Suez+Crisis+of+1956

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 * 1) The Suez Crisis of 1956
 * 2) Conflict between Egypt and Britian/France results in the withdrawl of British troops in the Suez Canal.
 * 3) Background on the Crisis
 * 4) Long term causes:
 * 5) "Nasser sought to keep Egypt neutral during the Cold War tensions. However, he also sought funding from both sides for economic development in Egypt. The U.S. and Great Britain began to be troubled when it appeared Egypt was leaning Communist."
 * 6) Short term causes:


 * 1) Course of the war:
 * 2) July 26, 1956, the Egyptian government took over control of the Suez Canal from its British and French owners, promptly starting what is known as the Suez Crisis.
 * 3) <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12px;">Both having controlling interest in the canal, Great Britain and <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12px;">France <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12px;"> (link to France's involvement in the crisis) began sending troops to the area.


 * 1)  Israel, which had been engaging in raids and counter-raids with Egypt in the Gaza Strip, also prepared for conflict.


 * 1) “The Soviet Union threatened armed intervention, and the United States warned of the possibility of a nuclear confrontation between the Soviet and Western blocs” (Reimer).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;"> Reimer, Michael J. “Suez Crisis.” //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">World Book Advanced //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;"> (2009): n. pag. //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">World Book Advanced //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">. Web. 1 Sept. 2009. <http://www.worldbookonline.com?id=ar538170>.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">“Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser ordered the take-over after the United Kingdom and the United States withdrew their offers to help pay for the Aswan High Dam” (Reimer).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">On October 29, 1956, Israeli forces invaded Egypt and advanced toward the canal. The U.K. and France also began air strikes against Egypt on October 31, with their troops capturing major ports in November. Following the conflict, it was discovered that France, Britain, and Israel conspired and agreed to invade Egypt in a secret treaty at Sevres before the conflict. This subsequently discredited not only Eden, but also Britain and France. This also led to U.S. dismissal of British aims in the Middle East.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">The U.S. and U.S.S.R both condemned the invasion.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Under this pressure, Great Britain and France agreed to a cease-fire on November 6.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">A UN peacekeeping force was then sent in to tie up any lose ends, and Israeli troops also withdrew in March of 1957.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Nasser “became an Arab hero for standing up to the West” (Neimer). Both France and U.K. were compensated for the shares they held in the canal; however, both lost influence in the Middle East.

Information About the Canal Itself

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;"> Goldschmidt, Arthur. “Suez Canal.” Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Ed. Philip Mattar. 2nd ed. Vol. 4. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. 2106-2107. Gale Virtual Reference Library //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">. Web. 18 Sept. 2009. <http://go.galegroup.com/‌ps/‌retrieve >. //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Ferdinand de Lesseps was the entrepreneur who actually carried out the idea that had been brewing for some time (Goldschmidt).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">“As soon as he [Muhammad Sa’id Pasha] became Egypt's viceroy in 1854, de Lesseps described to him his plan for constructing and financing this waterway, which would be the largest public-works project in Egypt” (Goldschmidt).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">However, it did take some time for de Lesseps to get approval from the sultaon of the Ottomon empire and the European Powers. Britan was especially oppsed to the canal that might impair its defense of India (Goldschmidt).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">“The construction cost, estimated at more than 450 million French francs (worth about $100 million at that time), was borne mainly by Egyptian taxpayers and by thousands of unpaid or underpaid Egyptian peasants who were forced into corvée labor” (Goldschmidt).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">After it was opened in 1869, “it soon became a main trade route for steam-driven passenger and cargo ships because it reduced travel time between Europe and East Africa, South Asia, China, Japan, and the East Indies” (Goldschmidt).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">The canal was intended to be open to all ships during both war and peace; however, during Britain made sure it was closed to Britain and its allies in both world wars. Egypt also didn’t allow Israel passage up until 1975 (Goldschmidt).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">“It was closed from 1956 to 1967 and from 1967 to 1975 because of the Arab-Israel conflict” (Goldschmidt).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">The canal was enlarged to accommodate larger oil tankers between 1960 and 1964.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">“Transit time is now 15 hours, and 80 ships can transit per day. The Suez Canal is a major route for transport of crude oil from the Persian Gulf. In 2000 the northbound tankers from the Gulf carried 28.2 million tons of crude oil (about 580,000 barrels per day) and in 2001 28.8 million tons (about 592,000 barrels per day)” (Goldschmidt).

Causes of the Crisis Including the Baghdad Pact

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;"> Karabell, Zachary. “Baghdad Pact (1955).” Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Ed. Philip Mattar. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. 363. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 22 Sept. 2009. <http://go.galegroup.com.do>.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">“The Baghdad Pact formally came into existence in 1955; it was an exemplary Cold War agreement reflecting the priority the Eisenhower administration gave to containment of the Soviet Union through collective security agreements” (Karabell).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">The members of the pact included Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, and Britain, with the headquarters of the pact stationed in Baghdad. Hence it is called the Baghdad Pact (Karabell).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Nuri al-Sa’id, the pact’s most forceful Middle Eastern component, championed the agreement because it tied Iraq more closely to the west while also giving the Iraqi leader potential leverage against Nasser, his rival (Karabell).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">“Nasser viewed the Baghdad Pact, with its British membership, as another manifestation of Western imperialism, and he used all the means at his disposal to persuade other Arab states not to join. In this he was successful—Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan refused offers of membership” (Karabell).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">The United States, although involved in many of the security agreements laid out in the Pact, never became an official member (Karabell).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">“Nonetheless, the security agreement fit U.S. strategic interests in the region. Through Turkey, the Middle East was linked to NATO, and through Pakistan, to the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO)” (Karabell).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Henceforth, the U.S. was able to continue their influence in the area without being officially a member of the Pact (Karabell).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">“The Iraqi revolution in July 1958 led to the deaths of the monarch and Nuri al-Sa’id. Iraq withdrew from the Baghdad Pact in 1959 and denounced it as a vestige of Western imperialism. The group was then renamed the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO)” (Karabell).

