It has deflected popular attention from the far more important struggle in Hungary

It has deflected popular attention from the far more important struggle in Hungary. A week ago the feelings of the British people were fused in a single flame of admiration for the courage and apparent success of the Hungarian revolt. Now, that success seems threatened by Russian treachery and brute force, and Hungary has appealed to the West...Sony VPCYA17GH/R Battery It is the first, and perhaps will prove the only opportunity to reverse the calamitous decisions of Yalta...The Prime Minister has told us that 50 million tons of British shipping are at stake in his dispute with President Nasser. What is at stake in Central Europe are rather more than 50 million souls. It may be objected that it is not so easy to help the Hungarians; to this excuse they are entitled to reply that it was not so easy to help themselves.Sony VPCCW2S8E/W Battery Lady Violet Bonham Carter, an influential Liberal Party member, wrote in a letter to the Times that I am one of the millions who watching the martyrdom of Hungary and listening yesterday to the transmission of her agonizing appeals of help (immediately followed by our "successful bombings" of Egyptian "targets") who have felt a humiliation, shame and anger which are beyond expression...Sony VPCCW2Z1E/B Battery We cannot order Soviet Russia to obey the edict of the United Nations which we ourselves have defied, nor to withdraw her tanks and guns from Hungary while we are bombing and invading Egypt. Today we are standing in the dock with Russia...Never in my lifetime has our name stood so low in the eyes of the world. Never have we stood so ingloriously alone.Sony VPCY11S1E Battery According to public opinion polls at the time, 37% of the British people supported the war while 44% were opposed.[249][250] The Observer newspaper in a leader (editorial) attacked the Eden government for its "folly and crookedness" in attacking Egypt while the Manchester Guardian urged its readers to write letters of protest to their MPs.[251] Sony VPCY11S1E/S Battery The Economist spoke of the "strange union of cynicism and hysteria" in the government and The Spectator stated that Eden would soon have to face "a terrible indictment".[251] The majority of letters written to M.Ps from their constituents were against the Suez attack.[252] Significantly, many of the letters come from voters who identified as Conservatives.[253] Sony VPCW1 Battery The historian Keith Feiling wrote "the harm done seems to me terrifying: for my part I have resigned from the party while the present leader is there".[254] The law professor and future Conservative cabinet minister Norman St. John-Stevas wrote at the time: I had wanted to stand for the party at the next election, but I cannot bring myself to vote for the party at the moment, let alone stand for it.Sony VPCW1E8R/BU Battery I am thinking of joining the Labour Party and am having lunch with Frank Pakenham next week.[254] The historian Hugh Trevor-Roper expressed regret that no senior minister resigned and hoped "some kind of national Tory party can be saved from the wreck".[254]A master at Eton College in a letter to his M.P. declared:Sony VPCY11AGJ Battery I write to you to express my complete abhorrence of the policy which the government is pursuing...I have voted Conservative in the last three elections, but I am quite sure my next vote will be for a Labour candidate"The extent of Conservative dissent should not be overstated. The majority of Conservative constituency associations passed resolutions of support to "Sir Anthony".Sony VPCY11AHJ Battery The Labour Party and the Trade Union Congress organized nation-wide anti-war protests, starting on 1 November under the slogan “Law, not war!” On 4 November, at an anti-war rally in Trafalgar Square attended by 30,000 people (making it easily the biggest rally in London since 1945), the Labour M.P. Aneurin Bevan accused the government of “a policy of bankruptcy and despair”.Sony VPCY11AVJ Battery Bevan stated at the Trafalgar rally:We are stronger than Egypt but there are other countries stronger than us. Are we prepared to accept for ourselves the logic we are applying to Egypt? If nations more powerful than ourselves accept the absence of principle, the anarchistic attitude of Eden and launch bombs on London, what answer have we got, what complaint have we got?Sony VPCY11M1E Battery If we are going to appeal to force, if force is to be the arbiter to which we appeal, it would at least make common sense to try to make sure beforehand that we have got it, even if you accept that abysmal logic, that decadent point of view.Sony VPCY11S1E Battery We are in fact in the position today of having appealed to force in the case of a small nation, where if it is appealed to against us it will result in the destruction of Great Britain, not only as a nation, but as an island containing living men and women. Therefore I say to Anthony, I say to the British government, there is no count at all upon which they can be defended.Sony VPCY11V9E Battery They have besmirched the name of Britain. They have made us ashamed of the things of which formerly we were proud. They have offended against every principle of decency and there is only way in which they can even begin to restore their tarnished reputation and that is to get out! Get out! Get out!Sony VPCY11V9E/S Battery Inspired by Bevan’s speech, the crowd at Trafalgar Square then marched on 10 Downing Street chanting “Eden Must Go!”, and attempted to storm the Prime Minister’s residence.