page_title: Mohamed Naguib
section_title: Revolution of 1952
hierarchical_section_title: Mohamed Naguib / Revolution of 1952
caption_attribution_description: English: Republic of China Chinese muslim General Ma Bufang meets Egyptian general Muhammad Naguib.
context_page_description: Mohamed Naguib was the first President of Egypt, serving from the declaration of the Republic on 18 June 1953 to 14 November 1954. Along with Gamal Abdel Nasser, he was the primary leader of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, which ended the rule of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty in Egypt and Sudan.
context_section_description: On 23 July 1952, the Free Officers commenced the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 with a coup d'état to depose King Farouk. Naguib was appointed, first as Commander-in-Chief of Army, in order to keep the armed forces firmly behind the junior officers' coup. Naguib was not a member of the executive committee of the Free Officers and he first learned of the coup several hours after it had begun at about 1 am on the night of 23 July when he was awoken by a phone call telling him the coup had begun. In Egyptian culture, age is respected and as a 51-year-old, Naguib commanded more respect than did Nasser, who was 34 years old. Nagiub's avuncular and jovial personality was felt to make him seem a reassuring figure to the Egyptian people, instead of Nasser and the other Free Officers who were completely unknown to the public before the coup. In the same way, the Free Officers chose to rule at first via Aly Maher Pasha, a politician well known for his anti-British views who had served as prime minister before. Naguib's most important role during the coup occurred during a meeting which started at 10 pm on 24 July, when met a British diplomat, John Hamilton. Hamilton assured him that Britain wanted to see the end of King Farouk, but the Churchill government viewed the coup as an internal Egyptian matter; Britain would only intervene if British lives and property in Egypt were in danger. 
  The prospect of British intervention on behalf of King Farouk was the biggest worry for the Free Officers and Hamilton's message to Naguib caused enormous relief. On the morning of 26 July 1952, Maher arrived at the Ras El Tin Palace where Farouk was staying to present him with an ultimatum drafted by Naguib telling the king he must abdicate and leave Egypt by 6pm the next day or else the Egyptian troops outside of the Ras El Tin palace would storm the palace and execute the king. Farouk agreed to these terms and the next day in the presence of Maher and the American ambassador Jefferson Caffery boarded the royal yacht El Mahrousa to leave Egypt. Naguib arrived late at the dock and according to Caffery was angry about missing Farouk's departure. 
  In September, Naguib was appointed Prime Minister of Egypt and a member of the Royal Regent Council, with Nasser serving in the background as Minister of the Interior. The succession of Fuad II was designed to deny the British a pretext for intervention, allowing the revolutionaries to maintain that they were opposed only to the corrupt regime of Farouk, not to the monarchy itself. However, after consolidating their power, they quickly moved to implement their long-held plans for abolishing the monarchy and the aristocracy. Ali Maher's government resigned on 17 September 1952 and Naguib was appointed Prime Minister. On 18 June 1953, almost 11 months after the revolution, Naguib declared the end of the Egyptian and Sudanese monarchy and the establishment of the Republic of Egypt.
caption: President Mohamed Naguib with Chinese Muslim Kuomintang National Revolutionary Army General Ma Bufang
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