late 5 November, an advance element of the 3rd Battalion of the British Parachute Regiment dropped on El Gamil Airfield, a narrow strip of land, Sony VPCZ12X9E/B battery
Sony VPCZ21V9E battery led by Brigadier M.A.H. Butler.[204] The "Red Devils" could not return Egyptian fire while landing, but once the paratroopers landed, they used their Sten guns, three-inch mortars and anti-tank weapons with great effect.[20Sony VPCZ12Z9E/B battery
Sony VPCZ12Z9E/X battery5] Having taken the airfield with a dozen casualties, the remainder of the battalion flew in by helicopter. The Battalion then secured the area around the airfield.[205]
During the ensuing street fighting, the Egyptian forces engaged in methodical tactics, fighting on the defense while inflicting maximum casualties and retreating only when overwhelming force was brought to bear.[205Sony SVS13AA11L Battery
] In particular, the SU100s proved to be a formidable weapon in urban combat.[205] Sony VGP-BPS12/Q Battery
Sony VGP-BPS21/S BatteryThe British forces moved up towards Port Said with air support before digging in at 13:00 to hold until the beach assault.[206] Sony SVS131B11L Battery
Sony PCG-41414L BatteryWith close support from carrier-based Wyverns, the British paratroopers took Port Said's sewage works and the cemetery while becoming engaged in a pitched battle for the Coast Guard barracks.[206]
At the same time, Lieutenant Colonel Pierre Chateau-Jobert landed with a force of the 2e RPC at Raswa.[206] Raswa imposed the problem of a small drop zone surrounded by water, but General Jacques Massu of the 10th Parachute Division assured Beaufre that this was not an insolvable problem for his men.[19Sony SVS151B11L Battery
Sony PCG-41413L Battery9] 500 heavily armed paratroopers of the French 2nd Colonial Parachute Regiment (2ème RPC), hastily redeployed from combat in Algeria, jumped over the al-Raswa bridges from Nord Noratlas 2501 transports of the Escadrille de Transport (ET) 1/61 and ET 3/61, together with some combat engineers of the Guards Independent Parachute Company.[20
Despite the loss of two soldiers, the western bridge was swiftly secured by the paras, and F4U Corsairs of the Aéronavale 14.F and 15.F flew a series of close-air-support missions, destroying several SU-100 tank destroyers. F-84Fs also hit two large oil storage tanks in Port Said, Sony VGP-BPS13 Battery
Sony VGP-BPS21B Batterywhich went up in flames and covered most of the city in a thick cloud of smoke for the next several days.
Sony PCG-41411L BatteryEgyptian resistance varied, with some positions fighting back until destroyed, while others were abandoned with little resistance. The French paratroopers stormed and took Port Said's waterworks that morning, an important objective to control in a city in the desert.[2Sony SVS151G1GL Battery
06] Chateau-Jobert followed up this success by beginning an attack on Port Fuad.[208] Derek Varble, the American military historian, later wrote "Air support and fierce French assaults transformed the fighting at Port Fuad into a rout".[208Sony PCG-4121DL Battery
Sony PCG-41217L Battery] During the fighting in the Canal Zone, the French paratroopers often practiced their "no-prisoners'" code and executed Egyptian POWs.[209]
The Egyptian commander at Port Said, General Salahedin Moguy then proposed a truce.[208] His offer was taken up, and in the ensuring meeting with General Butler, Sony VGP-BPS13A Battery
Sony VGP-BPS21A Battery Chateau-Jobert and General Massu, was offered the terms of surrendering the city and marching his men to the Gamil airfield to taken off to POW camps in Cyprus.[21Sony PCG-4121EL Battery
Sony PCG-41216L Battery0] Moguy had no interest in surrendering and only made the truce offer to buy time for his men to dig in;[210] when fighting began again vans with loudspeakers traveled through the city encouraging resistance against the invaders, by announcing that London and Paris had been bombed by the Russians and that World War III had started. As the paratroopers alone were not enough,[1Sony PCG-4121FL Battery
Sony PCG-41215L Battery04]:173 Beaufre and British Admiral Manley Laurence Power urged that the sea-borne landings be accelerated and that Allied forces land the very next day.[210]
Stockwell and Knightley, who wished to stick with the original plan, opposed this.[2Sony VGP-BPS13A/B Battery
11] Stockwell was always in favour of rigidly following already agreed to plans, and was most reluctant to see any changes, whereas Beaufre was all for changing plans to match with changed circumstances.[212Sony PCG-4121GL Battery
] The differences between Stockwell and Beaufre were summarized by the American historian Derek Varble as: "Stockwell favored existing plans; their methodical construction and underlying staff work reduced risks. Beaufre, Sony PCG-41211L Battery
Sony PCG-41214L Battery by contrast an opportunist, saw plans merely a means to an end, without much inherent value. For him, altered circumstances or assumptions provided adequate justification to jettison part or all of the original plan".[21Sony PCG-6Z4M battery
2]
The Royal Marines come ashore at Port Said
At first light on 6 November, commandos of No. 42 and 40 Commando Royal Marines stormed the beaches, using landing craft of World War II vintage (Landing Craft Assault and Landing Vehicle Tracked).[213] Sony PCG-41212L Battery
Sony PCG-41213L Battery The battle group standing offshore opened fire, giving covering fire for the landings and causing considerable damage to the Egyptian batteries and gun emplacements. The town of Port Said sustained great damage and was seen to be alight.[2Sony SVS13AB1GL Battery
The men of 42 Commando as much as possible chose to by-pass Egyptian positions and focused on trying to break through inland.[213Sony VGP-BPS13B/B Battery
Sony VGP-BPS21 Battery The Royal Marines of 40 Commando had the advantage of being supported by Centurion tanks as they landed on Sierra Red beach.[2Sony SVS131C1DL Battery
Sony PCG-71713L Battery14] Upon entering downtown Port Said, the Marines became engaged in fierce urban combat as the Egyptians used the Casino Palace Hotel and other strongpoints as fortresses.[214]
2ème RPC paratroopers patrol in Port Said, October 1956.
