The Suez Canal Crisis was an event that permanently changed the landscape of the Middle East and was the cause of a shift in political power during the Cold War and subsequent decades. The Suez Canal, located in Egypt, was an important shipping route for many large countries including Britain, France, Egypt, and the relatively new nation of Israel. The construction of the Canal was originally a partnership between France and Egypt and in 1869 the canal was completed, however in 1875, due to the large debt accumulated by the Egyptian government, they had to sell large shares of the canal to the British government. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayThe Canal itself connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea and this made it a crucial route for the European powers of Britain and France to ship oil. At that time two-thirds of all European oil was transported via this route. The post-World War II era was a tense time in the Middle East as many Arab countries, including Egypt, did not approve of the newly formed Jewish state of Israel. Tensions increased when France began selling weapons to Israelis who the Arabs considered a direct threat to them. Several years before the crisis itself, Britain had attempted to mend relations with Egypt after an attempted, but failed, coup to overthrow British control in the region. This led to an agreement to withdraw the British military presence. However, soon after their withdrawal, they attempted to form an Arab coalition in solidarity with Britain centered on Iraq, Egypt's direct rival. These factors inevitably led to retaliation by the Egyptian government, and this retaliation is what became known as the Suez Canal crisis. On July 26, 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, isolating Great Britain, France and Israel from their most important cities. via water. This had the potential to cripple the British economy and to a lesser but significant extent damage the French and Israeli economies. The closure of the canal for France also meant more limited access to the North African colonies over which they already had rather poor control. When the British Prime Minister, Sir Anthony Eden, learned of the situation, he and the President of the United States, Eisenhower, arranged a meeting with all the major nations that used the canal. The Americans pushed for a diplomatic solution, the British and French agreed for a time but used diplomacy as a way to buy time to begin military preparations for the forcible seizure of the canal. In the autumn of that year preparations were at their peak and the French had discussed with the Israelis a combined attack against Egypt. The three-power alliance of Britain, France and Israel was consolidated in October 1956 in the Protocol of Sèvres, however Eden was reluctant and hesitant to include the Israelis. The Israelis had even more reason to launch an attack against the Egyptians as not only did they harbor an ever-increasing animosity towards each other, but for several years prior to this conflict the Egyptians had controlled a region of the Sinai known as the Strait of Tiran. . The Straits of Tiran was a crucial shipping line for the Israelis, and Egyptian control of the area blocked their access to the Red Sea and prevented them from trading with the east. On October 29, 1956, the Israelis began an operation in southern Sinai codenamed Operation Kadesh. The operation began with the landing of paratroopers in the southern region ofSinai with the intent of protecting and maintaining strategic positions to weaken the Egyptian forces. The targets mainly consisted of military outposts and staging bases such as the Gaza Strip to ensure that the Egyptians were unable to send reinforcements or mount counter-offensives. The Egyptians responded to this aggression the following day with a naval retaliatory attempt to use a destroyer to bomb the Israeli city of Haifa to cripple their oil supplies. However, they were defeated and then captured by two Israeli destroyers and a French destroyer stationed there in preparation for British and French operations. The hostilities initiated by Israel, however, were contrary to the plans originally agreed upon by the three nations. Initially the plan was to attack from two sides simultaneously, the Israelis from the air and land in the Sinai region while the British and French would conduct an air and naval landing from the Mediterranean Sea. Meanwhile both sides maintained air superiority and constant air attacks. The British and French, however, saw this as a potential disaster, as the Israelis quickly routed the Egyptians allowing for a greater fighting chance along the Suez Canal itself, which both Britain and France wanted to avoid as it would interfere with the scheduled operation. Thus, on October 30, one day after the start of Israeli operations, Prime Minister Eden and French President Guy Mollet issued a statement, planned in advance with Israel, stating the following: “The governments of the United Kingdom and France have taken note of the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Egypt. This event risks upsetting the freedom of navigation through the Suez Canal on which the economic life of numerous nations depends. The Governments of the United Kingdom and France