Source C is obviously a mockery of Eden. He is trying to threaten an Egyptian sailor . Eden says, “If you don’t give it back, I’ll shoot, “this statement does not distinguish who he will shoot but the picture shows that he will shoot himself. This is expressing the point that Eden has no control of the situation and that he cannot do anything about it. The Egyptian sailor looks very happy and the smile tells us he has no care in the world. I think the way he is sitting also shows how calm and relaxed he is even though Eden is about to shoot himself. However, the sources B and C do not really tell us a lot about public opinion, because the photo only shows a small number of people, and the cartoon is only one man’s opinion, and we don’t know whether it was published and where, and even if it was in a newspaper, that doesn’t necessarily constitute public opinion.
Study sources D, E and F.
Did public opinion in Britain support Eden's decision to take 'military action against Egypt?' Explain your answer using the sources and your own knowledge.
Looking at the Sources D, E and F, it would appear that the over-all public opinion in Britain did not support Eden’s decision over military action. Source D is an extract from the Daily Mirror calling Nasser ‘Grabber Nasser’ and shows that the newspaper considers him to be a dangerous dictator, comparing him to Hitler and Hitler’s end, suggesting that we should take a stand against him. However, Source E shows a photograph of a demonstration in London and clearly shows the public in this photograph to be against military action and call for Eden’s resignation. However, the people in the photo do not seem to be too upset about it as quite a few are smiling. In Source E the people are appealing against Eden’s actions. They represent a slice of British opinion and want to ‘stop aggression’. Eisenhower said to Eden that a 'method must be attempted before action.' He warns Eden that there is not much support from America or the UN and not to heed the advice 'is virtually to destroy that institution.' Source F is another extract from the Daily Mirror, this time, a letter from a reader. Again, this source is not entirely reliable as it is only one person’s view. This may well represent a number of people who would have written along the same lines, but it is still not entirely clear just from the sources given that the majority of public opinion was against Eden’s decision to take military action.
The majority of people in this argument did not think that Eden’s idea was a good one. Source D is probably the only one out of the 3 sources that actually supports Eden. Concluding Eden’s decision was not accepted by the people of his country and highly unpopular.
Study sources G and H.
Does source G support Selwyn Lloyd’s statement (source H) about Britain’s motives for military action against Egypt? Explain your answer by referring to both sources.
Source G is an extract from a letter written by Anthony Eden to the President of the United States regarding Suez. In this he states his primary concern is to free the Suez Canal from Egypt’s control. His secondary purpose is to remove Nasser from power and replace him with a regime more favourable to the western powers.
In source G Eden tries to justify his future actions against Nasser. He knows that Eisenhower and he want to ‘undo what Nasser has done.’ But Eden also wants a regime change, as ‘the parallel with Mussolini is close.’ This can be compared to source H where we learn Eden’s main motives were that the 1930s should never be repeated. This shows us that both sources support interventionism. But Selwyn Lloyd refers to Nasser as ‘Hitler’ and not Mussolini. This is because in source G Eden couldn’t refer to Nasser as Hitler in front of Eisenhower as he would say that it was a ridiculous comparison as Nasser neither has the manpower nor the same drive as Hitler did. Source H is from a book written by Selwyn Lloyd, the Foreign Secretary at the time of the Suez crisis. In his book, he sees the objectives as, firstly, to prevent a war breaking out in the Middle East. The second objective was to control Nasser, and the third, to return the Suez Canal to international control.
Both sources agree that the Canal being under international control was one of the main purposes, but Anthony Eden puts this as the first purpose, whereas Selwyn Lloyd sees this as the third objective.
These two sources, at face value and fairly supportive of each other but if you look deep into the passages it is clearly visible that Selwyn Lloyd have many differences in opinion.
Study all the sources.
‘Britain was humiliated by international opinion and made to look foolish.
Use these sources, and your own knowledge, to say whether you agree with this view of the Suez crisis.
I do believe that Britain was humiliated due to widespread opposition to Eden’s ideas. The majority of the people involved all over the world disagreed with Britain’s actions and ideas. This is my opinion but the sources do not always agree and now I will elaborate on this.
Source B shows unity between Nasser and the Egyptian people. The photograph gives us a clue that Nasser’s actions are popular with his people and both sources B and C demonstrate the same Egyptian confidence that suggest the people think what Nasser has done is right.
Source D is from a British newspaper so we can see a British opinion and not an international point of view. This could be a biased angle to look at it from but I would say it was a more patriotic perspective. We see a comparison to Hitler who was obviously hated and so we see that Nasser was also disliked by the British public. The phrases “Boss leader,” and “Big Shot,” emphasise the point that many British people thought he was a bully and very overpowering.
Sources E and F show evidence of British public opinion opposing the proposed action, which suggests that some protestors realised that ‘the Commonwealth did not support Britain while India supported Egypt.’ Therefore by ‘going it alone’ with France and Israel, Britain risked ‘her currency and economy’ especially as ‘Eisenhower was opposed to this from the start.’
Source G is similar to source A in it that it does not give much insight on public opinion because it’s a letter to the American president from Sir Anthony Eden. This is a letter seeking support and also clarification of their objectives. It says “I do not think that we disagree about our primary objective.” The words “I do not think,” tell us that they are unclear and so no action has been approved by Eisenhower and this is important because Britain desperately need America’s support because they are a very influential super power.
Source H shows us that like Nasser, Selwyn Lloyd and certainly Eden believed ‘his government had done what was right.’ But the source does suggest that Selwyn Lloyd is not quite as cemented to his views as Eden is. Unfortunately the world did not agree with Eden and Britain subsequently looked very foolish, especially after America froze all of Britain’s assets and ‘forced an end to the invasion.’
The Suez Crisis demonstrated how much the United Nations was needed in the world. It was they who ordered the withdrawal of troops from the Suez area.
I think the role which the USA and Dwight D Eisenhower took was very influential to the withdrawal of troops as well as the United Nations. The increase of oil prices and blockage of the canal caused America to apply pressure on Britain and France to stop the fighting.
After the whole Suez saga, Britain is said to have dropped from its former status as a world super power. There relationship with other countries were changing for the worse and so this is why many people believe that Britain is not as influential in the world as it was 60 to 70 years ago.
