Today in History: 23 July 1952: Gamal Nasser Pulls the Strings as General Naguib Overthrows Egypt's King Farouk I Egypt King Farouk I of Egypt is overthrown by the Free Officers Movement led by General Muhammad Naguib. Gamal Abdel Nasser created the movement and is the peson who is really behind the coup, but Naguib is a respected military officer who provides credibility. The new revolutionary government of Egypt is nationalist and anti-imperialist, which means that it's a target for western powers like Britain and France which consider nationalist movements in the Middle East to be threats to their interests. This Egyptian revolution will inspire many other nationalist, anti-imperialist revolutions in nations like Algeria and Kenya.

Video Gamal Abdel Nasser | president of Egypt | Britannica.com Gamal Abdel Nasser Alternative Title: Jamal ʿAbd an-Nāṣīr Gamal Abdel Nasser Ramses III Gamal Abdel Nasser, Arabic Jamāl ʿAbd al-Nāṣīr (born January 15, 1918, Alexandria , Egypt —died September 28, 1970, Cairo ), army officer, prime minister (1954–56), and then president (1956–70) of Egypt who became a controversial leader of the Arab world, creating the short-lived United Arab Republic (1958–61), twice fighting wars with Israel (1956, 1967), and engaging in such inter-Arab policies as mediating the Jordanian civil war (1970). Gamal Abdel Nasser. © Bettmann/Corbis Early life Nasser was born in a mud-brick house on an unpaved street in the Bacos section of Alexandria, where his father was in charge of the local post office.

In an effort to cultivate a more earthy image of the president as a member of the class of rural agrarians (fellahin), Egyptian government publications for years gave his birthplace as Banī Murr, the primitive Upper Egypt village of his ancestors. From Alexandria, Nasser’s father was transferred to Al-Khaṭāṭibah, a squalid delta village, where the boy got his first schooling. Then he went to live in Cairo with an uncle who had just been released from a British prison and had rooms in a building occupied by nine Jewish families. Constantly in trouble with schoolteachers, some of them British, Nasser took part in many anti-British street demonstrations. In one he received a blow on the forehead that left a lifelong scar. After secondary school he went to a law college for several months and then entered the Royal Military Academy, graduating as a second lieutenant.

While serving in the Egyptian army in the Sudan, Nasser met three fellow officers—Zakariyyā Muḥyi al-Dīn (Zakaria Mohieddine), later vice president of the United Arab Republic; ʿAbd al-Ḥakīm ʿĀmir , later field marshal; and Anwar el-Sādāt , who would succeed Nasser as president. Together, they planned a secret revolutionary organization, the Free Officers, whose composition would be known only to Nasser; their aim was to oust the British and the Egyptian royal family. In the 1948 Arab war against the newly created State of Israel, Nasser was an officer in one of three battalions surrounded for weeks by the Israelis in a group of Arab villages called the Faluja Pocket. (See Arab-Israeli wars .) Attainment of power On July 23, 1952, Nasser and 89 other Free Officers staged an almost bloodless coup d’état , ousting the monarchy.

Sādāt favoured the immediate public execution of King Farouk I and some members of the establishment, but Nasser vetoed the idea and permitted Farouk and others to go into exile. The country was taken over by a Revolutionary Command Council of 11 officers controlled by Nasser, with Major General Muḥammad Naguib as the puppet head of state . For more than a year Nasser kept his real role so well hidden that astute foreign correspondents were unaware of his existence, but in the spring of 1954, in a complicated series of intrigues, Naguib was deposed and placed under house arrest , and Nasser emerged from the shadows and named himself prime minister. That same year an Egyptian fanatic allegedly tried to assassinate Nasser at a mass meeting in Alexandria. When the gunman confessed that he had been given the assignment by the Muslim Brotherhood , Nasser cracked down on this extremist Muslim religious organization. Britannica Stories Scientists Ponder Menopause in Killer Whales In January 1956 Nasser announced the promulgation of a constitution under which Egypt became a socialist Arab state with a one-party political system and with Islam as the official religion.

In June, 99.948 percent of the five million Egyptians voting marked their ballots for Nasser, the only candidate, for president. The constitution was approved by 99.8 percent. As Nasser took titular as well as actual control, Egypt’s prospects looked bright. A secret contract had been signed with Czechoslovakia for war matériel, and Great Britain and the United States had agreed to put up $270 million to finance the first stage of the Aswān High Dam project. But on July 20, 1956, the U.S. secretary of state, John Foster Dulles , canceled the U.S. offer; the next day Britain followed suit. Five days later, addressing a mass meeting in Alexandria, Nasser announced the nationalization of the Suez Canal , promising that the tolls Egypt collected in five years would build the dam. Both Britain and France had interests in the canal and conspired with Israel—whose relations with Egypt had grown even more tense after the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948–49—to best Nasser and regain control of the canal.

According to their plan, on October 29, 1956, Israeli forces invaded the Sinai Peninsula . Two days later, French and British planes attacked Egyptian airfields. Although the Israelis occupied the Sinai Peninsula to Sharm al-Shaykh and the Egyptian air force was virtually destroyed, Nasser emerged from the brief war with undiminished prestige throughout the Arab world. (See Suez Crisis .) Britannica Lists & Quizzes Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies In Philosophy of the Revolution, which he wrote in 1954, Nasser told of “heroic and glorious roles which never found heroes to perform them” and outlined his aspiration to be the leader of the 55 million Arabs, then of the 224 million Africans, then of the 420 million followers of Islam. In 1958 Syria and Egypt formed the United Arab Republic , which Nasser hoped would someday include the entire Arab world. Syria withdrew in 1961, but Egypt continued to be known as the United Arab Republic until 1971. That was as close as Nasser ever came to realizing his tripartite dream.

Nasser’s accomplishments Egypt Since the Pharoahs There were other accomplishments, however. The Aswān High Dam, built with the help of the Soviet Union , began operating in 1968; 20th-century life was introduced into many villages; industrialization was accelerated; land reforms broke up Egypt’s large private estates; a partially successful campaign was conducted against corruption; and women were accorded more rights than they had ever had, including the right to vote. A new middle class began to occupy the political and economic positions once held in Egypt by Italians, Greeks, French, Britons, and other foreigners, whom Nasser now encouraged—sometimes not gently—to leave the country. Nasser’s outstanding accomplishment was his survival for 18 years as Egypt’s political leader, despite the strength of his opponents: communists, Muslim extremists, old political parties, rival military cliques, dispossessed landowners, supporters of Naguib, and what was left of the foreign colony. On the negative side, Nasser made Egypt a police state, in which mail was opened, the communications media were strictly censored, the chief newspapers were nationalized, telephones were tapped, and visitors’ rooms were searched.

