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
Suez Crisis relatively silent, ally in the US president Dwight Eisenhower who went to the extent of using America's clout in the IMF to make Eden and Mollet behave". The Indian historian Inder Malhotra wrote about Nehru's role that: "So the Suez War ended in Britain's humiliation. Eden lost his job. Nehru achieved his objective of protecting Egypt's sovereignty and Nasser's honour". Britain and France agreed to withdraw from Egypt within a week; Israel did not. A rare example of support for the Anglo-French actions against Egypt came from West Germany; though the Cabinet was divided, the Chancellor Konrad Adenauer was furious