The Suez Canal Crisis of 1956

Furthermore, Egypt then gained its independence in 1922, it being granted by the British; but the much of the British remained in the northern region of Egypt and in the duration of World War II, Egypt and the Suez Canal were fundamental connections in the empire of Britain. A government was then under king Farouk in 1936 but the government was very inefficient and corrupt. Egypt was not very happy with Britain’s control of the Suez Canal. In the year of 1952, army officers commenced a revolution to overthrow King Farouk and in 1953 a republic was established in Egypt. The leader of this revolution was Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser and became the

During the 1950s Canadian lives and history changed forever. The Suez Crisis was a political and military confrontation in Egypt that had a threat on the US and Great Britain. The Crisis brought Canadians together to help produce a large-scale peacemaking mission. Canada’s role in the Korean war was to protect South Korea as part of the United Nations and to work as peacekeepers after the war had ended. This war was the first time that women joined senior military ranks, a huge step for Canada and equal rights.

4. In what ways can the Suez Crisis be seen as a conflict between nationalism and imperialism?

In July 1956, international tensions expanded control of the Suez canal, a 193 km-long man-made waterway in Egypt, where is the strategic importance of tense world politics, connecting the Middle East to Europe and having a significant effect for the trade between Europe and Eastern countries.By 1956, Pearson became a federal cabinet minister to solve many international affairs. Everything was smoothly running until Egypt nationalized Suez Canal and the crisis reached boiling point. Britain and

and this did take on a personal nature. It is written that he said he

The Arabs took this opportunity to start an uprising. The fighting continued for twenty years until France, in 1936, agreed to let go of their political influence, but they would keep a military presence there and could benefit economically, which meant they controlled the oil. Four years later France fell to the Axis powers and consequently so did Syria. Since the, now Free French, troops needed support along with the British, they agreed to leave the region completely if they helped them win World War 2. After the Germans were defeated, the French, reluctantly, kept their word and left the region. This, however, did not subside the fighting; what was once a battle for freedom turned into an ideological battle between Shias and Sunnis. Eventually some stability was gained and a proper government was set up. In 1971 Hafez Al-Assad was elected president and the country went from being a democracy to a monarchy. He groomed his first son to take over the country once he died but his son passed away in a car accident before he did. Hafez’s second son, Bashar Al-Assad, took control of the country in 2000 and he has remained in power ever since. Prior to the Arab Spring, there were outbursts, but none significantly affected his regime. Once the Arab Spring began, however, the people of Syria, mainly Sunnis, revolted against Assad. At the same time, The United States pulled troops out of Iraq leaving them without any structure or

The 1950’s demanded a certain kind of American President: one tranquil enough to reside over a post-WWII society, and yet bold enough to propel the country through the Cold War. Though a description of “Ike” Dwight D. Eisenhower as a strong central leader heavily contradicts the construed image of a “kindly grandfather figure, a bit inarticulate and above politics, a man who enjoyed golfing and trout fishing over the routine chores of running the government’ (Neff 37), it is certainly apt. Eisenhower demonstrated a bold daringness in his time as President; one that was masked by a

There has been a great deal of tension that has lasted many decades between the United States. From November 1979 to January 1981 a diplomatic event occurred between these two countries which came to be known as the Iran Hostage Crisis. In Teheran, Iran on November 4, 1979, a group known as Imam's Disciples stormed the American Embassy and captured a number of U.S. Citizens and held them hostage. In total they captured sixty-six U.S. citizens and diplomats however some of these individuals were released shortly after including the women in the group. The remaining fifty-one people remained under gunpoint in the embassy for exactly 444 days. Another prisoner was also later released from the group of fifty-one due to an illness.

In 1958, Muslims and Christians were not getting along in Lebanon. Lebanon had tensions with Egypt because Christian President Camille Chamoun did not sever ties with the Western countries that attacked Egypt during the Suez Crisis. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser did not like this. These tensions were also increased more because the Lebanon President liked the Baghdad Pact. The Egyptian President did not like this pact because he thought it went against Arabian nationalism. Egypt and Syria decided to make the United Arabian Republic after this, and Lebanese Muslims pushed their government to join them.The Christians in Lebanon wanted to stay close to the Westerners who attacked during the Suez Crisis. Internal instability when Muslims

Heavily influenced by foreign affairs, even as Canada grew more distinguished in their own independence, international conflicts continued to be a leading factor in shaping Canada’s identity as a country. Canada’s various stances when it comes to the Suez Canal, and First and Second Iraq wars, are excellent examples of the progress Canada has made within their foreign policy, as they’ve developed as a country over time. Advancing further away from blindly following connected powers like Britain and the United States, Canada finds its ways to show its uniqueness in the face of these conflicts.

With the start of The Cold War, Soviet and US relations were becoming increasingly tense, with the most important objective of the US being to stop the spread of Communism, particularly in the Arabian Peninsula, which was deemed a strategic location due to the resources coming out of the region (oil) as well as the previously established alliances with the countries there. Egypt, now a Republic as of 1953, elected a new president to head its leadership. Initially, coup leader Muhammad Najib became president, but stepped down for president Gamal Abdel Nasser. Nasser chose to align Egypt with the Soviets, as they were actively sending weapons into the country and providing support, giving incentive to the Egypt to opt out of the protection from Communism that the US was previously providing.

The Syrian Congress was not fit, in the eyes of the French government, to act as a fully autonomous state. This despite the fact they constructed their constitution on a westernized democratic style, made up of a parliamentary republic with a "single Chamber to be elected, for four years, by universal suffrage exercised in two stages." Although it certainly appeared to be setting the nation on the right track toward what would have been a democratic, and possibly even prosperous society, the French government denied their path to democracy at that time, and instead implemented their own constitution over Syria a year later. This instance made it terrifyingly clear that the loaded, Eurocentric Mandate-language of permitting “circumstances”

Many other problems surrounded the occurrence of the central problem as Syria has been in the middle of and part of several Middle Eastern conflicts including the Iran-Iraq war, the Afghan War, the Iraq-US Ware, and the 6-day war. Furthermore, the West, specifically Israel and the United States have been known to support anti Syrian groups attempting to overthrow the political regime in place. In the early stages of the ware, many causal factors occurred, including continuing civilian protests that were met with more violence, Unites States imposed sanctions against President al-Assad and several other officials, United States and European imposed economic sanctions, and Russian and Chinese support of President al-Assad. The adversarial nature and military backing of Syria by different world powers essentially transformed the country into a giant chess board in which developed countries picked different sides some siding with the state and others with the rebel groups. Lastly, in a time in which several other countries where overthrowing totalitarian governments in the Middle East including Egypt, social media was spreading the idea that people could in fact make a difference in choosing how they would be governed and that they could demand

“The Soviet-Egyptian arms deal of September 1955 seemed doubly troubling because it signaled new departures both in Soviet assertiveness in the region and in an Arab state’s receptivity to Soviet aid.” (Hahn 151)

The Suez war began in 1956 when the President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. Due to the canal’s great importance to the British and they colluded with Israel and France to regain control of the canal. The Suez Canal was especially important to the British because it connected the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean through the Red Sea. (Milner) This strategic location allowed them to trade and move across the world giving them control of their colonies. However, on July 26, 1956 President Nasser decided to nationalize the Suez Canal due to his anger at the British for withdrawing their loan offer to Egypt. (Milner) Consequently, the nationalization of the canal was a strategic move to lessen the British’s economic and political control of Egypt, which had lasted since 1882. Many Egyptians were unhappy with British’s occupation of their country so Nasser’s policies were popular in the Middle East. This was because the “expression of national