Dimensions of Suez Canal Crisis - Research Paper Example

? Suez Canal Crisis 25 April “The geographical position of the Suez Canal makes it the shortest route between East and West as compared with the Cape of Good Hope. About 8 % of the world seaborne trade passed through the Suez Canal in 2009”1. Suez Canal caught the news paper headlines many times in the history. Whenever a war crisis occurs in the Middle Eastern region, Suez Canal often comes into the picture because of its strategic importance in this region. Suez Canal is the waterway which connects Mediterranean Sea with Red Sea. This canal is not a natural one; it was constructed in 1869 in order to transport goods from Europe and Asia. Earlier the goods transportation between Europe and Africa was extremely difficult since the transportation ships forced to navigate around Africa to reach Europe from Asia. The construction of Suez Canal made the transportation of good between these two regions easier. Suez Canal crisis occurred in 1956 when a war broke out between France, Britain, and Israel against Egypt. The invasion of Egypt by Israel caused problems in the good transportation between Asia and Europe which forced Britain and France to issue a joint ultimatum to the concerning parties; Egypt and Israel. They started to bomb Egypt shortly after the ultimatum given which is believed to be a preplanned attack with the knowledge of Israel. This paper analyses the various dimensions of the Suez Canal crisis developed in 1956 with the help of topic such as the relationships between Israel and Egypt, relationships between Eden and Nasser, the effects of cold war, history of Suez canal etc. Historically, the relationship between Egypt and Israel remains a strained one. Bible has many references for the strained relationships between Israel and Egypt. It is difficult for these two countries to establish strong relationships in future also because of their immense differences in culture and religious beliefs. Jews perceive Arabs as their enemies and their enmity started long time back. Most of the years of the twentieth century, Egypt was ruled by Britain. Egyptians were second class citizens in their home land during the colonial rule of Britain which developed dissatisfaction against the British among the Egyptian public. Violence against the British started to grow in Egypt as a result of their protest against colonial rule. British Prime Minister Antony Eden tried to deal this violence by increasing the number of British troops in Egypt. Nasser responded to Eden’s efforts by forming a Revolutionary Command Council in Egypt. It was difficult for Britain to bear the huge cost of military operations in Egypt because of the financial problems developed in Britain during this period. The relationship between President Nasser and Prime Minister Antony Eden was not so good during the Suez Canal crisis period. They met each other in 1955 in Cairo in order to rectify the problems between them; however neither of them trusted each other and the strained relationship continued even after the meeting. Eden tried to force Nasser from establishing a strong relationship with the communist Soviet Union. He also urged Nasser to stop anti-British radio broadcasts. However, Eden failed to get a positive response from Nasser on both the issues. “Even the dinner put on for Nasser at the British Embassy was a failure as Nasser arrived in military uniform to be greeted by Eden in full evening dress”2. Nasser treated Eden’s efforts as a deliberate attempt to humiliate him and whatever the positives derived out of this meeting was destroyed because of this incident. Britain forced to end their colonial rule in Egypt and Egypt became an independent state in 1953 even though British presence continued till 1956. Nasser became the president of Egypt in 1954. The nationalization of Suez Canal was the immediate action taken by Nasser after assuming the president’s post which resulted in the Suez Canal crisis of 1956. History of Suez Canal As mentioned earlier, Suez Canal was constructed in 1869 in order to make the sea transport between Europe and Asia easier. The construction works were supervised by an Egyptian company (Universal Company of the Suez Maritime Canal) and was financed by French and Egyptian governments. Even though, the major portions of the canal remain in Egyptian territory, Europeans often make claims on the ownership of Suez Canal because of two reasons; (1) Egypt accepted enormous financial aids from Europe for the construction of Suez Canal and Europeans invested heavily in the canal operating company (2) Egypt sold its shares in the canal operating company to Britain in 1875 because of a financial crisis. In short, even though the Canal was situated in Egypt, the ownership of the canal went to the Europeans because of their major investments or shares in the canal operating company. The Suez Canal crisis 1956 In 1956, the Suez Canal became the focus of a major world conflict. Normally, free passage was granted to all who used the canal, but Britain and France desired control of it, not only for commercial shipping, but also for colonial interests. The Egyptian government had just been taken over by Gamal Abdel Nasser, who felt the canal should be under Egyptian control. Angry British and French politicians joined forces with Israel, a long time enemy of Egypt, in an attack against Nasser. The Israeli army marched toward the canal on October 29, 1956. Britain and France reinforced the Israelis, and the joint effort defeated the Egyptian army quickly. Within ten days, British and French forces had completely occupied the Suez region3 Even though, Europeans and Israel succeeded in defeating Egypt, the Suez Canal crisis of 1956 raised many ethical