Nasser began delivering many threatening speeches announced on the 31st August 1955, ‘we will cleanse the land of Palestine....There will be no peace on Israel’s border because we demand vengeance, and vengeance is Israel’s death. Nasser later on the 14th October 1956, made his intensions clear for an Arab world. ‘There is no sense in talking about peace with Israel. There is not even the smallest place for negotiations.’ Nasser later nationalised the Suez Canal, announcing his intentions to use the funds to build the Aswan Dam. This act irritated Eden, in which he privately declared his intentions to ‘destroy’ Nasser. This was partially due to Britain being completely dependent upon the Middle East’s oil and the Suez Canal was the main route for oil to be exported to reach Britain.
In an attempt to gain control over the Suez Canal, France and Great Britain held a secret meeting with Israel on the 24th October 1956 in Sèvres, near Paris. They believed that Nasser was very unpopular and that an attack would lead to a popular uprising. The idea set forth was for Israel to attack Egypt across the Sinai desert. In which Britain and France would send paratroops to seize back the Canal on pretence of stopping another Arab-Israeli war. As a result, Israel attacked Egypt on the 29th October. In which Britain and France told both sides to withdraw, conversely both countries refused. Britain and France consequently attacked the Egyptians on the 31st October. The United Nations called for an immediate ceasefire, on the 2nd November. Eisenhower was outraged and threatened to cripple the Britain and Frances economies. However, fighting pursued and on the 5th November, Britain had their soldiers land at Port Said and elsewhere, claiming their intentions to restore order to the region. On the 6th November, 200 British and French warships bombarded Port Said and landed a further 22,000 troops. This infuriated the Soviet Union in which they threatened to send troops to support Egypt and hinted that she might even use Soviet missiles against France and Britain. Therefore, on the 7th November, Britain and France announced a cease-fire and the withdrawal of their troops; after the general assembly voted 64-5 for a cease-fire. This took place over a six week period, whereby the Israelis withdrew six months later and a UN peacekeeping force was put in place for the next ten years.
This war confirmed Britain’s lost empire, in which they had been left humiliated. They no longer had any influence in the Middle East and were ordered to leave all remaining air bases. The Trans-Atlantic relationship had suffered and Britain and France were isolated internationally, with both domestic governments falling within twelve months. During the war, 26 British and French soldiers were killed attempting to complete the operation, with the Egyptians losing around 3,000 soldiers. Yet this war was seen as a victory for Arab nationalists, Nasser returned as a hero in which the Arab league pledged its support for Nasser. Nasser then supported the foundation of the Palestinian Liberal Organisation in 1964, a terrorist organisation which opposed the Israelis right to exist. The Soviet Union attempted to gain a foothold within the Middle East by gaining the support of the Egyptians by sending 20,000 advisors with military aid worth more than $12,000,000. America responded with the Eisenhower Doctrine in 1957 which offered US aid to any country in the Middle East threatened by Communism. Israel also gained from the war, with their status increasing considerably, after becoming allies with Britain and France.
