1956 Szapiro Map of the Middle East During the Suez Crisis

Suez Crisis, Mapped as It unfolded.

This rare 1956 Dr. J. Szapiro map of Israel, Egypt, and the eastern Mediterranean documents the Suez Crisis as it unfolded. Published in Tel Aviv during the conflict, it traces the Israeli invasion of the Sinai Peninsula with dated green arrows, while also marking the Anglo-French intervention around the Suez Canal. More than a general map of the Middle East, it is a contemporary cartographic record of the brief but consequential war that reshaped the regional balance of power.

A Closer Look

The map covers the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East from Alexandria and the Nile Delta to Syria and Saudi Arabia, and from Turkey south to the Red Sea. Israel is prominently shaded green, while dated green arrows trace the advance of Israeli forces across the Sinai Peninsula, allowing the campaign's course to be followed geographically and chronologically. A notation in the Mediterranean identifies the British and French Suez Canal Expedition, placing the Israeli campaign within the broader international intervention. Roads and railways are mapped alongside oil fields, pipelines, and refineries, emphasizing the transportation and petroleum infrastructure that made the region strategically important. Geographicus

The Suez Crisis or Second Arab-Israeli War

The Suez Crisis, also known as the Second Arab-Israeli War, the Sinai War in Israel, and the Tripartite Aggression in much of the Arab world, erupted in the aftermath of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser's nationalization of the Suez Canal in July 1956. Britain and France, which had major strategic and economic interests in the canal, secretly coordinated with Israel at Sèvres in October. Under the resulting plan, Israel would invade the Sinai Peninsula, providing Britain and France with a pretext to demand that the combatants withdraw from the canal and, when Egypt refused, intervene militarily.

Israel invaded the Sinai on October 29, 1956, rapidly advancing toward the Suez Canal. Britain and France issued their planned ultimatum the following day and subsequently attacked Egyptian positions, with airborne forces landing near the canal beginning November 5. Although the military campaign was successful in occupying much of the Sinai and portions of the canal zone, intense diplomatic pressure - particularly from the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Nations - forced a ceasefire and eventual withdrawal. British and French forces withdrew by December 1956, while Israel completed its withdrawal from the Sinai and Gaza in March 1957.

The crisis had consequences far beyond the battlefield. Nasser survived the attempt to weaken his government and emerged with enhanced prestige across much of the Arab world, while Britain and France suffered a significant diplomatic setback. Historians often treat the crisis as a key marker in the decline of British and French imperial influence in the Middle East and the rise of the United States and the Soviet Union as the region's dominant external powers.

Publication History and Census

This map was created by Dr. J. Szapiro and published by Israel American Offset in Tel Aviv in 1956. Two editions are known: the present version, printed entirely in English, and a bilingual English-Hebrew edition. The present English-language edition appears to be uncataloged in OCLC, while we have identified examples of the bilingual edition in three institutional collections.

Condition

Very good. Wear along original fold lines. Light soiling. Blank on verso.