Suez Crisis
In July 1956 Egyptian President Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal Company, which had been operated by British and French shareholders since 1869. Britain, France, and Israel secretly coordinated a military operation at the Sevres conference: Israel invaded Sinai on 29 October; Britain and France issued an ultimatum to both sides to withdraw from the Canal Zone, then began bombing Egyptian airfields and landed airborne and amphibious forces at Port Said on 5-6 November. Militarily the operation succeeded in securing the Canal approaches within hours. Politically it collapsed within days. The United States, alarmed by the action's timing (during the Hungarian crisis), refused to support the intervention and threatened to sell British sterling reserves, destabilising the pound. The Soviet Union issued ultimata threatening rocket attacks on London and Paris. A UN emergency session demanded withdrawal. Britain and France halted operations and withdrew within weeks; Egypt retained the Canal. Suez demonstrated that the European imperial powers could no longer act independently of the United States in the post-war order. It marked the definitive end of British and French claims to independent great-power status, reoriented both countries' foreign policies toward Washington and European integration respectively, and gave Nasser a political triumph that accelerated pan-Arab nationalism and decolonisation across the Middle East and Africa.
- Year: 1956 CE
- Category: Military