Political democracy in the Western sense was nonexistent. One-party candidates for office were handpicked by Nasser and his close associates. Political enemies were herded into concentration camps in the desert. Life was little changed for most fellahin. The birth rate remained so high as to defeat attempts to increase the living standard. Connect with Britannica Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest In foreign affairs Nasser joined Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia and Jawaharlal Nehru of India as an advocate of nonalignment, or “positive neutrality.” At the Bandung Conference of Asian and African nations in 1955, he emerged as a world figure. His refusal to recognize Israel and Egypt’s defeat by Israel in 1956 led him to divert vast sums into military channels that might have gone to implementing his social revolution. Egyptian troops supported the Republican Army in Yemen’s civil war starting in 1962. But they were withdrawn in 1967 when war broke out again between Egypt and Israel in June after Nasser had requested that the United Nations remove its peacekeeping troops from the Gaza Strip and Sharm al-Shaykh and then closed the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping.

The conflict came to be known as the Six-Day (or June) War. After the Egyptian air force was destroyed on the ground and the Egyptian army was forced to retreat across the Suez , Nasser attempted to resign, but massive street demonstrations and a vote of confidence by the National Assembly induced him to remain in office. The Soviet Union immediately began replacing all the destroyed war equipment and installed surface-to-air missiles along the Suez as a cover for Egypt’s artillery emplacements. Nasser had tentatively accepted a U.S. plan leading to peace negotiations with Israel when he died, in 1970, from a heart attack. Assessment Although complex and revolutionary in his public life, privately Nasser was conservative and simple. No other Arab leader in modern times has succeeded in winning the sometimes hysterical support of Arab masses throughout the Middle East as did Nasser during the last 15 years of his life. Even the loss of two wars, with disastrous results for Egypt, did not dim the popularity of this charismatic , almost mythogenic, army officer who became the first true Egyptian to rule the country in several millennia, giving his people the dignity denied them under foreign rule.

Yet he failed in his ambition to create a unified Arab world, and before his death he was forced to sacrifice some of Egypt’s political independence for the military support of the Soviet Union. Nasser elected president - Jun 23, 1956 - HISTORY.com Nasser elected president Publisher A+E Networks On June 23, 1956, 99.95 percent of Egyptian voters mark their ballots to elect Gamal Abdel Nasser as the first president of the Republic of Egypt. Nasser, who toppled the Egyptian monarchy in 1952 in a military coup, was the only presidential candidate on the ballot. In the same ballot, Nasser’s new constitution, under which Egypt became a one-party socialist state with Islam as the official religion, was approved by 99.8 percent of voters. Gamal Abdel Nasser was born in Alexandria in 1918. As a youth, he participated in demonstrations against British rule in Egypt. After secondary school, he studied at a law college for several months and then entered the Royal Military Academy. In 1938, he graduated as a second lieutenant.

While serving in the Sudan during World War II, he helped found a secret revolutionary organization, the Free Officers, whose members sought to overthrow the Egyptian royal family and oust the British. In 1948, Nasser served as a major in the first Arab-Israeli war and was wounded in action. On July 23, 1952, Nasser led 89 other Free Officers in an army coup that deposed the regime of King Farouk. A new government was formed by the Nasser-led Revolutionary Command Council, of which Major General Muhammad Naguib was the figurehead leader. In 1954, Nasser emerged from behind the scenes, removed Naguib from power, and proclaimed himself prime minister of Egypt. For the next two years, Nasser ruled as an effective and popular leader and promulgated a new constitution that made Egypt a socialist Arab state, consciously nonaligned with the prevalent communist and democratic-capitalist systems of the Cold War world. On June 23, 1956, Egyptian voters overwhelming approved the new constitution and Nasser’s presidency.

One month later, President Nasser faced a major crisis when the United States and Great Britain reversed their decision to finance a high dam on the Nile River in light of an Egyptian arms agreement with the USSR. In response, Nasser nationalized the British and French-owned Suez Canal, intending to use tolls to pay for his high dam project. At the end of October 1956, Israel, Britain, and France attacked Egypt in a joint operation. The Suez Canal was occupied, but Soviet and U.N. pressure forced Israel, Britain, and France to withdraw, and the Suez Canal was left in Egyptian hands in 1957. The episode greatly enhanced Nasser’s prestige in the Arab world, and in 1958 he oversaw the unification of Egypt and Syria as the United Arab Republic, of which he became president. He dreamed of bringing all the Arab world into the United Arab Republic, but in 1961 Syria withdrew from the entity following a military coup, leaving Egypt alone. From 1962 to 1967, Egypt intervened in a civil war in Yemen on behalf of the anti-royalists.

In 1967, increased Arab-Israeli tension led Egypt to mobilize its forces and demand the withdrawal of U.N. peacekeepers from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Egypt and five other Arab nations prepared for a united strike against Israel, but Israel preempted the attack, beginning the Six-Day War with the destruction of Egypt’s air force on June 5. Egypt and the other Arab belligerents were decisively defeated, and Israeli forces captured all the Sinai and crossed the Suez Canal. In the aftermath of the military disaster, Nasser attempted to resign, but popular demonstrations and a vote of confidence by the Egyptian National Assembly persuaded him to remain in office. After the Six-Day War, Nasser accepted greater Soviet military and economic aid, compromising Egypt’s status as a “nonaligned” state, such as Josip Broz Tito’s Yugoslavia or Jawaharlal Nehru’s India. In July 1970, the Aswan High Dam was completed with Soviet assistance, providing a major boost to the Egyptian economy. Two months later, Nasser died of a heart attack in Cairo. He was succeeded by Anwar el-Sadat, a fellow Free Officer.

Despite his military defeats, Nasser was a consistently popular leader during his 18 years in power. His economic policies and land reforms improved the quality of life for many Egyptians, and women were granted many rights during his tenure. His ascendance ended 2,300 years of rule by foreigners, and his independent policies won him respect not just in Egypt but throughout the world. Related Videos Gamal Abdel Nasser Encyclopedia of the Middle East Gamal Abdel Nasser donations Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser - Gamal Abdel Nasser (also - Gemal Abd-El Nasser and several variants) ( Arabic : جمال عبد الناصر‎; Jamal ‘Abd an-Nāsir) was born January 15, 1918 in Alexandria Egypt and died September 28, 1970 in Cairo. Together with fellow officers, he overthrew the Egyptian monarchy in 1952 in a CIA backed coup, and then maneuvered himself into the Egyptian presidency. The rule of his Pan-Arab Nasserist Free Officers Movement was to have brought democracy, industrialization, socialism and agrarian reform to Egypt.

