The final part of the Suez Crisis series. The beginning of the Crisis is met with many similarities to the US invasion of Iraq. An assassination attempt, an aerial bombardment followed by land invasion... We see if Anthony Eden, Guy Mollet and David Ben-Gurion's gamble will pay off and defeat the boisterous Gamel Abdel Nasser.
The final part of the Suez Crisis series. The beginning of the Crisis is met with many similarities to the US invasion of Iraq. An assassination attempt, an aerial bombardment followed by land invasion... We see if Anthony Eden, Guy Mollet and David Ben-Gurion's gamble will pay off and defeat the boisterous Gamel Abdel Nasser.
PART 3
Regime change war is a phrase that is often thrown around today, it was a new idea in 1956.
The definition of Regime Change War is - The transition from one political regime to another, especially through concerted political or military action,
The term has been popularized by recent US presidents.
One of the main issues The Americans faced with their invasion of Iraq in 2003 was almost universal condemnation, old ally and NATO member Turkey was one such country, a country sharing a major land border with Iraq refused to allow the Americans access to their country for their invasion of Iraq, causing much stress for the americans and
‘The hood incident” an incident where the Americans intercepted a group of alleged Turkish assassins (targeting a Kurdish group in Iraq) and interrogated them for a few days. It received little coverage by the staunchly pro -war American media but
a deterioration in relations between one of its strongest Anti-communist allies turkey happened. Even to this day Turkey is consistently ranked one of the most Anti-american countries
The British would be the same after Suez, Losing Its closest allies, even some of its colonies such as Canada staunchly protested the invasion
On March 20th At 2:30 AM UTC (British time) The United states launched an assault that consisted of Tomahawk missles and GBU-27 bombs.
The target was an assassination attempt on an Iraqi military bunker thought to contain regime officials, including Saddam Hussein himself,
The assassination was a partial success with many high ranking officials but with Saddam surviving the ordeal…
OCTOBER 28th assassination attempt
On October 28th The Isrealis saw an opportunity and took it. Just days before the Invasion was to occur, they intercepted a transmission telling them that many high ranking Egpytian military personnel including Abdel Hakim Amer, an Egyptian field martial were to be flying from Syria to Egypt.
The isrealis launched a covert assassination called Operation Tarnegol where an Isreali Gloster Meteor shot down and destroyed an Egyptian Ilyushin.
The Operation was a partial success, 16 egyptian officers were killed but Amer was not present among them, he had changed his plans just before and decided to leave Damascus at a later date.
With the success of the operation … The battle would begin
OPERATION KADESH
Operation Kadesh was the Battle plan created by the Israelis for the invasion of Egypt, adopted as early as October 1956 and Updated just days before the invasion. 4 Israeli Armies would storm the Sinai Peninsula to the Canal Zone.
The 1st Army in the north would attack through The Gaza Strip to el-arish (located on the Mediterranean just beyond The Gaza Strip) with 2 infantry brigades and 1 armored brigade
The 2nd army in the central region from Keziot to al-ismailia (Located in the center of the suez canal) would be the spearhead with 2 infantry brigades and 2 armored
The lightly defended mitla pass to suez would be taken by 1 paratrooper squadron and the southern desert region would be taken by 1 reserve brigade
it was decided the invasion would be launched with a paratroop landing and to hold the armored corps back until October 31st
The conflict began on 29 October 1956.[176] At about 3:00 pm, Israeli Air Force Mustangs launched a series of attacks on Egyptian positions all over the Sinai
Nasser wasn’t sure this was an invasion, he believed it was just another raid done by the ISrealis similar to Operation black Arrow, Until …. He heard jets
The Isreali’s using covert British and French Jet fighters went on a bombardment campaign of the Egyptian Airforce and key targets, Nasser who was at the time hosting the Indonesian ambassador at his home commented “I listened and there was the jet airplanes, I said to the Indonesian ambassador the Isreali’s don’t have jet airplanes these are the British”
Nasser was completely surprised with the British collusion; he had expected the french might assist the isrealis but If the British joined the attack it would completely diminish their control of the middle east.
The British had an intricate alliance system with many of the Arabic countries, who saw Egypt as both an ally and an adversary
Jordan for example had an alliance with the United Kingdom and had Jordan been attacked by Israel the British would have had to intervene on the side of the Jordanians.
First Lord of the Admiralty Hailsham ended up sending a memo to Eden on November 2nd proposing to use the light cruiser stationed near Isreal HMS Royalist to defend Jordan in case of an invasion by Isreal.
