THE SUEZ CANAL CRISIS
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The Suez Canal connected the Mediterranean Sea (and therefore the Atlantic Ocean) to the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea. It had been built in the 19th century and drastically cut travel times between Europe and South Asia, allowing greater trade flows as a result. Officially a neutral zone, it was protected by the British until their troops withdrew in 1954. In response to a the US, UK and the World Bank ending negotiations with Egypt over the financing of the Aswan Dam, Gamel Abdul Nasser ordered the nationalization of the Suez Canal. He intended to use the revenue from the Canal to pay for the construction of the Aswan Dam.
In response, the UK, France and Israel hatched a plot to retake the canal. Israel invaded the Sinai Peninsula (where the canal) was and engage the Egyptians militarily. This would act as an excuse for the British and French to land in Egypt to safeguard the canal, as they were legally entitled to do in time of conflict in the region. They assumed that as Western allies, and as Eisenhower was focussing on re-election, that they would face no opposition from the USA. They were wrong. Eisenhower was quietly furious with the governments of all three countries and applied considerable diplomatic and economic pressure to get them to withdraw. Khrushchev, sensing an opportunity to win favour in the Arab world, accused them of imperialism and threatened to launch nuclear weapons at Britain, France and Israel unless they withdrew. Once again, it appeared the superpowers could be on the brink of nuclear war, this time over the Middle East. Britain, France and Israel did withdraw from Egypt (although Israel did not withdraw until 1957) and it is widely accepted by historians that this climb-down was as a result of US pressure. |
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However, the public nature of Khrushchev's condemnation and threat of nuclear strikes, not only allowed him to take credit for resolving the crisis, but significantly increased the popularity of the Soviet Union in the Third World as it was able to portray itself as anti-imperialist. As far as Khrushchev believed, the threat of nuclear weapons had allowed him to bring a satisfactory end to the crisis and marked the beginning of his adoption of nuclear diplomacy. This policy would culminate with the Cuban Missile Crisis. It was not until 1959 that the USA were able to secretly conclude that Khrushchev had exaggerated the number of ICBMs (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles) at his disposal.
The Suez Canal Crisis was also a significant reason why Khrushchev decided to invade Hungary- he was not at first confident that he could adequately influence events in Egypt and could not afford to be seen standing idly by in Hungary while this was going on. A defeat in Eastern Europe at the same time as a potential defeat in the Middle East would have been disastrous for the USSR. Relations between the UK, France and USA were strained afterwards. The USA and UK managed to smooth out any differences in 1957 and they agreed to place 50 ICBMs in the UK under joint US-British control. Despite this, the decision of the UK not to send troops to assist the USA in Vietnam in the 1960's was in part based on their experience over the Suez Canal. British Prime Minister Anthony Eden was severely criticized for his handling of the crisis (there were many anti-war protests in the UK) and was forced to resign. France sought to make itself less dependent on the US by creating the European Economic Community (EEC-later the European Union) with the Benelux countries and West Germany. However there were initial disagreements with the FRG, who did not want to alienate the USA, over their vision of the EEC. Under the leadership of Charles de Gaulle (the leader of the Free French during World War II), France vetoed the EEC membership application of the UK until 1973, fearing that the inclusion of the UK would increase US influence in Europe. US relations with Israel cooled until John F. Kennedy became president in 1961. Overwhelmingly, this was a victory for Nasser. He had proved that he could stand up to the major imperial powers and fight for Egyptian independence and autonomy. His reputation within the Arab world sky-rocketed and was a hero in the region. He also became a leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, which was officially formed in 1961. |
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