>>/54769/
cont.
I want to expand on the issue of Suez.
The crisis was multicausal, all components developed in parallel.
First the three involved Western powers - US, UK, and France - were all worried about Soviet involvement in the Middle East and they tried to organize the region to become resistant to that. UK and France were the chief colonial powers who held interests, mandates, and clients all over the place.
Arab countries were just getting organized, gaining independence, or at least elevated to client status. They all tried to build relations with each other, they were in the process to figure out how to proceed. Algeria became a sore point with the French as Egypt supported Pan-Arabism. And the formation of Israel was like a bomb dropped amidst of the Arabs, and they reacted accordingly. One problem of the US was how to solve this issue.
Egypt herself had problems with Israel. Egypt held Gaza, and Palestinian guerillas and Israeli counterinsurgents attacked each other all the time, Israelis were sending raids into Egyptian supervised areas. For Egypt the rapid arming of Israel also meant threat. This lead to the classic security dilemma of Realpolitik.
Egypt also sought weapons, but the three Western powers denied them. So Nasser reached out to the Soviet, whom supplied them via Czechoslovakia. This in return alarmed Israel and the Westerners. Partially for the security dilemma, and partially for the growing Soviet influence.
The US particularly hated the purchase. They had great hopes for Egypt becoming a client. CIA had good rapport with Nasser, who became the leader of the country after they couped King Farouk. They supported his regime, but Cairo refused the client status. Then Egypt not just bought armament from the Soviet, but they recognized the People's Republic of China. The US got so pissed off they refused to finance the construction of the Aswan Dam, the project which aimed to power the new Egyptian economy.
And the Canal itself. Both French and the British held stake in the Canal, and private company managed it, in theory keeping it neutral for everyone, but in practice British political interests decided who can use it, since they occupied Egypt back in the late 19th century.
I can only continue tomorrow.