Page 92 - Begrave Thesis_Neat

followed by another -- an initial agreement between Egypt and Britain on 27 July for

the latter to evacuate militarily from the Suez Canal Zone. 212

The deal to evacuate was backed by Prime Minister Churchill, who had

initially declined the approach to withdraw. But the formation and gradual link

between Western-aligned pacts in the East and the West and the subsequent

reduction in expense encouraged him to finally agree to the concept of

withdrawal. 213 Following the Geneva Conference on Indochina in 1954 between

Western and Communist states, 214 the idea of organising a defensive alliance in East

Asia was pushed forward. Hence came the creation of the South East Asia Treaty

Organisation (SEATO) when an understanding was reached on 8 September in

Manila between the organising states being the US, Britain, France, Australia, New

Zealand, Thailand, Pakistan, and the Philippines, giving way to the formation of the

Pact. 215 With Pakistan already in an alliance with Turkey, the West had successfully

linked the two defensive pacts together. 216

The Middle East remained pactless and under the threat of a possible direct

or indirect Soviet incursion. To counteract that the concept of the Northern Tier

212 On JF Dulles’ proposal see Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), vol. XIV, ‘Arab-Israeli
Dispute, 1955’. Doc. 60: Telegram from the Department of State to the Embassy, 31 March 1955; on
the news of Turkey and Pakistan’s signature of a Pact see ‘Turkey, Pakistan Sign Defense Pact: Invite
Neighboring Nations to Enter Alliance Again’, New York Times, 3 April 1954, 8; W.J. Gallman, Iraq
Under General Nuri: My Recollections of Nuri al-said, 1954-1958 (Baltimore, MD: 1964), 22, hereafter
Iraq Under General Nuri; and on the news of Britain reaching an agreement with the Egyptians on the
Suez Canal Base see ‘Full Agreement on Suez Canal Base’, The Times, 28 July 1954, 8.
th
213 TNA, CAB 128/27, C.C. (54), 47 Conclusions, 7 July 1954.
214 For information on the Geneva Conference see J. Cable, The Geneva Conference of 1954 on
Indochina (London: 1986).
215 S. Aster, British Prime Ministers: Anthony Eden (London: 1976), 113; F.S. Northedge, Descent from
Power: British Foreign Policy 1945-1973 (London: 1974), 284; and Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
(SEATO), 1954,
<https://history.state.gov/milestones/1953-1960/seato> [accessed 2 February 2016].
216 Takehy, Origins of the Eisenhower Doctrine, 56.

© Hamad E. Abdulla 71