What was suez crisis

In response, the Eisenhower administration, concerned about dissociating the United States from European colonialism—especially in light of its strident condemnation of the Soviet intervention in Hungary the same week—as well as the possibility that the Soviets would intervene to assist Nasser, pressured Britain and France to accept a United Nations ceasefire on November 6.

Moreover, the United States voted for U. Concurrently, U. Moreover, Nasser had never stopped proclaiming his desire to destroy Israel. One week later, Anglo-French troops disembarked in Port Said. The operation was entirely successful — the Egyptian army was defeated in a few days, even though Nasser had ordered the sinking of some forty ships in order to block the Suez Canal completely. The Soviet Union, in the process of forcibly putting down the insurrection in Hungary, threatened Paris and London with nuclear reprisals.

For their part, the United States, despite being the traditional allies of the European powers, complained that they had not been consulted beforehand. Instead of humiliating Nasser, the crisis increased his appeal in the Arab world as the one who had successfully overcome an assault of Britain, France, and Israel. View all reference entries ». View all related items in Oxford Reference ».

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Oxford Reference. Publications Pages Publications Pages. There was a tide of genuine public support for "our boys" and a widespread mood of hostility towards Nasser. But at the same time - and arguably for the first time - there was a countervailing popular wave of revulsion against imperialist aggression.

Hugh Gaitskell, not exactly the most radical of Labour party leaders, railed passionately against the war. So did Liberals and leftwing groups. Their stand was not hugely popular - the circulation of the Manchester Guardian, which fiercely opposed the war, fell markedly during the crisis - but the anti-war movement was a dramatic, even traumatic, shock for the nation.

What fatally undermined the Conservative government, however, was the dissent in its own ranks. Less than 50 years ago, there were plenty of Tories who still believed in the virtues of empire.

But there was also a new generation which recognised the damage being done to Britain's real interests in the new world, and which was outraged by Eden's blinkered approach. Two junior ministers, Edward Boyle and Anthony Nutting, resigned from the government in protest against Suez. Among those who stayed on, but who expressed deep reservations about the Suez enterprise, was RA 'Rab' Butler, the man widely seen as Eden's heir apparent.

Eden himself was shattered by Suez, politically, physically and emotionally. On November 19, just three days before the last of the British invaders finally left the canal zone, he abruptly took himself off to Jamaica to recover, leaving behind Rab Butler in charge of the cabinet. On January 9, , Eden resigned. The Conservative mandarins who controlled the leadership promptly took their revenge on Butler, seen as the leading liberal in the party, by elevating the more rightwing Harold Macmillan to Downing Street.

It may now seem astonishing to those who were not alive during the Suez crisis that Britain was prepared to take part in such an imperial adventure so recently. Even to those who clearly remember it - including this writer - it seems an anachronism; an atavistic throwback. In , after all, Elvis Presley was already a star, Disneyland had been opened in California, and British theatre was in the throes of the 'kitchen sink' revolution. And yet, though it took place well within living memory, Suez was also a link with a not-so-distant past in which imperialism was a matter of pride rather than a term of abuse.

Indeed, it marked definitively the transition between those two things. British soldiers would go on fighting in various corners of the shrinking empire - east Africa, Aden, Malaya, Borneo and the Falklands - for another 25 years or so.

The difference, after Suez, is that they fought largely to defend local regimes and systems, rather than to impose the will of London. The years immediately following Suez saw a slew of new countries on the world stage which had formerly been colonies and dependencies. There is little doubt that the end of the imperial era was greatly accelerated by the squalid little war in Egypt.

Overview of the crisis The Suez crisis Britannica. Airborne operations Map showing Israeli advance. Nationalisation of the Suez Canal Timeline and brief history Suez and the decline of empire Threat of nuclear war.