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Egypt is declared a sovereign state by Britain
Through the Unilateral Declaration of Egyptian Independence which was issued by the United Kingdom, England was no longer a protectorate over Egypt. Egypt was given normal independence with the exception of four areas. The areas are later discussed in the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty. This was the first time in forty years where Egypt had any independence which started in 1882. -
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Public Anger on Farouk (Long Term Cause)
During this timespan, much of the Egyptian Population was angered with the king Farouk. The population blamed him for the failure of prevention of the state of Israel, the loss of the Arab-Israel war and last but not least for allowing British troops to stay in Egypt. With the regard of the Suez Crisis, Through the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty, we are able to see that one of the long term causes of the Suez Crisis is due to the Old Egyptian Empire having conflicts with the British colonialism. -
Farouk is crowned king of Egypt
At the age of 16, Farouk was crowned as king of Egypt as the former king passed away at an early age. He plays a major role in the Suez Crisis and is angered by many Egyptians. Later he is overthrown and is exiled to Italy. -
Anglo-Egyptian Treaty is signed
The Anglo-Egyptian Treaty was a document which was signed by King Farouk and the United Kingdom. The Treaty required the British to withdraw all troops from Egypt except for those necessary to protect the Suez Canal. Due to this 10,000 British troops were placed into Egypt within the Suez Canal Zone. Additionally, the United Kingdom would train and supply the Egyptian army for them to assist them in the defence of the Suez Canal. -
Egypt is placed under martial law due to riots against the British.
In the Suez Canal Zone, the British civilians and soldiers were getting attacked by the local populations. Their actions have been getting increasingly hostile towards the British as they were initiating riots, arson and gun battles. These series of actions caused the British to create a martial law on the Suez Zones. -
Free Officer Movement initiates a military coup
The Free Officer Movement was a group of nationalist Egyptian Amy officers decided to take actions via a military coup for the objective of overthrowing King Farouk and removing the constitutional monarchy in Egypt. This rebellion army was led by Gamal Abdel Nasser, Hussein Hamouda, Khaled Mohieddin, Kamal el-Din Hussein, Salah Nasr, Abdel Hakim Amer, and Saad Tawfik. -
1952 Egyptian Revolution (Long Term Cause)
The Free Officer Movement lead by Nasser was successfully able to overthrow King Farouk and forced him to abdicate who decided to spend the rest of his life in Italy. In the following year, Egypt was turned into a republic. Nasser became the new leader of Egypt and was declared as president. -
Egypt sells cotton to Communist China
Although some might see this as Egypt just doing trade to boost their economy, this act, in fact, was the start of Egypt’s affiliation with the Soviet Union and the ideology of communism. -
USSR announces to sell weapons to Egypt
Although Egypt initially attempted on buying military arms from the United States, however, due to Nasser refusing to make any promises that he will not use those weapons on Israel, the Eisenhower administration did not approve of selling any arms to Egypt. Due to this, Egypt turned to the USSR for military arms. This furthermore shows us that the ties between Egypt and Soviets and other communist countries were getting stronger. From the perspective of Israel..... -
Egypt makes a deal with communist Czechoslovakia
When the United States did not approve of selling military arms to Egypt, they turned to the USSR. They ended up obtaining military arms from the USSR through Czechoslovakia which angered the United States and other western countries and caused the relationships between Egypt and western nations more distant. -
Britain gives up the Suez Canal
After multiple attempts of Egypt attempting to gain back their land, the British did not have any other option so they finally gave up and decided to give the land of the Suez Canal back to Egypt ending 72 years of British occupation on Egypt. -
The United States withdraws their financial aids for the Aswan Dam (Short Term Cause)
Due to Egypt’s involvement with cotton trade with communist China as well as buying military arms from communist Czechoslovakia, the United States saw that the ties between the USSR and Egypt were getting closer. From the perspective of the Eisenhower Administration, creating an ally with Nasser would only cause disputes and therefore decided to withdraw the financial aid of the Aswan Dam (short term cause). This caused Nasser to take initiatives and financially aid for themselves. -
Nasser Nationalised the Suez Canal (Trigger)
Due to the united states cutting of funding for the Aswan Dam as well as to get the British army out of the Suez Canal zone, Nasser decided to Nationalize the Suez Canal in order to use the profit from the Canal in order to fund the Aswan Dam themselves. Nasser stated in a speech “we dug the canal with our lives, our skulls, our bones, our blood! The money is ours, and the Suez Canal belongs to us. We will use the money from the Suez Canal to build the Aswan Dam ourselves.” -
The Suez Conference in London (Short term cause)
In the last effort to find peace and solution to the crisis, The Suez Conference was held in the United Kingdom regarding returning the Suez Canals to international ownership. Twenty-two nations were represented on the matter of this issue where 18 out of 22 nations supported Britain and France’s perspective that the Suez Canal would be returned to International Ownership. However, Nasser, president of Egypt, opposed the idea, nonetheless show up to the conference at all. -
Sevres Protocol
The Sevres Protocol was a secret meeting within the nations of The United Kingdom, France and Israel. (Short Term Cause) Their purpose of the meeting was to plan a war and gain the Suez Canal back into international ownership. However, they did not want to be seen as the aggressor of the war so they decided to make it look like Egypt was the aggressor of the war. Their plan was for Israel to invade Egypt, allowing for French and British soldiers to pose as peacekeepers. -
Israel attacks the Sinai Peninsula
Israeli Troops started their attack on the Sinai peninsula with paratroopers landing on Egypt’s strategic points nullifying them so they would be vulnerable. Although Israel had alternative motives, at the UN conference they stated that it was an act of self-defence against Palestinian raids who are operating in bases located in the Sinai. Soon after, British and French went to the Sinai claiming to be peacemakers and issued an ultimatum. -
UN Votes the suspension of the Invasion of Egypt (Long Term Effect)
Although the three nations who have all been accomplices of initiating this war thought that finding the conspiracies of these wars would take years to find out, it was quite obvious from the UN’s perspective. The United Nations quickly took initiatives and told the three nations to remove their troops from Egypt as it was unethical and immoral. -
Invasion is officially ended under pressure from the UN (Long term Effect)
Due to the overwhelming votes against the attack on Egypt, it came to where the whole world was questioning the morality and the legal justification of the British, French and Israeli’s actions. It was so serious that it came to a point where all three nations were at the threat of UN sanctions. The strong stance the United Nation has on the world globally is a long term effect. As they are able to assert their presence and veto ideas on any nation in a civilised matter to this day. -
First British ship pays Egyptian toll for use of the Suez Canal (Short Term Effects)
For the first time in history, British ships required to pay for the usage of the Suez Canal. (Short Term Effect) Although this drastically changed the economy, leaving their economy frail and weak, The British were able to get back on their feet with the help of IMF under the implications the United Kingdom withdraw all conflicts with Egypt.
