5 FEBRUARY 1965, Page 20

Both Sides of the Hill

The Making of the Suez Canal. By John Mar- lowe. (Cresset, 35s.) The Arabs. By Anthony Nutting. (Hollis and Carter, 35s.) AFTER his somewhat disappointing book on the Persian Gulf, it is good to find that Mr. John Marlowe's The Making of the Suez Canal is well

up to the standard of his earlier writings. Mr. Marlowe's story of the planning and construction of the Canal is set against the rivalry between England and France which prevailed in the Middle East during the greater part of the nineteenth century. France is shown as giving erratic and usually ineffective support to the aspirations of Egypt's Mohammed Ali and his successors, whilst Britain energetically defended the integrity

of the decaying Ottoman Empire against the territorial ambitions of the Pasha himself and his heirs' desires for complete independence. One

wonders how the Middle East would look today had Mohammed Ali been allowed to retain con- trol of what is now Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Israel, instead of being driven back from the frontiers of Anatolia to the confines of Egypt

The hero of The Making of the Suez Canal is Ferdinand de Lesseps, whose tenacity in pur-

suing his dream of the Canal was unshaken by

the considerable opposition he encountered, par- ticularly from the British authorities. The author also shows himself sympathetic towards the un- fortunate Khedive Ismail, who, like a bear in a bear pit, was harried by every European con- fidence trickster and concession-seeker who could afford the fare to Cairo and who was finally forced • to sell his remaining shares in the Canal Company to meet his debts.

Once built, the Suez Canal seems to have brought little but misfortune to Egypt. Its presence was one of the principal reasons for Britain's lengthy occupation of the country. It began in 1882, and, in November 1956, less than a year after the last British soldier left Egypt, the nationalisation of the Canal led to the Anglo- French assault on the country which is the sub- ject of Mr. A. J. Barker's Suez: The Seven- Day War. Like his previous book on the unsuc- cessful Japanese attack on India, his new volume is principally concerned with military matters and shows in a wealth of detail that Britain, in the summer of 1956, was incapable of mounting a major military operation with the speed that political and military considerations made so essential. Not only did the operation completely fail to achieve any of its aims, but, as Mr. Barker suggests, it was possibly the last time that 'two empires in association would ever try to impose their will on a weaker nation.'

The author concludes from the Suez debacle that Britain could no longer depend upon land bases in Asia and Africa, but would have to make increased use of a British-based strategic reserve allied with an expanded Royal Navy. It is undoubtedly true, however, that the lessons learnt in 1956 enabled Britain in 1961 to carry out a military operation in Kuwait with a speed that was• equally surprising to Britain's friends and her enemies. In describing the events that led up to the landings in Egypt, Mr. Barker naturally devotes considerable space to Israel's Sinai campaign which preceded them. Here also Mr. Barker does not concern himself with politi- cal matters. It is disappointing, however, that

Mr. Maurice Edelman also, in his biography Ben Gurion, has little to say about the part that Israel's Prime Minister played in the planning of Operation Kadesh.

Both the Suez War and the Lavon affair (and the latter remains a very live issue in Israeli politics) receive little attention in Mr. Edelman's book. In fact, apart from the chapter devoted to the Eichmann trial, the bulk of Ben Gurion is concerned with the Israeli leaders career before the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. Mr. Edelman's sympathies are made abundantly clear and he has little time for those Britons who were hostile to the conception of a Jewish state in Palestine. The Arabs, on the other hand, have an able champion in the shape of Mr. Anthony Nutting, whose new book The Arabs is one of the most readable general histories of the Arab people that has appeared in recent years.

Whilst an orientalist might query some of Mr. Nutting's statements, The Arabs provides an account of Arab history which will leave many readers with the feeling that in view of the con- siderable achievements of the Arab people in the past, there is little reason why they should not overcome their present difficulties and enjoy a more peaceful future.

JAMES BELGRAVE