AI Summary
5 min readOn July 26, 1956, Gamal Abdel Nasser, the president of Egypt, stood before an estimated 250,000 people in Alexandria and announced the nationalization of the Suez Canal Company. Speaking for three hours on the fourth anniversary of the coup that brought him to power, Nasser repeatedly invoked the name of Ferdinand de Lesseps, the canal’s French builder—a coded signal that triggered Egyptian troops to seize the canal’s offices and installations. By the time his speech ended, the operation was complete. Across the Arab world, crowds celebrated what they saw as a historic blow against colonialism. In London, the reaction was very different. Prime Minister Anthony Eden, hosting a dinner for King Faisal of Iraq, received the news and immediately began planning a military response. The Suez Crisis had begun.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:00) **Episode Introduction & Nasser's Nationalization Speech** - The hosts set up the episode by playing Gamal Abdel Nasser's historic July 26, 1956 speech nationalizing the Suez Canal.
- 2 (08:37) **Anthony Eden: From Hero to Zero** - The hosts introduce British Prime Minister Anthony Eden, the episode's protagonist, and trace his rise from war hero to a leader under pressure.
- 3 (20:21) **The Crumbling British Empire** - The hosts explain the immense pressure on the British Empire in the mid-1950s, setting the stage for the confrontation with Egypt.
- 4 (29:55) **The Rise of Gamal Abdel Nasser** - The hosts introduce the other protagonist, Colonel Nasser, and his path to power in Egypt.
- 5 (33:57) **The Road to Rupture** - The hosts detail the series of events that turn Eden and Nasser from potential allies into bitter enemies.
- 6 (44:32) **The Aswan Dam and the Insult** - The hosts explain the financial and political trigger for Nasser's nationalization of the canal.
- 7 (49:02) **The Nationalization Speech** - The hosts analyze Nasser's three-hour speech in Alexandria that sets the crisis in motion.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Guests on this episode
Show Notes
Why did the Suez Crisis break out in 1956? Who were Anthony Eden, the British Prime Minister at the heart of the scandal, and Gamal Abdel Nasser, the Egyptian President? And, would the crisis be the death knell to the British Empire?
Join Dominic and Tom as they begin their journey into one of the greatest international scandals of all time, in the dying days of the British Empire.
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Video Editors: Jack Meek, Harry Swan + Adam Thornton
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Executive Producer: Dom Johnson
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