Nasser proclaimed the Suez War to be a "people's war".[Sony VGP-BPS13/B Battery
Sony VGP-BPS15/S Battery215] As such, Egyptian troops were ordered to don civilian clothes while guns were freely handed out to Egyptian civilians.[216] From Nasser's point of view, a "people's war" presented the British and French with an insolvable dilemma.[217] Sony SVS131C24L Battery
If the Allies reacted aggressively to the "people's war", then that would result in the deaths of innocent civilians and thus bring world sympathy to his cause while weakening morale on the home front in Britain and France.[21Sony SVS131G1DL Battery
Sony PCG-71614L Battery7] If the Allies reacted cautiously to the "people's war", than that would result in Allied forces becoming bogged down by sniper attacks, who had the advantage of attacking "...with near impunity by hiding among crowds of apparent non-combatants".[217] Sony PCG-4U2M battery
These tactics worked especially well against the British.[2Sony VGP-BPS13B/S Battery
Sony VGP-BPS15/B Battery17] British leaders, especially Eden and the First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Louis Mountbatten were afraid of being labelled "murderers and baby killers", and sincerely attempted to limit Egyptian civilian deaths.[2Sony SVS151C1GL Battery
Sony PCG-61913L Battery17] Eden frequently interfered with Revise Phrase I and II bombing, striking off various targets that he felt were likely to cause excessive civilian deaths, and restricted the gun sizes that could be used at the Port Said landings, again to minimize civilian deaths.[218] Sony SVS151C2DL Battery
The American historian Derek Varble has commented that the paradox between Eden's concern for Egyptian civilians and the object of Revise Phase II bombing, which was intended to terrorize the Egyptian people, was never resolved.[219] Sony SVS151E1GL Battery
Sony PCG-61911L Battery Despite Eden's best efforts, British bombing still killed hundreds of Egyptian civilians during Revise II, though these deaths were due more to imprecise aiming rather than a deliberate policy of "area bombing" such as that employed against Germany in World War II.[22
Sony VGP-BPS15 Battery0] At Port Said, the heavy fighting in the streets and the resulting fires destroyed much of the city, killing thousands of civilians[22Sony PCG-61A11L Battery
Sony PCG-61813L Battery1][not in citation given]
In the afternoon, 522 additional French paratroopers of the 1er REP (Régiment Étranger Parachutiste, 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment) were dropped near Port Fouad. These were also constantly supported by the Corsairs of the French Aéronavale, which flew very intensive operations: for example, Sony PCG-61A13L Battery
Sony PCG-61714L Batteryalthough the French carrier La Fayette developed catapult problems, no less than 40 combat sorties were completed. The French were aided by AMX-13 light tanks.[
Sony VGP-BPS14/S Battery222] While clearing Port Fuad, the 1er Regiment Etranger Parachutiste killed 100 Egyptians without losing a man in return.[22Sony PCG-61A14L Battery
Sony PCG-71C12L Battery2] In total, 10 French soldiers were killed and 30 injured during the landing and the subsequent battles.
