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Episode 2.2: Suez, A Life examines that critical actor in the Suez Crisis… No I’m not just talking about the British, I’m also talking about the Suez Canal! A French investment opportunity, an ancient idea, and a British masterstroke, discover in this episode how this waterway became so monumentally important for British imperial interests in the latter 19th century, and how this interest was then carried over into the 20th century. After years of defending and expanding their stock in Suez, it was highly unlikely that Britain was going to give up its position there without a fight. Yet, at the same time, decolonisation trends across the world were in full swing, and it was far from certain that Egypt could be held while certain movements were underway.

The most important of all these movements in decolonisation era Africa was found on 23rd July 1952, when a coup against King Farouk of Egypt, that docile and loyal British puppet, succeeded. A cadre of Egyptian military men now held control over the country, and they were determined to be anything but puppets to the British interest. Nationalists for Egypt as much as for the idea of pan-Arabism, one figure surged forward above all. His name was Gamal Abdel Nasser, and in this episode, we will be introduced to him, as we see what the British establishment was up against. Mindful of Britain’s interests in his country, and its unsavoury record there, Nasser was not about to give ground for nothing. Thousands of miles away, a government change waved goodbye to Winston Churchill, and ushered in his subordinate Anthony Eden. The stage was set for a conflict which was unlike any other yet seen in the British experience.

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