On 23 March, Evergreen's Changzhi ran aground after entering the Suez Canal from south to north, unable to move, and stuck on the canal, causing the Suez Canal to block. After many rescues, the Suez Canal was not navigable until 29 March. To this end, Egypt offered Evergreen sky-high compensation, initially asking for $916 million.
It wasn't until early May that Egypt agreed to reduce the compensation to $550 million. On July 4, the owner of the "Chang Zhi" steamship reached a compensation agreement with Egypt's Suez Canal Authority and left on July 7. But the statement did not specify what the exact amount was, with sources saying it was about $200 million.
Do you know that the original Suez Canal almost caused the Third World War?
Recently, because evergreen's Changzhi freighter was stuck in the Suez Canal, many people joked that this was a new "Suez Canal crisis". Then another American diplomat said that if the United States abandoned Japan, the United States would become as irrelevant as Britain after the Suez Canal crisis in 1956.
So, what happened to the Suez Canal crisis of 1956?
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<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="7" > the Suez Canal, almost became the fuse of World War III</h1>
In fact, not only are the current Chinese unclear, but even at that time, most people in the world were not clear. All that is known is that Egypt, Britain, France, Israel, the United States, and the Soviet Union quarreled over the Suez Canal, and World War III almost began.
The Suez Canal was originally dug by French merchants and the Egyptian government in the 1860s, and each held a significant stake. But then the Egyptian government owed britain too much money, so it had to sell its stake in the Suez Canal to the British.
Bonaparte Napoleon made an expedition to Egypt in 1798
Then in July 1956, Egyptian President Nasser announced that he would nationalize the Suez Canal and buy all the shares held by the British and French at the market price at that time. The British disagreed with the French, so Nasser sent a surprise attack to take over the Suez Canal.
The Suez Canal under construction
Just as Egypt was at loggerheads with Britain and France, Israel suddenly sent troops to attack Egypt in October 1956, occupying the Sinai Peninsula on the east bank of the Suez Canal.
Britain and France then mediated, demanding that Israel and Egypt withdraw their respective troops and withdraw from the adjacent areas on both sides of the Suez Canal.
Map of the situation in the Second Middle East War
Israel withdrew, but Egypt did not. So Britain and France sent a coalition army to forcibly occupy the Suez Canal and go to war with the Egyptian army.
Nasser (center) and Khrushchev (right)
At that time, the United States strongly opposed britain and France to invade Egypt, and the Soviet Union was equally strongly opposed to Britain and France sending troops to Egypt, and even threatened to use atomic bombs.
U.S. aircraft carriers
The United States and the Soviet Union proposed and passed a number of bills at the United Nations, demanding the withdrawal of British and French troops. Britain and France finally could not resist international pressure and withdrew from Egypt a week later, leaving the Suez Canal under the management of United Nations forces.
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<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="24" After > the Suez Canal crisis, world hegemony was established as the hegemony of the United States and Russia</h1>
Later, the world gradually discovered that in fact, all this was the collusion between Britain and France and Israel. Before the war, diplomats from the three sides met secretly on the outskirts of Paris and agreed that Israel would send troops to the Sinai Peninsula first, and then Britain and France would pretend to mediate, proposing a term acceptable to Israel but impossible for Egypt.
Then, when Egypt refused the terms of the armistice proposed by Britain and France, Britain and France would send troops to occupy and regain the right to operate the Suez Canal.
Later historians believe that the Suez Canal crisis marked the end of British and French imperialism. When the crisis first began, Britain and France felt that they were still international geopolitical giants, and they could use their strength to regain their overseas colonies and various privileges.
But when the two superpowers of the United States and the Soviet Union intervened, Britain and France realized that their time had passed, and they were not a coffee at all. Not only were they inferior in strength to the United States and the Soviet Union, but they were also completely morally untenable.
After the Suez Canal crisis, the top five in the UN Security Council have essentially become two. The United States and the Soviet Union occupied the center of the stage, while Britain and France could only stand on the sidelines.