Nasser successfully moved Egypt to the front and center of the Arab nationalist movement, but he instituted a despotic rule that brooked little opposition, embarked on military and diplomatic adventures and built up the Egyptian military at the expense of other development. He was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death in 1970. Despite his disastrous failings, Nasser is still revered in much of the Arab world. Nasser was born to a postal worker of peasant stock. His family were Fellahin peasants who lived in Beni Mur in the Asyut governate in upper Egypt. Nasser's mother, Fahima Hamad, died in 1926 when Nasser was eight years old. His father remarried and had seven more children. Even in grammar school, he apparently participated in demonstrations against the English occupation. From age eleven, Nasser attended the Ras-al-Tin, Nahaseen and an al-Nahda secondary schools in Alexandria. In 1937, Nasser entered the military academy at Cairo. There he met Abdel Hakim Amer and Anwar Sadat, who were to be among his foremost associates.

Nasser graduated in 1938 with the rank of second lieutenant, and, after serving hear his home town, he volunteered for a posting in Sudan. During World War II, Nasser and Anwar Sadat contacted agents of the Axis powers, primarily Italians, and planned a coup that would expel the British from Egypt. The coup was never carried out.(Stephens, Robert Henry. Nasser; A Political Biography. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1972, pp 50-54). In 1943 Nasser became an instructor at the military academy and then at the army staff college. Nasser was part of the Egyptian force that invaded Israel in the 1948 Arab-Israel War and was bitter about the poor organization and performance of the army. He was trapped along with other Egyptian soldiers in the Falluja pocket (in the area of Plugot and Qiriat Gat in what is now Israel) and taken prisoner by the Israelis. This experience was not the start of his political involvement, which already had a long history, but it most likely intensified it. In 1949 Nasser formally organized the "Free Officers group from among his friends and confidantes.

On July 23, 1952 the Free Officers seized all government buildings, radio stations, police stations, and the army headquarters in Cairo. The coup made General Muhammad Naguib, one of its leaders, President. Coup leaders deceptively assured Britain that it would respect British citizens and property in Egypt, preventing British intervention. The new government was backed by the US Central Intelligence Agency, though it is not clear that the CIA had backed the coup. The Free Officers allowed the deposed King Farouk and his family to “leave Egypt unharmed and ‘with honor.’” Following the coup, Egyptian and other historiography, cued by Nasser made King Farouk out to be a despot and a degenerate, justifying the coup and making it seem "inevitable." In recent years however, the Egyptian government has somewhat "rehabilitated" Farouk. The truth is difficult to evaluate. Nasser's road to power after the coup was not directed. After the coup, the Free Officers passed power to Ali Maher who became Prime Minister and was charged with details of running the government. The Free Officers then formed the Egyptian Revolutionary Command Council, which was the real power in Egypt.

Naguib was chairman and Nasser was vice-chairman. However, Maher opposed agrarian reform legislation "proposed" by Revolutionary Council and was forced to resign on September 7, 1952. Naguib became Prime Minister and in June 1953 he became President. On February 23, 1954, Nasser forced Naguib out of the Presidency and office of Prime Minister, proclaiming Nasser as President. However, seemingly spontaneous mass demonstrations forced the return of Naguib as Prime Minister. Nasser Takes Power In October 1954 however, Nasser had solidified his position in the army sufficiently to oust Naguib. His popularity was also consolidated by a failed assassination attempt carried out by the Muslim Brotherhood . That organization had originally supported the coup, but turned against it when it was clear that the Free Officers had a secular agenda. Naguib, accused of complicity in the assassination, was under arrest or house arrest during the entire period of Nasser's reign. He was eventually freed by Anwar Sadat. Nasser's rule had trappings of democracy, but it was essentially a one party dictatorship with a controlled press and elaborate secret state police ( Mukhabarat ) apparatus.

The government had asked a commission of distinguished experts to frame a constitution, but it was too democratic and was rejected by the ruling junta. The new constitution was announced on January 16 1955. There was a single party, the National Union party (originally the "Liberation Rally"), and a national assembly. The President was to be elected for a term of six years, with indefinite re-election allowed. The President had the right to dissolve the Assembly, and to propose, approve, and veto new laws. The constitution nominally protected citizens from arbitrary arrest, but in 1956 the Minister of the Interior was given the power to arrest anybody charged with counter-revolutionary activity and to order their confinement at administrative discretion. Though free speech and free press were guaranteed, Egyptian publications were put under tight government control. In its preamble, the Egyptian constitution proclaimed as its objectives "the eradication of imperialism, the extinction of feudalism, the destruction of capitalistic influence, and the establishment of a strong national army, of social justice, and of a sound democratic society." It declares that Egypt is a sovereign Arab state with Islam as its official religion and Arabic as its official language.

Voting was made compulsory for men but optional for women. On June 24, Nasser was elected President by a margin of 99.9% in a referendum, and the constitution was approved by a margin of 99.8% and the ca plebiscite was held to ratify the new constitution and was overwhelmingly approved. A total of 5,697,467 persons registered to vote and 5,488,225 or 99.8 per cent voted for the new charter. Only 10,045 voted "No." The vote for Nasser was even more overwhelming. Nasser and the British Nasser's most spectacular moves were on the foreign policy front. Egypt interfered with Israeli shipping, but most important, even before he had fully assumed power, Gamal Nasser moved to expel the British from Egypt. That would establish his credentials as an anti-imperialist leader. Nasser signed an agreement with Britain that provided for the withdrawal of the British army from the Suez Canal Zone. A small civilian force was allowed to remain. Rather than opposing Nasser's moves, the British and Americans rewarded Egypt with a $40 million economic grant.

In 1955, the United States was to have supplied fifty-six million dollars and an additional two-hundred million dollars through the World Bank, to finance the construction of the Aswan High Dam, which Nasser and his allies had begun planning shortly after the revolution. The dam would create the largest man-made lake in the world, generate electric power for much of Egypt, provide water for irrigation, and control flooding along the Nile River. The United States under Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, and with the guidance of the CIA, was seeking to undermine and supplant British influence in Egypt. Nasser and Suez However, Nasser had an ambitious rearmament plan which the west refused to back. In September 1955 Nasser shocked the West by signing an arms deal with Communist Czechoslovakia - actually, a disguised deal with the USSR. In July 1956, the Western Powers announced that they would not finance the Aswan dam, and Nasser searched for other backing. The dam was financed by the Soviets. On July 26, Nasser announced the nationalization of the Suez Canal.

