Suez Crisis

(noun)

A diplomatic and military confrontation in late 1956 between Egypt on one side, and Britain, France, and Israel on the other. The attack on Egypt followed Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser's decision to nationalize the Suez Canal. The aims of the attack were primarily to regain Western control of the canal and to remove Nasser from power. As a result of outside pressure, Britain and France failed to achieve their aims.

Related Terms

Examples of Suez Crisis in the following topics:

  • The 1956 Suez Crisis

  • Superpower Rivalry

    • The 1956 Suez Crisis suggested that Britain, financially weakened by two world wars, could no longer pursue its foreign policy objectives on an equal footing with the new superpowers without sacrificing convertibility of its reserve currency as a central goal of policy.

  • Modern Republicanism

    • Eisenhower forced Israel, the UK, and France to end their invasion of Egypt during the Suez Crisis of 1956.

  • The Cold War Begins

    • The 1956 Suez Crisis suggested that Britain, financially weakened by two world wars, could no longer pursue its foreign policy objectives on an equal footing with the new superpowers without sacrificing convertibility of its reserve currency as a central goal of policy.

  • Conclusion: Truman and the Beginning of the Cold War

    • The Berlin Blockade (1948–49) was the first major crisis of the Cold War.
    • The expansion and escalation sparked more crises, such as the Suez Crisis (1956), the Berlin Crisis of 1961, and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

  • The Eisenhower Administration

    • In 1956, Eisenhower warned Britain repeatedly not to use force to regain control of the Suez Canal, which Egypt had nationalized.
    • After the Suez Crisis the United States became the protector of unstable friendly governments in the Middle East via the "Eisenhower Doctrine."
    • Eisenhower came under heavy criticism after the Sputnik launch, and his administration responded to this crisis with many strategic initiatives, including the creation of NASA in 1958 and a speeding up of the American space program.

  • The United Nations

    • In 1956, the first UN peacekeeping force was established to end the Suez Crisis; however, the UN was unable to intervene against the USSR's simultaneous invasion of Hungary following that country's revolution.
    • It stayed on until 1964 to help maintain stability and prevent the breakup of the country during the Congo Crisis.

  • Nixon and Foreign Policy

    • Nixon had been a firm supporter of Kennedy in the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion and the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
    • These activities worried the Soviets and Cubans, who feared Nixon might attack Cuba, in violation of the 1962 agreement which had ended the missile crisis.
    • The president believed that—except during the Suez Crisis—the U.S. had failed to put sufficient pressure on Israel to do its part in the conflict resolution process.
    • The war resulted in the 1973 oil crisis, in which Arab nations refused to sell crude oil to the U.S. in retaliation for its support of Israel.
    • The of the energy crisis lingered on throughout the 1970s, amid the weakening competitive position of the dollar in world markets.

  • The Refugee Crisis

  • The Cuban Missile Crisis