(1956) International crisis that arose when Egyptian president Suez Canal after Western countries withdrew promised financial aid to build the Aswan High Dam .
The French and British, who had controlling interests in the company that owned the canal, sent troops to occupy the canal zone. Their ally Israel seized the Sinai Peninsula . International opposition quickly forced the French and British out, and Israel withdrew in 1957. The incident led to the resignation of Britain's prime minister, {{link=Eden, Robert Anthony, 1st earl of Avon">Anthony Eden , and was widely perceived as heralding the end of Britain as a major international power. Nasser's prestige, by contrast, soared within the developing world. See also Arab-Israeli Wars .