Rudyard Kipling wrote his famous poem The Lesson about the Boer War (1899–1902) but Anthony Nutting, the only Minister who was privy and opposed to all of the secrets of Suez from the outset, felt Kipling's poetic lines to be equally appropriate to Suez. As a result, he titled his published version of events No End of a Lesson: The Story of Suez.

The story of Suez began in 1856 when Ferdinand De Lesseps obtained a concession from Egypt to construct the Suez Canal. When the canal opened in 1869 it had an immediate impact on world trade and soon after Britain bought Egypt's 44 per cent shareholding in the Suez Canal Company with France holding the remaining 56 per cent. British influence over the vital waterway increased in the 1880s when Britain gained control of Egypt before negotiating free navigation of the canal, as a neutral zone under the protection of the British military, at the 1888 Convention of Constantinople. In 1914 when Suez came under German–Ottoman attack, Britain established a protectorate over Egypt and sent forces to the canal. Even when, in 1922, Egypt was declared independent, Britain retained control of the Canal Zone. Subsequently, the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty agreed to the withdrawal of all British troops from Egyptian territory except for those deemed necessary to protect the canal and its surroundings.

The Suez crisis was sparked as a result of post-Second World War nationalism. The Anglo-Egyptian Treaty had never been welcomed by Egyptian nationalists and its signing had caused a wave of demonstrations. In 1951 it was universally abrogated by the nationalist Wafd government. A year later, a military coup by the Free Officers Movement – led by Muhammad Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser – overthrew King Farouk and established a new nationalist and anti-imperialist agenda. With a popular new leader in power, President Nasser, Britain agreed to withdraw all troops from Egypt through the Suez Base Canal Agreement of 1954. The agreement provided for the gradual evacuation of the Suez Canal base and subsequent passing of control to Egyptian military forces.