The request indicates that Hailsham did not know of the secret alliance crafted by Eden and Ben-Gurion
the next day Britian and france offered the ultimatum On the 30th of October the ultimatum expired and As Eden knew Nasser had ignored it
At 17:00 on October 29, Israeli units parachuted into the eastern approaches of the Mitla Pass near the Canal - a political rather than tactical or strategic objective. The action provided the pretext for a French and British ultimatum to Israel and Egypt, calling on both sides to cease hostilities and withdraw from the Canal area. For diversionary reasons, Israeli forces also advanced on southern and central axes.
Nasser was confused and shocked by this, Did the ISrealis plan on fighting the sand? (Sinai is in the easternmost part of Egypt, it is mostly just a barren desert so there were no real key objectives to be accomplished by conquering the sinai Peninsula, (most Egytians live around the Nile Delta)
The Isreali Air Force was still deficient; its development was one of the lessons learned from that war; armor had proven its ability and was there to stay. If 1948 was undoubtedly the War of the Infantry, the King of the battlefield in the war of 1956 was Armor.
The Defense of the Mitla Pass (just west to the southern most point of the Suez Canal) was much heavier fighting than the Israelis Expected, 38 Isrealis were killed. (it was just a Tolken Battle to draw the anglo-French into the war)
This caused some confusion as the Isrealis had been slowed down and were not within the 10 mile perimeter of the Canal that was stipulated by the Ultimatum soon to be offered.
Many refer to this as Britain and Frances cover being blown about collusion with the Israelis
By midnight on October 30th the southern reserve brigade took Ras an-Naqb (on the border of isreal) without any casualties
Slightly further north the paratrooper brigade began its drop deep into the desert an hour after Kadesh began (this triggered the sevres Protocol giving France and Britain the excuse to invade)
In the center zone (including the largest force 2nd army) the real fighting occurred while the isreali’s attempted to take the town al-qusaymah attemting a pincer maneuver with their tanks to encircle the Egyptians, they collapsed the Egyptians and took the city next.
the center group attempted to take the vital infrastructure town of abu uwayqilah This town was vital to the Sinai peninsula as it had a road network that could connect most of the peninsula together. For 3 days 3,000 egyptian defenders held an Alamo-esque deffence of Abu Uwayqilah and fended off the 12,000 isreali attackers.
The northern most brigade attacked the densely populated Gaza strip, heavy fighting ensued
The northern most squad eventually took Gaza strip, but the victory was not complete as the Egyptians were able to retreat. The IDF isreali’s pursued them to the town of El-Arish by the 1st of November their pursuit was stopped by Egyptian artillery
By November 1st Nassers army was completely withdrawing from the Sinai peninsula to the canal zone
A day before On Halloween day October 31st RAF (royal air force) finally started bombarding important Egyptian bases and airfields to Ben-Gurions Relief…
The British who were supposed to launch their bombing first were 12 hours late, Ben Gurion feared the Egyptians using their soviet backed air force might level Tel-Aviv The agreement at sevres stipulated that the British would first destroy the Egyptian airforce to prevent this.
This sent Ben Gurion into a rage, he furiously called the British “A wretched old whore”
Ben-gurion never trusted Anthony Eden
One of the tragedies of this conflict was the Kafr Qasim massacre, Israeli soldiers were stationed along the Israeli-Jordanian border. During the first few hours of the war Israeli-Arab villages along the Jordanian border were placed under curfew, this resulted in the killings of 48 civilians in the Arab village of Kafr Qasim. The Border policemen involved were later tried and imprisoned with an Israeli court finding that the execution of civilians was “blatantly illegal”. This event has had major effects on Israeli law relating to the ethics in war and a more subtle effect on the legal status of Arab citizens of Israel.
THE INVASION CHAPTER 14
THE INVASION (MAYBE GO INTO DETAIL WITH EVERY DAY)
Operation Musketeer
The British and French name of the Operation was Operation Musketeer
Also changed just days before the invasion, The army was originally to land at Alexandria (A cultural and economic capital of Egypt) but the location was switched to Port Sa’id since a landing at Alexandria would have been met with most of the Egyptian army and fighting in a densely populated area would have involved tens of Thousands of civilian Casualties.
Eden and Mollet Intended to use propaganda to overthrow Nasser, First by bombing infrastructure targets and destroying the airforce of Egypt. They would bomb Cairo where the voice of the Arabs was located.
