Suez Crisis.

Suez Crisis. Suez Crisis, international confrontation along the Suez Canal in 1956 that pitted Egypt against the combined forces of Israel, Britain, and France. The crisis, which was provoked by Egypt's nationalization of the strategic waterway, triggered the diplomatic intervention of both the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). It was finally defused through the placement of a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping force in the canal zone. The Suez crisis began as a result of the increasingly independent and assertive leadership role played by Egyptian prime minister (later president) Gamal Abdel Nasser. When he came to power in 1954, Nasser followed a pro-Western diplomatic course. He soon diverged from this path, however, emerging as a prominent figure in the Nonaligned Movement, an association of countries that made no formal commitment to either Cold War bloc--the West, led by the United States, or the East, led by the USSR--while often seeking the support of both sides. In September 1955 Nasser arranged to purchase large amounts of Soviet weaponry from Czechoslovakia, a Communist country; at the sam...