Solved Board Paper For ICSE Class 12 History

(i) Jawaharlal Nehru visited the United Soviet Socialist Russia (USSR) in 1927.

(ii) Sir Stafford Cripps, sent by the British government to negotiate with Indians, reached India on 22^nd March, 1942.

(iii) The first Commander of the Indian National Army was Captain Mohan Singh.

(iv) The Historic Eight Documents were written by Charu Majumdar.

(v) The Nav Nirman movement started in Gujarat.

(vi)Josip Broz Tito, Jawaharlal Nehru, Gamal Abdel Nasser and Sukarno were the leaders who started the Non-Aligned Movement.

(vii) The Indian Nationalist leader who, during the 1930s, spread and popularized socialist ideas throughout India was Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

(viii) In 1939, the popular Indian Nationalist leader, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru became the President of the All-India States Peoples’ Conference.

(ix) According to Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the leader of the Muslim League, Hindus and Muslims were not just two different religious communities, but two entirely different nations. He declared that the people of both communities were different from each other in social, economic, cultural, historical and political spheres.

(x) According to the proposals of the Mountbatten Plan, the Princely States of the Indian subcontinent were allowed the option of joining either of the two Dominions of India and Pakistan, or to remain independent of both.

(xi) After the First World War, Germany was forced to pay a heavy indemnity of 6.6 billion to the victorious nations. In August 1921, after paying few installments, Germany could not pay due to its weak economy. By 1923, as Germany became a defaulter, France and Belgium occupied the Ruhr region of Germany. In protest against this, German workers in the region went on strike. While this thwarted French efforts, it also devastated the German economy as the value of German Mark fell, leading to hyper-inflation in the country.

(xii) The ‘Battle of Grain’ campaign was launched in Italy, which was under the Fascist rule of Benito Mussolini, who wished to make Italy self-sufficient in all respects, especially in the agricultural field, and reduce the country’s dependence on imports.

(xiii) In 1933, a fire broke out at the German Parliament (Reichstag), which was blamed on the Communists. Hitler, as the Chancellor of Germany, used this incident to ban all opposition parties and propaganda, especially those of socialists and communists, and establish a one-party dictatorship in Germany.

(xiv) The Anti-Comintern Pact, which was concluded in 1936 as a counter to the Communist country of Russia, was signed between Nazi Germany and Japan.

(xv) The Pact of Steel was signed, in May 1939, by Benito Mussolini, the Fascist ruler of Italy, and Adolf Hitler, the Fuhrer (leader) of Nazi Germany.

(xvi) The Battle of Britain is regarded as the first major turning point during the course of the Second World War because Britain, despite being invaded and heavily bombarded by German airplanes, did not succumb to the German invasion, ultimately leading to Hitler calling off the attack. This event marked Germany’s first major defeat during the War.

(xvii)The conflict between the Western Powers and Soviet Russia reached a high-point when, in 1948, Russia blocked all roads, rail and canal links between West Berlin and West Germany. Hence, for the next ten months, food supplies were airlifted from West Germany to West Berlin. Although the blockade was eventually withdrawn, relations between Russia and the West had reached its worst point by then. The Western Bloc decided to form the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) in April 1949 for the coordination of their defences.

(xviii)In order to restore harmony and ensure wider cooperation and goodwill among the nations of the world, it is necessary to increase the number of permanent members in the UN Security Council which, during the Cold War and Post Cold War periods, has been dominated by Western countries like USA, UK and France, which has upset many Third World Countries.

(xix) Due to the USA’s refusal to provide further loans to Egypt, for political reasons, in 1956, Gamal Abdel Nasser, the leader of Egypt, decided to nationalize the Suez Canal. He wanted to collect the resultant funds in order to be able to build the Aswan Dam.

(xx) The rise of Nazism in Germany, which led to large-scale persecution of Jews in the country, gave further impetus to large-scale emigration of Jews to Palestine, which was supported by European countries, while Arab protests were ignored. This further intensified the Palestinian conflict.

