Britain's War with Egypt in 1956

Britain's War with Egypt in 1956

Britain formally declared war on Egypt on midnight of October the

30/31st 1956 three months after the nationalisation of the canal by

the Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. Britain went to war along

with France under the pretext of protecting the canal and preserving

international peace which was endangered by an Israeli invasion of

Egypt occurring at that time. Britain issued an ultimatum for both

sides to withdraw to a 10-mile exclusion zone outside the canal zone

by midnight of October 30/31. This was caused by a number of factors

the immediate excuse was that Britain intervened as part of a "police

action" to protect the canal although there is much evidence to

suggest that the Israeli invasion was planned with Britain and France

after they found themselves unable to regain control of the canal by

peaceful means.

The Suez canal was built by the Anglo-French Suez canal company and

opened in 1869. It was a crucial trade route as it allowed shipping to

avoid travelling the long route around Africa to reach Britain and

France. It was important as it dramatically eased access to Britain's

interests in India and access to oil supplies in the Persian Gulf (map

1). The British Prime Minister at the time, Anthony Eden felt that

Suez was so important that at an emergency Cabinet meeting he said

that 'The Egyptian has his thumb on our windpipe' fearing that tolls

which ships paid to travel through the canal would be increased,

making oil and related products more expensive and he announced that

'I don't care whether it's legal or not ... He's not going to get away

with it.' Eden also had fears that...

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...mlined with the abolition of National Service showing Britain's

reduction in status and was rationalised to make it better suited to a

'firefighting' roll in smaller conflicts, equipment was also improved.

It could be said that these reforms were ineffectual as at the start

of the Falklands Crisis in 1982 Britain faced similar problems to

those it faced in 1956. Britain's nuclear programme was speeded up as

a result of the inability to respond to Bulganin's letter and Britain

soon developed a small independent nuclear deterrent. This was

arguably a positive consequence of the crisis. Britain did not change

it's system of government this resulted in the treasury being unaware

that the operation was being planned and so was unable to prepare to

defend Sterling, contributing to the swiftness of Britain's economic

retreat.