In Cyprus The voice of England was pushing Anti-Nasser propaganda, telling the people Nasser had lied to them and led them into this war, IT was Nasser fault for all of this. The English then Dropped anti-Nasser leaflets all over the country
The propaganda had little effect, Eden miscalculated the effect of it. As the number of civilian casualties increased the people of Egypt became more unified and defended their homeland against the invaders
The plan for Operation musketeer was as follows
Stage 1 - Britain and France gain air superiority
stage 2 - wage a 10-day areo-psychological campaign to have the Egyptians rise up and overthrow Nasser (by targeting infrastructure)
stage 3 - Anglo-French airborne and naval assault and taking of the canal zone
Nasser spread his forces to defend the Nile Delta and The canal zone because he predicted that is where the allies would strike
By November 1st stage 1 had been completed, The majority of Nasser’s air force was destroyed and aerial supremacy was secured.
During the invasion Both Nasser and Eden exerted confidence but on the inside they both were troubled greatly…
Donald Neff wrote that Eden's often hysterical and overwrought views towards Nasser almost certainly reflected the influence of the amphetamines to which Eden had become addicted following a Series of botched operation in 1953 together with the related effects of sustained sleep deprivation (Eden slept on average about 5 hours per night in early 1956 According to his wife Anne Clarissa Eden)
Eden’s mental state was seriously impaired
Nasser however showed a stronger character, he refused to go into hiding, he rallied his people after Friday prayer on November 2nd… Nasser’s popularity skyrocketed as did the morale of the Egyptians
Now was the time for Stage 3, the land invasion. First the british and French dropped paratroopers to secure the suburbs of port sa’id
After 5 days of aerial bombardment 668 paratroopers landed in port sa’id…
Eden assured the British people in an address on the suez “all my life ive been a man of peace, Working for peace, striving for peace, negotiating for peace. And I’m still the same man with the same convictions the same devotion to peace but I’m utterly convinced that the action we have taken is right…”
at the same time as the invasion
Nasser had stayed in Cairo and planed a guerrilla war should the army fail…
the Egyptians were hiding arms all over Egypt in preparation for the eventual British occupation and subsequent guerrilla fighting.
Civilians, including women and children were being armed and told to shoot at any westerner
Nasser ordered ships to be sunk in order to block the canal, this was meant to irritate the British and French as well as cause economic strain in Europe in order to get the worlds attention.
By this time, the canal shipped 70% of Britain’s oil and 66% of Europe’s
The slogan had arisen in england LAW NOT WAR
on November 4th Riots had taken place at Trafalgar square in London as did the slogan LAW NOT WAR
Aneurin “Nye” Bevan delivered an impassioned speech at a Labour-organised rally condemning the Tory government’s decision to take military action against Egypt during the Suez crisis.
Selwyn-Lloyd, Eden’s Foreign secretary and the original British representative at the sevres protocol, described Bevan’s speech as “the greatest ever commons performance, even though, it was at my expense”
The Trafalgar square rally was attended by 30,000 or more people, in the biggest national demonstration since before the Second World War. Eyewitnesses recall chants of “One, two, three, four! We won’t fight in Eden’s war!”
Many were discontent with the war, but the rally has been credited with bringing thousands from apathy to active civil disobedience over the invasion
Bevan challenged the government aggression, accusing the Tories of “a policy of bankruptcy and despair” that would “lead back to chaos, back to anarchy and back to universal destruction”.
AN EXERPT FROM ANEURIN BEVAN’s SPEECH
“We are stronger than Egypt but there are other countries stronger than us. Are we prepared to accept for ourselves the logic we are applying to Egypt? If nations more powerful than ourselves accept the absence of principle, the anarchistic attitude of Eden and launch bombs on London, what answer have we got, what complaint have we got? If we are going to appeal to force, if force is to be the arbiter to which we appeal, it would at least make common sense to try to make sure beforehand that we have got it, even if you accept that abysmal logic, that decadent point of view.
We are in fact in the position today of having appealed to force in the case of a small nation, where if it is appealed to against us it will result in the destruction of Great Britain, not only as a nation, but as an island containing living men and women. Therefore I say to Anthony, I say to the British government, there is no count at all upon which they can be defended.
They have besmirched the name of Britain. They have made us ashamed of the things of which formerly we were proud. They have offended against every principle of decency and there is only way in which they can even begin to restore their tarnished reputation and that is to get out! Get out! Get out!”
The speech was followed by chants from the crowd of “WE WANT OUT! WE WANT OUT!”
