Husbands & Lovers

Content warning: This section of the guide discusses racism.

Historians regard the Suez Crisis in 1956 as “one of the most significant episodes in post-1945 British history. Its outcome highlighted Britain’s declining status and confirmed it as a ‘second tier’ world power” (“Why Was the Suez Canal So Important?” Imperial War Museums). The Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936 allowed Britain to retain a military presence in Egypt until 1956. Access to the Suez Canal was of great importance because it connected Britain to the Middle East, the country’s main source of oil; it was a vital trade route with the Far East, and it provided a quick path for replenishing supplies required by British-Indian troops. However, Egyptian nationalists resented the British presence. By 1951, the year in which the Ainsworths move to Cairo in Husbands and Lovers, tension between the British and Egyptians grew significantly, prompting Egyptian attacks on British personnel. Lucien describes how this situation developed, saying that the Suez was “never really Egypt’s canal [….]. The French came up with the idea, the money came from elsewhere. Then the British bought up our share when Egypt went bankrupt from all these modernization projects [….]. Egypt for the Europeans” (94-95). Many Egyptians resented Europe’s cultural and religious influences and the British and the French’s apparent attempts to recreate Egypt in their image. In 1951, Egypt’s government repealed the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty.

The next year, in 1952, a military coup and its resulting revolution forced King Farouk to abdicate. He was replaced by the Revolutionary Command Council, which “intensified Egyptian demands to take control of the Suez Canal and seized all European-owned property” (“What Was the Suez Crisis?” Imperial War Museums). In 1956, newly elected Egyptian President, Gamal Abdel Nasser, seized control of the canal from the Suez Canal Company, owned by the British and French, and nationalized it. Britain, France, and Israel then invaded Egypt to regain control of the Suez, though they were ultimately unsuccessful. Nasser’s handling of the conflict elevated his reputation in the Arab world, and though the United States condemned the actions of Britain and its allies, the Suez Crisis led to an increase in Soviet influence in the region.

Hannah Ainsworth’s story takes place in the context of the international and cultural tensions leading up to the crisis. Alistair Ainsworth’s oafish behavior as a husband—one who diminishes his wife’s value and significance in the world—is mirrored by his loutish behavior as a diplomat. His racism and casual disregard of Egyptians, embodied by his dismissal of them as “livestock,” is an encapsulation of common, white British attitudes of the era. Moreover, Alistair’s claim to diplomatic immunity after he shoots an Egyptian man in Ismailia demonstrates his egotism and ethnocentrism, though everyone else understands that a murder conviction is far from the worst potential consequence. They fear that his rash choice will lead to riots and further protests. As Beverley says, “If the mob finds out that chap was shot by an Englishman, all hell’s going to break loose” (212). Further, Hannah’s sense that the Egyptians have become “spectators” in their own country highlights the British attitudes and exploitation that led to the armed conflict.