Questions on France in the Suez Crisis/Tripartite Aggression of 1956

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
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The only reason the French became anti-Nasser was Nasser's support for the Algerian rebels right? Or did they still have a major financial stake in the Canal?

France was the "joint" of the Tripartite coalition, it's ties to both Israel and Britain, who didn't like each other, were needed for there to be any Anglo-Israeli collusion. [Nasser allegedly interpreted the British buildup in Cyprus as being aimed to protect Jordan from Israel I believe]

Britain and France could have quite plausibly rejected a military response to nationalization of the canal, right ? [Eden being on his meds, or either country seriously thinking through the end game]

So what if the British and French are not up for a military intervention over nationalization of the Suez Canal?

What are the consequences for the Middle East? Should we still expect an Israeli-Egyptian war in '56? What stance would the US and USSR take towards such a bilateral conflict? Might other Arab states join in on the Egyptian side?

If there is no Israeli attack on Egypt in '56, the set up for the '67 war is forestalled (because the presence of UNEF and right to navigation of the straits of Tiran is not made an Israeli casus belli). Could we have decades in the Middle East without territory changing hands, where the maximum level of conflict is terrorist infiltration and reprisal raids? Could even that level of conflict taper off with the result that Israel is the locale of a politically intractable partition (like Cyprus post 1974) but not a scene of additional wars?

If another war is overdetermined to happen in the 1950s or 1960s, are there decent chances for the Arab states launching it (like in the Yom Kippur War & 1948) or would Israel be the attacker in virtually all scenarios?
 

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
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They had share in the Suez canal I think.

Thanks - think that financial stake alone is enough to get France to talk about joint military action with the UK?

Also, some interpretations of the Franco-Israeli relationship is that it really warmed up only after the French started facing the Algeria rebellion. If it hadn't started yet in November '56, the French might not have been in a position to broker a Franco-Anglo-Israeli plot so quickly
 
Thanks - think that financial stake alone is enough to get France to talk about joint military action with the UK?

Also, some interpretations of the Franco-Israeli relationship is that it really warmed up only after the French started facing the Algeria rebellion. If it hadn't started yet in November '56, the French might not have been in a position to broker a Franco-Anglo-Israeli plot so quickly
The US told France and the UK to back down on the Suez crisis when the USSR backed Naser.
 
France was economically in a position not t oneed to back down. However, GB wasn't, and was the major partner. So it didn't work out.
 
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