Meanwhile, the Egyptians had been encouraging increasingly daring 'Fedayeen' raids from Gaza into into Israel, while Israeli retaliations infuriated the Egyptians and caused them to escalate, sending in Egyptian troops rather than just Palestinians. The increasingly frequent terror raids were creating an impossible situation for Israel, and the arms deal had caused alarm. If the Egyptian army was given time to absorb the arms properly, they could inflict a devastating below. The Egyptians had acquired jet aircraft and relatively modern tanks. Israel was still using B-17 bombers and World War II vintage Sherman tanks. Israel hurried to get weapons that would be at least comparable from the French. The nationalization of the canal angered Britain and France. In October of 1956 Israel, in coordination with Britain and France, launched the Suez Campaign , invading the Sinai peninsula and reaching the Suez Canal in a few days. The brilliant military success was a diplomatic and geopolitical blunder, especially for France and Britain. Nasser's skilful diplomatic manipulation turned his defeat into victory. The United States and the USSR, both anxious to reduce French and British influence in the Middle East, forced the Israelis, British and French to leave Egypt.

Egypt would not leave until it had gotten what it thought was a US guarantee to ensure freedom of passage for Israeli shipping through the Straits of Tiran and the Suez Canal, as well as a UN peace keeping force in Sinai that would prevent Egypt from menacing Israel. The border was to be quiet for the next 11 years, but Israel, Britain and France had had to withdraw and were humiliated, and Nasser could claim a victory. Despite this and later setbacks, Nasser continued to lead the Arab world and even gained in stature. He was an active leader of the "non-aligned" block as well and was elected Secretary General of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1964 until his death. Posters of Nasser proliferated throughout the Arab and Muslim world, adorning offices and shop windows. His powerful Saut al Arab ('Voice of the Arabs") radio transmitter broadcast the message of radicalism to the entire Middle East. Nasser and the UAR In 1958, Nasser attempted to form a union between Syria and Egypt. The dream of Arab unity had existed for many years, and Pan Arabists believed it had only been prevented after World War I by the machinations of the imperialists.

This union would, in Nasser's view, provide him and Egypt with unquestioned supremacy in the Arab world. Syria, which shared Egypt's anti-Western stance, was considerably weaker, facing both external threats and an unstable internal political situation. Members of the Ba'ath party also favored federation with Egypt. On February 1, 1958, Nasser joined Syria's president, Shukri al-Quwatli, in announcing the formation of the United Arab Republic (UAR). A plebiscite approved the union and Nasser's presidency later that month. The capital of the new republic was Cairo. In effect, Egypt had taken over Syria. In March of 1958, Egyptians Abd al-Hakim Amir and Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi and two Syrians, Akram al Hawrani and Sabri al Asali, were appointed vice presidents. Amir also was commander of the joint UAR military. In March 1960, Nasser created a new National Assembly. He appointed its delegates. As in Egypt, only Nasser's National Union party was legal. The UAR caused anxiety to many because it threatened to upset the balance of power in the Middle East.

Nasser had even succeeded in adding another state, Yemen, to the union, and was negotiating with the Iraqi government. This certainly caused consternation in the West. However, Baathists in Syria, who had perhaps thought to gain control of Egypt, were disappointed in the union, which gave most of the power to to Egypt and Nasser. Baathists were gradually dismissed from the government. In August 1961, Nasser further centralized his control. He abolished the two councils of ministers and the cabinet, and added three new Egyptian vice presidents, outnumbering the Syrians 5 to The armies of the two countries were never really integrated. Syrian army units staged a coup on September 28 1961, ending the UAR. Nasser and the Egyptian economy Nasser and his apologists are fund of pointing to economic and social progress made under his regime. Nasser did achieve some agrarian reform, and some progress in industrialization. It is difficult to know how much of the increase in electric output and other measures reported under Nasser's rule was real. However, high birth rates and military spending evidently prevented real economic progress. The Egyptian economy remained abysmal under Nasser's rule.

From 1960 to 1970, per capita GDP grew from $150 to $218. Literacy was less than 50% ( source ). Infant mortality in Egypt was an appalling 200 per thousand live births in 1950-55, worse than other North African countries. By 1965-1970 it had reached 170 per thousand live births, about the same rate of improvement or less than that seen in other North African countries, and still the highest rate in North Africa ( source ). Nasser in Yemen Nasser's quest for pan Arab leadership led him to support revolution in Yemen. With the failure of the UAR, the need to support a new pan-Arab exploit became more urgent. In January 1962, Nasser began supporting the anti-Royalist Free Yemen Movement. This also served to combat the Saudis, who Nasser saw as his rivals for Arab leadership. Nasser thought that a small Egyptian force, perhaps two brigades would secure victory in Yemen. Soon however, Nasser had about a division in Yemen, 15,000 troops.

By the end of 1963, there were nearly 40,000 troops, and by the end of 1964, 50,000. Yemen was to Egypt as Vietnam was to be to the Americans and Afghanistan to the Russians - a trap. Nasser and Israel Nasser established the pattern that the leader of the Arab and Muslim world had to take charge of the task of destroying Israel. Pan-Arab ideology had inculcated the idea that all the ills of the Arab world were due to colonialism, and that Israel, or the "Zionist Entity" was the spearhead and symbol of Western colonialism. The failure of the Arabs in 1948, after all, was one of the central accusations leveled by the Free Officers against the old regime. Rectifying that failure was an essential part of their mission. Since he achieved no visible progress on this front, Nasser was vulnerable to charges by his Syrian rivals that he had failed the Arab cause. Both Egypt and Syria had to take up the cause of Palestine. Arab summits in 1964 and 1965, they had resolved on a plan to destroy Israel.