A British link up between the 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, and the Commandos at the Coast Guard barracks in Port Said. The paratroopers have with them a captured SU-100 tank destroyer, and the Commandos a Buffalo amphibious assault vehicle. Sony PCG-71911L Battery
British commandos of No. 45 Commando assaulted by helicopter, meeting stiff resistance, with shore batteries striking several helicopters, while friendly fire from British carrier-borne aircraft caused casualties to 45 Commando and HQ.[223Sony PCG-71913L Battery
Sony PCG-91311L Battery] The helicopter borne assault of 45 Commando was the first time helicopters were used by UK Forces to lift men directly into a combat zone.[224] Lieutenant Colonel N.H. Tailyour, who was leading 45 Commando was landed by mistake in a stadium still under Egyptian control resulting in a very hasty retreat.[225Sony PCG-71914L Battery
Sony PCG-91211L Battery] Street fighting and house clearing, with strong opposition from well-entrenched Egyptian sniper positions, caused further casualties.[226] Sony VGP-BPS13B/Q Battery
Especially fierce fighting took place at the Port Said's Customs House and Navy House.[225] The Egyptians destroyed Port Said's Inner Harbour, which forced the British to improvise and use the Fishing Harbour to land their forces.[227] Sony SVE141C11L Battery
The 2nd Bn of the Parachute Regiment landed by ship in the harbour. Centurion tanks of the British 6th Royal Tank Regiment were landed and by 12:00 they had reached the French paratroopers.[227] While the British were landing at Port Said, the men of the 2 RPC at Raswa fought off Egyptian counter-attacks featuring SU100 self-propelled guns.[228Sony SVE141D11L Battery
After establishing themselves in a position in downtown Port Said, 42 Commando headed down the Shari Muhammad Ali, the main north-south road to link up with the French forces at the Raswa bridge and the Inner Basin lock.[22Sony SVE141L11L Battery
Sony PCG-71312L Battery8] While doing so, the Marines also took Port Said's gasworks.[229] Meanwhile, 40 Commando supported by the Royal Tank Regiment remained engaged in clearing the downtown of Egyptian snipers.[229Sony VGP-BPS13/Q Battery
Sony VGP-BPS14/B Battery] Colonel Tailyour arranged for more reinforcements to be brought in via helicopter.[229] Sony SVE151E11L Battery
Hearing rumours that Moguy wished to surrender, both Stockwell and Beaufre left their command ship HMS Tyne for Port Said.[222] Upon landing, they learned the rumours were not true.[22
Sony PCG-91111L Battery2] Instead of returning to the Tyne, both Stockwell and Beaufre spent the day in Port Said, and were thus cut off from the news.[2Sony VGP-BSP13/S Battery
Sony VGP-BPS14 Battery22] Only late in the day did Beaufre and Stockwell learn of the acceptance of the United Nations ceasefire.[22Sony SVE151G11L Battery
Sony PCG-61713L Battery2] Rather than focusing on breaking out to take al-Qantarah, the Royal Marines became bogged down in clearing every building in Port Said of snipers.[222] The Centurions of the Royal Tank Regiment supported by the paratroopers of 2 RPC began a slow advance down to al-Qantarah on the night of 6 November.[230] Sony SVE151G13L Battery
Egyptian sniper attacks and the need to clear every building led the 3 Para to be slowed in their attempts to link up with the Royal Marines.[231] When Stockwell learned of the ceasefire to come into effect in five hours’ time at 9: 00 pm, Sony SVE151J11L Battery
Sony SVE171E12L Batteryhe ordered Colonel Gibbon and his Centurions to race down and take al-Qantarah with all speed in order to improve the Allied bargaining position.[232] What followed was a confused series of melee actions down the road to al-Qantarah that ended with the British forces at al-Cap, a small village four miles north of al-Qantarah at 2:00 am, when the ceasefire came into effect.[233] Sony SVE171C11L Battery
Casualties
British casualties stood at 16 dead and 96 wounded,[7] while French casualties were 10 dead and 33 wounded. The Israeli losses were 231 dead[6] and 899 wounded. The number of Egyptians killed was "never reliably established".[234] Sony PCG-71217L Battery
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.[10][235] 1,000 Egyptian civilians are estimated to have died.[236] Sony PCG-71313L Battery
End of hostilities
Newsreel from 12 November 1956 about the end of the invasion
Anti-war protests in Britain
Protests against the war occurred in Britain after the invasion 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, Sony PCG-71316L Battery
Sony PCG-61316L Battery the Conservative M.P. Robert Boothby, a “criminal” for supporting the war.[237] 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…”.[238] Sony PCG-71317L Battery
The angry, passionate, much-watched debates about the Suez war on Free Speech mirrored the divided public response to the war.[238] 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, Sony PCG-71318L Battery
Sony PCG-61312L Battery 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.[239] This was especially the case as Eden's claims that the Egyptians would hopelessly mismanage the Canal had proven groundless,
Sony PCG-61311L Batteryand that by September 1956 it was clear that the change of management had not affected shipping.[240] 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.[2Sony PCG-71211L Battery
41] 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.[24Sony PCG-71212L Battery
Sony PCG-61215L Battery2] The British author David Pryce-Jones recalled that as a young officer, that 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.[243] Sony PCG-71215L Battery
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.[244][ Sony PCG-71216L Battery
Sony PCG-61211L Battery245] 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[104]:208–209Sony PCG-61713L Battery
Sony PCG-91111L Battery
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[104]:208–209Sony PCG-91112L Battery
Sony PCG-71312L Battery
The stormy and violent debates in the House of Commons on 1 November 1956 almost degenerated into fist-fights after several Labour M.P.s compared Eden to Hitler.[246] 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...".[2Sony PCG-71311L Battery
Sony PCG-61317L Battery47] The journalist Malcolm Muggeridge and actor Robert Speaight wrote in a public letter that
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. Sony PCG-71218L Battery
Sony PCG-61316L Battery 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.. Sony PCG-71217L Battery
Sony PCG-61315L Battery.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. Sony PCG-71313L Battery
Sony PCG-61312L BatteryIt 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.[248]
Lady Violet Bonham Carter, an influential Liberal Party member, wrote in a letter to the Times that Sony PCG-71315L Battery
Sony PCG-61311L Battery
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") Sony PCG-71316L Battery
Sony PCG-61215L Batterywho 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.