(a) In the elections under the Government of India Act 1935, people gave their votes in favour of the Congress. The Congress swept the polls with all the general Hindu seats. Out of the 38 seats reserved for the labour, the Congress contested 20 seats and won 18 seats. Of the 482 seats reserved as Muslim seats, the Congress contested 58 seats and won on 26 seats.

For Commerce and Industry, 56 seats were reserved. The Congress contested in 8 seats and won only 3 seats. For Landholders, 37 seats were reserved. The Congress contested in 8 seats and won in 4 seats. However, in five provinces, Congress had a clear mandate from the people. In Bengal, NWFP, Assam and Bombay, the Congress scored the status of a single largest party.

The Muslim League failed to perform well and could not get even a single seat in NWFP. In Punjab, the Muslim league got only 2 seats out of the 84 reserved seats. Thus the Congress formed ministries in 7 provinces out of 11 provinces. Coalition ministry was also formed in 2 other provinces. Only Bengal and Punjab had non -Congress ministries.

(b) Major achievements of the Congress Ministries were:

(1)Reduction of the salaries of the ministers

(2)Welfare plans and schemes for tribes.

(3)Jail reforms

(4) Declaration of Fundamental rights in the colonial laws.

Though the Congress formed ministries in different provinces, they actually were unsuccessful in introducing the land reforms.

The Marxist writers portray the Zamindars and landlords as main dominating groups in the Congress.

The Congress Ministries did not want to alienate this class.

On the other hand, in U.P., most of the talukdars were Muslims, and land reforms might have affected their interest and they would have joined the Muslim League.

Congress required the cooperation of all sections including the landed aristocracy. Though the people had great expectations, the Congress Ministries were not destined to rule for long. The Congress Ministries had to resign in November 1939, on the issue of Second World War.

(c) In the Round Table Conference, it was assumed that the Hindus and the Muslims, two major religious groups, would be represented in the provincial Ministries.

But after Congress got a clear mandate in the elections, it did not want to include the Muslim League and other groups in the ministry.

It emerged as an important issue in Uttar Pradesh, when the Congress took office. The Congress offered two seats to the Muslim League with preconditions which were rejected by the latter.

The Muslim League appointed a committee to gather information on the issue and accused the Congress of practicing religious discrimination against the national goal. The report of the Committee submitted its list of charges against the Congress. Thus, throughout the 27 months of the Congress rule, the League carried out many tasks exposing the former.

The charges of the Muslim League included the failure of the Congress rule to prevent communal killings, ban on Bakrid cow slaughter, singing of Bande Mataram on public functions, encouragement of Hindi not Urdu and other discriminations against the Muslims. Although the Congress denied all these charges, the Muslim League kept on insisting that the Congress was more interested in setting up a ‘Hindu Rashtra’.

(a) The main cause for the outbreak of the Sino-Indian War (1962) was a dispute over the sovereignty of the widely separated Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh border regions. Aksai Chin, which was claimed by India as a part of Kashmir and by China as a part of Xinjiang, contains an important road link that connects the Chinese regions of Tibet and Xinjiang. China's construction of this road was one of the triggers of the conflict.

Apart from this, India was also wary of China’s occupation of Tibet, which took place in 1950. Tibet was a buffer region between both countries. However, India did not question Chinese rule over Tibet, as China had occupied Tibet many times before in history. In 1954, India recognized China’s rights over Tibet through a treaty. Although border issues were discussed at this time, the Chinese said that they had not yet studied the old border maps and chose to look into these matters later. But in 1959, following a revolt in Tibet, the Dalai Lama, along with several refugees, fled to India, where he was granted asylum. Although he was dissuaded from running his own government or conducting any sort of political activity, the Chinese were still unhappy. This provoked them into opening fire in Ladakh, and again in the same region as well as in Arunachal Pradesh three years later, in what would grow into the Sino-Indian War of 1962.

