The Suez Crisis
Britain and France invade Egypt and are forced out by the United States.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 54 days
- Era
- Contemporary, Holocene
Nasser nationalises the canal in 1956; Britain, France and Israel invade in a coordinated operation concealed by a fabricated pretext. American financial pressure forces a humiliating withdrawal within weeks. The episode marks the point at which Britain and France cease to be independent great powers, accelerates decolonisation, and establishes clearly that the post-war order has two centres and neither is in Europe.