[256] The ensuring clashes between the police and the demonstrators which were captured by television cameras had a huge demoralizing effect on the Eden cabinet,[257] which was meeting there.[256]Sony VPCY219FJ/S Battery The British historian Anthony Adamthwaite wrote in 1988 that American financial pressure was the key factor that forced Eden to accept a ceasefire, but the public protests, declining poll numbers and signs that many Conservative voters were deserting the government were important secondary factors. Some modern historians contend, however, that the majority of public opinion at the time was on Eden's side.Sony VPCY21AFJ Battery Gilbert Murray was among Oxford scholars who signed a statement supporting Eden; such an act by the famous advocate of internationalism amazed both sides. He explained that, if not stopped, he believedNasserism would become a Soviet-led worldwide anti-western movement.[103]:202–203 The British historian Barry Turner wrote that.Sony VPCY21AGJ Battery The public reaction to press comment highlighted the divisions within the country. But there was no doubt that Eden still commanded strong support from a sizable minority, maybe even a majority, of voters who thought that it was about time that the upset Arabs should be taught a lesson. TheObserver and Guardian lost readers; so too did the News Chronicle, a liberal newspaper that was soon to fold as a result of falling circulation.Sony VPCY21AHJ Battery A.N. Wilson wrote that.The bulk of the press, the Labour Party and that equally influential left-learning party, the London dinner party, were all against Suez together with the rent-a-mob of poets, dons, clergy and ankle-socked female graduates who deplored British action, they did not necessarily constitute the majority of unexpressed public opinion.Sony VPCY21AVJ Battery The economist Roy Harrod wrote at the time that the "more level-headed British, whom I believe to be in the majority through not the most vocal" were supporting the "notable act of courage and statesmanship" of the government. Eden himself claimed that his mail went from eight to one against the military action immediately after its start, to four to one in support on the day before the ceasefire.Sony VPCY21S1E/L Battery The operation, aimed at taking control of the Suez Canal, Gaza, and parts of Sinai, was highly successful for the invaders from a military point of view, but was a disaster from a political point of view, resulting in international criticism and diplomatic pressure. Along with the Suez crisis, the United States was also dealing with the near-simultaneous Hungarian revolution.Sony VPCY21S1E/P Battery Vice President Richard Nixon later explained: "We couldn't on one hand, complain about the Soviets intervening in Hungary and, on the other hand, approve of the British and the French picking that particular time to intervene against Nasser". Beyond that, it was Eisenhower's belief that if the United States were seen to acquiesce in the attack on Egypt, that the resulting backlash in the Arab world might win the Arabs over to the Soviet Union.Sony VPCY21S1E/SI Battery Despite having no commercial or military interest in the area, many countries were concerned with the growing rift between Western allied nations. The Swedish ambassador to the Court of St. James, Gunnar Hägglöf wrote in a letter to the anti-war Conservative M.P. Edward Boyle: I don't think there is any part of the world where the sympathies for England are greater than in Scandinavia. Sony VPCCW1E8R/WU Battery But Scandinavian opinion has never been more shocked by a British government's action—not even by the British-German Naval Agreement of 1935—than by the Suez intervention. The attack on Egypt greatly offended many in the Islamic world. In Pakistan, 300,000 people showed up in a rally in Lahore to show solidarity with Egypt while in Karachi a mob chanting anti-British slogans burned down the British High Commission.Sony VPCCW1S1E Battery In Syria, the military government blew up the Kirkuk–Baniyas pipeline that allowed Iraqi oil to reach tankers in the Mediterranean to punish Iraq for supporting the invasion, and to cut Britain off from one of its main routes for taking delivery of Iraqi oil. King Saud of Saudi Arabia imposed a total oil embargo on Britain and France.Sony  VGP-BPS13 Battery When Israel refused to withdraw its troops from the Gaza Strip and Sharm el-Sheikh, Eisenhower declared, "We must not allow Europe to go flat on its back for the want of oil." He sought UN-backed efforts to impose economic sanctions on Israel until it fully withdrew from Egyptian territory. Sony  VAIO VGP-BPS13A/B Battery Senate Majority LeaderLyndon B. Johnson and minority leader William Knowland objected to American pressure on Israel. Johnson told the Secretary of State John Foster Dulles that he wanted him to oppose "with all its skill" any attempt to apply sanctions on Israel.