7 August 1946: Turkish Straits crisis reaches its climax

A row over who was allowed to sail through the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus led to a stand-off between the USA and the USSR.

USS Missouri © PhotoQuest/Getty Images
The battleship USS Missouri arrived in the straits, bearing the ashes of the deceased Turkish ambassador.
(Image credit: © PhotoQuest/Getty Images)

For the Soviet Union, the Turkish Straits could not have been more important. Since ancient times, the narrow bodies of water that make up the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles via the Sea of Marmara held enormous strategic importance both militarily and in terms of trade. The only way the Soviet navy could get from its Black Sea ports to the Mediterranean and the wider world was through the straits.

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Chris Carter
Wealth Editor, MoneyWeek

Chris Carter spent three glorious years reading English literature on the beautiful Welsh coast at Aberystwyth University. Graduating in 2005, he left for the University of York to specialise in Renaissance literature for his MA, before returning to his native Twickenham, in southwest London. He joined a Richmond-based recruitment company, where he worked with several clients, including the Queen’s bank, Coutts, as well as the super luxury, Dorchester-owned Coworth Park country house hotel, near Ascot in Berkshire.

Then, in 2011, Chris joined MoneyWeek. Initially working as part of the website production team, Chris soon rose to the lofty heights of wealth editor, overseeing MoneyWeek’s Spending It lifestyle section. Chris travels the globe in pursuit of his work, soaking up the local culture and sampling the very finest in cuisine, hotels and resorts for the magazine’s discerning readership. He also enjoys writing his fortnightly page on collectables, delving into the fascinating world of auctions and art, classic cars, coins, watches, wine and whisky investing.

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