questions about the sovereignty of states. Even though, Suez Canal is in Egyptian territory, Europeans claim the ownership of it because of their investments in the canal operating company. On the other hand, Egypt was not ready to sacrifice their claim on a property built up in their land. The interference of United Nations helped to resolve the issue even though, Egypt was not satisfied entirely with the terms and conditions agreed in the treaty. United Nations solved this issue amicably by allowing Egypt to maintain its ownership over Suez Canal as long as Egypt put no restrictions upon the passage of vessels through it. Effects of cold war on Suez Canal crisis Even though the UN intervention succeeded in solving the crisis temporarily, Egypt felt that they were betrayed by the conditions included in the ceasefire treaty about the ownership of Suez Canal. Egypt felt that their ownership over this canal is just for the name sake only and the Europeans are still enjoying absolute power over Suez Canal. In other words, the resolution put forward by United Nations was a one sided one which intended to safeguard the interest of the Europeans only. The feeling dissatisfaction forced Egypt to align more towards the Soviet Union. Egypt realized that neither America, nor the Europeans may help them in future in the everlasting conflicts with Israel. Soviet Union on the other hand was waiting for an opportunity to interfere in the Middle Eastern politics. “By 1951 the British had 80,000 troops stationed along the Suez Canal making it the largest military base in the world”4. This was not a good sign for the Soviets. They were exploring an opportunity in Middle East. The reflections of Soviet cold war with America were witnessed in all the political and military disputes in the world at that time. Soviet Union utilized the opportunity well and they played many political games in Middle East using Egypt as a toy. The 1967 Six Day War between Israel and Egypt was sponsored by Soviet Union in order to catch the fish from the muddy Middle Eastern water. Earlier, Soviet Union was the strongest supporters of Israel. Thy relationship between Israel and Soviet Union started at the time of Israel’s formation itself. However later Soviet Union released that Israel is aligning more towards the American side because of their cultural similarities with America. The increased influence of America over Israel helped America to interfere in Middle Eastern politics more effectively. The Suez Canal crisis was an opportunity given to Soviet Union for establishing strong relationships with the Arab world. In the 1960’s Soviet Union succeeded in establishing warm relationships with the Arab world including Egypt and they became the major arm supplier for the Arab countries during this period. “The Soviet Union’s growing influence in the Middle East worried Israel as did Egypt’s ever growing hauls of Soviet weapons”5. On the other hand, Soviet Union kept on passing wrong intelligences to the Arab world in order to exploit their feeling against Israel and Westerners. “On 13 May 1967, Soviet Union passed to Egypt detailed reports that Israel has massed 11-13 brigades of troops in Galilee for the invasion of Syria”6. This was actually a fabricated story and Egyptian president Nasser fell in this trap. The major reason for the 1967 Six Day war between Egypt and Israel was this wrong intelligence from Soviet Union. Soviet Union has created this war in order to attack Israel’s’ nuclear power stations. Soviet war planes painted in Egyptian colours made several raids over Israel’s nuclear power stations during this war period. However the exact reasons why Soviet Union failed to bomb on this nuclear power sites in Israel is still unknown to the external world. Even though Soviet Union failed to destroy the nuclear power stations of Israel, Six Day War forced the Arab world to increase their dependence on Soviet Union in future. Conclusions The 1956 Suez Canal crisis was developed because of Egyptian President Nasser’s efforts to nationalize it. Even though this canal was constructed entirely in the Egyptian territory, the construction process was funded by Europeans. Moreover, Europeans have major shares in the canal operating company which forced them to raise their claims on the ownership of this canal. United Nations did succeed in resolving the Suez Canal crisis by giving the ownership of this canal to Egypt as long as Egypt allows the passage of vessels freely through this canal. Egypt was not much satisfied by the above treaty and Soviet Union exploited the dissatisfaction of Egypt well to strengthen their ties with the Arab world. Soviet Union used the anti American and European feeling developed across Arab world during the cold war period to conduct their secret missions in this region. Bibliography 1. Brenchley Frank Brenchley (Author) › Visit Amazon's Frank Brenchley Page Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author Are you an author? Learn about Author Central Frank (2005). Britain, the Six-Day War and its Aftermath (International Library of Twentieth Centruy History Publisher: I. B. Tauris; First Edition (April 28, 2005) 2. Gat Moshe (2003). Britain and the Conflict in the Middle East, 1964-1967: The Coming of the Six-Day War Publisher: Praeger (February 28, 2003)See search results Are you an author? Learn about Author Central 3. Suez Canal authority. 2008. Available at: http://www.suezcanal.gov.eg/sc.aspx?show=11[Accessed on 11 April 2011] 4. The Suez Canal crisis 1956. Available at: http://library.thinkquest.org/20176/suez.htm [Accessed on 11 April 2011] 5. The Suez Crisis. 2011. Available at: http://www.electricscotland.org/showthread.php/582-The-Suez-Crisis [Accessed on 11 April 2011] Read More