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The Suez Crisis of 1956 did not involve the world's two major powers - America and Russia - but Suez was an important event in the Cold War as it tended to overshadow the events in Hungary. The Suez Crisis also showed how allies in NATO could fall out - albeit temporarily.
The state of Israel had been created in 1948. After the Second World War there was overwhelming world sympathy for the Jews and few people thought of the Arabs (Palestinians) who lived in the region. The Palestinians considered this region to be theirs. The leading Arab nation in the world in the late 1940's was Egypt but she was considered to be a Third World nation with the classic symptoms of poverty etc. that were found in such nations.
However, while the state of Egypt was poor, running through its territory was one of the world's most important transportation systems - the Suez Canal. This was jointly owned by Britain and France and very little of the huge profits made by the canal ever went into the Egyptian economy. Each year the canal made a profit of $25 million, which by today's standards would be worth $200 million.
In 1956, the Egyptian leader, Nasser, nationalised the canal. Egypt took over the running of the canal. This move greatly angered the British and the French.
However, the incident was to have a much wider significance. The very powerful Jewish lobby in America had ensured that Israel was supported by America and that the new state had modern American weapons to defend itself from attack. The Israelis had already beaten off one attempt by the Arab nations to crush it in 1948/49.
The Arabs looked for another country to balance this support which the Israelis received off of America. The obvious choice was the USSR. The USSR was very willing to involve herself in this region.
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the USSR navy was 'trapped' in the Black Sea. It could never leave its port without the west knowing about it as all vessels had to pass through the Bosphoros in Turkey; this was a narrow and relatively shallow stretch of water between European and Asian Turkey. With listening devices on the sea bed, even submarine movements could be tracked. The Soviet navy had always prized a warm water Mediterranean port. Egypt offered the possibility of such a port.
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without the stranglehold of the Bosphoros, the Soviet Black Sea fleet could come and go without the fear of being constantly tracked. This was especially true of its submarine fleet.
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a new found relationship in North Africa would also expand the Russians influence. The Arab world, in theory, would look up to Russia and her sphere of influence would grow throughout the Arab world.
Such a relationship was strange as the Arab world was committed to the Muslim faith and all religion - included Muslim - had been banned in the Soviet Union. However, both sides needed the other.
The Russians pumped money into the Egyptian economy and developed the port of Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast. This had to raise the stakes in the Cold War game as Russia expanded her influence among those countries determined to remove Israel from the region while Israel was supported by America.
Ironically, the Americans did not give their support to Britain or France when these two countries invaded Egypt. This was for two reasons. First, the Americans had been kept in the dark about what Britain and France was going to do (attack Egypt) which greatly angered them. The second reason is that America realised that world sympathy was with Egypt on this issue and that both Britain and France came across as world bullies and America - having preached about democracy etc. - could not be seen to be associating herself with the two 'bullies'. America was also very wary that the whole situation could easily get out of hand.
The incident drove a wedge between the NATO allies, albeit temporarily, and by 1957, both America and Russia had huge naval fleets in the Mediterranean Sea. One small incident could quickly develop into a major incident. |
