In autumn 1956 the world watched two crises at once: the Anglo-French landing at the Suez Canal and Soviet tanks in Budapest.

1956

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The events

• The Suez Crisis1956 · Port Said, Egypt. On 26 July 1956 Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal. In late October Israel, Britain and France, acting on a secret pact, attacked Egypt and landed troops at Port Said. But the US and USSR demanded an end to the war, and the invaders had to withdraw. Nasser became a hero of the Arab world, British Prime Minister Eden resigned, and the UN deployed its first peacekeeping force.
• Hungarian Revolution of 19561956 · Budapest. On 23 October 1956 a student demonstration in Budapest grew into a revolt, and Imre Nagy's government announced withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact. Soviet troops crushed it from 4 November; about 2,500 Hungarians died and 200,000 fled.

20th century

More amazing facts

• 1938 Three months after the Munich Agreement, Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann in Berlin discovered the fission of uranium.
• 1953 Spring 1953: the structure of DNA was published on 25 April, and on 29 May Hillary and Tenzing reached the top of Everest.
• 1957 1957: the USSR launched the first satellite, and six countries signed the Treaty of Rome, the seed of the future EU.
• 1957 1957: Ghana became one of the first countries in sub-Saharan Africa to throw off colonial rule, and the USSR launched the first satellite.
• 1960 In 1960, 17 African countries gained independence — more than in any other single year in history.
• 1961 Gagarin flew into space in April 1961; that August, the Berlin Wall went up.

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