suez crisis

Suez Canal The Suez Canal crisis, also known as Tripartite Aggression, was an event that occurred in the Middle East in 1956. It arose by Egypt slowly taking control over the Suez Canal which was followed by an attack from Israel, France, and Great Britain. “The Suez Canal is a man-made waterway in Egypt. It was built by a French developer named Ferdinand de Lesseps. It connects the red sea to the Mediterranean Sea. This canal is important for ships traveling from Europe to and from the Middle East and India.” (The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia) After Gamal Abdel Nasser took control over Egypt in 1954, his main goal was to modernize Egypt. He wanted to build the Aswan Dam as a major part of improvement. Both the United States and Great Britain agreed to loan Egypt the money for the dam, but then decided to pull their funding due to Egypt’s military support of the Soviet Union. This angered Nasser. Nasser then decided to take over the Suez Canal in order to pay for the Aswan Dam. At that time, the British were taking over the canal to keep it open and free for all countries. Nasser detained the Suez Canal and was going to charge for passage in order to pay for the Dam. Britain, France, and Israel made a plan and decided to attack Egypt. Just like they planned, Israel took over the canal and then France and Egypt jumped in. The Soviet Union then threatened to join the Suez crisis with Egypt. The United States ended up forcing the Israelis, the British, and the French to withdraw in order to prevent conflict with the Soviet Union.
The Suez Canal is extremely important for our economy today because it allows ships travelling between the east and the west to avoid the long journey around the Cape of Good Hope by cutting routes of an average of 6,000 miles. Around 8% of global sea-borne trade passes through the