31 October 1956: Britain and France bomb Egypt

On this day in 1956, Egypt came under bombardment from British and French planes, as part of a larger operation to retake the Suez Canal.

Dr Matthew Partridge
By
published
in Features

In 1952, a military coup overthrew the Egyptian monarchy. After a period of upheaval, former lieutenant colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser became president in 1954.

Nasser adopted a 'neutralist' position in the Cold War, open to ties with both the West and the Soviet Union, and this led the US and UK to withdraw funding for the Aswan Dam project.

Nasser retaliated by taking the Suez Canal, which was partly controlled by the British and French governments, into full state ownership. He also announced plans to close the canal to Israeli shipping.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up

Britain, France and Israel initially attempted to find a diplomatic solution, but realised that Nasser wasn't going to compromise. So they drew up proposals to retake control of the canal by force.

The plan was to combine an Israeli attack through the Sinai Peninsula with Anglo-French air raids, followed by an invasion by British and French ground troops.

This plan, which was put into action at the end of October, was initially successful and quickly achieved most of its military targets. But the unexpected nature of the invasion prompted a large public backlash in Britain.

The US also opposed it and started to sell British government bonds. As a result, the UK government was forced to declare a unilateral ceasefire within days.

This humiliating climbdown led to the resignation of Prime Minister Anthony Eden. Longer term, it provided a major boost for Arab nationalism, encouraging future dictators across the region to seize power, including Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. It also led to the withdrawal of France from Nato for four decades.

Dr Matthew Partridge
Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri

Latest