Sony PCG-61211L Battery 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.[249]
According to public opinion polls at the time, 37% of the British people supported the war while 44% were opposed.[250Sony PCG-71317L Battery
Sony PCG-71216L Battery][251] 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.[ Sony PCG-71318L Battery
Sony PCG-71215L Battery252] 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".[25Sony PCG-71211L Battery
Sony PCG-71212L Battery2] The majority of letters written to M.Ps from their constituents were against the Suez attack.[253] Significantly, many of the letters come from voters who identified as Conservatives.[254Sony SVE141C11L Battery
Sony SVE171G112 Battery
] 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".[255] The law professor and future Conservative cabinet minister Norman St. John-Stevas wrote at the time: Sony SVE141L11L Battery
Sony SVE171E11L Battery
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.[255] Sony SVE141D11L Battery
Sony SVE171E12L Battery
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".[255] A master at Eton College in a letter to his M.P. declared: Sony PCG-41311M battery
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"[255] Sony SVE151E11L Battery
The extent of Conservative dissent should not be overstated. The majority of Conservative constituency associations passed resolutions of support to "Sir Anthony".[255]
The Labour Party and the Trade Union Congress organized nation-wide anti-war protests, starting on 1 November under the slogan “Law, not war!”[250Sony SVE151G11L Battery
Sony SVE171C11L Battery] 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 M.P. Aneurin Bevan accused the government of “a policy of bankruptcy and despair”.[256] Bevan stated at the Trafalgar rally: Sony SVE151G13L Battery
Sony SVE151J11L Battery
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, Sony PCG-61A11L Battery
Sony PCG-91311L Battery
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.
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. Sony PCG-61A13L Battery
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![256] Sony PCG-61A14L Battery
Sony PCG-71914L Battery
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.[257] The ensuring clashes between the police and the demonstrators which were captured by television cameras had a huge demoralizing effect on the Eden cabinet,[258] which was meeting there.[2Sony PCG-71C11L Battery
Sony PCG-71913L Battery57] 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.[251] Sony PCG-41313M battery
Support for Eden
Some modern historians contend, however, that the majority of public opinion at the time was on Eden's side.[25Sony PCG-71C12L Battery
Sony PCG-71912L Battery9] Gilbert Murray was among Oxford scholars who signed a statement supporting Eden; such an act by the famous advocate of internationalism amazed both sides. He explained that, if not stopped, he believed Nasserism would become a Soviet-led worldwide anti-western movement.[10Sony PCG-61714L Battery
Sony PCG-71911L Battery4]:202–203 The British historian Barry Turner wrote that
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 sizable minority, maybe even a majority, of voters who thought that it was about time that the upset Arabs should be taught a lesson.
Sony PCG-71811L BatteryThe 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.[252] Sony PCG-61911L Battery
A.N. Wilson wrote that
The bulk of the press, the Labour Party and that equally influential left-learning 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 the majority of unexpressed public opinion[249] Sony PCG-61813L Battery
Sony PCG-71713L Battery
The economist Roy Harrod wrote at the time that the "more level-headed British, whom I believe to be in the majority through not the most vocal" were supporting the "notable act of courage and statesmanship" of the government.[260] 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.[104]:202Sony PCG-61913L Battery
Sony PCG-71614L Battery
International reaction
Eisenhower press conference about the crisis, 9 August
The operation[217], aimed at taking control of the Suez Canal, 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, Sony SVS13AA11L Battery
Sony SVS151E1GL Battery
resulting in international criticism and diplomatic pressure. Along with the Suez crisis, the United States was also dealing with the near-simultaneous 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".[26Sony PCG-41314M battery
Sony PCG-6124M battery1] 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.[262] Sony SVS131A11L Battery
Sony SVS131B11L Battery
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, Gunnar Hägglöf wrote in a letter to the anti-war Conservative M.P. Edward Boyle: Sony SVS151A11L Battery
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 British-German Naval Agreement of 1935—than by the Suez intervention.[255] Sony SVS151B11L Battery
Sony SVS151G1GL Battery
The attack on Egypt greatly offended many in the Islamic world. In Pakistan, 300,000 people showed up in a rally in Lahore to show solidarity with Egypt while in Karachi a mob chanting anti-British slogans burned down the British High Commission.[263Sony PCG-4121DL Battery
Sony PCG-4121EL Battery
Sony SVS151C2DL Battery] In Syria, the military government blew up the Kirkuk–Baniyas pipeline that allowed Iraqi oil to reach tankers in the Mediterranean to punish Iraq for supporting the invasion, and to cut Britain off from one of its main routes for taking delivery of Iraqi oil.[264] King Saud of Saudi Arabia imposed a total oil embargo on Britain and France.[265] Sony PCG-4121FL Battery
Sony SVS151C1GL Battery
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. Sony PCG-4121GL Battery
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.[26Sony PCG-41211L Battery
6] 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 million a year. Ultimately, Sony PCG-41212L Battery
Sony SVS131G1DL Batterythe Democratic Party-controlled Senate would not cooperate 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."[ Sony PCG-41213L Battery
Sony SVS131E1DL Battery266] 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."[266] Sony PCG-41214L Battery
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.[26Sony PCG-41215L Battery
Sony SVS131C24L Battery7] On 31 October, also 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,
Sony SVS131C1DL Battery 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 Resolution 119; Sony PCG-41216L Battery
Sony SVS13AB1GL Batteryit decided to call an emergency special session of the General Assembly for the first time, as provided in the 1950 "Uniting for Peace" resolution, in order to make appropriate recommendations to end the fighting.[267]
Universal Newsreel from 4 December about Dag Hammarskjöld's meeting with Nasser. Sony PCG-41217L Battery
