A major world power has made a misguided attack on a Middle Eastern country, and many think its strength is waning.
asserted
strength → make → country
The price of petrol and diesel is soaring.
asserted
price → soar → petrol
Meanwhile, in Eastern Europe the Russians are brutally attempting to extirpate a much smaller country, which is mounting a heroic but ultimately doomed resistance.
asserted
which → attempt → resistance
I'm not, as you may think, describing President Donald Trump's ill-conceived and abortive assault on Iran, or Putin's wicked war in Ukraine, both of which have led to global instability.
uncertain
both → think → instability
No, I am talking about different, and yet in many ways similar, cataclysms that were unfolding 70 years ago this week.
asserted
that → talk → cataclysms
Seventy years ago Britain was about to invade Egypt with its junior partner France in what turned out to be a tragic misadventure, while the Russian jackboot was on the verge of crushing thousands of rebels in Budapest.
asserted
jackboot → invade → Budapest
I am, of course, talking about the Suez Crisis and the Hungarian Revolution – two upheavals that preoccupied our parents and grandparents, and touched the lives of millions of people who are still alive, and yet are largely forgotten.
asserted
who → talk → people
Following the imbroglio of Suez, Britain ceased being a Great Power almost overnight.
asserted
Britain → follow → Suez
We found ourselves on a new path along which we are still trundling as a lesser nation, never quite sure of our place in the world, and often harking back to past glories.
asserted
we → find → glories
As for the Hungarian Revolution, it showed that Russia – or the Soviet Union – was a ruthless adversary entirely inimical to freedom.
asserted
Russia → show → freedom
It also disenchanted many on the Left who finally grasped that the communist country they had idealised was far more repressive than imperial powers such as Britain.
asserted
they → disenchant → Britain
Dwight Eisenhower, virtually ignored Russian excesses in Hungary while busily opposing Britain, supposedly its closest ally
Levin's War is a novel I have written set during this period.
asserted
I → ignore → period
Its characters are caught up in these events and profoundly affected by them.
asserted
characters → catch → them
Like many of his colleagues, he is appalled by the prospect of Britain invading Egypt.
asserted
Britain → appal → Egypt
His friend, Daniel Levin, is a journalist on the communist Daily Worker newspaper (nowadays, much diminished, called the Morning Star).
asserted
friend → call → newspaper
Daniel is an outsider – a Jew and a homosexual at a time when the authorities were entrapping and arresting men denigrated as 'queers'.
asserted
authorities → entrap → queers
Although coming from backgrounds that are far apart, and holding different political beliefs, Robert and Daniel form a deep bond fighting together in the Eighth Army during the war in North Africa and Italy.
asserted
Robert → come → Africa
But when they meet again in the grey, grimy, smog-ridden London of 1956, they become divided and their friendship begins to crumble.
asserted
friendship → meet → 1956
Looking back over 70 years to an immeasurably different Britain, it is sometimes hard to understand the thinking of the politicians who effectively drew the curtain on the British Empire, which was the last thing they meant to do.
asserted
they → look → Empire
At the centre of events was Sir Anthony Eden, who succeeded Winston Churchill as prime minister in April 1955 before winning an increased Conservative majority in the following month's general election.
asserted
who → succeed → election
He was steeped in foreign affairs, and knew a lot about the Middle East.
asserted
He → steep → East
As a young man, he had taken a First at Oxford in Persian and Arabic, an unusual accomplishment for a future politician.
asserted
he → take → politician
He also won a Military Cross in the First World War.
asserted
He → win → War
But his debonair appearance concealed a testy nature, probably inherited from his eccentric landowning father.
asserted
appearance → conceal → father
His temperament hadn't been helped by a botched gall bladder operation a few years earlier that left him in constant discomfort.
asserted
that → help → discomfort
In July 1956 Egypt's president Nasser seized the Suez Canal, which was owned by British and French shareholders.
asserted
which → seize → shareholders
This was regarded by the Government as a grave threat to our interests, and in particular to the free flow of oil.
asserted
This → regard → oil
Critical moment: Ships blocking the Suez Canal in Egypt at the height of the crisis in November 1956
Labour was for a time equally horrified, with its leader, Hugh Gaitskell, comparing Nasser to Mussolini.
asserted
leader → block → Mussolini
But as the months passed, the party became increasingly critical of Eden's intransigence and the apparent drift towards war.
asserted
party → pass → war
Eden, who had opposed appeasement in the 1930s, although less stoutly than Churchill, made the mistake of exaggerating Egypt's power.
asserted
who → oppose → power
He wildly compared Nasser's nationalisation of the Suez Canal to Hitler's takeover of the demilitarised Rhineland in 1936.
asserted
He → compare → 1936
Public opinion was divided.
asserted
opinion → divide → ?
Most Tories and sympathetic newspapers supported Eden's robust response.
asserted
Tories → support → response
Labour, the majority of trade unions and the Left-wing Press expressed mounting dismay.
asserted
Labour → express → dismay
In Levin's War opinion is also split.
asserted
opinion → split → War
Robert is strongly opposed to invasion, as is his artist wife, but his doughty cleaning lady and his father Matthew regard Nasser's behaviour as an affront.
asserted
lady → regard → affront
Daniel is contemptuous of Eden while regarding the Hungarian Revolution as far more significant than a row over the Suez Canal.
asserted
Daniel → regard → Canal
One momentous historical event witnessed by Daniel, and also Abena, a Ghanaian colleague from the Daily Worker, was a huge rally in Trafalgar Square.
asserted
event → witness → Square
It took place on November 4, the day before Anglo-French forces invaded Egypt.
asserted
forces → take → Egypt
It was addressed in mild terms by a succession of Labour worthies until firebrand Left-wing MP Aneurin Bevan whipped up the crowd by claiming that the Tory Government 'had offended against every principle of decency'.
asserted
Government → address → decency
…and 45 more, not listed.
The Aporia
