I Will Stage A Coup D’état - Chapter 152



Only Noblemtl

EP.152 Suez War (2)

Egypt’s de facto ruler, Nasser, took Lee Seong-jun’s advice to heart.

If you are too hasty in hoping for everything, you will end up losing even what you have in your hands.

Nasser decided to take his time in thinking about the return of Suez.

‘I guess we can think about it when the Aswan Dam is completed.’

Timing-wise, it seemed like the perfect time to bring up the topic.

“Mr. President, what happened with your conversation with the American Ambassador regarding the Aswan Dam?”

President Mohammed Naguib, the man Nasser had appointed as his successor, frowned upon hearing those words.

The president immediately made a shocking statement.

“The loan from the United States was rejected.”

“yes?”

Nasser could not hide his embarrassment at hearing that the loan, which he had assumed would pass, was rejected.

“No, don’t you think we need to dig a hole to start modernizing our country?”

Electricity is the lifeblood of modern civilization.

Without it, the factory could not run and the night could not be brightened like day.

The President explained the attitude shown by the American Ambassador.

“He said he couldn’t give me even a penny. It wasn’t economical.”

“No, does that make sense? What is the population of Egypt?”

Nasser exploded with anger.

The problems didn’t stop at the Aswan Dam.

Major projects, including the modernization of the Port of Alexandria, have been halted one after another due to the suspension of loans.

At once, the Nasser regime began to falter due to a funding crunch.

“Look at that guy Nasser. What, modernizing the country with Arab-style democracy? He’s doing nothing.”

Even within the military, which sympathized with Nasser’s ideology and supported him, voices began to raise doubts about his future performance.

Nasser, a politician before a soldier, felt threatened by this situation.

‘If things continue this way, the regime will collapse.’

If Egypt, the representative of Arab-style democracy, were to collapse, other Arab-style democratic countries could fall one after another.

If that happened, it would be the end.

In this complex and delicate situation, a secret proposal came from the Soviet Union.

“I understand that Egypt has concerns about the Suez Canal. If Egypt nationalizes the Suez Canal, Moscow will support it.”

After much thought, Nasser made up his mind.

‘His Excellency Lee Seong-jun’s advice cannot be ignored. However, if we continue like this, nothing will be done and the reform will collapse. In that case, it would be better to at least try to make a fuss.’

Nasser’s will was soon conveyed to the Military Salvation Committee.

“Then, Suez?”

“It’s time to get it now.”

Nasser brought up the return of Suez with a determined look on his face.

“If that happens, will Young-pyeong just sit still?”

“The Young Princes are old lions who have lost their teeth from colonial wars. If we come out strong, they won’t dare to fight us. Of course, we have prepared safety measures.”

Nasser also sought support from fellow Arab countries with shared ideology, such as Iraq, and the Soviet Union, just in case.

“Of course I will support you.”

In the case of the Soviet Union, it was a bit more active.

“I will send some weapons and tea to Cairo.”

And then, on January 5, 1950, a little later, the Egyptian government abruptly declared the nationalization of the Suez Canal Company and its tolls.

The French Léotard regime, already in a corner due to the colonial war, exploded with rage.

“We gave the Toin guys a hard time, and now even the Arab guys look down on us? We won’t leave these guys alone.”

French public opinion also supported Leotard this time.

Britain, the other owner of the canal, also expressed its anger.

“You dare touch the assets of the British Empire? It’s an economic sanction!”

Even Clement Attlee, who returned to the Prime Minister role representing the Labour Party, could not tolerate it this time.

Suez was a legitimate asset of the British Empire.

Of course, the Attlee regime did not even consider the option of mobilizing the military.

Britain was too tired for that.

Britain agreed to provide financial support for Leotard’s campaign.

With British support, Leotard immediately set about planning to retake the canal.

Of course, Leotard also had learned lessons from several wars, so he did not have the delusion of crushing Egypt on his own.

“Let us conquer Egypt together.”

Leotar reached out to Israel, who had salvation in Egypt.

It was a story Israel had been desperately hoping for.

“Well, I wonder if we really need to fight our Egyptian friends.”

Still, like a Jew, I took it off once.

“Oh, I’ll give you weapons and money, so let’s do it together.”

“Really? Well then, let’s put our hands together.”

The Jews smiled in satisfaction as things went according to their plan.

With this, if Egypt could be defeated, the risk of a two-front war could be greatly reduced.

The two sides held working-level talks in Sicily, Italy.

Here, Israel pledged to provide the main force, while France pledged to provide support with airborne troops, marines, air forces, and navy.

Just two weeks after the agreement was reached, Israel launched a surprise invasion of Egypt.

“No? Israel is coming in here?”

Nasser was taken aback by this situation.

‘no way.’

Only then did he realize why Lee Seong-jun had told him not to touch Suez.

The Egyptian army was heavily defeated by the Israeli army and was pushed back.

Up to this point, the flow was similar to the original.

However, the war did not proceed according to Israel’s plans.

An unexpected twist of events derailed Israel’s war plans.

“I will deploy troops to help the Arab democratic brother countries.”