Nasser, with Syrian cooperation had set up the Palestine Liberation Organization , ostensibly in order to "liberate" Palestine through terror attacks, but also to allow Nasser to control the Palestinian national movement and channel it in directions to his advantage. Syria and Egypt resolved to hamper the construction of the vital Israeli National Water Carrier. Egypt could not really take the lead in this, as the irrigation project was close to the Syrian border. The Soviets, for their part, encouraged both Syrian belligerency and Nasser's aspirations as a means of gaining leverage on the Arab countries and excluding the United States. The Soviets had sold Nasser a huge stockpile of modern weapons, which the Egyptian army was supposed to be absorbing. In April and May of 1967, a series of escalating Israeli-Syrian border incidents provided the Soviets with an opportunity. Israel had responded to Syrian shelling of border settlements and irrigation works by bombing raids. Syrian jets had scrambled, and Israel had shot them down. The Syrians could show themselves as defenders of Palestine and the Arab cause, left in the lurch by the supposed cowardice and hesitancy of the Egyptians. The Soviets thought to embarrass the United States and force concessions from Israel.

They deliberately manufactured a false claim that Israel was massing troops in preparation for an attack on Syria. Nasser responded by mobilizing his army, dismissing the UN peace keeping forced from the Sinai peninsula and calling repeatedly for the annihilation of Israel. Historians differ on Nasser's planning for the war. According to one theory, he was simply "playing it by ear." He had created a new reality. If the Israelis did not challenge it, he would have won a great victory in prestige at the very least. Nasser gambled that the United States would restrain Israel, and that Israel would be forced to grant some concessions such as acquiescing in the closing of the straits of Tiran. However, Michael Oren ("Six Days of War") presents evidence that the Egyptians were in fact planning to attack Israel. The Israelis got wind of the intended surprise attack, Operation Fajr, and the Soviets warned the Egyptians against it, forcing the attack to be called off on May 27, just as it was to be launched. The United States essentially reneged on its commitment of 1956 to guarantee freedom of navigation in the straits of Tiran.

Reluctant to engage itself in the Middle East while fully involved in Vietnam, the Johnson administration tried to put off Israel with a series of hopeful but empty ruses about an international armada that would open the straits of Tiran. Israel had mobilized its army and could not keep it mobilized indefinitely, as the Israeli army consisted of almost the entire able-bodied male population. It would either have to stand down and admit defeat or fight. The situation escalated another notch when King Hussein of Jordan signed a defense pact in Cairo to great fanfare, subordinating Jordanian forces to Egyptian command. US delaying maneuvers succeeded as long as the mission of negotiating was entrusted to Abba Eban, who was unable to either get the Americans to take action or to get permission for Israel to take action. However, at the end of May, there were changes of personnel in the Israeli government. The public had lost confidence in Prime Minister Levi Eshkol . A unity government was set up with Moshe Dayan at its head. The mission of ascertaining American intentions, and announcing Israeli intentions, was entrusted instead to Meir Amit, head of army intelligence.

Amit understood that what was needed was not to ask permission, but to make Israeli plans clear to the Americans without demanding any guarantee of backing. The Israeli army was equipped with French weapons and was not beholden to the United States. Amit returned from Washington with a silent mandate that could be loosely interpreted as American acquiescence in an Israeli attack, if one wanted to interpret it that way. Israel struck on the morning of June 5, 1967, beginning the Six day war . In two hours, the Israeli air force destroyed most of the Egyptian air force on the ground. In two days, the Israeli army had chased the Egyptians from the Sinai desert with huge loses. The Israelis had also dealt with Jordan, conquering the entire West Bank and by June 10, they had taken the Golan Heights from Syria. Nasser made the defeat worse by lying to the Egyptian public initially, claiming continued victory, and by angering the Americans. Together with King Hussein of Jordan, he fabricated a story claiming that the American sixth fleet had aided Israel. This was supposed to explain the swift Israeli victory and at the same time make the Americans hated in the Arab world. This story is still taught in Egypt.

However, the Israelis intercepted a call between Nasser and King Hussein, in which Nasser explained how they would fabricate and spread the falsehood. The deception made the Americans furious. After the Egyptian defeat could no longer be concealed, on the evening of June 9, Nasser made a dramatic speech to the nation broadcast live on Egyptian television in which he resigned. He repeated the fabrication about the United States aiding Israel and exclaimed bitterly, "The Sixth Fleet runs on Arab Petroleum." An apparently orchestrated mass public demonstration immediately called him back to office. Israel and the United States had expected that the Arab countries would now sue for peace. Instead, Nasser led the Arab world in rejecting UN Security Council Resolution 242 , which called for Israeli withdrawal from the newly conquered territories in return for peace. Likewise led by Nasser, the Arab states announced the "three no's" of the Khartoum summit: No peace with Israel, no negotiations and no recognition. Though some commentators have lately tried to spin the Khartoum resolutions as implying a peaceful stance, nobody interpreted them as such at the time, and there is nothing to suggest that the Egyptians had any peaceful intentions.

Nasser's goal was to force a humiliating Israeli withdrawal without any concessions or peace treaty. That was necessary in order to retain Arab honor and his prestige as head of the Arab world. He launched a war of attrition across the Suez canal, which quickly escalated from artillery duels to aerial combat. The Egyptians got Soviet radar and missiles to protect their aircraft. The Israelis got F-4 phantom aircraft. Repeated attempts by the United States to negotiate a solution found both sides obdurate. The Israelis were saved from American pressure by the fact that the Egyptian stance was patently unreasonable - they would make no concessions whatever in return for Israeli withdrawal. On September 28, 1970 Gamal Abd El Nasser died of a heart attack. He reportedly suffered from hemochromatosis, a hereditary condition. His funeral on October first was attended by millions and involved dramatic weeping of announcers and crowds sweeping over soldiers. An icon had passed. Nasser's Legacy Gamal Abdel Nasser changed the way the Arab world thinks and remains a figure of high popular regard. At the same time, most of his practical program was never really implemented. Egypt did not industrialize or achieve a socialist economy.

Differences between the few rich and the many very poor fellahin remained huge. Perhaps 20,000 or more Egyptian lives were lost in his senseless wars. Nasser's pragmatic successor, Anwar Sadat, paid lip service to Pan Arabism. He broke with the USSR, launched a brilliantly planned attack on Israel in October of 1973 and then proceeded to make peace. Since then, the Egyptian economy made modest but steady progress. The failure of Pan Arabism or Nasserism lead to the rise of Islamism . The popularity of Islamism is the best objective indicator of what the Arab world really feels about Nasser and his legacy. However, "Nasserism" lives on as an ideology that challenges the West and "imperialism." Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan radical president, told Al-Jazeera in 2006 : Someone talked to me about his pessimism regarding the future of Arab nationalism. I told him I was optimistic, because the ideas of Nasser are still alive. Nasser was one of the greatest people of Arab history, to say the least, a Nasserist, ever since I was a young soldier.

