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Unlock This CourseBy the mid-1950s Britain and France no longer ruled the Middle East as they once had, but they still held on to one thing that mattered a great deal to them: the Suez Canal. This lesson explains why Egypt's leader decided to take it back.
Key terms:
The canal was built by a French company, and it stayed in the hands of the Suez Canal Company. Its biggest shareholders were British and French. In 1875 Britain bought Egypt's shares, and later it kept thousands of troops in the Canal Zone to guard the waterway. For Britain the canal was a short route to India and the rest of its empire. By the 1950s it had a new importance, because tankers carrying oil from the Middle East to Britain and the rest of Western Europe sailed through it.
Many Egyptians resented the arrangement. The canal ran through their country, yet the profits went mostly to foreign shareholders in London and Paris.
In 1952 a group of Egyptian army officers overthrew the corrupt King Farouk. The most important of them was Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser, who was leading Egypt by 1954 and became its president in 1956. Nasser wanted to make Egypt strong and truly independent. He also had a much bigger aim, which was Arab nationalism.
Nasser said that Arab lands should no longer be told what to do by Britain and France. He spoke against the Baghdad Pact of 1955, an alliance of Britain, Iraq and others, because he saw it as Western influence over the Arab world.
Egyptian radio, including a station called The Voice of the Arabs, carried his speeches to people across the Middle East. He became a hero to many Arabs who had never had a leader like him.
In 1954 Nasser agreed with Britain that its troops would leave the Canal Zone. The last British soldiers left in June 1956. That was a great success for him, but the canal itself was still run by a foreign company. For a leader who wanted to show that Egypt was free, this was unfinished business.
Egypt also felt in danger from Israel. After the Israeli raid on Gaza in February 1955, Nasser wanted modern weapons for his army. The Western powers were not willing to sell him as many as he wanted. In September 1955 he announced a large arms deal with Czechoslovakia, which was part of the Soviet bloc. Egypt would receive tanks, aircraft and other weapons from the Communist side in the Cold War.
This worried and angered Britain and the United States. They did not want the Soviet Union to gain friends in the Middle East. The USA was also angered in May 1956 when Egypt recognised Communist China. Nasser was showing that he would not simply follow the West.
Nasser's biggest plan at home was the Aswan High Dam. Egypt's people depended on the Nile, and the dam would protect farmland from floods and bring electricity to the country. It was very expensive, and Egypt was poor. In December 1955 the USA, Britain and the World Bank offered to lend money to help pay for it.
Relations then got worse. The arms deal and the recognition of China made the American government doubt that Nasser could be trusted. On 19 July 1956 the USA withdrew its offer and Britain followed. Nasser was angry and embarrassed. He had put a lot of his reputation into the dam, and now the West had publicly turned him down.
A week later, on 26 July 1956, Nasser made a speech in the Egyptian port of Alexandria. He announced that Egypt was nationalising the Suez Canal Company. To nationalise means to take a company out of private ownership and put it under the control of the government. Egyptian officials took over the canal offices that night. Nasser said the shareholders would be paid compensation, and that the money earned from the canal would be used to build the Aswan Dam.
The reaction of Britain and France, and what happened next, belongs to the next lesson, The Suez Crisis: Attack, Withdrawal and Results.
Britain had occupied Egypt since 1882 and made it a protectorate in 1914, so in 1917 it was still the dominant power there. Egypt was nominally independent from 1922, but British troops stayed. By 1956 Britain had withdrawn its troops, but it still owned a big share of the company running the canal. Nasser's act ended that last link. What stayed the same was that the canal was always at the heart of Egyptian dealings with Britain.
Explain TWO causes of Nasser's decision to nationalise the Suez Canal Company in July 1956. [8 marks]
Remember: one cause on its own cannot score more than half marks, and each cause must be explained as well as named.
One cause was the loss of the Western loans for the Aswan Dam. In December 1955 the USA, Britain and the World Bank had offered to help pay for it, but on 19 July 1956 the USA withdrew its offer and Britain followed. Nasser still needed money for a project that mattered a great deal to Egypt, and nationalising the canal gave him its income, which he said would pay for the dam.
A second cause was Arab nationalism. Nasser wanted Egypt to be free of foreign control, and he had already seen the last British troops leave the Canal Zone in June 1956. The canal was still run by a company owned by British and French shareholders, so taking it over on 26 July showed Egyptians and other Arabs that an Arab country could stand up to the old colonial powers.
What lifts this to the top level: each cause has precise facts and shows how it led to the decision.
For a 'causes' question, finish each paragraph with a sentence that links the cause to the outcome, for example 'This led Nasser to nationalise the canal because...'.