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 skeptical of the efficacy of US diplomatic efforts at the UN, but later gave full credit to Eisenhower's role in stopping the war.[268] Sony PCG-4R2M battery
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 favor and 5 opposed (Australia, New Zealand, Britain, France, and Israel) with 6 abstentions.[26Sony PCG-41218L Battery
Sony PCG-41414L Battery9] It called for an immediate ceasefire, the withdrawal of all forces behind the 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 U N Charter.[267] Sony PCG-41411L Battery
[270] 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.[271] Sony PCG-41412L Battery
Sony PCG-41413L Battery This proposal of the emergency force and the resulting cease-fire was made possible primarily through the efforts of, Lester B. Pearson, the Secretary of External Affairs of Canada, and Dag Hammarskjöld, the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Sony PCG-61412L Battery
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 —Sony PCG-71111L Battery
denounced Eden and co-sponsors of the aggression vigorously. He had a powerful, if relatively silent, ally in the US president Dwight Eisenhower who went to the extent of using America’s clout in the IMF to make Eden and Mollet behave".[272] Sony PCG-81111L Battery
Sony PCG-81411L Battery
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".[2Sony PCG-81112L Battery
72] Britain and France agreed to withdraw from Egypt within a week; Israel did not. A rare example of support for the Anglo-French actions against Egypt came from West Germany; though the Cabinet was divided, the Chancellor Konrad Adenauer was furious with the United States for its "chumminess with the Russians" as Adenauer called the Sony PCG-81113L Battery
Sony PCG-81114L Battery
U.S. refusal to intervene in Hungary, and the traditionally Francophile Adenauer drew closer to Paris as a result.[273] Adenauer refused to cancel a planned visit to Paris on 5–6 November 1956 and his summit with Mollet was clearly meant to be seen as a gesture of moral support.[273]
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On 7 November, David Ben-Gurion addressed the Knesset and declared a great victory, saying that the 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.[274Sony PCG-81214L Battery
Sony PCG-81313L Battery][275] He also made an oblique reference to his intention to annex the Sinai Peninsula.[274] 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.' Sony PCG-81311L Battery
Sony PCG-81312L BatteryThe 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.[
Sony PCG-81411L Battery274] The speech immediately drew increased international pressure on Israel to withdraw.[275] 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.[ Sony PCG-61412L Battery
Sony PCG-81314L Battery267] 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.'[274] Sony PCG-71111L Battery
Soviet threats
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.[274Sony PCG-81111L Battery
Sony PCG-81313L Battery][276] Bulganin accused Ben-Gurion of supporting European colonialism, and Mollet of hypocrisy for leading a socialist government while pursuing a right-wing foreign policy. He did however concede in his letter to Eden that Britain had legitimate interests in Egypt.
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.[2Sony PCG-81112L Battery
Sony PCG-81312L Battery77] 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.[27Sony PCG-81113L Battery
Sony PCG-81311L Battery8] In private, Eisenhower told Under Secretary of State Herbert Hoover, Jr. of his fears that:
The Soviet Union might be ready for 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.[277] Sony PCG-81114L Battery
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 defense of Britain and France. Likewise, if the Soviet Union attacked Israel, Sony PCG-9Z1L Battery
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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 run the risk of this escalating into the Third World War, Sony PCG-9Z2L Battery
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in case Khrushchev was serious about going to war in defense of Egypt as he insisted in public that he was. 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."
Sony PCG-8141L Battery [279] Eisenhower immediately ordered the U-2s into action 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."[280] Sony PCG-7151L Battery
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Sony PCG-813L Battery (The Americans excluded Israel from the guarantee against Soviet attack, however, alarming the Israeli government.[274])
Khrushchev often claimed to possess a vast arsenal of nuclear-tipped 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.[281] Sony PCG-4R2M battery
Sony PCG-6122M batteryThe U-2 spy flights, which were intended to discover if the Soviet Union 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 vastly exaggerated his nuclear strength.[282] In fact, the supposedly huge Soviet arsenal of ICBMs, Sony PCG-7153L Battery
Sony PCG-7185L Battery with which Khrushchev would wipe out the cities of Britain, France, Israel, and if necessary the United States consisted only of four Semyorka missiles stationed at a swamp south of Archangel.[28Sony PCG-7154L Battery
Sony PCG-7184L Battery3] 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. 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."[284] Sony PCG-7161L Battery
Sony PCG-7183L Battery 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, but that "the Soviet Union's latest threats of war had been correct and necessary".[285]
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Financial pressure
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 the UK's oil supply had been damaged by the closing of the Suez Canal, the British sought immediate assistance from the IMF, but it was denied by the United States. Sony PCG-7162L Battery
Sony PCG-7181L Battery Eisenhower in fact ordered his Secretary of the Treasury, George M. Humphrey, to prepare to sell part of the US Government's Sterling Bond holdings. The US Government held these bonds in part to aid post war Britain's economy (during the Cold War), and as partial payment of Britain's enormous World War II debt to the US Government,
Sony PCG-7174L BatteryAmerican corporations, and individuals. It was also part of the overall effort of Marshall Plan aid, in the rebuilding of the Western European economies. The UK government considered invading Kuwait and Qatar if oil sanctions were put in place by the US.[286]
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Britain's then 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; Sony PCG-7171L Battery
Sony PCG-7172L Battery 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. Sony PCG-9Z1L Battery
