ABSTRACT
Egypt fielded one of the largest military contingents in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and suffered the greatest losses among Arab armies, but another real impact of the war was the damage it did to King Farouk’s legitimacy. The Egyptian army, together with large numbers of activists, including many members of the Brotherhood, began preparing for a showdown with the British in the Canal Zone. The Muslim Brotherhood, which had joined with the Free Officers in opposition to King Farouk and had fought alongside them in Palestine against the Israelis. All these developments came to a head during the Suez Crisis of 1956. Its immediate origins can be found in the American cancellation of financial support for the Aswan Dam project on July 19. The British–French military operation to retake the Suez Canal was a great military success but a political disaster. The human and material costs of the June 1967 Six-Day War effectively forced Egypt to end its involvement in Yemen.