The Qasim regime in Iraq, which had been sitting still, raised an army.

Qasim calculated that if Egypt were to collapse this time, the number of allies that would form the Arab federation in the long term would decrease.

For Qasim, helping Egypt was the natural choice.

Then Syria, where there was salvation for Israel,

“You may pass through our territory. We will also provide you with some military support.”

Damascus gave Iraqi forces passage, and even provided them with volunteers and money.

The reason Syria took such an active stance was because the Baath Party, which supports Korean-style democracy, strongly demanded support for Iraq and Egypt.

The Suez War quickly escalated into the Second Middle East War.

“Huh?”

Israel had no time to panic.

A few days later, armed groups in Lebanon and Palestine declared war on Israel.

Then Saudi Arabia made its move.

“Looking at the way he is going back, it seems like if he doesn’t do something, he will be isolated in Arab countries.”

Saudi Arabia has pledged to provide significant financial aid to countries involved in the war.

The Israeli government was thus left to deal with a disaster of its own making.

Just looking at the belligerents, there were four: Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, and Palestine.

Behind the scenes, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Oman and others were helping their Arab brothers in their war.

It was, in effect, a war in which all of the Arab forces were concentrated.

The only fortunate thing was that the war was fought right away while the Arabs had not yet modernized.

“This is all-out war!”

Israel has once again pumped up its army by conscripting men, women, children and adults without distinction.

This time too, the desperate feeling that if they lost the war, it would be their end rallied the Jews.

But the fatigue from the repeated wars that could destroy the nation after several years was unavoidable.

‘I was trying to wage a preventive war, but I ended up putting the fate of my country on the line.’

The Israeli Defense Forces were once again forced to fight a brutal war on the front lines of their homeland’s defense.

France, crossing the Mediterranean by ship, saw this mess and had second thoughts.

‘Is this a loss cut?’

If the opponent was just Egypt, I would have gone for it, but if there were four or five countries, going in would have been crazy.

France ignored Israel’s request and returned to its homeland.

“Hey, you traitorous bastards.”

“I don’t know, I can’t hear you. We don’t know.”

France completely forgot about this issue, as if it had ever prepared for war over the return of Suez.

President Leotard never mentioned the Suez issue.

On the contrary, he said something shameless like this.

“In fact, there was talk of attacking Nasser by calling him the Arab Hitler or something, but it’s all an exaggeration. How can a third-rate country in the Third World be compared to a powerful country like Germany? At best, he’s just a gangster who causes trouble in his own neighborhood.”

Leotard washed his mouth clean with it.

Even Israel was astonished at the shamelessness typical of fascists.

“How can someone be like that? Even Lee Seong-jun wouldn’t be more shameless than that guy.”

Israel fought bravely against Arab coalition forces advancing from all sides.

Of course, it wasn’t Israel’s own strength.

“Wow, those Jews are really disgusting.”

The Arab coalition was once again frustrated by the enormous financial resources sent by Jews around the world.

How did the Jews manage to preserve their territory even in this unfavorable war?

The Second Middle East War ended after only two months, but its aftermath was more horrific than Israel had imagined.

“Comrades. This time, we have learned that if we unite as one, we can overcome the crisis. Now that we have shed blood together and become united, let us create a federation.”

“Let’s make it clear that this doesn’t necessarily mean unification.”

“Yes.”

Israel’s preventive war gave birth to the Arab federation that the Jews had so desperately wanted to prevent: the Arab Federation.

The alliance started with just three countries: Egypt, Syria, and Iraq, but the size of these three alone was enough to scare Israel.

As a result, a fierce battle broke out in Israel over responsibility.

“Is this the result of a preventive war? You misjudged and almost destroyed our Israel. And now the Arab Federation has been created. What are you going to do about this?”

Israeli Prime Ministers David Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir have decided to take full responsibility and step down from politics after a bitter dispute.

Since even the war leadership withdrew, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the war ended in a virtual defeat for Israel and France.

The countries were left with mixed feelings about the outcome of this war.

“Putting aside Arabs and Israelis, Britain and France are completely toothless. Are those who can’t even send a single soldier to Suez really great powers?”

It was a humiliation worse than the original translation.

However, in the original text, it was the British who took over Egypt and recaptured Suez.

The status of the British Empire has plummeted once again.

This situation gave Soviet dictator Stalin one certainty.

“If they can’t even protect their own core interests, then the British have no capacity to intervene in foreign affairs. So, even if they start a proxy war in Italy, wouldn’t it be worth trying to see if they can win?”

With nuclear development now within reach, the Soviet Union no longer had anything to lose to the United States.

From this perspective, Stalin arrived at the calculation that it was okay to play with fire in Italy.

“Comrade Zhukov.”

“Yes, Comrade Secretary.”

“Starting today, triple the amount of military supplies sent to Italy.”

“We will take immediate action.”

“Comrade Molotov, go to Italy and persuade Comrade Togliatti. Listen carefully to what I have to say. Do you understand?”

“I will do that.”

So the Soviet Union decided to open Pandora’s box.

The sparks of war began to burn fiercely once again.