1. What were the causes and consequences of the Suez Crisis?

This map shows the strategic importance of the Suez Canal. By traveling through the Suez Canal, ships could considerably shorten the journey from Europe to the Middle East; by 1955 approximately two-thirds of Europe's oil passed through the canal.

Starter:

Watch the first 7 minutes of the video 'The other side of Suez' below.

What can you learn about:

• The significance of this crisis?
• The character and attitude of Prime Minister of Britain, Anthony Eden?
• Britain's position in Egypt?
• Abdul Nasser?

In 1956, the Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser rose to power after General Neguib had dethroned the Egyptian monarch in a military coup. (You will cover this more on the next page which focuses on Egypt).

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ATL: Research and Thinking skills

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ATL: thinking skills

Supported by Soviet arms and funds, and furious with the USA for withdrawing their promised financing for construction of the Aswan Dam on the Nile River, Nasser ordered that the Suez Canal be seized and then nationalized.

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ATL: Thinking skills

Task Three

ATL: Thinking skills

As you can see from the source above, Eden was furious with Nasser believing that Nasser's plan was to 'expel all Western influence and interests from Arab countries'. The French, who accused Nasser of helping rebels in their colony of Algeria, agreed. The two countries thus decided on a military invasion of the Suez Canal zone. Israel was also unhappy with Nasser who was training Fedayeen guerillas to carry out attacks in Israel; it wanted to force Egypt to end the raids from Gaza and force Egypt to recognise the state of Israel and to break their blockade of the Tiran straits.

On 24 October the British, French and Israelis met secretly in France to plan a joint campaign against Egypt.

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ATL: Thinking skills

President Eisenhower had not been part of the secret plan agreed between Britain, Israel and France and was taken by surprise when the Israeli forces invaded Egypt and then the military intervention of Britain and France.

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ATL: Thinking and communication skills

The actions of Britain and France were condemned at the UN. The Arab states halted oil supplies to the West and the US, furious at the fact that Britain and France had used force, also condemned the action and threatened ot cut off financial aid to Britain. The Soviet Union went further and threatened to use military force.

Task Six

ATL: Thinking skills

Task Seven

ATL: Self-management skills

The consequences of the Suez crisis were far reaching.

For Egypt:

Although arguably it was the American and UN intervention that had forced the Anglo-French withdrawal from the Suez the Egyptian newspapers, and especially the radio, gave the credit to Nasser and the Egypt resistance. Nasser was seen as the great hero of the Arab world. His defiance was interpreted as courageous and anti-colonialist. The Canal was cleared and eventually reopened in April 1957. Although Egypt lost territory when the Israelis captured the Sinai, the Israelis were persuaded by the Americans to withdraw early in 1957

For Israel:

The outcome of the Suez crisis was positive for Israel. They were strengthened by the events. Their raid on the Sinai had been a huge success and when they withdrew from the Sinai, the UN moved in to control the buffer zone on the Israeli–Egyptian border; this gave the Israelis increased security and significantly curtailed the activities of the fedayeen in the area. Furthermore, Nasser had to reopen the Gulf of Aqaba which meant that shipping could once again operate from the port of Eilat which is the only Israeli port on the Red Sea that is located on the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba. However, Egypt did close the Suez Canal to Israeli shipping activity.

For Britain:

For Britain, the Suez Crisis marked the end of British military and political influence in Egypt. It was a disastrous failure which destroyed the Prime Minister Anthony Eden’s moral reputation and his political career and, unsurprisingly in January 1957, he resigned. Britain and France had underestimated the Egyptians and Nasser as a leader and tactician. They had believed that there would be a popular uprising against Nasser once the fighting and intervention had started. The reverse, in fact, was the case. Nasser’s popularity soared.

For the Middle East

The Suez Crisis increased an already simmering distrust of the West in the Arab world. It also hardened opposition to the West and brought about greater Arab unity and nationalism. There were anti-West demonstrations and riots in many Arab cities and towns, with Saudi Arabia and Syria breaking off diplomatic relations with Britain and France. In addition, Jordan signed a military pact with Syria and Egypt. This Arab unity reached its height in 1958, when Syria and Egypt merged to form the United Arab Republic (UAR). The war also strengthened the perception that Israel was an outpost of Western imperialism. The Arabs became more willing to seek Soviet Aid and the Soviet Union now began to supply most of Egypt's weapons. The Soviets also paid for the building of the Aswan dam and other projects. (However Nasser resisted becoming a pawn of the Soviets).

For the Cold War

The Suez Crisis brought both the US and the USSR more directly into the Middle East thus further globalising the Cold War. 1957 saw the Eisenhower Doctrine which committed the US to helping any countries in the Middle East that were fighting Communism. Meanwhile, the Soviets now became more involved in funding and supporting Arab countries in the region.

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ATL: Thinking skills

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ATL: Thinking skills

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ATL: Thinking and self-management skills

1. Using the information above, the articles and the sources, create a mind-map such as the one below to show the impact of the Suez crisis. You can also print off a copy of the diagram below. Add any extra categories that you feel appropriate e.g. impact on Cold War.

2. To what extent do you agree that the Suez crisis for Nasser was 'a military failure but a political victory'?

Write a paragraph to explain your answer.

Results of the 1956 Suez Crisis

2. What were the causes of the Six Day War?

The Six-Day War took place in June 1967. It was fought between June 5 and June 10. In this war, Israel attacked Jordan, Egypt and Syria before it was itself attacked arguing that a pre-emptive strike was necessary to avoid Israel's destruction. The Six-Day War was initiated by General Moshe Dayan, the Israeli’s Defence Minister (in the photo to the left) and was to have the most dramatic of consequences of all of the Arab-Israeli wars.

