Suez Crisis 1956: The Warning History Still Echoes

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Suez Canal. Why is Markowski talking about this? Why is this important? Why should we look to this and look to history to help understand conflicts from today? Suez Canal crisis. This was in 1956. Could be called the Second Arab-Israeli War, Sinai War, involved Egypt, Israel, Britain, and France. And it was

was a decline. was that moment in time. It changed the the continued to see the diminished power of Britain in France were colonial powers for a period of time. This was definitely a hit to them. Now the Suez Canal was opened in 1869. It’s about 120 miles, again, artificial waterway connecting the Mediterranean.

to the Red Sea. It is the shortest sea route between Europe and Asia. Again, huge, huge portion of traffic global trade, especially from the Persian Gulf to Europe. Now, the canal was originally operated by the, it was called the Suez Canal Company, it was a private firm that was dominated by both

British and French interests. Now, Britain had long maintained military presence in that zone for strategic reasons. Now, there was a 1952 Egyptian revolution. Gamal Abdel Nasser became president and he ran on anti-colonial policies. He wanted to modernize Egypt.

building the it’s called the Oswan High Dam. He wanted to use that for both electricity, electricity and irrigation irrigation. Now, in 19 July 1956, United States and Britain withdrew funding for the Oswan Dam. And this was due to Nasser in Egypt cozying up to the Soviet Union and also buying arms from

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Czechoslovakia. Okay, so on July 26 1956, Nasser nationalized, nationalized the Suez Canal. You could see changes again, same period of time we talked about what happened with British Petroleum and Iran, where we threw out their democratically elected leader and install the king. We did that. The Brits did that anyway.

So Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal Company. He promised compensation to shareholders, but he wanted to use the tolls from the canal to build his dam. Now, the Brits and the French said, this is definitely a hit to our economic interests, definitely a hit to our oil supplies. Israel had different grievances. Egypt was blocking Israeli shipping through the canal.

and the Straits of Tehran and again they also supported raids into Israeli territory. okay, October 29th, 1956 Israeli forces invaded Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, no problem whatsoever, advanced towards the canal. Okay, their goals included opening up the Straits of Tehran and weakening Egyptian forces. The Britain and France issued a ultimatum for a ceasefire and protection

of the canal. When Egypt refused, they launched airstrikes on October 31st and landed troops in the canal zone. It’s called Operation Musketeer on November 5th and 6th. That’s when that took place. Israel, British and French forces achieved rapid, rapid success, tactical success. They occupied much of the Sinai.

and parts of the canal zone. Actually, Egypt, it actually sank ships to block the canal temporarily. Significant casualties, Egyptian soldiers and civilians killed, plus some losses for the French, the British, and the Israelis. Now, globally,

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People didn’t like it. We didn’t like it. Eisenhower opposed it. He felt that by doing this, it was going to push Arab nations under the Soviet umbrella at the time. would undermine our influence in the region. We actually threatened, we threatened the Brits and their currency. And we supported UN resolutions. Soviet Union,

threatened rocket attacks on Britain and France. we had escalating Cold War tensions at the same time you had the Hungarian Revolution that was taking place. United Nations, UN General Assembly, bypassing a veto, Black Security Council demanded a ceasefire and created the first UN peacekeeping force to supervise withdrawals. By early 1957, Britain, France and Israel withdrew.

under heavy pressure. Egypt kept control of the canal. It reopened in 1957 under Egyptian management. Okay, what are the consequences?

consequences and we need to be thinking about these two. What consequences are there going to be had due to this current conflict that’s in a ceasefire? For Britain and France, a humiliating defeat that accelerated the end of their imperial influence in the Middle East and highlighting their declining global power and its strained relations with us. For Egypt and Nasser, political victory despite military losses.

Nasser emerged as a hero of Arab nationalism and anti-colonialism and it boosted his prestige all around the developing world. Again, increased Soviet influence in the region, showed limits of military force without superpower backing. Again, Israel gained temporary improvements but eventually withdrew from Sinai and obviously it hurt

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global trade. Again,

History doesn’t repeat itself. It rhymes.

Hopefully, like I said, the umpteenth time, we’ve got some people that understand this and know history and understand that it might just be a good time for us. know, like I said, declare victory and walk away. Watchdogonwallstreet.com.