(b) From the perspective of China, the Sino-Indian War of 1962 achieved China’s objective of securing its western borders. China was now the real ruler of the Aksai Chin region of Ladakh. After the war, India abandoned its foreign policy and its borders that were established along the Line of Actual Control (LoC).

For India, the war was a blow to the country’s self-respect. Jawaharlal Nehru, the Indian Prime Minister, never recovered from the shock of the attack by one whom he considered a friend. He also faced attacks from many political opponents, which led his Defence Minister, Krishna Menon, to resign. Economically, the Third Five-Year Plan was also badly affected, due to which resourced had to be diverted for India’s defence.

The war also led to radical changes in the Indian military to prepare itself for such conflicts. The Indian government passed the Defence of India Act (December 1962). This allowed the arrest of anyone having Chinese surname, blood or spouse. As a result of this, large numbers of Chinese-Indians were forced to leave India.

During the war, the US and UK helped India. But after the war, they tried to weaken India, with Pakistan’s prompting, by surrendering Kashmir. They also promised no mass sums of money for India’s aid. To counter their influence, Nehru sough Soviet help, which was more agreeable to India. Meanwhile, Pakistan, a close ally of China, sensed India’s military weakness. It provoked India by infiltrating Jammu and Kashmir, an act which culminated in the outbreak of the Second Indo-Pakistan War (1965).

(a) On June 25^th, 1975, Indira Gandhi, the Indian Prime Minister, imposed a nationwide Emergency, in order to protect her position, which was under threat following calls asking for her resignation. A case of Internal Emergency, under Article 352 of the Indian Constitution, which temporarily suspended normal political process, was imposed. Under the Emergency, the Congress government under her arrested all opposition, including dissidents within the party. Among those arrested included Jaya Prakash Narayan, popularly known as JP, who had started the Sampurna Kranti (Total Revolution) Movement, with the intention to overthrow the Congress government under Indira Gandhi. He was kept under custody at Chandigarh.

Simultaneously, elections and other federal constitutional provisions, Fundamental Rights and civil liberties were suppressed. The Parliament became ineffectual as the opposition of those who were not arrested was not reported in the press. The Emergency allowed the Prime Minister to rule by her own decree. The press was censored. Indira Gandhi’s son, Sanjay Gandhi, committed many atrocities, including a forced mass-sterilisation programme. Simultaneously, many protestors and strike leaders were jailed under the ‘Preventive Detention’ clause. Under this, many major protest leaders were arrested, including Vijayraje Scindia, Raj Narain, Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Jivatram Kripalani, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L.K. Advani, Satyendra Narayan Sinha, etc.

Many organisations, both political and non-political, including the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Jamaat-e-Islami, were banned. In Tamil Nadu, the DMK government, under M. Karnunanidhi, was dissolved. His son, M.K. Stalin, was arrested under the MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security) Act. In Gujarat, the Janata Party government was likewise dismissed.

(b) Due to the Emergency, which lasted for about twenty months, many people were put under detention without charge or notification to families. According to Amnesty International, about 140,000 people had been arrested without trial. Many political prisoners had to undergo abuse and torture by the police. Simultaneously, both public and private media institutions were used to spread government propaganda.

The Emergency also saw large-scale forced sterilization, which was a measure intended for population control by forcibly reducing birth rates. In Delhi, the capital city, the destruction of slums and low-income houses, mainly in the Turkman Gate and the Jama Masjid area of Old Delhi, made many poor people homeless. There was also a large-scale illegal enactment of laws, including modification of the Constitution, which gave more powers to the executive at the expense of the judiciary.

On the economic front however, the Emergency had a positive impact. Indira Gandhi devised a '20-point' economic programme to increase agricultural and industrial production, improve public services and fight poverty and illiteracy. Some argue that this increased agricultural production, manufacturing activity, exports and foreign reserves. Prices of essential goods, including foodstuff, declined and their availability improved.

