oct 30, 1956 - Suez Crisis

Description:

In 1936, the Anglo Egyptian Treaty was signed, keeping Britains influence over the Suez Canal in Egypt up until 1956. However, by 1954 newly appointed leader of Egypt, Gamal Abdel Nasser, pressured British troops to withdraw from the canal. These decisions were backed by newly appointed leader of the USSR, Nikita Khruschev. Here, with the aid of the Soviets, Egypt seized the canal from the British, nationalising it and making it public property for Egypt.

This waged war between Egypt and much of the West, particularly between Egypt and Israel, over border disputes. The British, French and US would go on to join Israel, pitted against the Soviet backed Egyptians.

The Soviets had been keen on intervening and spreading in the Middle East, and so decided to conduct these actions. Under the Czechoslovakia arms deal, the Soviets would supply arms from the state, which was at the time under the Soviet Bloc. Prior to accepting these terms, Egypt was proposed a similar framework of a provision of weapons by the US, only to find that American troops had to be stationed in the country to attain these weapons. Nasser at first rejected this proposal, for the one provided by the Soviets.