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| 1956 |
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| Cold war developments included the anti-Soviet HUNGARIAN REVOLUTION (Oct.) which was crushed by Soviet armed forces (Nov.) | 1 |
| SUEZ CRISIS. The Egyptian government under Nasser (See 1956, Oct. 29) nationalized the SUEZ CANAL following the announcement by the United States and Britain that they would not participate in financing the Aswan High Dam (July). Egypt took control of the operation of the canal (Sept.) following the withdrawal of foreign technicians. A series of international conferences failed to resolve the issues. A coordinated invasion of Egypt by Israeli, French, and British forces resulted in the occupation of Sinai and the canal zone. U.S. and Soviet opposition to the invasion resulted in the creation of a UN Emergency Force (Nov.), which supervised the withdrawal of forces (completed by Jan. 1957). | 2 |
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| 1957 |
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| Cold war developments included the promulgation (Jan.) of the Eisenhower Doctrine on the use of U.S. armed forces in the event of communist aggression in the Middle East, and the test explosion of a hydrogen bomb by Britain. SPUTNIK, the first successful artificial satellite, was launched by the Soviet Union. UN International Atomic Energy Commission established to encourage the peaceful use of atomic power. | 3 |
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| March |
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| The Treaty of Rome established the EUROPEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY, creating a major new economy in the global markets. | 4 |
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| June |
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| The International Geophysical Year began. Thousands of scientists from more than 60 countries engaged in a massive coordinated research effort coinciding with a period of maximum solar activity. Among the achievements was the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts around the earth. | 5 |
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| Dec |
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| The Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Conference convened in Cairo and established a permanent secretariat in Egypt. It worked to define the principles of positive neutralism in the cold war but was viewed in the West as being procommunist. | 6 |
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