The Emergency also led discipline on the streets. It was said that during Emergency, trains ran on time and employees punctually attended their duties. Government servants were more considerate to the public. Communal riots also got less intense. There was less crime, no uncontrollable or violent demonstration, and calm in the universities. Many illegal elements were swiftly dealt with, with many imprisoned under MISA Act.

During the Cold-War era, the World got divided into two power blocs. One was supporting the Communist USSR and other was in favor of the democratic USA. The people of the newly independent states had common problems and shared common aspirations. They decided to act together on all fronts. Being victims of economic exploitation, they had enormous task of social and economic reconstruction work. For this, they had two choices – either to join the power blocs or to muster strength through mutual help and co-operation for development. The countries chose to work together through co-operation and mutual help and it led to the formation of the Non-aligned Movement.

(a)

Cripps Mission had following proposals –

1. Dominion status would be granted to India immediately after the end of the war with the right to secede from the British Commonwealth.

2. Immediately after the war, a constitution-making body would be set up. It would consist of members from British India as well as the native states.

3. The constitution so framed after the war would be accepted by the British government on the condition that any Indian province, if desired, could remain outside the Indian union and negotiate directly with the British government.

4. The actual control of defense and military operations during the war period would be retained by the British government.

(b)

The course of the Quit India Movement could be divided into four phases –

First phase: During the first phase, the movement was started in urban areas like Bombay, Kanpur, Jamshedpur and Ahmadabad in the form of hartals, processions, demonstrations, strikes in schools and colleges and strikes in government offices. The strike did not last in most of the places except in Kanpur.

Second phase: The Movement spread in the rural areas. The people of Tamluk in Midnapur district of Bengal, north and east Bihar, eastern U.P., Maharashtra and Orissa took lead in the movement. Movement became violent in nature as people attacked the government buildings like post offices, police stations. People tried to set government offices on fire. They cut the telegraph and telephone lines and set up temporary government in Tamluk in Bengal, Balia in U.P. and Talcher in Orissa.

British government tried to suppress the movement by arrests, detentions, police firings and burning of Congress offices.

Third phase: Third phase started from September 1942. Movement was controlled by the revolutionary leaders. Jayaprakash Narayana and Ramananda Misra escaped from Hazaribagh jail and organized an underground movement. Aruna Asif Ali carried on the movement in Bombay.

Final phase: Final phase of the Movement continued up to May 1944 at a very slow pace. Gandhi ji was released from jail. The revolutionaries celebrated the Tilak day and Independence Day on the release of Gandhi ji. Gradually the Movement came to an end.

(c)

The Quit India Movement failed due to various reasons –

1. Due to the arrest of Gandhi ji and all other leaders, the Movement came under the control of the local leaders who were inexperienced to follow true Gandhian ideas. Lack of organized movement and lack of centralized leadership to co-ordinate and guide movement led to its failure. It gradually became scattered and lost its force.

2. Lack of extensive preparation was absent in the Quit India Movement as leaders did not decide their plan of action in case the British government would have arrested them. Gandhi ji was of the opinion that government would not arrest him. These factors led to the decline of the Movement.

3. During the Movement, the rulers of the native states, army, police and high government officials remained faithful to the British government.

4. The Movement did not evoke much response from the merchant community and the work of the government continued unhampered during the Movement.

5. Different political parties remained aloof from the Movement. Muslim League did not support it and Hindu Mahasabha condemned it. Communist Party of India did not support it.

6. Some Congress leaders like Rajagopalachari did not participate in it but supported the war efforts. This move weakened the movement from inside.

7. The brutal repression of the British authority also led to the failure of Movement. Government adopted all the methods of repression like arrests, detention and firing to weaken the Movement.

8. Censorship of Press also favoured the British government to control the Movement.

(a)

1. Western powers pursued a policy of appeasement and allowed Germany and Italy to continue with their acts of aggression.

2. They felt that by favoring the Fascist powers, they would be able to use them against the Soviet Union and also a strong Fascist Bloc in the central part of Europe would act as a bulwark against the spread of communism to Western Europe.

