The Suez Canal Conflict

Hello, on school we got an assignment on the Cold war. We are going to write about one of the wars, and I choose the Suez War.

In 1956 a British and French company owned the Suez Canal Company. They constructed and paid for the building of the Aswan Dam, and USA also supported the project. The Aswan Dam was designed to control the Nile's flood waters and provide electricity and water to the Egypt population.

Egypt was turning communistic, and USA and UK withdrew their support to the construction of Aswan Dam. The Egyptian Government decided to take control over the Suez Canal Company, and the president in Egypt, Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the company on 26^th July 1956.

Israel did not like the new government in Egypt, which is why they decided to join the war. The two parts in this conflict was therefore Britain, France and Israel on one side and Egypt on the other side. The Suez Canal Conflict was about the regional balance of power.

The problem was that if Nasser closed the Canal for oil transport, the western countries would not get access to Middle Eastern oil. Britain sent military forces in to Egypt to take the Canal back. At the same time Israel went in. The War was mainly fought in the area around Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula.

 After proximately 4 months the military action was called off after UN got involved in mid-November 1956.

This was the consequences and solutions of the Suez Canal Conflict:

• Egyptian and Soviet political victory
• Israeli occupation of Sinai (until March 1957)
• United Nations cease-fire
• UNEF got access to Sinai
• Straits of Tiran re-opened to Israeli shipping
• Resignation of UK Prime Minister Anthony Eden

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Crisis

http://history.state.gov/milestones/1953-1960/Suez