What happened
On 26 July 1956 President Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal Company. Britain and France secretly coordinated with Israel through the Sèvres protocol: Israel invaded Sinai on 29 October, and Britain and France, under the pretext of separating the combatants, bombed Egyptian airfields and landed at Port Said in early November. Egypt blocked the canal with scuttled ships and resisted at Port Said; it was militarily defeated, but the invasion provoked a global backlash. The United States under Eisenhower, the Soviet Union, and the United Nations forced a withdrawal, and the UN Emergency Force (UNEF) — often described as the first armed UN peacekeeping force — deployed to Sinai.
Background
The nationalization came after the United States and Britain withdrew financing for the Aswan High Dam. Britain and France, for their part, were canal shareholders and imperial powers in decline.
Consequences
The political triumph made Nasser the leading figure of Arab nationalism. The humiliation, by contrast, marked the end of Britain and France as first-rank imperial powers, and British prime minister Eden resigned. The canal, cleared and reopened in 1957, stayed under Egyptian control.