It is a conflict that is not talked about much anymore, but which had a very great importance in the evolution of tensions in the Middle Eastern world and above all in the international geopolitical balance of the immediate post-war period, in the middle of the Cold War. On October 29, 1956, exactly 63 years ago, the Suez crisis exploded, a military clash that lasted a few days (it ended on 7 November of the same year) but which saw several armies competing for the strategic outlet on the Mediterranean: in practice it happened that there was the military occupation of the Suez Canal by France , United Kingdom and Israel, which was opposed by Egypt.
The crisis was resolved when the Soviet Union threatened to intervene alongside Egypt and the United States, fearing the expansion of the conflict and strictly marking Moscow's moves, preferred to force the British, French and Israelis to withdraw. Suez was a conflict remembered by historians for various particularities: for the first time, in fact, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to guarantee peace; for the first time Canada spoke and acted in contrast to the United Kingdom; it was the last military invasion of the United Kingdom without political endorsement from the United States, marking the end of the British Empire according to many. Likewise, it was the last military invasion of France and thus the last act of the French colonial empire.
It was finally, last but not least given what happened in the following decades and still today, one of the few times in which the United States disagreed with Israel's policies. To better understand what was also called "tripartite aggression", we need to remember the background. The Suez Canal was opened in 1869 and jointly funded by the governments of France and Egypt. In 1875, the British government of Benjamin Disraeli took over the Egyptian share, gaining partial control over the canal. Subsequently, in 1882, the United Kingdom militarily occupied Egypt, then part of the Ottoman Empire, and assumed de facto control of the canal. This was of strategic importance, acting as a link between the UK and its 'Indian Empire', and the area as a whole was strategic to North Africa and the Near East.
The Convention of Constantinople, in 1882, however, declared the neutral zone channel under British protection. With its ratification, the Ottoman Empire agreed to allow the free transit of international shipping both in times of peace and war. The importance of the canal was clear during both world wars as, during the first, it was closed to non-allied vessels by the French and British and during the second it was tenaciously defended during the North African campaign.
However, things change drastically after the war: British troops were withdrawn from Palestine in 1947 and The state of Israel was formally established in 1948, soon followed by the Arab-Israeli war later that year, which established Israel's independence. But in 1952 elections in Egypt brought a strongly nationalist government to power, which triggered a series of tensions with the neighboring state of Israel, which centered above all around the sharing of the canal. From there the clash, then resolved with the armistice wanted by the USA and the USSR. The Suez Canal then made headlines again in 1967, during the Six Day War, when Israeli forces occupied the Sinai Peninsula, including the entire eastern bank of the artificial Suez Canal.
Not wanting to allow the Israelis to use the canal, Egypt immediately enforced it a lockout that closed the channel until June 5, 1975. As a result 15 cargo ships, the so-called “Yellow Fleet“, were trapped in the canal for over eight years. Today, the Suez Canal is located in Egyptian territory and is regularly navigable.
