Economic history of the United Kingdom once the territories gained independence and were free to negotiate their own trade agreements. Although the '50s were overall a time of great prosperity for Britain, the Suez Crisis of November 1956 precipitated a financial crisis and a run on Sterling which underlined how fragile post-war British finances were. The tripartite invasion of the Suez Canal Zone by Britain, France and Israel following Egypt's nationalization of the canal (before then majority owned by the British government) was a disaster for British prestige and the economy. The United States and the United Nations came out firmly against the occupation, which caused
Daddy, what did you do in the Great War? on such a scale that "this time there would also have to be a vast recruitment of men like Daddy". There were 1.4 million new volunteers in 1915, up from 1 million in 1914. 2.4 million Britons, or approximately 30% of military aged men, had volunteered for military service. Scholars believe the "scale and nature of enlistment in Great Britain and the Dominions suggest the nations' emotional investment in the war". Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau and Annette Becker have written that the campaign of mass propaganda, including what they describe as the "guilt-inducing and brutal messages" such as "Daddy, what did YOU