The history of Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser covers the period of Egyptian history from the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, of which Gamal Abdel Nasser was one of the two principal leaders, spanning Nasser's presidency of Egypt from 1956 to his death in 1970. Nasser's tenure as Egypt's leader heralded a new period of modernisation and socialist reform in Egypt, along with a staunch advocacy of pan-Arab nationalism (including a short-lived union with Syria), and developing world solidarity. His prestige in Egypt and throughout the Arab World soared in the wake of his nationalisation of the Suez Canal Company in 1956, and Egypt's political victory in the subsequent Suez Crisis, but was damaged badly by Israel's victory in the Six-Day War.
The era witnessed a rapid increase in living standards unparalleled in Egypt's millennia of history, and is regarded as a time when ordinary Egyptian citizens enjoyed unprecedented access to housing, education, employment, healthcare, and nourishment, as well as other forms of social welfare, while the influence of the former aristocracy waned, as did that of the Western governments that had hitherto dominated Egyptian affairs.Liberating Nasser's legacy Al-Ahram Weekly. 4 November 2000.
The national economy grew significantly through agrarian reform, major modernisation projects, such as the Helwan steel works, and the Aswan High Dam, and the nationalisation of key parts of the economy, notably the Suez Canal Company. At its economic peak, Nasser's Egypt was capable of not only offering free education and healthcare to its own citizens but also to the citizens of other Arab and African countries, who were offered full scholarships and living allowances to undertake higher education in Egypt before returning to their home countries. However, the substantial economic growth that marked the early 1960s took a downturn later in the decade, particularly as Egypt's military quagmire in the North Yemen Civil War deepened, only recovering in the late 1970s.
During Nasser's time in office, Egypt experienced a golden age of culture, particularly in theatre, film, poetry, television, radio, literature, fine arts, comedy, and music. Egypt under Nasser dominated the Arab World in these fields, with Egyptian musical artists such as Abdel Halim Hafez, Umm Kulthum, and Mohammed Abdel Wahab, literary figures such as Naguib Mahfouz, and Tawfiq el-Hakim, actors such as Faten Hamama, Salah Zulfikar, Soad Hosny and Rushdi Abaza, and the release of over 100 films yearly, compared to the production of just more than a dozen annually during Hosni Mubarak's presidency (1981–2011).
Republic of Egypt (1953–1958)
Egyptian revolution of 1952
On 22–26 July 1952, the Free Officers, a group of disaffected officers in the Egyptian army founded by Gamal Abdel Nasser and headed by General Muhammad Naguib, initiated the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 which overthrew King Farouk, whom the military blamed for Egypt's poor performance in the 1948 war with Israel and lack of progress in fighting poverty, disease and illiteracy in Egypt.Egypt during the Sadat years, By Kirk J. Beattie, p.2 The monarchy of Egypt and Sudan was gone without "a voice" being "raised" in its favour. In the following two years, the Free Officers consolidated power. Popular expectations for immediate reforms led to the workers' riots in Kafr Dawar on 12 August 1952, which resulted in two death sentences. Following a brief experiment with civilian rule, the Free Officers abrogated the 1953 constitution and declared Egypt a republic on 18 June 1953, Muhammad Naguib as Egypt's first President. Within six months all civilian political parties were banned replaced by the "Liberation Rally" government party, the elites seeing a need for a "transitional authoritarianism" in light of Egypt's poverty, illiteracy and lack of a large middle class.Egypt during the Sadat years, By Kirk J. Beattie, p.4
Suppression of the Muslim Brotherhood In January, the large Muslim Brotherhood organization was outlawed, remaining an illegal political organization until the Revolution of 2011. The move came in the wake of clashes between members of the Brotherhood and Liberation Rally student demonstrators on 12 January 1954. On 26 October, an assassination attempt suspected by the Brotherhood was directed at Nasser during a rally in Alexandria. This led to the regime acting against the Brotherhood, executing Brotherhood leaders on 9 December.
Presidency of Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser first became prime minister in February 1954. He was chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council from November 1954 until he became President of Egypt in 1956, and served as president until his death in 1970.
1956 Meanwhile, the RCC, morally backed by both the Soviet Union and the United States, managed to remain united in its opposition to the British and French, specifically in regard to the Suez. Despite continued calls from the RCC, in debates in the United Nations, and pressure from both the US and USSR, the British refused to transfer control of the Canal to the new regime. The RCC began funding and coordinating ever greater attacks on the British and French in the Suez and Damietta. Finally, on 19 October, Nasser signed a treaty for the evacuation of British troops from Egypt, to be completed over the following 20 months. Two years later, on 18 June 1956, Nasser raised the Egyptian flag over the Canal Zone, announcing the complete evacuation of British troops.
New Constitution President Nasser announced a new Constitution on 16 January 1956 at a popular rally, setting up a presidential system of government in which the president has the power to appoint and dismiss ministers. An elections law was passed on 3 March granting women the right to vote for the first time in Egyptian history. Nasser was elected as the second president of the Republic on 23 June. In 1957, Nasser announced the formation of the National Union (Al-Ittihad Al-Qawmi), paving the way to July elections for the National Assembly, the first parliament since 1952.
