Deputy Foreign Minister
Appointed Deputy Foreign Minister
Role range: 1951-1953
Historical biography archive · Updated 2026-11-03
Dag Hammarskjold Biography and Timeline
Follow Dag Hammarskjold through 65 dated historical records for Sweden.
Dag Hammarskjold, historical timeline
A chronological timeline drawn from matching World History Database records.
65Distinct records
1 of 2Page
1951–1956Years on this page
1951
1953
General
Appointed General Secretary of the United Nations
Role range: 1953-1961
1956
Secretary General Supports Closed Canal Consultations
Dag Hammarskjold supported diplomatic contacts as the Security Council considered the dispute over Egypt's nationalization of the Suez Canal.
Role range: 1956-1956
UN Canal Debate Includes Users Interests
Dag Hammarskjold oversaw diplomatic contacts in which the interests of canal users remained central to discussion of a negotiated settlement.
Role range: 1956-1956
Private Ministerial Consultations Explore Compromise
Dag Hammarskjold facilitated confidential conversations among the Egyptian, British, and French foreign ministers to identify common ground.
Role range: 1956-1956
Secretary General Facilitates Private Canal Talks
Dag Hammarskjold promoted confidential discussions among the foreign ministers to narrow their differences before the Security Council decided the canal question.
Role range: 1956-1957
Mediation Separates Principles From Implementation
Dag Hammarskjold sought agreement on broad principles even though the parties remained divided over the machinery for operating the canal.
Role range: 1956-1956
Six Canal Principles Presented to Security Council
Dag Hammarskjold set out six proposed requirements for a negotiated canal settlement before the Security Council.
Role range: 1956-1956
Canal User Consultation on Tolls Proposed
Dag Hammarskjold's six-principle formulation required tolls and charges to be determined by agreement between Egypt and canal users.
Role range: 1956-1956
User Agreement on Canal Tolls Enters Formula
Dag Hammarskjold presented a settlement principle requiring Egypt and canal users to agree on how tolls and charges should be fixed.
Role range: 1956-1956
Security Council Unanimously Adopts Resolution One Eighteen
Dag Hammarskjold witnessed the unanimous adoption of Security Council Resolution 118, which endorsed the six principles for resolving the Suez question.
Role range: 1956-1956
Development Share Included in Six Principles
Dag Hammarskjold's compromise formula, adopted by the Council, required that a fair proportion of canal dues be used for development.
Role range: 1956-1956
Consensus Survives Dispute Over Implementation
Dag Hammarskjold secured agreement on general requirements while a wider proposed resolution on the means of implementation failed to pass.
Role range: 1956-1956
Resolution 118 Establishes Negotiation Framework
The Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 118, recognizing six principles intended to guide a peaceful settlement of the Suez Canal dispute.
Role range: 1956-1957
UN Recognizes Six Canal Settlement Requirements
The Security Council adopted six shared principles on the canal, providing Dag Hammarskjold with a diplomatic framework for further mediation.
Role range: 1956-1957
United Nations Confronts Sudden Canal Deadline
Dag Hammarskjold's organization faced an immediate emergency when the two European powers threatened force unless Egypt accepted their demands.
Role range: 1956-1957
UN Agenda Expands Beyond Egypt Emergency
The United Nations confronted both the rapidly worsening Suez war and international concern over events in Hungary.
Role range: 1956-1957
Council Deadlock Spurs Emergency Assembly Referral
The failure of the permanent members to agree prompted the Security Council to transfer urgent consideration of the fighting to the General Assembly.
Role range: 1956-1957
Procedural Vote Bypasses Permanent Member Obstruction
Because a procedural decision was not subject to a permanent member veto, the Council referred the crisis to the wider membership.
Role range: 1956-1957
UN Charter Procedures Redirect Blocked Suez Debate
The Security Council referred the conflict to the General Assembly after vetoes prevented agreement on immediate action concerning Egypt.