What Treasury officials had told Macmillan was far less serious than the version he told to the Cabinet.[287]
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. The other NATO members refused to sell oil they received from Arab nations to Britain or France.[288]
Cease fire
Israelis protesting against the UN order to evacuate Gaza and Sinai, 14 February 1957
The British government faced political and economic pressure. Sir Anthony Eden, the British Prime Minister, 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. Sony PCG-7142L Battery
Sony PCG-8141L Battery Port Said had been overrun and the military assessment was that the Suez Canal could have been completely taken within 24 hours.[289] 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.[290]
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 Sir Winston Churchill commented on 22 November, "I cannot understand why our troops were halted. To go so far and not go on was madness."[2Sony PCG-7151L Battery
Sony PCG-813L Battery91] 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.[292] Sony PCG-7152L Battery
The Israelis refused to host any UN force on Israeli controlled territory and left the Sinai in March 1957. Before the withdrawal the Israeli forces systematically destroyed infrastructure in Sinai peninsula, such as roads, railroads and telephone lines, and all houses in the villages of Abu Ageila and El Quseima.[2Sony PCG-7153L Battery
Sony PCG-7184L Battery93] Before the railway was destroyed, Israel Railways took captured Egyptian National Railways equipment including six locomotives[294] and a 30-ton breakdown crane.[295]
The UNEF was formed by forces from countries that were not part of the major alliances (NATO
Sony PCG-7183L Batteryand the Warsaw Pact – though Canadian 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.[296][297]
Aftermath
This article has been nominated to be checked for its neutrality. Discussion of this nomination can be found on the talk page. (August 2011) Sony PCG-7154L Battery
1957 newsreels about the aftermath of the crisis.
Egyptian sovereignty and ownership of the Canal had been confirmed by the United States and the United Nations. In retirement Eden maintained that the military response to the crisis had prevented a much larger war in the Middle East. Israel had been expecting an Egyptian invasion in either March or April 1957, as well as a Soviet invasion of Syria.[2Sony PCG-7162L Battery
Sony PCG-7182L Battery98] The crisis also arguably hastened the process of decolonization, as many of the remaining colonies of both Britain and France gained independence over the next several years. Some argued that the imposed ending to the Crisis led to over-hasty decolonisation in Africa, resulting in civil wars and military dictatorships.[299] Sony PCG-7171L Battery
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.[300] The failure of the Anglo-French mission was also seen as a failure for the United States, since the western alliance had been weakened and the military response had ultimately achieved nothing. Sony PCG-7172L Battery
The Soviets got away with their violent suppression of the rebellion in Hungary, and were able to pose at the United Nations as a defender of small powers against imperialism.[301]
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 authorization to use military force if requested by any Middle Eastern nation to check aggression and, Sony PCG-7173L Battery
Sony PCG-7174L Batterysecond, to set aside $200 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.[300] Dell XPS 14 Battery
The Soviet Union made major gains with regards to influence in the Middle East.[302] The American historian John Lewis Gaddis wrote about the aftermath of the crisis:
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 presidential election in the United States, Dell XPS 14D Battery
Dell Inspiron 13R Batteryeven 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', even if it meant voting with the Soviet Union in the United Nations Security Council at a time when the Russians, themselves, Dell XPS 14D-L401X Battery
Dell Inspiron N4110 Battery were invading Hungary and crushing—far more brutally than anything that happened in Egypt—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, Dell XPS 15 Battery
Dell Inspiron N5010 Battery 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.[302]
Statue of Ferdinand de Lesseps (a Frenchman who built the Suez Canal) was removed following the nationalisation of the Suez Canal in 1956.
Nikita Khrushchev's much publicized 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.[302] Dell XPS 15D Battery
Dell Inspiron N5010D BatteryAccordingly, the prestige of the Soviet Union, which was seemingly prepared to launch a nuclear attack on Britain, France and Israel for the sake of Egypt soared to new heights all over Egypt, the Arab world and the Third World in general.[302] Though Nasser in private admitted that it was American economic pressure that had saved him, nonetheless it was Khrushchev, not Eisenhower, whom Nasser publicly thanked as Egypt's savior and special friend.[302] Khrushchev was later to boast in his memoirs: Dell XPS 15-L501X Battery
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.[302] Dell XPS 15-L502X Battery
Khrushchev took the view that the Suez crisis had been a great triumph for Soviet nuclear brinksmanship, arguing in both public and private that his threat to use nuclear weapons was what had saved Egypt.[303] Khrushchev claimed in his memoirs: Dell XPS 15Z Battery
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.[303] Dell XPS L702X Battery
The great 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.[3Dell XPS 17-L701X Battery
04] Thus began a long period of crises starting with the Berlin crisis of 1958 and culminating in the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, where Khrushchev threatened to start World War III if he did not get his way.[30Dell XPS L501X Battery
Dell Inspiron N4010R Battery5] Equally important in explaining the Soviet diplomatic triumph in the Near East was Nasser's reaction to the Eisenhower Doctrine. Nasser never wanted Egypt to be aligned with one superpower, and instead preferred a situation where he was the object of rival American and Soviet efforts to buy his friendship.[58] Dell XPS L502X Battery
After Suez, American Secretary of State John Foster Dulles perceived that there was a power vacuum in the Middle East, and thought the United States should fill it.[306] Dulles's policies, which were to ultimately lead to the proclamation of the Eisenhower Doctrine were based on the assumption that Nasser and other Arab leaders shared the American fear of the Soviet Union.[306
