The Suez Crisis
Nasser nationalizes the canal, Israel, Britain, and France invade, and Washington forces them to withdraw
Quick facts
- Nationalization announced
- 26 July 1956
- Israeli invasion of Sinai
- 29 October 1956
- UN ceasefire accepted
- 6 November 1956
- Invading powers
- Israel, Britain, France
What happened
On 26 July 1956, President Gamal Abdel Nasser announced the nationalization of the Suez Canal Company, seizing the canal from the British and French shareholders who had controlled it since the 1870s. Israeli forces attacked across Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on 29 October 1956, advancing to within ten miles of the canal, and Britain and France, claiming to be protecting the waterway from the two combatants, landed their own troops days later. The Eisenhower administration pressured all three governments to accept a United Nations ceasefire on 6 November, with the United States voting for UN resolutions condemning the invasion and publicly censuring its own major allies.
Why it matters
The crisis forced Britain and France into a humiliating withdrawal under American and Soviet pressure, marking the effective end of their status as independent great powers able to act militarily in the Middle East without Washington's consent. Nasser's political survival and his ability to keep the nationalized canal cemented his standing as the leading figure of Arab nationalism across the region.
How we know
The nationalization, the invasion, and the American-led pressure that ended the crisis are documented in the US State Department's official historical account of the episode.
Sources
- US Department of State, Office of the Historian. The Suez Crisis, 1956 · Reputable sourcehistory.state.gov · The domain "history.state.gov" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- World History Encyclopedia. Britain and the Suez Canal: 75 Years of Colonialism & Crisis · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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