BBC - History - British History in depth: The Suez Crisis Print this page Creation of the Canal In 1854 Ferdinand de Lesseps, a French former diplomat, persuaded the Viceroy of Egypt, Mohamed Said, to permit the construction of a shipping canal through the 100 miles of desert between Africa and Asia. A prospectus was circulated and on 20 December 1858 the Universal Company of the Suez Maritime Canal was constituted. Britain, which had regarded France's increased influence in this region with suspicion, declined the offer of shares and even organised a boycott resulting in a shortage of investors. Egypt therefore acquired 44% of the shares. Construction began on 25 April 1859 and the canal was opened in November 1869 complete with a statue of de Lesseps dominating the harbour. Said, who died in 1867, was succeeded by his nephew Ismail. In the first year of the canal's existence, some three-quarters of the vessels using it were British.

By the mid 1870s, Ismail, who had set out to modernise Egypt, but had incurred massive debts, offered his country's shares in the canal for sale. British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli bought Egypt's shareholding for £4 million establishing Britain's influence in the running of this new and extremely important waterway. Top Vital British interest British Sherman tanks advance in North Africa during World War Two © The Suez Canal provided Britain with a shorter sea route to its empire and, as the 20th century dawned and oil grew in importance, it provided a short sea route to the oilfields of the Persian Gulf. Britain was therefore committed to protect the canal. During the two World Wars, the Suez Canal came under attack. Soon after the outbreak of World War One, Britain declared Egypt a protectorate and British and Indian forces were sent to protect the canal. Turkey, which had entered the war as Germany’s ally in 1914, sent troops to seize the canal in February 1915. This attack was beaten back and by 1916 British defensive lines had been driven deep into the Sinai desert to prevent any further attempt.

The defeat of Turkey in 1918 resulted in much of the Ottoman (Turkish) empire being divided between Britain and France, leaving Britain in control of the oilfields of what is now Iraq. The fighting ebbed and flowed until 1942, when Axis forces seemed poised to break through to the Suez Canal. In 1922, Britain gave nominal independence to Egypt, but it was some years before an agreement was reached. The Anglo-Egyptian Treaty signed in London in 1936 proclaimed Egypt to be an independent sovereign state, but allowed for British troops to continue to be stationed in the Suez Canal zone to protect Britain’s financial and strategic interest in the canal until 1956, at which time the need for their presence would be re-examined and, if necessary, renegotiated. Soon after the outbreak of World War Two, Italy, Germany’s ally, sent forces to invade Egypt from Libya. A British and Commonwealth counter-offensive in December 1940 drove the Italians out of Egypt, but in March 1941 the Italians, reinforced by the German Afrika Korps, attacked again and pushed the Allied forces back.

The fighting ebbed and flowed along the North African coast until the summer of 1942, when the Axis forces seemed poised to break through to the Suez Canal and beyond. Their new offensive, launched on 1 July, lasted most of the month, but the Allied lines held. In August, Lieutenant General Bernard Montgomery was appointed commander of the British Eighth Army. On 23 October 1942, he launched a major offensive from El Alamein which forced the German-Italian Panzer Army into retreat. Subsequent Anglo-American landings in Morocco and Algeria on 8 November cut off the Axis forces in Tunisia, and on 13 May 1943 they surrendered. The canal was safe once more. Top The crisis builds Anthony Nutting and Abdel Nasser sign the Anglo-Egyptian Suez Agreement © The Suez Crisis of 1956 has its roots in the post-war upsurge of nationalism in Egypt. In 1951, Nahas Pasha leader of the recently-elected nationalist Wafd party revoked the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936.

Attacks on the British garrison soon followed and in January 1952 the British government authorised an operation to disarm the Egyptian paramilitary police force in Ismailia which was orchestrating the violence. This was successful, but the violence continued. Riots in Cairo of an unprecedented scale followed, culminating in attacks on Saturday 26 January on British property and the expatriate community, thereafter known as Black Saturday. It was agreed that British troops would be permitted to return if the Suez Canal was threatened. British threats to occupy Cairo prompted King Farouk of Egypt to dismiss Nahas Pasha, but in July 1952 Farouk was overthrown in a military coup and General Mohammed Neguib seized power. Rather than insist on Britain's rights under the 1936 Treaty, Anthony Eden, the British foreign secretary tried to negotiate with the new government. In 1954, Colonel Gamel Abdul Nasser replaced General Neguib. He had three goals: to make Egypt independent by ending British occupation; to build up Egyptian forces for a successful attack on Israel; to improve Egypt’s economy by constructing a high dam at Aswan to irrigate the Nile valley.

On 19 October 1954 a treaty was signed by Nasser and by Anthony Nutting, British minister of state for foreign affairs. The agreement was to last for seven years. British troops were to be withdrawn from Egypt by June 1956, and the British bases were to be run jointly by British and Egyptian civilian technicians. Egypt agreed to respect the freedom of navigation through the canal, and it was agreed that British troops would be permitted to return if the Suez Canal was threatened by an outside power. Top Appeasement fears In February 1955, Anglo-Egyptian affairs were strained once more by Eden's decision to deprive Nasser of promised British arms. In April, Eden succeeded Winston Churchill as prime minister. As the last British troops left Egypt, Nasser was completing the purchase of Soviet-made aircraft, tanks and arms from Czechoslovakia, which might help him to realise one of his goals, the destruction of Israel. On 26 July 1956, President Nasser nationalised the Anglo-French Suez Canal Company to finance his dam.

Despite anti-western demonstrations in Egypt, in January 1956 the United States and Britain had pledged funding to help finance the construction of a new High Dam at Aswan. The US, however, became convinced that the Dam project would not be a success and wanted to reduce expenditure on foreign aid. It was also concerned about Nasser's purchase of Soviet arms. On 19 July, US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles informed the Egyptian ambassador in Washington that his government had decided that it would not provide funding for the construction of the dam. The British foreign secretary, Selwyn Lloyd, followed suit and withdrew the British offer of aid. The World Bank then refused to advance Egypt a promised $200 million. On 26 July 1956, President Nasser nationalised the Anglo-French Suez Canal Company, declaring that he would take the revenue from the canal to finance his dam. Eden, who recalled Britain's appeasement of Adolf Hitler in the 1930s, looked to military action which might result in Nasser's downfall and restore Britain's influence in the region. The United States, however, made it clear that unjustified military action would not be tolerated.

