The Suez Crisis of 1956

Seventy years after the Suez Crisis, this film explains the canal and the war fought over it. Why a canal across the Isthmus of Suez shortened the route from Europe to Asia, why it needs no locks, how it was dug, at first with forced labour, and opened in 1869, and how Britain came to control it. Then 1956: the Aswan Dam funding withdrawn, Nasser's nationalisation, the secret Protocol of Sèvres, Israel's invasion of Sinai, the Anglo-French landings at Port Said, and the pressure from Washington, Moscow and the United Nations that stopped the war and created the first armed UN peacekeeping force. Each government's account is given in its own terms, and casualty figures are attributed. Race ships around Africa and through the canal, compare sea levels, set the secret plan against what happened, and step through the days.

Who owns a shortcut?

Seventy years since the Suez Crisis.

Around Africa, or through it

A narrow neck of land between two seas.

A canal with no locks

A surveying mistake, and two seas almost level.

Ten years of digging

A French company, Egyptian labour.

Britain’s lifeline

Shares, an occupation and a treaty on free passage.

The dam

A loan offered, and taken back.

“Nationalised”

A speech in Alexandria, a code word, a takeover.

Sèvres

Three governments, one secret document.

Sinai

An invasion, an ultimatum, and a blocked canal.

Port Said

Parachutes, landing craft, helicopters.

Money and threats

Washington and Moscow both press for a halt.

The first armed peacekeepers

A vote, a proposal from Canada, a ceasefire.

Blue helmets

The armies leave; the canal reopens.

A turning point

What Suez changed.

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