Economy and society
Land reform The original revolutionaries wanted an end to British occupation but did not have a unified ideology or plan for Egypt. One issue that was agreed on and acted quickly on was land reform. Less than six percent of Egypt's population owned more than 65% of the land in Egypt, while at the top and less than 0.5% of Egyptians owned more than one-third of all fertile land.Dr. Assem Al-Desoky's Major Landowners in Egypt: 1914-1952 (in Arabic, Dar Al-Shorouk, Cairo, 2007. quoted in Egypt on the Brink by Tarek Osman, Yale University Press, 2010, p.45 the process of land reform began on September 11, 1952, when (among many provisions) a law prohibited ownership of more than 200 feddans of land (840000 sq meters); limited the rental rate for land; established cooperatives for farmers; minimum wages, etc.
During the presidency of Nasser, cultivated land in Egypt increased by almost a third (an achievement that had reportedly eluded Egyptians for more than a millennium).Egypt on the Brink by Tarek Osman, Yale University Press, 2010, p.48
Economy Egypt's economy grew at an average rate of 9% per annum for almost a decade. The share of manufacturing to Egypt's GDP rose from around 14% in the late 1940s to 35% by the early 1970s.
"The combination of the land-reform programme and the creation of the public sector in Egypt resulted in around 75% of Egypt's gross domestic product (GDP) being transferred from the hands of the country's rich either to the state or to millions of small owners. The closest parallel to such a large-scale social programme had been in the early days of Mohamed Ali Pasha's rule in the early nineteenth century." Egypt on the Brink by Tarek Osman, Yale University Press, 2010, p.47
Departure of Mutamassirun from Egypt
The departure of foreign residents, primarily from European and Levantine communities, accelerated under Nasser's rule. These communities consisting of British, French, Greeks, Italians, Armenians, Maltese and Jews had been established in Egypt since the 19th century. This group of foreign nationals became known as the "Egyptianized", or the Mutamassirun. The rise of Egyptian nationalism under Gamal Abdel Nasser, following the Nakba, the Palestine War, Lavon Affair and the Suez War, placed heavy discontent towards the Mutamassirun, particularly the British, French, and Jews, as a colonial class.
Some 23,000—25,000 Jews out of 42,500 in Egypt were expelled, mainly for Israel, Western Europe, the United States, South America, and Australia. Many were forced to sign declarations that they were voluntarily emigrating and agreed to the confiscation of their assets. Similar measures were enacted against British and French nationals in retaliation for the invasion. Egyptian nationality law was amended to disqualify Jews and other minorities from having Egyptian citizenship. By 1957 the Jewish population of Egypt had fallen to 15,000.
Foreign affairs
Egypt's nationalisation of the British-owned Suez Canal was a great victory for Nasser who was celebrated as both an Egyptian hero and an Arab one, capable of 'defeating the nation's enemies' and 'representing Arab dignity'."Egypt on the Brink by Tarek Osman, Yale University Press, 2010, p.49 Chinese premier Zhou Enlai called Nasser 'the giant of the Middle East.'Egypt on the Brink by Tarek Osman, Yale University Press, 2010, p.50
Nasser emerged as one of the architects of the Non-Aligned Movement, which was founded in 1961 as a bloc of 'independent nations' detached from both NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Almost all African anti-colonialist freedom fighters came to him for guidance, moral support and funds.
Opposition to Baghdad Pact A major reason why conservative Arab regimes felt threatened by Nasser during his first years in power was that his popularity had been demonstrated – even before the Suez crisis – when he became a leading critic of the 1955 Baghdad Pact. The Baghdad Pact was initially an alliance between Iraq and Turkey, which Britain supported with the goal of strengthening its power within the Middle East. Nasser considered the Baghdad Pact to be part of a British effort to split the Arab countries into differing groups, and to divide the region by escalating tension between them. The British later attempted to bring Jordan into the Baghdad Pact in late 1955 after Nasser agreed to purchase arms from Czechoslovakia in the Soviet bloc. The British were determined to bring Jordan into the Baghdad Pact and to apply pressure to try to force Jordan to join. Nasser had opposed the Baghdad Pact, and his successful effort to prevent Jordan from joining the pact is an example of his pragmatic diplomatic strategy. Nasser's pragmatism towards Jordan meant that he aimed to force the Jordan regime to decline to join the pact, but he did not himself attempt to overthrow the regime. This stance was rewarded with Jordanian support for Egypt during the Suez Crisis the following year in 1956.
The dispute over Jordanian membership in the Baghdad Pact lasted from November to December 1955. Nasser's goal was based on Egyptian national interests – he wanted to prevent Jordanian membership in the Baghdad Pact, which was more important to him than the fate of the Jordanian regime. He was thus prepared to offer the Jordanian regime a way out in which it could survive if it did not join the pact. Nasser's strategy during the debate over the Baghdad Pact was to apply rhetorical pressure using Egyptian propaganda to launch broadcasts attacking the British, and also warning the Jordanian regime that it could be overthrown if it agreed to join the pact. The Egyptian propaganda led to riots occurring in Jordan in December 1955 during a visit of British Field Marshal Gerald Templer, who was serving as the British Defence Chief of Staff.