reference to a crisis concerning the Suez Canal, a canal in northeastern Egypt that connects the Mediterranean and Red Seas. For many years this canal had been open to ships of all nations in peace and war. This changed in 1956 when the president of Egypt nationalized the company that controlled the canal and excluded Israeli shipping from the canal. England and France began bombing Egypt the next day, and Russia threatened intervention on the side of Egypt. See also Red Sea in this glossary.—LCDH Approved Glossary