1. The Suez Canal The First Test

2. The Suez Canal "The highway to India" is an artificial waterway that connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea The Canal is owned by Egypt, and eliminates the need to go around Africa At the start of the Cold War, it was operated by France and Britain, but was seized in 1956 by the Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser

3. The Suez Canal Nasser claimed that he took action because Britain and France refused to support the building of a dam on the Nile River Many leaders saw this as troubling because Nasser was friendly with the Soviets, and the Soviets encouraged Nasser to take action

4. The Suez Canal This conflict pushed the world to the brink of another war Many people knew that if the UN failed to resolve the conflict, a new global war would inevitably ensue

5. The Conflict The situation immediately escalated when Britain, France and Israel attacked Egypt Nasser went to the Soviet leader Khrushchev, and he threatened to "shower the West with nuclear weapons" if the attackers did not withdrawal

6. Lester B. Pearson When the world was ready to go to war, Lester B. Pearson, a Canadian, stepped up at the UN He proposed that Britain and France remove their troops, and instead send a UN peacekeeping force

7. Lester B. Pearson All 57 members of the UN sided with Pearson, and the first international peacekeeping force of 6000 troops from 10 different nations was sent to Egypt This force remained in Egypt from 1957-1967

8. The Aftermath The peacekeeping force was eventually forced out of the Middle East in 1967 Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize and was later elected Prime Minister when the Liberal Party won in 1963 Toronto Pearson International Airport was named in honor of the great Pearson for his efforts in preventing world destruction