Essay On Suez Crisis

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How did the Suez Crisis Impact Britain’s Status as an Imperial World Power?
The Suez Crisis began on 29 October 1956 when Israel invaded the Sinai-Peninsula of Egypt (“Timeline: The Suez Crisis). Tension had been building up between Egypt and Israel because Egypt’s president Nasser had taken control of the Suez Canal and blocked the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping. This angered not only Israel, but also Britain and France because they needed access to the Suez Canal to trade and acquire Persian Gulf oil. As a result, these three countries united to invade Egypt and take down Nasser from power to let Britain and France gain control of the canal once again (Derek). Although the British and French army succeeded in completely occupying the Suez Canal area in merely ten days, pressure from the U.S. and Soviet Union through the U.N. forced them to withdraw from Egypt (“The Suez Crisis of 1956”). This marked the end of the war and Israel managed to achieve freedom of shipping through the Straits of Tiran. Although the Suez Canal was once again opened to trade, Britain and France mostly suffered from this war because they failed to fulfill their main goals: to remove Nasser from power and gain control of the canal. During this time, Great Britain experienced both domestic and international relations conflicts (Neely) which contributed to its already declining status as an imperial world power by proving to the world Britain’s lack of power over other nations.
Before Britain’s involvement in the Suez Crisis, its domestic situation was quite stable even though in 1955 the prime minister changed from Winston Churchill to Anthony Eden. (“History of Sir Anthony Eden”). Prior to Eden’s election, Winston Churchill was the influential prim...

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...s that was bound to occur anyways due to strong nationalism. Even though it may look as if the Suez Crisis is directly responsible for the independence of some colonies, these colonies had ideas of nationalization for a long time but achieved it after a few years. As Britain was preoccupied with the Suez Crisis, these colonies saw it as an opportunity to demand independence. Furthermore, Britain’s imperial status was weakened tremendously because the Suez crisis proved that Britain needed America’s support and approval in foreign relations. It is still debated whether Britain is still a global power or lost its authority since the events of the 20th century, but it is a fact that Britain lost a tremendous amount of power since its peak of power during the 19th century. The Suez Crisis is one out of such countless events that contributed to Britain’s loss of power.

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