Dell Inspiron N4010 Battery] This was not in fact the case, and Nasser hated Israel far more than whatever reservations he might have about the Soviet Union, and in any case preferred a situation where both super-powers were competing for his favour instead of him becoming aligned with one superpower.[307] Dell Inspiron 14V Battery
The Eisenhower Doctrine was regarded by Nasser as a heavy-handed American attempt to dominate the Middle East (a region that Nasser believed he ought to dominate), and led him to swinging behind the Soviet Union as the best counter-weight.[30Dell Inspiron N4020 Battery
Dell Inspiron N3010 Battery8] 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 favored role as the spoiler who tried to play both superpowers against each other.[308]
The American conservative historian Arthur L. Herman claims that the episode ruined the usefulness of the United Nations to support American ideals:
Suez destroyed the United Nations as well. By handing it over to Dag Hammarskjöld and his feckless ilk, Eisenhower turned the organization from the stout voice of international law and order into at best a meaningless charade; Dell Inspiron N4030 Battery
at worst, a Machiavellian cesspool. Instead of teaching Nasser and his fellow dictators that breaking international law does not pay, Suez taught them that every transgression will be forgotten and forgiven, especially if oil is at stake...Suez destroyed the moral authority of the so-called world community. Fifty years later, we are all still living in the rubble.[309] Dell Inspiron N7110 Battery
Military thought
The great military lesson that was reinforced by the Suez War was the extent that the desert favored highly fluid, mobile operations and the power of aerial interdiction.[234] French aircraft destroyed Egyptian forces threatening paratroopers at Raswa and Israeli air power saved the IDF several days’ worth of time.[
Dell Inspiron N5010R Battery234] To operate in the open desert without air supremacy proved to be suicidal for the Egyptian forces in the Sinai.[234] The Royal Marine helicopter assault at Port Said "showed promise as a technique for transporting troops into small landing zones".[234] Strategic bombing proved ineffective.[310] Dell Inspiron N7010R Battery
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.[310Dell Inspiron N7010D Battery
Dell Inspiron N5110 Battery] Egyptian urban warfare tactics at Port Said proved to be effective at slowing down the Allied advance.[310] Finally, the war showed the importance of diplomacy.[310] Anglo-French operations against Egypt were militarily successful, but proved to be counterproductive as opinion in both in the home front in Britain and France and the world abroad, especially in the United States, was against the operation.[310] Dell Latitude E4200 Battery
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 apparent quiescent American response to the Soviet threat of nuclear annihilation against two of NATO's key members.[2Dell Latitude E4310 Battery
Dell Latitude E6530 Battery73] The Bulganin letters showcased Europe's utter dependence upon the United States for its security against Soviet nuclear threats while at the same time seeming to show that the American nuclear umbrella was not as reliable as billed.[27Dell Latitude E5400 Battery
Dell Latitude E6520N Battery3] As a result, the French became even more determined to acquire their own atomic force rather than rely upon the American nuclear umbrella while both the French and the Germans became more interested in the idea of an European "Third Force" in the Cold War.[311] This helped to lead to the formation of the European Economic Community in 1957, which was intended to be the foundation stone of the European "Third Force".[312] Dell Latitude E5500 Battery
Egypt
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 citizenship from any group it desired; these measures were mostly directed against the Jews of Egypt.[3Dell Latitude E5520 Battery
13] As part of its new policy, 1,000 Jews were arrested and 500 Jewish businesses were seized by the government.[314] 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.[31Dell Latitude E6220 Battery
Dell Latitude E6430S XFR Battery5] Lawyers, engineers, doctors and teachers were not allowed to work in their professions.[315] Thousands of Jews were ordered to leave the country.[315] 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.[316] Dell Latitude E6320 Battery
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Some 25,000 Jews, almost half of the Jewish community left, mainly for Israel, Europe, the United States and South America, after being forced to sign declarations that they were leaving voluntarily and agreed with the confiscation of their assets. Similar measures were enacted against British and French nationals in retaliation for the invasion. By 1957 the Jewish population of Egypt had fallen to 15,000.[316] Dell Latitude E6400 Battery
The British historian D. R. Thorpe wrote that the imposed ending to the Crisis gave Nasser "...an inflated view of his own power".[317] In his mind, he had defeated the combined forces of the United Kingdom, France and Israel, whereas in fact the military operation had been "defeated" by pressure from the United States.[ Dell Latitude E6410 Battery
Dell Latitude E6430 Battery317][318] Despite the Egyptian defeat, Nasser emerged as an enhanced hero in the Arab world.[318] The 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".Dell Latitude E6420 ATG Battery
Dell Latitude E5530 Battery [318] The Greek-American historian P. J. Vatikiotis wrote that Nasser in his speeches both in 1956 and after provided for "superficial explanations of Egypt's military collapse in Sinai, based on some extraordinary strategy.. Dell Latitude E6500 Battery
Dell Latitude E5430 Battery." 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 Stalingrad-like tenacious defense, Port Said became the spirit of Egyptian independence and dignity...".[31Dell Latitude E6510 Battery
Dell Latitude E5420M Battery9] During the Nasser era, the fighting at Port Said become a huge symbol of the victory that Egypt was said to have won, which in turn was linked to as part and parcel of a wider anti-colonial struggle throughout the entire world.[320] Thorpe wrote about Nasser's post Suez hubris that "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".[Dell Latitude E6520 Battery
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317] Summarizing the arguments of the Egyptian writer Tawfiq al-Hakim about the links between the 1956 and 1967 wars Vatikiotis wrote that:""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.""[321] Dell Latitude E6400 XFR Battery
Britain
The political and psychological impact of the crisis's denouement had a fundamental impact on British politics. Anthony Eden was accused of misleading parliament and resigned from office on 9 January 1957.