Starter:

In pairs, review the consequences of the 1956 Crisis. What factors made a future war between Israel and the surrounding Arab states likely?

Task One

ATL: Thinking and self-management skills

Task Two

ATL: Thinking and self-management skills

Israel secured a spectacular military victory in this war, securing victory in just six days. Key to this victory was the success of the pre-emptive strike. In addition, while the Arab states had modern Soviet missiles, the Israelis had modern French fighter planes and tanks as well as the most advanced US electronic equipment which allowed them to intercept Arab communications. Israeli soldiers were highly skilled and well trained and they also knew that they were fighting for their nation's survival. In comparison, the Arab troops were less well trained and suffered from a lack of co-ordination between the different armies.

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ATL: Thinking skills

3. What were the results of the Six Day War?

//www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-40117270

The results of the Six Day War had profound implications for the region - results which still impact on the conflict in this area today.

Note that as the 50th anniversary of the Six Day War was in 2017, there are many articles on-line discussing its impact.

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ATL: Thinking and self-management skills

The results for Israel (see map above)

• Israel was now the dominant power in the Middle East
• It had substantially increased its territory; the areas of the West Bank, Gaza, Sinai and the Golan Heights made Israel much more secure as it now had a buffer zone between its land and each of its three enemies
• It was supremely confident (this was to play a role in its near-defeat in 1973)

The results for Arab States:

• The war had been a disaster for the Arab states with high losses of men and equipment as well as land; their pride and prestige had been crushed
• They blamed their defeat on the USA, Britain and other European powers, whom they accused of helping Israel in the war
• The USSR continued to support the Arab states by replacing and building up their weapons
• Gamal Abdel Nasser lost his standing in the Arab world
• Arab - Israeli tension increased even more; at a conference in August 1967, Arab leaders declared: 'No peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiation with Israel'

Palestinians

• More than a million Palestinian Arabs were in the 'occupied territories' - Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank and so were now under Israeli military rule
• Hundreds of thousands fled or were driven from their homes - some for a second time. Around 250 000 fled to Jordan adding to the already large population of refugees living there
• They lost faith in Arab states being able to defeat Israel; there was thus an increase in Palestinian resistance fighters

Task Two

ATL: Thinking skills

In November 1967, the UN passed Resolution 242 (see next task for the link). It called for the withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from the territories captured in the war and also for every state to be able to live in the region without fear of attack. Egypt and Jordan accepted the Resolution while Syria rejected it. Israel, while accepting it, said it could not be a substitute for a specific agreement.

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ATL: Thinking skills

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ATL: Thinking skills

 4. What were the causes of the Yom Kippur War?

The Yom Kippur War of 1973, is so-called because it began on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), the holiest day of prayer and fasting in the Jewish calendar.  At the time of Yom Kippur, Israel was led by Golda Meir (on the right below) and Egypt was led by Anwar Sadat (on the left)

Starter:

Read the following two Israeli sources. What do these sources tell you about Israel's attitude after 1967?  Why could this be a problem for Israel?

Source A

An article from a leading Israeli newspaper, Ma'ariv, 13 July 1973

Our present defence lines give us a decisive advantage in the Arab-Israel balance of strength. There is no need to mobilise our forces every time we hear Arab threats, or when the enemy concentrates his forces along the cease-fire lines..The Arabs have little capacity for co-ordinating their military and political action. To this day they have not been able to make oil an effective political factor in their struggle with Israel. Renewal of hostilities is always a possibility, but Israel's military strength is sufficient to prevent the other side from gaining any military objective.

Source B

Ariel Sharon, Israeli general, speaking in September 1973

There is no target between Baghdad and Khartoum, including Libya that our army is unable to capture. With our present boundaries we have no security problems.

As you have read, there was no peace treaty at the end of the Six-Day War. In fact, fighting broke out again between Israelis and Egyptians over the Suez Canal. The Egyptians wanted to clear the canal of sunken ships but Israel now controlled the Sinai and refused to allow this unless they could use the Canal as well. Thus many clashes took place across the Canal in a 'war of attrition'.

Sadat thus decided that war was the only way to break the existing stalemate. Weaponry and training had substantially improved due to Soviet assistance. He now also had support from Saudi Arabia and he became a close ally of the new Syrian leader President Assad. Secretly the two leaders began planning for war. On 6 October 1973 both countries attacked Israel.

Task One

ATL: Thinking Skills

Task Two

ATL: Thinking skills

5. What were the results of the Yom Kippur war?

The results of the Yom Kippur War once gain changed the map of the region but, as you will have seen on the video above, also set the foundations for a future peace agreement between Egypt and Israel with the support of the US.

The US Secretary of State, Kissinger with President Sadat of Egypt

The key results of this war were as follows:

• This was another victory for Israel - yet again they had proved that their military superiority. However, they had suffered more losses in men and equipment than ever before which created much anger in Israel. The war had ended the image of Israel as being invincible. In 1974 Meir and Dayan were forced to resign.
• The Arab armies had now shown that they could work together under skilled leaders and they had effectively used oil as a weapon; this would ensure that from now on the West took a more pro-Arab position.
• Anwar Sadat emerged as a world leader; he had broken the stalemate over the Sinai and Suez Canal and forced a change in US policy.
• The US now got much more involved in the Middle East and become more friendly towards the Arab states; Henry Kissinger worked to secure a series of treaties of 'disengagement'. In 1974 - 75 Kissinger secured a series of agreements by which Israeli forces would withdraw form the Suez Canal area and from part of the Golan Heights.
• In 1974 the US began a programme of economic and military support for Egypt
• Egypt was able to clear the canal; it reopened in 1975
• In 1977, Sadat visited the Israeli Knesset (parliament) thus showing that he accepted the existence of Israel; this was followed in 1978 by the Camp David agreement.

Task One

ATL: Self-management skills