After the Trafalgar square protests, Eden began to feel the pressure, he held a meeting with his advisors to see if they should continue with the invasion. They thought the Israelis might accept the UN peace resolution out of fear… The biggest fear for Eden was the secret treaty being brought to light
The day after the Trafalgar square protests on November 5th the British and the French sent paratroopers to Egypt, to continue with the land invasion, the British landed (west of port Said) and the French supported by a British contingent to the east
while the Egyptian military was preoccupied with the Israelis in the east, the Egyptian civilians were fending off the British and the French
one of the first battles was a battle between the Egyptian militia and the British paratroopers, called the Battle of the cemetery – many paratroopers massacred militia and didn’t take prisoners, they had no option being paratroopers they were unable to take hostages.
The British army claims this is not true
On the same day UNEF (UNITED NATIONS EMERGENCY FORCE WAS CREATED) IN ORDDER TO PROVIDE A NEUTRAL PEACEKEEPING force in order to replace the occupying forces (DANISH NORWEGEIN AND Columbian troops would replace the Anglo-French) The British and French weren’t ready to accept this
by the 6th of November, the paratroopers had freed the beaches of port said of Egyptian soldiers. In the early morning, the British commandos landed and used blitzkrieg tactics while being supported and reinforced for the first time in history by helicopters.
The Allies had won a stunning victory in their militaristic goals, however their political goals had been vanquished
Hungarian uprising and nuclear threats
In an coincidental twist of fate at the same time the first major threat to soviet control since the Nazi Wehrmacht had left eastern Europe was happening, The Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
The Hungarian uprising was originally a student protest for the democratization of Hungary… originally Nikita Khrushchev (the Liberal Soviet leader most famous for Destalinization) was willing to give in to some of the demands of the students…
Khruschev believed the USA was supporting the invasion of Egypt in order to take advantage of the weakened Soviet Union.
Soviet Prestige was crumbling and Khruschev was furious about how he had perceived he was being treated.
Khruschev changed his mind and used the city of Budapest to send a bloody message to the west… his message was that the Soviet Union was as powerful as ever.
On the same day as the Anglo-French land invasion The Soviet Premiere Nikolai Bulganin issued Threats of nuclear retaliation towards London, Paris and Isreal
NORAD received a number of reports at this time, including unidentified aircraft over Baghdad pact and NATO member Turkey, Soviet MIG fighters over Syria, a downed British Canberra medium bomber, and unexpected soviet maneuvers in the Black Sea through the Dardanelles that appeared to be a Soviet offensive.
The Soviets Threat had worked
All of the reports turned out to be false or exaggerated, in another epic coincidence…
The unidentified aircraft over Turkey turned out to be a wedge of swans, the Soviet MIG was carrying the Syrian president who had been at a meeting in Moscow, the British Bomber had been brought down by mechanical issues and the Soviet fleet in the Black sea were scheduled exercises
In reality the Soviet ICBM’s were mostly used as propaganda and wouldn’t have been able to stand up to the superior arsenal of the WEST.
Equally shocking to the Allies was the reaction of the United States.
Eisenhower feared losing the oil of the middle east and the Arab world to the soviets over the invasion.
He threatened economic sanctions against Israel if it failed to withdraw from the Sinai.
He also Threatened Britian’s oil supply (Saudi Arabia ended up embargoing Britain and France)
Eisenhower threatened to sell off British Pound sterling bonds which would have devastated the British economy.
Eden Chocked and after 9 days of war he reluctantly called a ceasefire (EDEN SPEECH)
IT was a major blow to him as The british were about 1 day away from taking the canal which would have been great leverage in negotiations.
Eden said “If the united nations will take over this police action, we shall welcome it, indeed we propose that case to them” EDEN SPEECH
Still keeping up the charade
A UN resolution, spurred by the United States, called for a ceasefire and withdrawal of foreign forces.
On November 7th in the early morning A ceasefire was proclaimed. The Anglo-French troops stopped in the north of the canal zone. They still had to deal with small arms fire from the Egyptians who were much less disciplined.
Graffiti of “GO TO HELL” and Insults directed at Eden and the queen could be seen all over the ruins of Egyptian cities INSERT SPEECH OF NASSER CALLING THE QUEEN A BITCH AND NARRATE IN ENGLISH
RESULTS FOR BRITISH AND FRENCH
The British tried to downplay dead # claiming about 100 Egyptians dead
In reality about 650 Egyptians were killed with 2,000 Wounded.
