Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Colonel Nasser was a leader in the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 which ended British imperial dominance and the Egyptian monarchy. As Egypt's president for 14 years, he was a proponent of Arab socialism and pan-Arabism. While his economic program is viewed as a mixed success for Egypt, and his military record against Israel was one of failure and disappointment, he was the foremost Arab leader of his day. The secular political order he instituted continues today in Egypt and has been copied in other Arab nations. From a poor family, Nasser rose through the army. Egypt was technically independent from Britain since 1922, but in fact remained a quasi-colonial state. Throughout the 1940s the monarchical government's corruption and weakness became a source of profound dissatisfaction in Egypt. In 1949 Nasser helped to found the Free Officers movement. In July 1952 it spearheaded a revolution which forced King Faruq to abdicate, abolished parliament, then established a republic in 1953. General Muhammad Neguib became the first president. But as the true head of the Free Officers, Nasser became prime minister briefly in 1954. Elected as president in 1956, he was also head of the Revolutionary Command Council. Nasser later wrote of his leadership in the coup in a book entitled The Philosophy of the Revolution (1959): “I always imagine that in this region in which we live there is a ... log in or subscribe to read full text