are determined to do all in their power to bring about the most speedy cessation of hostilities and to safeguard the free passage of the Canal. They therefore call on the government of Israel to stop all warfare on land, sea and air immediately; withdraw all Israeli military forces to a distance of ten miles east of the Canal. The communication was addressed to the Egyptian government, asking it to cease hostilities, to withdraw its forces from the vicinity of the Canal and to accept the temporary occupation by Anglo-French forces of key positions in Port Said, Ismailia and Suez. The UK and French governments request a response to this communication within twelve hours. If at the end of this period one or both governments have not committed to comply with the above requirements, the forces of the United Kingdom and France will intervene with all the force necessary to ensure compliance." This declaration was the last attempt by France and Great Britain to secure their objectives through diplomatic terms. After the 12-hour period had passed without response, the British and French began to mobilize the troops they had amassed in the surrounding territories. On October 31, 1956, the British and French began Operation Musketeer with the aim of capturing and controlling the Suez Canal and the surrounding region, forcing Egypt to surrender. The next day, air attacks began along the canal and against Egyptian strategic targets. On 5 November the landings by sea and air of the 45th Commando Brigade and the 16th Parachute Brigade began. Ground forces were able to quickly secure and establish strategic points along the Suez Canal. From 5 to 6 November, the second phase of the British and French attacks began, codenamed Operation Telescope.The operation began with the dropping of British paratroopers onto Gamil Airport and Port Faud with the intent of capturing and neutralizing the airfields to prevent further defensive actions by the Egyptian Air Force. Although the operation got off to a rocky start for the British, due to the paratroopers being separated from their weapons depots while under heavy fire, both the British and the French achieved their objectives and managed to cripple the Egyptian air force. For the most part the French and English were in support of the military action taken to resolve the crisis, however many of their Western allies strongly disagreed with the actions taken. The United States in particular was very angry at the course of action its allies had chosen to take. President Eisenhower was outraged at the lack of information about intentions that Guy Mollet and Sir Anthony Eden had provided them. Besides that, the United States considered the situation unwise due to the current Cold War situation, as the aggressors' actions attracted the attention of the Soviet Union, which had even threatened nuclear strikes against the three invading powers involved in the crisis if they had not retreated. . States even threatened heavy economic sanctions against the three aggressors, in particular against Great Britain, which threatened to devalue the pound. The United Nations felt the need to intervene and with the help of the United States passed a draft resolution calling for all forces to withdraw behind a designated armistice line. Despite all these attempts, none of these strategies stopped the French, British and Israeli aggression. It was at this point that Canada, a country with very strong ties to Britain, began to become more involved in the situation. Canada's official role in the situation was that of mediator, however, more privately, Ottawa opposed the actions taken by its allies. At the time Lester B. Pearson was Canada's secretary of state for foreign affairs and led the Canadian delegation to the United Nations to help resolve the crisis. Pearson was initially working towards the goal of a diplomatic solution with the other UN states, but when military hostilities began Pearson had to change his mind to find a solution. Working with other colleagues within the United Nations, Pearson came up with the idea of ​​a large-scale, heavily armored United Nations peacekeeping force. On November 4, 1956, the idea was put to a vote in the United Nations assembly where it was approved unanimously. Unfortunately, despite this, the British and French continued Operation Telescope the next day. Eventually, due to continued pressure, the invading forces agreed to a ceasefire which went into effect on November 6, 1956. After the ceasefire, the newly formed United Nations peacekeeping force was deployed to the Canal Zone allowing the attackers to retreat without giving the impression of having been defeated. The peacekeeping force was instrumental in preventing the border between Egypt and Israel from erupting into further conflict by keeping both forces in their respective territories. In December of the same year, British and French troops withdrew completely, and in March of the following year, Israel completely retreated. In April 1957 the canal was reopened to international navigation. In the aftermath of the crisis, both the United States and the United Nations recognized Egypt's complete sovereignty over the Suez Canal. After British and French forces withdrew from the area, both leaders were subjected to heavy scrutiny and.