On Harold Macmillan And The Suez Canal Crisis

For the United Kingdom, the Suez Canal crisis is a sudden outburst both diplomatically and domestically, which caused economic and political problems, and also a watershed in postwar British diplomacy. Since July 26 1956, when Nasser announced the nationalization of the Universal Company of the Suez Maritime Canal, Chancellor of the Exchequer Harold Macmillan had been taking full part in the decision-making process of relevant affairs in Britain: proposing changes to the operational plan, estimating the financial situation of Britain, and actively lobbying for the support of the United States. After the outbreak of the war, the indifference of the United States placed Britain at a difficult situation, forcing Macmillan to call for a truce. At that time, Eden had resigned and Macmillan had just taken the job, dealing with the aftermath of Suez crisis. Macmillan learned lessons from the crisis, and comprehensively adjusted the British foreign policies, accelerating contraction and retreat from the global strategy, and switched to the independent development of nuclear deterrent, with a strategic focus moving to continental Europe.Macmillan was at the height of controversial argument, because of the promotion from the position of Chancellor of the Exchequer to British Prime Minister during the Suez Canal crisis, and the change of attitude from war party at the beginning of the crisis and Truce camp by the end. In fact, the succession of Macmillan was a choice of behavior according to the situation of the time, and was not intended and linked with his political conspiracy. His fast change of attitude toward the war was rational compromise after accurate judgment of international situation at that time, and was also a strategic adjustment after the failure of attempts to maintain Britain's hegemony in the world. In conclusion, what Macmillan had done was reasonable moves based on the interests of Britain.After Macmillan came into rule, a series of policy adjustments declared the coming of a major post-war adjustment of Britain. The foreign policy of the Macmillan government, in a sense, is the continue of Britain's "three-circle" diplomacy, and a balanced result between the reality of the relative power decline of Britain and the maximization of British interests, and it also reflects flexible and pragmatic diplomatic tradition of Britain. The purpose of Macmillan's timely adjustments and changes of Britain's internal and external policies is to adapt to the changing realities at home and abroad, in order to maintain British power of its voice in the international arena.