Tag Archives: Arab Israeli Wars

Cold War Chess

On May 16th, 1956, the newly constituted Republic of Egypt under the rule of Gamal Abdel Nasser recognized the communist People’s Republic of China.

Egypt had broken from British rule in 1952 with the Free Officers Movement and their coup which ended the Egyptian monarchy. The influence of the military, and particularly Nasser, shifted to more involvement in the political. Nasser and the other officers ruled through a Revolutionary Command Council and, over the next few years, eliminated political opposition. Nasser became chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council and by 1954 was largely himself ruling Egypt.

In the run up to the 1952 coup, Nasser had cultivated contacts with the CIA. His purpose was to provide a counter balance to the British, should they attempt to oppose the Free Officers in their takeover. The U.S. came to see Nasser as an improvement over the deposed King Farouk and looked to his support in the fight against communism. Nasser himself promoted pan-Arab nationalism which concerned itself largely with the perceived threat from the newly-formed State of Israel. Nasser also became a leader of the newly-independent third world countries, helping create the policy of “neutralism,” having the rising powers of the third world remain unaligned in the Cold War.

It was within this context that the recognition of China appeared to be so provocative.

Egypt had begun drifting towards the communist camp due to a frustration with terms of arms sales and military support from the Western powers. A major weapons deal with the USSR to purchase Czechoslovakian weapons in 1955 greatly enhanced Egypt’s profile in the region, and put them on an even military setting with Israel.

When Nasser recognized China, the response from the U.S. was a counter punch; withdrawing financial support for the Aswan Dam project, itself conceived as a mechanism for securing Egypt’s support on the anti-communist side of the Cold War. U.S. officials considered it a win-win. Either they would bend Nasser to their will, and achieve better compliance in the future, or he would be forced to go to the Soviets to complete the Aswan Dam. They figured that such a project was beyond the financial capabilities of the Russians, and the strain would hamper the Soviet economic and military capabilities enough to more than make up for the deteriorated relations with Egypt. In that event, the ultimate failure of the project would likely realign Egypt with the U.S. anyway.

Egypt’s response continued to surprise. Despite having negotiated that the UK turn over control of the Suez Canal to Egypt, on July 26th, 1956, Nasser announced the nationalization of the Suez Canal and used the military to expel the British and seize control over its operation.

Known Bugs – Arab Israeli Wars

Arab Israeli Wars

Version 0.1.3.0. (April 22nd 2017)

  1. If you move a vehicle, and still have additional transfers left, but don’t want to use them, the system may wait forever for you to make another transfer. This doesn’t always happen, but if it does, moving a unit around within the same front will usually result in the prompt.
  2. If multiple informational displays are shown simultaneously and overlapped, the hide button may show through the upper card from the lower card.
  3. If the card Flanking Maneuvers (+2 to all Israeli units in Target front) is applied to Armored Cars, the unit icon only shows a force value of 4*. It should display 5*. The correct value is used in the calculations.

Ain’t she a beautiful sight?

There was armored cars, and tanks, and jeeps,
and rigs of every size.

Twenty-eight years after the Jerusalem riots saw the beginning of Operation Nachshon. The Operation was named for the Biblical prince Nachshon, who himself received the name (meaning daring, but it also sounds similar to the word for “stormy sea waves”) during the Israelites exodus from Egypt. According to one text, when the Israelites first reached the Red Sea, the waters did not part before them. As the people argued on the sea’s banks about whom would lead them forward, Nahshon entered the waters. Once he was up to his nose in the water, the sea parted.

Operation Nachshon was conceived to open a path between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to deliver supplies and ammunition to a besieged Jerusalem, cut off from the coast as the British withdrew from Palestine. The road to Jerusalem led through land surrounded by Arab controlled villages, from which Palestinian militia (under the command of Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni) could ambush Israeli convoys attempting to traverse the route.

The operation started on April 5th with attacks on the Arab position and, in the pre-dawn hours on April 6th a convoy arrived in Jerusalem from Tel-Aviv. During the operation, the Israelis successfully captured or reduced more than a dozen villages, and took control of the route. Several more convoys made it into Jerusalem before the end of the operation on April 20th.

Operation Nachshon was also the first time Jewish forces attempted to take and hold territory, as opposed to just conducting raids.

Today also marks a first for A Plague of Frogs. We are delivering, for free download, a PC game depicting the Arab Israeli War of 1948. Click for rules, download link, and other details.