Dell Latitude E5520 BatteryEden had barely been prime minister for two years by the time of his resignation, and his unsuccessful handling of the Suez Crisis eclipsed the successes he had achieved in various government and opposition roles over the previous 30 years.[322
Eden's successor, Harold Macmillan, greatly accelerated decolonisation and sought to recapture the benevolence of the United States.[323] He enjoyed a close friendship with Eisenhower from their first meeting at a highly successful conference in Bermuda in March 1957. Benefiting from his personal popularity and a good economy, Dell Latitude E6410 ATG Battery
Macmillan's government increased its Parliamentary majority in the 1959 general election. 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; Dell Latitude E6210 Battery
Dell Latitude E6230 Batterythe latter deployment had a response to the threats of the Iraqi dictator General Abd al-Karim Qasim that he would invade and annex Kuwait.[324] However, at the same time, though British influence continued in the Middle East, Suez was a blow to British prestige in the Near East that Britain never recovered from.[325] HP MU06 Battery
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 continual refusals to send any British troops to Vietnam, even as a token force, despite President Lyndon B. Johnson's persistent requests, HP RM08 Battery
HP HA03 Battery was partially due to the Americans failing to support Britain during the Suez Crisis. Edward Heath was dismayed by the US opposition to Britain during the Suez Crisis; as Prime Minister in October 1973 he refused the US permission to use any of the UK's air bases to resupply during the Yom Kippur War,[326] or to allow the Americans to gather intelligence from British bases in Cyprus.[327] HP BS06 Battery
Despite the lack of US co-operation, and although British domestic politics suffered, the British relationship with the United States did not suffer lasting consequences from the crisis. "The Anglo-American 'special relationship' was revitalised immediately after the Suez Crisis."[328] "The two governments . HP VE06 Battery
HP BX06 Battery.. engaged in almost ritualistic reassurances that their 'special relationship' would be restored quickly."[329] Eisenhower himself later stated privately that he regretted his opposition to the combined British, French and Israeli response to the Crisis.[330] HP VE12 Battery
France
Franco-American ties never recovered from the Suez crisis.[331] There were various reasons for this. "Prior to the Suez Crisis, 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 Dien Bien Phu in 1954.[3
HP PT06 Battery31] The incident demonstrated the weakness of the NATO alliance in its lack of planning and co-operation 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. HP GA08 Battery
From the point of view of General 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."[332] HP MO06 Battery
According to the protocol of Sèvres agreements, France secretly transmitted parts of its own atomic technology to Israel, including a detonator.[333]
Israel
An Israeli soldier stands next to an Egyptian gun that had blocked the Tiran Straits.
Israeli Chief of Staff, Moshe Dayan (at left) speaking at Sharm el Sheikh. To his right is Avraham Yoffe, commander of the 9th Brigade whose forces captured the strategic position.
Israel emerged victorious from the war. Its forces executed a military campaign that leading military theorist B.H. Liddell Hart termed “brilliant.”[33HP MO09 Battery
HP GB06 Battery4] The Israel Defense Forces gained confidence from the campaign. The war proved that Israel was capable of executing large scale military maneuvers in addition to small night-time raids and counter insurgency operations. HP EV06 Battery
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.'[335] HP EV12 Battery
The war also had tangible benefits for Israel. The Straits of Tiran, closed by Egypt since 1951 was 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 U.N. Peacekeepers in Sinai. Operation Kadesh bought Israel an eleven-year lull on its southern border with Egypt.[336] HP CL09 Battery
Israel escaped the political humiliation that befell Britain and France following their swift, forced withdrawal. In addition, its stubborn refusal to withdraw without guarantees 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.[337]
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.[337]
Other parties
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. The Suez Crisis contributed to the adoption of a new national flag of Canada in 1965, without references to that country's past as a colony of France and Britain. The Egyptian government had objected to Canadian peacekeeping troops on the grounds that their flag at that time included a British ensign. As Prime Minister, Pearson would advocate the simple Maple Leaf that was eventually adopted.
After Suez, Cyprus, Aden and Iraq became the main bases for the British in the region while the French concentrated their forces at Bizerte and Beirut. UNEF was placed in the Sinai (on Egyptian territory only) with the express purpose of maintaining the cease-fire. While effective in preventing the small-scale warfare that prevailed before 1956 and after 1967, budgetary cutbacks and changing needs had seen the force shrink to 3,378 by 1967.
The Soviet Union, after long peering through the keyhole of a closed door on what it considered a Western sphere of influence, now found itself invited over the threshold as a friend of the Arabs. Shortly after it reopened, the canal was traversed by the first Soviet 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 liberation movement and penetrating the Arab countries.[338]