Top Treaties and collusion Detail of the Israeli national flag © The end of the Second World War in 1945 had brought a period of rapid change. The creation of the state of Israel in 1948 was followed by the first Arab-Israeli War, and a renewed upsurge of Arab nationalism made the Middle East a volatile region. The United States had emerged from World War Two as a global superpower and, as a former colony itself it was committed to overseeing the decolonisation of the globe. Furthermore, the spread of communism fostered by the Soviet Union was seen by the US as a threat to western democracy. A secret agreement was made that Israel should attack Egypt as a pretext for an Anglo-French invasion of Suez. In an attempt to strengthen security in the Middle East against Soviet influence, Britain, Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan signed a treaty known as the Baghdad Pact in 1955. But Egypt, which was looking to the Soviet Union for armaments, refused to sign. Iraq later withdrew and the pact, which was renamed the Central Treaty Organisation, became ineffective in preventing the Cold War from reaching the Middle East.

In January 1956, Guy Mollet was elected prime minister in France and promised to bring peace to Algeria, a French colony, in the throes of a nationalist uprising. But the presence of a million French settlers there made a withdrawal from Algeria politically impossible and his attempts to resolve the situation escalated the violence. Meanwhile, Israel, greatly concerned about Egypt’s rearmament and involved in a series of border clashes with Egypt, was purchasing aircraft and weapons from France. The French government had been meeting secretly with Israel and invited Britain to join the negotiations. In October 1956, Mollet, Eden and Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion met at Sevres near Paris and concluded a secret agreement that Israel should attack Egypt, thereby providing a pretext for an Anglo-French invasion of Suez. Top Military action British troops moving through Port Said © Ben-Gurion then ordered General Moshe Dayan, his chief of staff to plan an attack on Egypt. On 29 October 1956, the Israeli attack was spearheaded by an airborne drop to seize control of the Mitla Pass. Heavy fighting followed. The next day, Britain and France issued ultimatums to both sides to stop the fighting immediately.

The Israelis continued their operations, expecting an Egyptian counter-attack. Instead, Nasser’s army was withdrawing. Militarily the operation was well on its way to being a great success. On 5 November, some three months and 10 days after Nasser had nationalised the canal, the Anglo-French assault on Suez was launched. It was preceded by an aerial bombardment, which grounded and destroyed the Egyptian Air Force. Soon after dawn, soldiers of 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, dropped onto El Gamil airfield, while French paratroopers landed south of the Raswa bridges and at Port Fuad. Within 45 minutes, all Egyptian resistance on the airfield had been overcome and Royal Naval helicopters were bringing in supplies. With El Gamil secured, the British Paras moved eastwards towards Port Said, meeting their first serious opposition en route. With air support, they overwhelmed the Egyptian forces then stopped and dug-in overnight because the beach area of Port Said was to be bombarded next day during the seaborne landing. On 6 November, the sea and helicopter-borne assault went in.

Royal Marine Commandos, together with British and French airborne forces supported by British tanks soon defeated the Egyptian forces, capturing men, vehicles and many of the newly purchased Czech-manufactured weapons. At midnight on 6 November a cease-fire was called on the insistence of UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld. The Anglo-French forces had reached El Cap, just south of Port Said, but were not yet in control of the entire canal when they were stopped. Militarily, the operation was well on its way to being a great success. Top Backlash Anthony Eden in 1956 © Politically, the intervention in Suez was a disaster. US President Dwight Eisenhower was incensed. World opinion, especially that of the United States, together with the threat of Soviet intervention, forced Britain, France and Israel to withdraw their troops from Egypt. In Britain too there had been widespread outrage. A United Nations peacekeeping force was sent in to supervise the ceasefire and to restore order. The Suez Canal was cleared and reopened, but Britain in particular found its standing with the US weakened and its influence 'east of Suez' diminished by the adventure. Eden told the Commons: 'There was not foreknowledge that Israel would attack Egypt.

There was not.’ Accusations of collusion between Britain, France and Israel started in 1956, but were denied in parliament by Eden who tried to avoid giving a clear and categorical answer. He was at last asked whether there was foreknowledge of the Israeli attack and on 20 December in his last address to the House of Commons, recorded in Hansard, he replied: 'I want to say this on the question of foreknowledge, and to say it quite bluntly to the House, that there was not foreknowledge that Israel would attack Egypt. There was not.’ In January 1957, his health shattered and his political credibility severely damaged, Sir Anthony Eden, the British prime minister, resigned. Guy Mollet, the French prime minister, survived longer despite fierce criticism, but his government collapsed in June 1957 over the taxation he imposed to pay for the Algerian War. Anglo-American relations were strained by the Suez Crisis, but as Cold War Allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) they continued to cooperate, and by 1962 Britain had adopted the US Polaris missile system.

Nonetheless, the real balance of power in the post-World War Two world had been starkly demonstrated and Britain's prestige was dealt a severe blow. Find out more Books Divided We Stand: Britain, the US and the Suez Crisis by W Scott Lucas (Hodder and Stoughton, 1991) Britain and the Egyptian Nationalist Movement 1936-1952 by Hoda Gamel Abdel Nasser (Ithica Press, 1994) Suez by Keith Kyle (Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1991) Suez 1956 by Barry Turner (Hodder and Stoughton, 2006) The Canal Zone and Suez by Laurie Milner, in The Imperial War Museum Book of Modern Warfare edited by Major General Julian Thompson (Sidgewick and Jackson, 2002) Places to visit Top About the author Laurie Milner was an historian at the Imperial War Museum's Research and Information Department from 1984 to 2006 and was principal historian on the permanent 'First World War', 'Conflicts Since 1945' and 'Montgomery - Master of the Battlefield' galleries.

He co-authored the IWM's 'Battle of the Somme' online exhibition with Nigel Steel. He has acted as consultant to military museums internationally, including the British galleries at the El Alamein Museum for the 60th anniversary of the battle. He is the author of two books, 'Leeds Pals' (Pen and Sword 1991); and 'Royal Scots in the Gulf' (Pen and Sword 1994). Gamal Abdel Nasser - History Learning Site Gamal Abdel Nasser Citation: C N Trueman "Gamal Abdel Nasser" historylearningsite.co.uk. The History Learning Site, 26 May 2015. 16 Aug 2016. Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt was born in 1918 and died in 1970. Nasser was a pivotal figure in the recent history of the Middle East and played a highly prominent role in the 1956 Suez Crisis . Nasser has been described as the first leader of an Arab nation who challenged what was perceived as the western dominance of the Middle East. Nasser remains a highly revered figure in both Egypt and the Arab world.

