What was the Suez Crisis of 1956 and Pearson's Nobel Peace Prize?

The Suez Crisis of 1956 was an international crisis sparked by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser's nationalisation of the Suez Canal Company on July 26, 1956 and the subsequent British, French, and Israeli invasion of Egypt from October 29 to November 7, 1956. Canadian External Affairs Minister Lester B. Pearson proposed the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF), the first UN peacekeeping operation, to separate the combatants and supervise their withdrawal. Pearson received the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize for the achievement, the only Nobel Peace Prize ever awarded to a Canadian.

The crisis arose from a complex mix of Cold War, decolonisation, and Middle East dynamics. Britain and France had withdrawn financing for Egypt's Aswan High Dam in July 1956 in response to Egyptian acquisition of Soviet weapons. Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal Company (majority-owned by British and French interests) to fund the dam and assert Egyptian sovereignty. Britain (Prime Minister Anthony Eden) and France (Premier Guy Mollet) secretly conspired with Israel (Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion) in the Sèvres Protocol of October 24, 1956 to manufacture a pretext for invasion. Israel attacked the Sinai on October 29; Britain and France issued an ultimatum on October 30 and began bombing Egyptian airfields on October 31, with airborne and amphibious landings on November 5 to 6.

The invasion produced a crisis in Western alliance politics. The United States (under President Dwight Eisenhower) was furious at not being consulted. The Soviet Union threatened rocket attacks on Britain and France. The UN General Assembly held an emergency session. Pearson, leading Canada's UN delegation, proposed an international peacekeeping force that would separate the combatants, supervise Anglo-French and Israeli withdrawal, and secure the Suez area until a political settlement. The General Assembly approved Resolution 1000 (ES-I) on November 5, 1956 establishing the United Nations Emergency Force.

UNEF was the first major UN peacekeeping operation. It was commanded by Canadian Major-General E.L.M. Burns. About 6,000 troops from 10 countries (excluding the permanent members of the Security Council) deployed to Egypt starting in mid-November 1956. Canadian Major-General Eedson Louis Millard 'Tommy' Burns served as UNEF Force Commander from 1956 to 1959. UNEF supervised the withdrawal of British, French, and Israeli forces by March 1957 and remained in the Sinai until Egypt demanded its withdrawal in May 1967 (just before the Six-Day War). The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Pearson on December 10, 1957 in Oslo. Pearson's prize laid the foundation for Canadian self-identification with peacekeeping. Canada participated in dozens of subsequent UN peacekeeping missions, including in the Sinai (UNEF), Cyprus (UNFICYP), the Congo (ONUC), and many more. The Pearson Building (the Department of Foreign Affairs and Global Affairs Canada headquarters in Ottawa) is named for him.