Suez Canal Crisis UPSC

 Suez Canal Crisis UPSC | Background & Latest Updates With Map & Quiz –Suez Canal links the Mediterranean with the red Sea. It was constructed by the French in the 1860s.Ownership soon passed to the British. As the canal provided the shortest route to India (and, in later years, the Persian Gulf oil fields), its safety was vital to the British. They decided that they required a permanent military presence in Egypt to guard it. Suez Canal runs through Egypt but is utilized by ships of many nations which would otherwise have to cruise all the way around Africa. In July, 1956, Egypt nationalised this Canal, which was being operated by a private French and British company, and declared that Egyptians would run it now.

• The issue was before the Security Council when, on October 29, 1956, Israeli armed forces moved into the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula.
• Three days later British and French troops landed at the northern end of the Suez Canal.
• There was a veritable fear that the fighting could cause a larger war.