Nasser was born in Alexandria in January 1918. At the age of fifteen, he took part in anti-British demonstrations. Those who protested also targeted some in the royal family who it was believed tacitly supported the power Britain still maintained over Egypt by its joint-ownership of the Suez Canal . It was felt by some that the Royal Family was willing to accept this as long as no attempt was made by the British to weaken the family’s power within Egypt itself. In 1935, Nasser was wounded in the head by the British during an anti-British demonstration. In 1938, Nasser graduated from the Royal Military Academy and joined the Egyptian Army. Within the army, Nasser continued with his anti-British activities. In 1942, an incident occurred which is said to have been the key turning point in Nasser’s activities. In February 1942, the British persuaded/forced the king of Egypt, King Farouq, to accept a government that was to be headed by Nahas Pasha.

At this time, Britain’s power in North Africa was reaching a peak with the defeat of the Afrika Korps and this power was especially felt in Egypt. Nasser was appalled by what he considered to be the interference in the internal affairs of one country by a colonial European power. For the next seven years, he used his influence to persuade officers in the Egyptian Army that a) such interference was unacceptable and b) that all vestiges of British rule/influence had to be removed from Egypt. During this time, Nasser was stationed as an instructor in the Egyptian Army Staff College. This gave him direct access to young officers who might be more prone to his views when compared to the older officers in the Egyptian Army. Nasser fought in the 1948 war against the newly formed Israel. During this war, Nasser held his first ‘proper’ meeting with those officers who were willing to support his ideas for Egypt. The defeat of the Arab nations in the 1948 war, gave an added impetus to their anger especially as the Egyptian Army had to fight with faulty weapons which was linked to a supply scandal that implicated some members of the Royal Family.

Nasser was clear in his own mind – the Royal family had to go and Egypt needed a new form of government. He believed that the army had to take a lead in this. The defeat in 1948 strongly affected Nasser. On top of the humiliation of losing the war, Nasser was angered by the apparent corruption within certain sections of the Royal Family which it was thought hindered any chance of victory. Nasser decided to basically plot against the king for the sake of Egypt’s future. “This led Nasser to believe that it was inevitable that the army should itself take up the national assignment of salvaging the country from corruption.” (Bistoni) On July 23rd 1952, Nasser helped to organise a revolt against the Royal Family and King Farouk was overthrown after a few days of bloodless rebellion. The actual figure head for the rebellion was General Neguib. Farouk fled to Italy and Neguib took over control of the nation. Despite his status within the army, Neguib lacked any political skill and he lost the support of the younger army officers – those who were so pro-rebellion. In November 1954, Neguib resigned and retired from public life.

As deputy to Neguib, Nasser was the obvious choice to succeed him. This he did on November 17th 1954. Nasser had a very clear vision for modernising Egypt. He identified five targets that he wanted to address: Poverty in Egypt Ignorance in Egypt “National oblivion”Neglect of Egypt’s infrastructure No sense of national identity or pride in Egypt. He was also keen to see Egypt free of any overtones of colonialism – a belief that was to bring him into direct conflict with Britain and France in 1956 . To support his beliefs, Nasser did what he could to restore national pride to all Arab nations – not just Egypt. The most obvious source of a foreign power being dominant in Egypt was the British/French control of the Suez Canal. Completed in 1869, the canal was designed by Ferdinand de Lesseps. However the vast bulk of the physical labour required to build this engineering marvel was done by Egyptian nationals. Britain had a 40% holding in the company that ran the canal. However, despite the fact that the canal was on Egyptian ‘soil’, the benefits it brought the people of Egypt were minimal.

In 1956 , Nasser nationalised the canal – provoking an attack on Egypt by the French and British. This attack was condemned at an international level and the British and French had to withdraw their forces when it became clear that America did not support what they had done. In fact, the American president, Eisenhower, was openly critical of Britain and France. Nasser’s stand against two major European powers brought him huge popularity not just in Egypt but also in all Arab nations. After this success, Nasser set about the ‘Egyptianisation’ of his country. One of the most pressing problems Egypt faced on an annual basis was the flooding of the River Nile which could decimate fertile farming land. Nasser’s plan was to build a dam to hold back the mighty waters of the Nile which would also provide Egypt with hydro-electric power. Neither Britain nor France could have been asked to assist in the project. Asking America – who openly supported Israel – was politically impossible for Nasser. Hence he turned to America’s Cold War enemy – the Soviet Union . The USSR provided the capital and the engineers for the huge project. Egypt and the USSR were curious bed-fellows.

One was a Muslim nation while the other, a communist nation, had banned all forms of religion and had shut down all places of religious worship. However, for Nasser, the Russians provided Egypt with what they needed after the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development had withdrawn its financial support for the project after 1956 . For Russia, there was the opportunity to gain a foothold in the Mediterranean Sea – the Black Sea Fleet was ‘trapped’ in the Black Sea and its movements were easily made known to the Americans. Egypt offered a way around this problem. Nasser also made gains in other areas of domestic policy. Under Neguib, civilian titles as associated with the Royal Family, were banned. Privileges associated with the ‘old way’ were also banned. Laws were brought in that limited the amount of land someone could own and they also widened the opportunities for land ownership. In 1961, Nasser nationalised a number of corporations so that the wealth that they generated could be used to improve the lifestyle of the Egyptian people. One year later, a decision was announced that Egypt would be run on Arab socialist lines. During Nasser’s time in office, the Aswan High Dam was completed.

This was a project that generated world-wide attention. However, iron and steel mills, aluminum plants, car and food factories were also built. In total, over 2000 new factories were built in Egypt in Nasser’s time. However, Nasser suffered a major blow when Egypt and other Arab nations were beaten by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967. By this year, Egypt was seen as the leading Arab nation and the Arab people looked to Egypt for leadership. For Nasser, the comprehensive defeat by Israel was a serious blow and he offered his resignation. This was rejected by the people who took to the streets in June 1967 to demonstrate their support for Nasser. After the war, Nasser went to great efforts to modernise the Egyptian military and this remained one of his primary aims until his death in September 1970. His death was followed by an outpouring of national grief in Egypt. Nasser was succeeded by Anwar Sadat.

Question: Who was the King of Egypt who was overthrown by a military coup led by Gamel Abdel Nasser in 1952?
Answer: FAROUK