[265] Dulles rebuffed Johnson's request, and informed Eisenhower of the objections made by the Senate. Sony  VAIO VGP-BPS13B/B Battery Eisenhower was "insistent on applying economic sanctions" to the extent of cutting off private American assistance to Israel which was estimated to be over $100 million a year. Ultimately, the Democratic Party-controlled Senate would not cooperate with Eisenhower's position on Israel. Eisenhower finally told Congress he would take the issue to the American people, saying,Sony  VAIO VGP-BPS13/S Battery "America has either one voice or none, and that voice is the voice of the President – whether everybody agrees with him or not."[265] The President spoke to the nation by radio and television where he outlined Israel's refusal to withdraw, explaining his belief that the UN had "no choice but to exert pressure upon Israel."Sony  VAIO VGP-BPS13A/S Battery On 30 October, the Security Council held a meeting, at the request of the United States, when it submitted a draft resolution calling upon Israel immediately to withdraw its armed forces behind the established armistice lines. It was not adopted because of British and French vetoes. A similar draft resolution sponsored by the Soviet Union was also rejected.Sony  VAIO VGP-BPS13B/S Battery On 31 October, also as planned, France and the UK launched an air attack against targets in Egypt, which was followed shortly by a landing of their troops at the northern end of the Canal Zone. Later that day, considering the grave situation created by the actions against Egypt, and with lack of unanimity among the permanent members preventing it from exercising its primary responsibility to maintain international peace and security, Sony  VAIO VGP-BPS13/Q Battery the Security Council passed Resolution 119; it decided to call an emergency special session of the General Assembly for the first time, as provided in the 1950 "Uniting for Peace" resolution, in order to make appropriate recommendations to end the fighting. The emergency special session was convened 1 November; the same day Nasser requested diplomatic assistance from the U.S., without requesting the same from the Soviet Union;Sony  VAIO VGP-BPS13A/Q Battery he was at first skeptical of the efficacy of US diplomatic efforts at the UN, but later gave full credit to Eisenhower's role in stopping the war. In the early hours of 2 November, the General Assembly adopted the United States' proposal for Resolution 997 (ES-I); the vote was 64 in favor and 5 opposed (Australia, New Zealand, Britain, France, and Israel) with 6 abstentions.Sony  VAIO VGP-BPS13B/Q Battery It called for an immediate ceasefire, the withdrawal of all forces behind the armistice lines, an arms embargo, and the reopening of the Suez Canal, which was now blocked. The Secretary-General was requested to observe and report promptly on compliance to both the Security Council and General Assembly, for further action as deemed appropriate in accordance with the U N Charter.Sony  VGP-BPS21 Battery Over the next several days, the emergency special session consequently adopted a series of enabling resolutions, which established the first United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF), on 7 November by Resolution 1001. This proposal of the emergency force and the resulting cease-fire was made possible primarily through the efforts of, Lester B. Pearson, the Secretary of External Affairs of Canada,Sony  VGP-BPS21A Battery and Dag Hammarskjöld, the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The role of Nehru, both as Indian Prime minister and a leader of the Non Aligned Movement was significant; the Indian historian Inder Malhotra wrote that "Now Nehru — who had tried to be even-handed between the two sides — denounced Eden and co-sponsors of the aggression vigorously. Sony  VGP-BPS21B Battery He had a powerful, if relatively silent, ally in the US president Dwight Eisenhower who went to the extent of using America’s clout in the IMF to make Eden and Mollet behave". The Indian historian Inder Malhotra wrote about Nehru's role that: "So the Suez War ended in Britain’s humiliation. Eden lost his job. Nehru achieved his objective of protecting Egypt’s sovereignty and Nasser’s honour".Sony  VGP-BPS21/S Battery Britain and France agreed to withdraw from Egypt within a week; Israel did not. A rare example of support for the Anglo-French actions against Egypt came from West Germany; though the Cabinet was divided, the Chancellor Konrad Adenauer was furious with the United States for its "chumminess with the Russians" as Adenauer called the U.S. refusal to intervene in Hungary,Sony  VGP-BPS21A/b Battery and the traditionally Francophile Adenauer drew closer to Paris as a result.