The Suez conflict of 1956
Cover of report by General Hugh Stockwell on Operation MUSKETEERGeneral Sir Hugh Stockwell was commander of Ground Forces in the Suez Crisis of 1956. The joint Anglo-French-Israeli invasion, which aimed to regain control of the Suez Canal from Egypt and depose President Abdel Nasser, ended in humiliation for Britain, with the United States leading worldwide condemnation.
The collection includes reports, messages, maps and photographs relating to Operation MUSKETEER, for the seizing of the Suez Canal by a combined Anglo-French force under Stockwell’s command.
Photograph captioned: Rioting in Port Said brought under controlAn image of the cover of Stockwell’s own report, written in February 1957, is shown to the right.
The photograph on the left, from November 1956 shows Stockwell (in glasses) and an angry Egyptian crowd in Port Said, which had been the main target of the Anglo-French invasion force.
Stockwell himself captioned this ‘Rioting in Port Said brought under control’. His placatory stance contrasts with the tension apparent in the trigger finger of the soldier on the left.
In this exhibition
- Gibraltar and the Treaty of Utrecht
- Italy and Sicily
- Malta
- The Ionian Islands
- Greece
- Cyprus
- The Levant and the Holy Lands
- North Africa
- 20th century conflict
- The First World War in the Mediterranean
- The Second World War in the Mediterranean
- The Suez conflict of 1956
- Select bibliography