Suez Crisis

October 29, 1956

After Egypt's Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, Britain, France, and Israel secretly agreed on an invasion to seize it back. Israeli paratroopers dropped into Sinai; Anglo-French bombers hit Egyptian airfields. Eisenhower, furious at not being consulted and fearing Soviet intervention, forced a humiliating withdrawal. The British Empire had been publicly exposed as no longer a first-rank power.