[272] Adenauer refused to cancel a planned visit to Paris on 5–6 November 1956 and his summit with Mollet was clearly meant to be seen as a gesture of moral support. On 7 November, David Ben-Gurion addressed the Knesset and declared a great victory, saying that the 1949 armistice agreement with Egypt was dead and buried, and that the armistice lines were no longer valid and could not be restored. Sony VGP-BPS26 Battery Under no circumstances would Israel agree to the stationing of UN forces on its territory or in any area it occupied.[273][274] He also made an oblique reference to his intention to annex the Sinai Peninsula.[273] Isaac Alteras writes that Ben-Gurion 'was carried away by the resounding victory against Egypt' and while 'a statesman well known for his sober realism, [he] took flight in dreams of grandeur.'Sony VGP-BPL26 Battery The speech marked the beginning of a four-month-long diplomatic struggle, culminating in withdrawal from all territory, under conditions far less palatable than those envisioned in the speech, but with conditions for sea access to Eilat and a UNEF presence on Egyptian soil.[273] The speech immediately drew increased international pressure on Israel to withdraw.[274]Sony VGP-BPS26A Battery That day in New York, the emergency session passed Resolution 1002, again calling for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops to behind the armistice lines, and for the immediate withdrawal of British and French troops from Egyptian territory.[266] After a long Israeli cabinet meeting late on 8 November, Sony VGP-BPS22 Battery Ben-Gurion informed Eisenhower that Israel declared its willingness to accept withdrawal of Israeli forces from Sinai, 'when satisfactory arrangements are made with the international force that is about to enter the canal zone.' Although the Soviet Union's position in the crisis was as helpless as was the United States' regarding Hungary's uprising, Sony VGP-BPL22 Battery Premier Nikolai Bulganin threatened to intervene on the Egyptian side, and to launch rocket attacks on Britain, France and Israel.[273][275] Bulganin accused Ben-Gurion of supporting European colonialism, and Mollet of hypocrisy for leading a socialist government while pursuing a right-wing foreign policy. He did however concede in his letter to Eden that Britain had legitimate interests in Egypt.Sony VGP-BPS22A Battery The Soviet threat to send troops to Egypt to fight the Allies led Eisenhower to fear that this might be the beginning of World War III.[276] One of Eisenhower's aides Emmet Hughes recalled that the reaction at the White House to the Bulganin letters was "sombre" as there was fear that this was the beginning to the countdown to World War III, a war that if it occurred would kill hundreds of millions of people.Sony VAIO PCG-3B1M Battery In private, Eisenhower told Under Secretary of StateHerbert Hoover, Jr. of his fears that: The Soviet Union might be ready for to undertake any wild adventure. They are as scared and furious as Hitler was in his last days. There's nothing more dangerous than a dictatorship in that frame of mind.Sony VAIO PCG-3D1M Battery If the Soviet Union did go to war with NATO allies Britain and France, then the United States would be unable to remain neutral, because the United States' obligations under NATO would come into effect, requiring them to go to war with the Soviet Union in defense of Britain and France. Likewise, if the Soviet Union attacked Israel, Sony VAIO PCG-3G2M Battery though there was no formal American commitment to defend Israel, the Eisenhower administration would come under heavy domestic pressure to intervene. From Eisenhower's viewpoint, it was better to end the war against Egypt rather run the risk of this escalating into the Third World War, in case Khrushchev was serious about going to war in defense of Egypt as he insisted in public that he was. Sony VAIO PCG-5R1M Battery Eisenhower's reaction to these threats from the Soviet Union was: "If those fellows start something, we may have to hit 'em – and, if necessary, with everything in the bucket."[278] Eisenhower immediately ordered the U-2s into action over Syria and Israel to search for any Soviet air forces on Syrian bases, so the British and French could destroy them. Sony VAIO PCG-7162M Battery He told Hoover and CIA director Allan Dulles, "If the Soviets attack the French and British directly, we would be in a war and we would be justified in taking military action even if Congress were not in session."[279] (The Americans excluded Israel from the guarantee against Soviet attack, however, alarming the Israeli government.[273]) Sony VAIO PCG-7181M Battery