3. Moreover, both Chamberlain and Daladier, the Prime Ministers of England and France, felt that by appeasing Germany, they would be able to prevent a possible German attack on the western side.

4. This policy of the western powers was a dangerous development. Though it started due to the Western fear of the spread of communism, it strengthened the Fascists powers and brought the world on the verge of the Second World War.

(b)

1. Germany wanted to occupy Sudetenland (the northern part of Czechoslovakia), because it had a large German population and was also an important industrial region.

2. Assured of British and French help, Hitler held a meeting at Munich on 29^th and 30^th September, 1938, which was attended by the British Prime Minister Chamberlain, Prime Minister Daladier of France along with Mussolini. By signing the Munich Pact, Germany got a free hand to occupy Sudetenland.

3. Without giving warning to Czechoslovakia in March 1939, the German troops seized the entire Czechoslovakia.

(i) The Japanese conquest of Manchuria: Till the mid-19th century, Japan remained a country in isolation, when it was broken by Commodore Perry of the United States. After this, Japan, forced to sign harsh treaties with Western Powers, adopted Western education, and restructured its economy, military and its central government on strong lines. A resultant modern Japan followed an aggressive foreign policy to obtain a secure place among the modern nations of the world.

During the 1920s and 1930s, Japan came under the influence of Fascist-inspired military. Its warlords promoted violence at home and conquest abroad. Due to the Great Depression, unemployment increased and exports fell. To solve this, Japan decided to conquer Manchuria in 1931, as it was rich in coal, iron, gold and timber. The Chinese were easily defeated, while a Japanese puppet state was established in Manchuria, called Manchuko. When China protested against the Japanese action to the League of Nations, the latter suggested that Manchuria be made an autonomous Chinese province. But Japan disagreed and left the League of Nations. Since opinion in the League was divided, no effective action could be taken against Japan.

(ii) The Italian conquest of Abyssinia: Abyssinia, or Ethiopia, an independent East African country, was targeted by Italy, which was still smarting from its defeat by the former, in 1896, at the Battle of Adowa. Also, Abyssinia had abundant raw materials and mineral wealth. Hence, Italy attacked Abyssinia and captured it in 1936. When King Haile Selassie of Ethiopia appealed to the League of Nations, the latter imposed economic sanctions on Italy. But Italy openly defied the League.

(b) The term Appeasement means ‘acceding to hostile demands to gain peace’. During the 1930s, Britain and France followed an Appeasement Policy towards Germany, when the latter forcibly occupied Rhineland, Austria and Czechoslovakia and during its intervention in the Spanish Civil War. The main reasons behind this were –

(i) Fear of combined military might of Germany, Italy and Japan

(ii) Weakness of British and French military

(iii) Suspicion of Soviet Russian expansion

The Appeasement Policy of Britain and France emboldened Germany to forcibly acquire more territories. One after another, Hitler’s demands were conceded. This continued till 1939, when, in response to the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared War on Germany, leading to the Second World War.

(a) The invasion of Russia, which took place on 22nd June 1941, under the codename ‘Operation Barbarossa’, was an ambitious scheme of Hitler who hated the Communists. He also wanted to create Lebensraum (living space) for Germans by extending his Reich till as far as the Urals.
Hence, without officially declaring War, Germany attacked Russia, taking the latter by surprise. Germany attacked Russia from three sides – Leningrad, Moscow and Ukraine. In a short period, the Germans made great strides, reaching within striking distance of Leningrad and Moscow. The German advance through Ukraine was so spectacular that, in fact, they had reached as far as the Caucasus. By the end of August 1942, they reached the city of Stalingrad.

While the Germans advanced, the retreating Russian army followed a ‘scorched earth’ policy, destroying all bridges, factories, railways, crops, etc. that would be useful to Germans. Meanwhile, the Russians at Stalingrad heroically fought, for six months, to protect Stalingrad. Simultaneously, the Russian weather turned against the Germans, who were hampered by heavy rains in September and October, followed by freezing winters in November and December. Consequently, the German army, originally 330,000 men strong at the start of the campaign, was now reduced to just 12,000 men. Eventually their surrender marked a turning point in the Second World War as this marked the beginning of German defeat.

