LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Nasser: Suez Canal
built 641 days ago
Nasser redistributed land in Egypt and began plans to industrialize the country. He ... began the building of the Aswan Dam. Nasser was convinced that this would extend arable lands in Egypt and would help the industrialization process. He also advocated Arab independence and reminded the British government that the agreement allowing to keep soldiers at Suez expired in 1956.
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Nasser's vehement opposition to Israel and his outspoken criticism of the West lost him US and European support for the building of the Aswan High Dam, forcing the Egyptian president to turn to the Soviets for aid. The need for capital to build the High Dam is cited as one of the reasons for nationalizing the Suez Canal.
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The crisis began when the leaders of Britain, France and Israel decided to collude secretly to get rid of Nasser. Just how to do that was never really clear. But, somehow, they wistfully hoped that by sending vast navies and armies against Egypt they would cause Nasser to be overthrown or to resign in humiliation. The plan was to pretend Israel had been hit by an Egyptian raid, and in retaliation its army would race across the Sinai Peninsula and occupy the east bank of the Suez Canal. In response, Britain and France would pretend to intervene to stop a new Egyptian-Israeli war. All the while, of course, their warships and troops would actually be attacking Egypt.
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Egypt was being led by Nasser who announced an aggressive development program in 1952 for which he was lobbying for funds from around the world. He started by raising funds mainly through the UN, World Bank and the Western Democratic nations but soon sought the assistance of Communist nations. When an arms deal with Czechoslovakia went through, US Secretary of State John Dulles announced withdrawal of US funds and assistance for Nasser's development program. In response to the harsh treatment of Egypt by the United States, Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal on July 26, 1956.
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When the West failed to respond to Nasser's need for arms, he announced an arms agreement with Czechoslovakia (an intermediary for the Soviet Union). A dispute with the United States and Britain over their financing of a high dam project at Aswan accelerated the radicalization of Egypt's foreign policy in 1955 and 1956. The Egyptians looked to the electricity that the dam would provide to fulfill their dreams of industrialization. The Western powers, alarmed by Nasser's flirtation with the East, denied funds previously promised. In defiance, Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal Company on 26 July 1956. The response came swiftly.
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Nasser realized that the nationalization of the canal would provoke a strong reaction from the West, especially Britain and France that had major shareholdings of the Suez Canal. However, Nasser believed that Britain would not be able to intervene militarily for at least two months after the announcement, and dismissed Israeli action as “impossible”.[38] In early October, the United Nations Security Council met on the matter of the Suez Canal and adopted a resolution recognizing Egypt’s right to control the canal as long as it continued to allow passage through it for foreign ships.[39] After this agreement, “Nasser estimated that the danger of invasion had dropped to 10 per cent”.[40]
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