The Suez Crisis, the Six-Day War, and the Yom Kippur War (1956-1973)

Egypt, under President Gamal Abdel Nasser, nationalized the Suez Canal in July 1956, a move that responded in part to the withdrawal of Western financing for the Aswan Dam. Israel, France, and the United Kingdom secretly coordinated a joint military action against Egypt known as the Sevres Protocol, and Israel invaded the Sinai Peninsula on October 29, 1956, followed by a Franco-British intervention presented as an effort to separate the combatants. The United States firmly opposed the intervention, while the Soviet Union threatened direct military action, and combined pressure from both superpowers forced a ceasefire and withdrawal by early 1957, exposing the decline of traditional French and British colonial power.