(b) In the initial years of the Second World War, America remained aloof from the War itself. However, there was a steady deterioration of relations between the U.S. and Japan. The Americans assisted the Chinese, who were still fighting against Japan. When Japan occupied French Indo-China, where they setup their military bases, America demanded Japanese withdrawal and placed an oil embargo on Japan, restricting oil supplies to Japan. The Japanese tried to negotiate with America to lift the same, but the latter insisted on Japanese withdrawal from China and Indo-China.

Ultimately, the Japanese attacked the U.S. naval base in the Hawaiian Islands – Pearl Harbor – on 7th December, 1941. As a result of this, America, which till then had remained neutral during the War, now joined on the side of the Allies and against the Axis alliance of Germany, Italy and Japan. The significance of the attack can be given as follows:

(i) Hitler declared War on the U.S.A.

(ii) The Japanese now controlled the Pacific, including Malaya, Singapore, Hong Kong, Burma, the Dutch East Indies, the Philippines, Guam and Wake Island.

(a)
(i) The Potsdam Conference of 1945, the last of the series of the Allied wartime conference, witnessed a cooling off in relations between Russia and the West. It was attended by Stalin of Russia, Roosevelt of America and Churchill, who was later replaced by Clement Attlee as the British Prime Minister. The three leaders agreed on disarming Germany, banning the Nazi Party, and the trial of Nazi leaders as war criminals. Russia, who had incurred the greatest loss due to the German aggression, would get half the reparation amount collected from Germany. But disagreements arose on the issue of Poland, which was partly occupied by Russia, who had established a pro-Communist government there. It was also undecided as to whether or when Germany, after its division into British, American, French and Russian zones, would be reunited.

(ii) The formation of NATO: The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) was a defence organization against the Communist Bloc. It was signed by America, Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, Luxemburg, Norway, Portugal, Iceland and the Netherlands on 4th of April, 1949. Later, it was joined by Greece, Turkey and West Germany. Under this, the signatory countries agreed that an attack on any one of them was an attack on all of them. Hence, they placed their defences under a joint NATO command organization of North Atlantic Council.

(b)

(i) The Berlin Wall incident: In 1958, Khrushchev, the Russian Premier, announced that Russia no longer recognized the rights of the Western countries in West Berlin. When the Americans challenged this, Khrushchev did not counter this. But in 1961, Khrushchev placed this demand of his before John F. Kennedy, the U.S. President, stating that the West should withdraw from West Berlin. But Kennedy refused to accept this demand. Meanwhile, large numbers of refugees were escaping from East Germany into West Berlin, a major source of embarrassment for the Communists. Eventually in 1961, a 28-mile long monstrous wall, which separated East Germany from West Berlin by land, was constructed, completely cutting off all escape routes.

(ii) The Cuban Missile Crisis: Cuba, the largest island in the West Indies, is situated to the south of Florida, a part of the USA. In 1959, a Communist revolution in broke out in Cuba, in which, Fulgencio Batista, the dictatorial ruler of Cuba, was overthrown by Fidel Castro, a follower of Communist ideology. Castro nationalized all American-owned estates and factories in Cuba, which worsened Cuban relations with America. Eventually, in 1961, the USA broke all diplomatic relations with Cuba.

Kennedy, the U.S. President, tried to overthrow Castro's government. He helped thousands of exiled Cubans, mostly Batista’s supporters, to land in the Bay of Pigs in Cuba. However, the Communist troops easily crushed Batista’s supporters.

In 1962, the Soviet Union tried to build a missile base in Cuba was to bring the U.S. within an easy range of its missile attack. This increased U.S.A.’s worries. On 22nd October 1962, Kennedy announced a naval blockade around Cuba, in order to stop Russian ships carrying supplies to Cuba. The aim was also to stop Russian nuclear weapons from reaching Cuba. The USA also threatened an air strike on the Cuban missile sites. These moves of the U.S.A. brought the world on the verge of a nuclear war.

