Search Results - Suez crisis

The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression,^[3] (Arabic ???? ?????? - ??????? ???????? ?Azmat al-Suwais/Al-?Idwan al-Thalathi; French Crise du canal de Suez; Hebrew ???? ???? Kadesh Campaign, or ????? ???? Sinai War) was a military attack on Egypt by Britain, France, and Israel beginning on 29 October 1956.^[4][5] The attack followed Egypt's decision of 26 July 1956 to nationalize the Suez Canal after the withdrawal of an offer by Britain and the United States to fund the building of the Aswan Dam.^[6]

The Suez Canal was opened in 1869, having been financed by the French and Egyptian governments.^[7] Technically, the area surrounding the canal proper was sovereign Egyptian territory, and the operating company, the Universal Company of the Suez Maritime Canal (Suez Canal Company) was an Egyptian-chartered company.

The canal was strategically important to the British, and hence to the other European powers. To Britain, the canal was the ocean link with her colonies in India, the Far East, Australia, and New Zealand. Because the canal was of such strategic significance, the area as a whole gained enormous importance. Thus, in 1875, the British government of Benjamin Disraeli bought the Egyptian shares of the Suez Canal operating company, obtaining partial control of the canal's operations and sharing it with mostly-French private investors. In 1882, during the invasion and occupation of Egypt, the United Kingdom took de facto control of the canal proper, finance and operation.