What Was The Suez Crisis?

The Suez crisis occurred in 1956 when the Egyptian leader Gamal Abdul Nasser, who had come to power in a military coup a few years before, nationalised the Suez canal, which ran through Egyptian territory. The canal had been constructed in the nineteenth century by the French and was now owned by a consortium dominated by the British. Its operation was regulated under a treaty signed in 1888.

Britain and France were unhappy with Nasser's conduct and plotted in secret to invade Egypt and regain control of the canal. Their plan was that Israel should invade Egypt, claiming that Egypt had threatened it, and that Britain and France should then invade too, insisting that they were there only to separate the two warring sides. This was exactly how it occurred. The invasion provoked worldwide outrage, however, and faced with lack of support from the Americans, and with hints that the Soviet Union might intervene, Britain, France and Israel were forced into a humiliating retreat.