¼ of them being civilians, many of whom were women and children
26 dead 129 wounded ANGLO-FRENCH had been killed
EDEN refused to apologize (17th gave a speech claiming we are not sorry)
The Americans insisted on a complete withdrawal of British and French troops, sending a final blow and humiliation to the Allies (they would have had a better position if they had troops in the area for negotiations and had they taken the canal it would have been much stronger)
The Suez Crisis Ruined Anthony Eden’s reputation, he had been one of the greatest statesmen of his generation…
Right after Suez Eden leaves Britian for Jamaica, his health was failing and he was advised to leave for a while
5 weeks later he returned to Britain and then resigned
The 20th of December was the last time he appeared in the house of Commons, when he was asked if he had prior knowledge of the invasion Eden claimed innocence “There was not knowledge!”
On the 23rd of December the last of the Anglo-French troops leave
Britian faced a winter fuel Crisis due to the closure of the canal
And on the 8th of January Eden with his health failing addressed his cabinet for the last time
To the grave Anthony Eden denied there had been any collusion with Israel
(INCLUDE THE PROOF OF SUEZ)
Just a few weeks after the Suez Crisis Eisenhower believed Britain and France could no longer be trusted and decided to take over the power vacuum left in the middle east
He announced EISENHOWER DOCTRINE stating, “we will safeguard any country threatened by communism” and deeply getting invested into the oil rich middle east… it is still in effect to this day
Mollet fared better than Eden, He survived the political turmoil of The Suez Crisis but him and his government would be brought down by the Nasser supported Algerian war 7 months later.
Franco-American relations never recovered from the Suez Crisis, The Suez Demonstrated that France could not rely on its allies, The British during Suez had initiated a ceasefire without even consulting the French and eventually 2 years later the fourth republic would collapse
Charles De Gaulle (the French Nasser or Ben-Gurion) would return from retirement to create the French 5th Republic, 10 years after the failed Suez invasion De Gaulle would withdraw from NATO, dealing a gigantic blow to the anti-Soviet alliance.
Many French like the British felt disillusioned with their government
RESULTS OF OPERATION KADESH
The winners of the war were once again the Israeli’s and The Egyptians…
Israel by November 5th had accomplished their goal which was the liberation of the Gulf of Aqaba and the opening of the straits of Tiran.
at a cost of 231 soldiers killed.
Israeli confidence in itself and its army skyrocketed, with Ben-Gurion later writing in his diary “If they had only appointed a commander of ours over this force, Nasser would have been destroyed in two days.”
The Straits of Tiran (which had been closed by Egypt since 1950) was re-opened. Israeli shipping was free to move through the straits to and from Africa and Asia.
The Israelis also secured the presence as UN Peacekeepers in Sinai.
Israel stubbornly refused to withdraw without guarantees, even in defiance of the United States and United Nations. This was to their benefit as eventually the west gave in to the Israelis.
With the Israeli’s in control of Sinai, the Fedayeen ceased to exist.
Ben-Gurion and his government were Heroes
Nasser was also a Hero, He had stood up to the imperialist West and won, He was in control of the Canal.
His Popularity skyrocketed all over the Arab world.
A Stalingrad like myth appeared all over the Arabic world for the citizens of Port Sa’id
The British historian D.R. Thorpe wrote that the ending to the Crisis gave Nasser “an inflated view of his own power” in his mind he had defeated the combined forces of the united Kingdom, France, and Isreal, whereas in fact the military operation had been defeated by pressure from the United States
This inflated view would lead to his downfall as 11 years later he reneged on his promises to keep the straits of Tiran open to Israeli shipping and the Israelis won another stunning victory in the Six-Day war.
Nasser lost control of the Sinai Peninsula as well as the Suez Canal.
Nasser died shortly after of a heart attack, aged 52.
It was said that “Nasser's greatest achievement was his funeral. The world will never again see five million people crying together." (not so necessary to say)
FINISH END
The US invasion of Iraq has had so many similarities to the Suez Invasion,
Militarily The Coalition forces won a stunning victory over the Arab strongmen. However Politically Both Countries were defeated.
The British were lucky to have escaped after only 9 days of war… The Americans have been in Iraq for 17 years…
Great Britain took a blow to its prestige and lost some of its closest Allies such as the French and the Americans… It is said that the British lost confidence in their government after the Suez Crisis, Like the Americans after the Iraq Invasion
The USA also lost respect around the world, Many Renowned Leaders such as Nelson Mandela Have stated That Bush illegally invaded Iraq and that Bush is a war criminal. The millennial generation and the generation following the Suez Crisis grew up to be some of the most anti-government generations in modern history
13 Years after the Suez Crisis the United Kingdom elected Margaret Thatcher and 13 years after the Iraq war The usa elected Donald Trump, Both of whom have been some of the most conservative leaders as well as controversial figures in their own right.
I don’t think It wouldn’t be farfetched to speculate that these Regime change wars had something to do with those trends…