Aftermath in Retrospect

Abstract

It was on 3 October 1951 that Britain abandoned Abadan. On the 8th Nahas Pasha, the Egyptian Prime Minister, denounced the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936, the agreement providing a legal basis for the British military presence in Egypt. The correspondent in Cairo of The Times reported:

Events in Persia have been a godsend for the extreme nationalists and the xenophobes who have come to the conclusion that Britain no longer needs to be reckoned with seriously in Middle East politics.

The Egyptian Government proclaimed 15 October as Abrogation Day and on the 16th anti-British rioting began in Ismailia, Port Said and Suez. All leave for British troops in Egypt was cancelled. Some of the soldiers then deployed to protect British women and children from the mob were drawn from the 1st Lancashire Fusiliers and the 1st Loyals, two of the battalions stationed in the Canal Zone, but previously earmarked for intervention at Abadan.

The evacuation of the British management and staff from Abadan and the loss of the refinery had its immediate consequence.

Anthony Eden¹