What “Suez Goes Hot” Means

Why is the Suez Crisis not already a “hot war” in this discussion?

The term is reserved here for a scenario in which the superpowers themselves become militarily involved.

The historical fighting differs from the counterfactual at the centre of the seminar. Britain, France, Israel, and Egypt were already engaged in a hot conflict in the ordinary sense. Here, the crisis goes hot only when the United States or Soviet Union becomes militarily involved against the other side's allies. That definition sets the escalation threshold for the later alternate-history analysis.