The correct answer is Israel (along with the United Kingdom and France).The Suez Crisis, also known as the Tripartite Aggression or the Second Arab–Israeli War, was a defining military and diplomatic conflict that erupted in late 1956. While the question... Read More
The correct answer is Israel (along with the United Kingdom and France).
The Suez Crisis, also known as the Tripartite Aggression or the Second Arab–Israeli War, was a defining military and diplomatic conflict that erupted in late 1956. While the question lists individual options, historical records confirm that Israel, the United Kingdom, and France formed a secret coalition to invade Egypt. The conflict was triggered by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s decision to nationalize the Suez Canal on July 26, 1956—a vital waterway that was previously controlled by British and French interests.
The invasion was not a spontaneous reaction but a meticulously planned "tripartite" operation. In October 1956, representatives from Britain, France, and Israel met secretly in Sèvres, France, to coordinate their military efforts. They devised a clever pretext: Israel would invade the Sinai Peninsula first. Once the fighting began, Britain and France would intervene as "peacemakers," issuing an ultimatum for both sides to withdraw from the Canal Zone. When Egypt inevitably refused to abandon its own territory, the European powers would launch an air and sea assault to "protect" the canal and, ultimately, depose Nasser.
On October 29, 1956, Israel initiated the campaign by dropping paratroopers into the Sinai and pushing armored columns toward the canal. As planned, Britain and France issued their ultimatum and began bombing Egyptian airfields two days later. By November 5, British and French paratroopers landed at Port Said and Port Fuad, quickly seizing control of the northern end of the canal. Militarily, the tripartite forces were highly successful, overwhelming the Egyptian defenses in a matter of days.
Despite their military victory, the invaders faced a catastrophic diplomatic defeat. The United States, under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, was blindsided and furious at its NATO allies for acting without consultation. Eisenhower feared the invasion would drive the Arab world into the arms of the Soviet Union, which was already threatening to intervene with "nuclear missiles" to support Egypt.
The U.S. applied massive financial pressure on the United Kingdom, threatening to sell off American holdings of the British Pound, which would have collapsed the UK economy. Simultaneously, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of all foreign troops. This led to the creation of the first-ever UN Emergency Force (UNEF) to act as a peacekeeping buffer.
By early 1957, all three invading nations were forced to withdraw. Egypt emerged from the crisis with full control of the Suez Canal, and President Nasser became a hero of the Pan-Arab movement. For the United Kingdom and France, the event marked the definitive end of their status as "superpowers" and accelerated the decolonization of Africa and Asia. The Suez Crisis proved that in the new Cold War era, the world was now dominated by two primary forces: the United States and the Soviet Union.
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