1956: the tripartite aggression
p. 24-25
Texte intégral
1st January | 25 March | 26 July | 29 October | 5 November |
End of the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium of the Sudan | Closure of the British base at Moascar | Nationalisation of the Suez Canal | Israeli invasion of the Sinai | Landing of Franco-British forces |
11956 was a crucial year in the contemporary history of the country. It featured the adoption of a new constitution by referendum, during which women voted for the very first time, Gamal Abdel Nasser’s accession to the presidency, the withdrawal of the last British troops signalling the arrival of true independence, and the nationalisation of the Suez Canal which provoked a war. This war is often referred to in British sources as “The Suez Crisis” or “The Second Arab-Israeli War”, which skates over the colonial dimension. Thanks to Nasser, Egypt with its 26 million inhabitants asserted itself as the leader of the anti-colonialist fight and the struggle for Arab nationalism.
The Alexandria speech
2In 1955, faced with the prospect of war against Israel, Nasser announced that Czechoslovakia would deliver arms shipments for the Egyptian army to be paid for in cotton. Within the context of the Cold War, this action led the United States to withdraw its offer of financial aid for the construction of the High Dam at Aswan. One week later, on the fourth anniversary of the revolution, Nasser presented a live radio broadcast from Liberty Square in the heart of his native town, Alexandria, during which he announced to a jubilant crowd the nationalisation of the Suez Canal Company, the symbol of foreign domination, in order to finance the dam.
The war and the displaced
3In the wake of Nasser’s anti-imperialist speech, Britain and France allied themselves with Israel in order to topple the Ra’is and retake control of the canal through which the majority of oil heading for Europe was shipped. France also wanted to block Nasser’s support for the Algerian independence movement, the FLN. The Israeli army invaded Sinai, pushing down to Sharm al-Sheikh and penetrating Gaza, which had been under Egyptian administration since 1949. By the end of October, Franco-British air raids had bombed the Egyptian air force on the ground and attacked Port Said, which was occupied by November. Thousands of inhabitants fled, primarily towards Alexandria. A cease-fire was called on 6 November under pressure from America and the USSR as a prelude to the withdrawal of foreign troops in December. A United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) was dispatched to separate the belligerent parties: its soldiers were equipped with blue helmets. It was a political triumph for Egypt and national resistance was celebrated in songs by Umm Kulthum and Abdel Halim Hafez.
1.6 Civilians walking through the bombed out streets of Port Said in October 1956

© Bibliotheca Alexandrina
The decline of cosmopolitism
4The Suez War had an affect on cultural diversity with the mass departure of Jews and also of other foreign communities. In November, the Ministry for Religious Affairs designated the Jews of Egypt as “enemies of the State”: between 25,000 and 40,000 people left their country, leaving belongings and businesses behind them. The capital, institutions and properties of the British and French residing in Egypt were sequestrated. Alexandria, the “Pearl of the Mediterranean” would come to embody the nostalgia for a multicultural past lost with the exile of the foreigners.
1.7 The Suez War

November 2016 © Karine Bennafla
Auteurs
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Karine Bennafla
Karine Bennafla, professor of geography at Jean Moulin University of Lyon, affiliated to the research group EVS (Environnement, Ville, Société) – UMR 5600. She was director of the Centre for Economic, Legal and Social Studies and Documentation (CEDEJ) in Cairo from 2015 to 2019
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Wahel Rashid
Wahel Rashid, PhD student in geography, Institut français de géopolitique, University of Paris 8, grant holder with the CEDEJ in 2016
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