‘Wrong on every count’: How the Guardian reported the 1956 Suez crisis

The military conflict in Egypt involving the UK, France and Israel that ended with a humiliating exit for the two European nations

On 26 July 1956, Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser announced the nationalisation of the Suez Canal Company, the joint British-French enterprise which had owned and operated the canal since its construction in 1869. Both countries saw this as a threat to their interests and responded with a coordinated attack (with Israel) to take back the canal zone.

Israeli forces swept into the Sinai desert on 29 October and two days later there was an Anglo-French bombing campaign against Egyptian military targets. But on 6 November, under intense pressure from the international community and particularly the US, Britain and France accepted a UN-mandated ceasefire.