However, the Cuban crisis was averted on the initiative of Russian President Khrushchev, who agreed to remove the missile base from Cuba. Simultaneously, the U.S. promised not to attack Cuba. A Hot Link Telephone link was established between Moscow and Washington for quick consultations during emergencies. In 1963, U.S., Britain and Russia signed a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, under which they resolved to carry underground nuclear tests to avoid further atmospheric pollution.

The Suez War of 1956 was fought between Egypt and the combined forces of Britain, France and Israel. It was commenced on 29th October 1956, with the invasion of Egypt by Israel, through the Sinai Peninsula. Israel, Britain and France supported each other with the aim to overthrow Colonel Nasser, the new ruler of Egypt. The causes of the Suez War of 1956 have been given as follows:

(i) Colonel Nasser of Egypt, who desired Arab unity and independence, wanted to liberate Palestine from Jewish occupation. His actions antagonized Britain, France and America.

(ii) He organized suicide squads (fidayeen) to carry out attacks in Israel, while Egyptian ships blockaded the Gulf of Aqaba which led to the Israeli port of Eliat.

(iii) In 1936, Britain had signed a treaty with Egypt, which would expire twenty years later. According to the treaty, British troops were to be stationed at the Suez. After its expiration, when Britain wanted the renewal of the treaty, Nasser refused, insisting immediate withdrawal of British troops.

(iv) Colonel Nasser supported the Algerians in their fight for independence against the French. He also incited other Arab states to oppose the British-sponsored Baghdad Pact. He also forced King Hussein of Jordan to dismiss his British army chief-of-staff.

(v) In September 1955, he also signed an arms deal with Communist Czechoslovakia for the supply of Russian military aid to Egypt. This angered America, as it meant that the West no longer controlled arms supplies to Egypt. They viewed it as a ‘Communist Plot’ to move into the Middle East.

(vi) In retaliation, Washington cancelled a promised grant of $46 million to Egypt, who wanted to build the Aswan Dam. It wanted Nasser to severe his ties with the Communists. Instead, Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, with the aim to use the income from it to finance the construction of Aswan Dam.

(vii) The subsequent secret talks between Israel, Britain and France led to the hatching of a plan, according to which Israel would attack Egypt across the Sinai Peninsula, while Britain and France would protect the canal zone to ‘prevent its damage’ during the War. This would not only restore Anglo-French control over the canal, but it would also hopefully overthrow Nasser from power.

The invasion of Egypt in 1956 led to a global outcry, with even the Americans condemning the British action. Both USA and USSR jointly demanded an immediate ceasefire, and were ready to send a UN force. With global opinion against them, Britain, France and Israel were compelled to withdraw, while UN troops were placed in the frontier between Egypt and Israel. The War humiliated Britain and France on the one hand, and was a victory for Nasser on the other. The outcome of the War can be listed as follows:

(viii) The War failed to overthrow Colonel Nasser from power, as his prestige as the leader of Arab nationalism increased. The Arabs regarded him as a hero.

(ix) While Egypt blocked the Canal, the Arabs temporarily reduced oil supplies to the West. Simultaneously, American aid to the Middle East was replaced by that from Russia.

(x) Britain lost an ally in Iraq, whose Premier, Nuri-es-Said, came under increasing attack from other Arab nations for his pro-British attitude. He was eventually murdered in 1958.

(xi) A much weakened Britain was now unable to follow a foreign policy independent of the U.S.A.
(xii) The outcome of the War also encouraged the Algerians in their struggle for independence from France, which they eventually achieved in 1962.

(xiii) Finally, although it was eventually compelled to return the territories which it had captured from Egypt, Israel had inflicted heavy losses on the former. As a result, fidayeen attacks on Israel temporarily ceased, giving the latter enough time for consolidation.