Role range: 1956-1957
Security Council Deadlock Delays Ceasefire Action
British and French vetoes prevented the Security Council from adopting substantive demands to stop hostilities in Egypt.
Role range: 1956-1957
First Emergency Session Opens After Council Referral
The General Assembly met in its first emergency special session to consider the fighting in Egypt after Security Council intervention stalled.
Role range: 1956-1957
Assembly Takes Up Ultimatum Related Hostilities
The United Nations General Assembly convened urgently after Security Council deadlock over the conflict triggered by the Israeli invasion and ultimatum.
Role range: 1956-1957
United Nations Confronts Overlapping Emergencies
Dag Hammarskjold's organization faced a severe strain as the Suez emergency and the Hungarian uprising required urgent international attention.
Role range: 1956-1957
General Assembly Calls for Immediate Ceasefire
The General Assembly adopted Resolution 997 demanding a cessation of hostilities and withdrawal to the relevant armistice lines.
Role range: 1956-1957
Assembly Resolution 997 Calls for Fighting to Stop
The General Assembly demanded an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of troops from territory occupied during the Suez conflict.
Role range: 1956-1957
Assembly Requests Plan for Emergency Peacekeepers
The General Assembly asked the Secretary General to prepare a proposal for an emergency international force responding to the conflict.
Role range: 1956-1957
UNEF Plan Prepared within Forty-Eight Hours
Hammarskjold prepares the organisational plan for the first United Nations Emergency Force.
Role range: 1956-1956
Hungarian Emergency Referral Follows Suez Precedent
The Security Council again invoked the emergency special session procedure, this time in response to Soviet military action in Hungary.
Role range: 1956-1957
Secretary General Presents UNEF Organization Plan
Dag Hammarskjold prepared operational arrangements for an emergency force intended to supervise a cessation of hostilities.
Role range: 1956-1957
General Assembly Establishes Emergency Force
The General Assembly endorsed creation of the United Nations Emergency Force to assist in stopping the fighting in Egypt.
Role range: 1956-1957
Security Council Refers Hungarian Crisis to Assembly
The Security Council adopted Resolution 120 authorizing an emergency Assembly session on Hungary after Soviet opposition blocked substantive action.
Role range: 1956-1957
United Nations Considers Navigation Emergency Consequences
The international response to the fighting increasingly had to address both withdrawal of troops and restoration of canal traffic.
Role range: 1956-1957
United Nations Authorizes Emergency Peacekeeping Concept
The Assembly endorsed development of a neutral force to assist in supervising the ceasefire and withdrawal of combatants.
Role range: 1956-1957
UN Selects Initial Emergency Force Commander
The United Nations established an initial command arrangement for the emergency force that would operate with host state consent.
Role range: 1956-1957
UN General Assembly Debates Two Armed Interventions
The international organization faced separate emergency deliberations over the Hungarian revolt and the continued Anglo French campaign in Egypt.
Role range: 1956-1957
UNEF Guiding Principles Submitted
Hammarskjold submits guiding principles governing the organisation and deployment of UNEF.
Role range: 1956-1956
Secretary General Outlines Peacekeeping Ground Rules
Dag Hammarskjold explained the operational limits of an impartial force that would not become a belligerent or impose itself without consent.
Role range: 1956-1957
Council Role Gives Way to Assembly Peacekeeping
With the Security Council divided, the General Assembly's decisions on ceasefire and emergency peacekeeping became the principal United Nations response.
Role range: 1956-1957
UNEF Mandate Receives Further Assembly Approval
The General Assembly supported guiding principles for the new emergency force as it sought to stabilize the ceasefire.
Role range: 1956-1957
Records, sources and methodology
These dates and descriptions come from the historical_events database. Exact duplicate records have been collapsed. Names are grouped by the country, Name 2 and Name 1 fields; records with missing Name 2 cannot be reliably assigned to an individual biography. Check the underlying sources before formal citation.