Suez Crisis

Not to be confused with the 2021 Suez Canal obstruction.

Suez Crisis
Part of the Cold War and the Arab–Israeli conflict
Damaged Egyptian military vehicles in the Sinai Peninsula
Date 29 October 1956 (1956-10-29) – 7 November 1956 (1956-11-07) (1 week and 2 days) Location Egypt (from the Gaza Strip to the Suez Canal) Result Coalition Victory • Egyptian Political Victory Territorial changes Israeli occupation of the Sinai Peninsula (and the Gaza Strip) until March 1957
Belligerents
Israel United Kingdom  France	Egypt
Commanders and leaders
David Ben-Gurion  Moshe Dayan  Asaf Simhoni  †  Haim Bar-Lev  Avraham Yoffe  Israel Tal  Ariel Sharon  Uri Ben-Ari  Anthony Eden  Gerald Templer  Charles Keightley  Hugh Stockwell  Manley Power  René Coty  Guy Mollet  Pierre Barjot  André Beaufre  Jacques Massu	Gamal Abdel Nasser  Abdel Hakim Amer  Saadedden Mutawally  Sami Yassa  Jaafar al-Abd  Salahedin Moguy  Raouf Mahfouz Zaki
Strength
175,000  45,000  34,000	90,000
Casualties and losses
Israel: 172 killed 817 wounded 1 captured United Kingdom: 22 killed 96 wounded France: 10 killed 33 wounded	1,650–3,000 killed 4,900 wounded 5,000–30,000+ captured 215+ aircraft destroyed 125 tanks destroyed
1,000 civilians killed

The Suez Crisis was the invasion of Egypt by Israel, the United Kingdom and France to regain control over the Suez Canal and remove then Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who nationalized the Suez Canal Company and Egypt's oil industry.

Before 1956, the Suez Company owned the Suez Canal, a private corporation mostly owned by British and French investors. In 1956, Egyptian President Nasser nationalized the Canal. In other words, he took it away from the Suez Company and put the Egyptian government in control. Israel, the United Kingdom, and France invaded Egypt.

References

Sources

• Bromberger, Merry and Serge Secrets of Suez Sidgwick & Jackson London 1957 (translated from French Les Secrets de l'Expedition d'Egypte by James Cameron)
• Doran, Michael. Ike's Gamble, Free Press. Oct.2016.
• Pearson, Jonathan. (2002) Sir Anthony Eden and the Suez Crisis: Reluctant Gamble (Springer, 2002). online
• Schiff, Zeev (1974). A History of the Israeli Army: 1870–1974. Straight Arrow Books. ISBN 978-0-8793-2077-5. OCLC 1188936. OL 5068460M.
• Shlaim, Avi. "The Protocol of Sevres, 1956: Anatomy of a War Plot." International Affairs 73#3 1997, pp. 509–530. online.
• Smith, Simon C. ed. Reassessing Suez 1956: New perspectives on the crisis and its aftermath (Routledge, 2016).
• Troen, S. Ilan. "The Protocol of Sèvres: British/French/Israeli Collusion Against Egypt, 1956." Israel Studies 1.2 (1996): 122-139 online.
• Varble, Derek (2003). The Suez Crisis 1956. London: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-8417-6418-4.
• McGregor, Andrew (2006). A Military History of Modern Egypt: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Ramadan War. Praeger. ISBN 978-0275986018.

Other websites

• Israel's Second War of Independence, essay in Azure magazine.
• A Man, A Plan and A Canal Archived 2013-12-03 at the Wayback Machine by Arthur L. Herman
• Sinai Campaign 1956
• Canada and the Suez Crisis
• July 2006, BBC, Suez 50 years on
• Suez and the high tide of Arab nationalism International Socialism 112 (2006)
• Detailed report on the Suez campaign by Ground Forces Chief of Staff General Beaufre, French Defense Ministry archive (French)
• Bodleian Library Suez Crisis Fiftieth anniversary exhibition Archived 2017-02-21 at the Wayback Machine
• Suez index at Britains-smallwars.com – accounts by British servicemen who were present
• 26 July speech by Gamal Abdel Nasser (French translation)
• Speech by Gamal Abdel Nasser Archived 2012-03-11 at the Wayback Machine (Original text in Arabic)
• The short film The Middle East (1963) is available for free download at the Internet Archive
• Newsreel film, British Prime Minister's broadcast Archived 7 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine at Britishpathe.com
• Blue Vanguard (1957), National Film Board of Canada film for the United Nations about its role in restoring peace after the Suez Crisis (60 min, Ian MacNeill, dir.)