U.S. Presence in the Region and It's Affects

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;"> Peretz, Don. “United States of America and the Middle East.” //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa // <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">. Ed. Philip Mattar. 2nd ed. Vol. 4. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. 2290-2295. //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Gale Virtual Reference Library // <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">. Web. 4 Oct. 2009. <http://go.galegroup.com/ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">‌ps/‌ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">retrieve.do>.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">The Middle East has been one of the main focal points of U.S. foreign policy since WWII (Peretz).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">“Oil investments and the special U.S. relationship with Israel were the chief reasons for U.S. involvement in that area of confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War” (Peretz).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">U.S. contact in the Middle East began around 1800 when the U.S. naval forces defeated the Barbary pirates in 1816 in North Africa. However, throughout most of the 19ht century, the relations were educational and commercial in nature such as establishing schools and medical facilities (Peretz).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">“In the 1920s and 1930s U.S. oil companies invested heavily in Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. During World War II, the United States participated in the Allied battles for North Africa and established the Persian Gulf Command to transport lend-lease materials from the Gulf, through Iran, to the Soviet Union” (Peretz).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">“By 1945 several U.S. air bases, supply depots, and transportation facilities were operating throughout the Middle East. From the end of World War II until the collapse of the USSR in the early 1990s, a major objective of U.S. foreign policy was to prevent Soviet penetration of the Middle East” (Peretz).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">As British military and political commitments diminished, the U.S. became something of a replacement and the region became the recipient of the greatest portion of U.S. military and economic aid (Peretz).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">“Soviet pressure on Turkey and Iran marked the beginning of the Cold War, and the Truman Doctrine of 1947 represented one of the first efforts in the new ‘containment’ policy to halt Soviet expansion. Responding to feared Soviet encroachments” (Peretz).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">In Greece, Turkey, and Iran, the United States sent 400 million dollars—under the Truman Doctrine—to help aid all of these countries (Peretz).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Israel also becomes very closely tied with the United States after its establishment in 1948. By the 1960s, Israel had become the single largest recipient of U.S. economic and military aid. However, this assistance to Israel ruled out establishing closer ties with the surrounding Arab nations (Peretz).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">“Efforts by Western countries to keep Soviet influence out of the Middle East were undermined by the events leading up to the Arab–Israel War of 1956” (Peretz).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">“Attempts by the United States to cultivate better relations with Egypt were subverted when the United States refused to provide Egypt with aid to construct the Aswan High Dam; as a consequence, President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal in July 1956” (Peretz).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Despite this, the U.S. (along with the Soviet Union) still opposed the invasion of Israel by Britain, France, and Israel in October of 1956 (Peretz).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">The unrest and nationalist, leftist ideas that occurred after the war led to the U.S. passing the Eisenhower Doctrine in January of 1957 (Peretz).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">“[The] Eisenhower Doctrine [was a plan] whereby military and economic assistance was dispensed to the Middle East and the use of U.S. forces was provided to protect countries in the region ‘against overt aggression from any nation controlled by international Communism’” (Peretz).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">For example, the U.S. sent troops to both Jordan and Lebanon to help protect both regimes from revolutionary forces (Peretz).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">“The United States’ efforts to resolve the Arab–Israel dispute during the Eisenhower administration centered on the Arab refugee problem and projects intended to achieve the economic reconstruction of the Middle East through cooperative development of the region's water resources” (Peretz).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Although successful in establishing a water-sharing accord, agreements to resettle the refugees failed (Peretz).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">“During 1955 and 1956 the United States also joined Britain in a secret operation, code-named "Alpha," which was designed to coerce Egypt and Israel into direct talks” (Peretz).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">The operation ended in a failure when an Eisenhower emissary returned to Washington in March of 1956 after a useless round of shuttle diplomacy (Peretz).

**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Terms and Ideas - defined and explained ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;"> Palestinian Conciliation Commission (PCC) - This was established in December 1948 by the UN General Assembly Resolution 194. Its goal was to settle peace between Israel and the Arabs, as well as to "facilitate the repatriation, resettlement and economic and social well-being of the Palestine refugees, and to determine the status of Jerusalem" (B&K 113). The commission failed to achieve any of this. Rhodes Armistice - This was put into place in response to raids into Israel and Palestinians disobeying the set borders. The Rhodes agreements set up Mixed Armistice Commissions (MACs), which consisted of an equal number of delegates from the Arab and Israeli sides. These agreements were meant to help resolve the border disputes. However, it didn't help with preventing Arab raids. Israel's geographic problems - "Israel had over 600 miles of land borders, and 75 percent of its population lived in the coastal plain from Haifa to Tel Aviv and the corridor to Jerusalem. Many of Israel's cities were within 18 miles of an Arab border, and at its "waist," Israel was less than 10 miles wide from Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea. Not only was the population of the Arab states forty miles that of Israel, but the Arab standing armies also outnumbered Israel eight to one" (B&K 116). Arab economic weapon - The Arab countries were not internally stable. The only thing they could use was economic weapons against Israel. "They imposed an economic boycott in January 1950, which was strengthened by the closure of the Suez Canal to Israeli shipping and the removal to Tripoli, Lebanon, of the Haifa refinery by the Iraq Petroleum Company" (B&K 116). <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">

Bickerton, Ian J, and Carla L Klausner. //A Concise History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict//. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2005.