History of Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser
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.
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.
[3] 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.
[2][4] Egypt under Nasser dominated the Arab World in these fields, with Egyptian musical artists such as Abdel Halim Hafez,[4] Umm Kulthum, and Mohammed Abdel Wahab, literary figures such as Naguib Mahfouz, and Tawfiq el-Hakim,[2] actors such as Faten Hamama, Salah Zulfikar, Soad Hosny and Rushdi Abaza,[4] 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).
[2] 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.
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.
Two years later, on 18 June 1956, Nasser raised the Egyptian flag over the Canal Zone, announcing the complete evacuation of British troops.
[15] 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.
Consequently, after pressure from the British government concerning the threat posed by Nasser, on 20 July 1956, the US and Britain withdrew their offers of funding, and the World Bank went back on the agreement.
On 26 July, Nasser gave a historic speech announcing the nationalisation of the Suez Canal Company, under his "Egyptianization" policy, and whose revenues would be used to finance the construction of the High Dam, which was completed in January 1968.
Relations with Britain and France which had deteriorated to a frosty cold war level by the summer, were framed anew when the United States withdrew much of its support in demonstration against Nasser's growing friendship with the Soviet Union.
Large amphibious and infantry units were steaming from Cyprus and Algeria toward the canal for the final occupation and push into Cairo.
Whilst the operation had all the elements necessary for surprise and legerdemain, it lacked quickness of speed given the relative strategic weakness which the British and French found themselves in the post-war period.
The French however were proving more resolute and flouted American demands stating matter of factly that America had no interest in the Middle East and were duplicitous in their support of Arab nationalism and anti-colonialism.
While the British government debated this turn of events, the military campaign dithered and proved lacklustre in its execution, thereby buying crucial time for the Nasser regime to rally support from American liberals, the Soviet Union, and others in the United Nations.
According to the prominent historian Abd aI-’Azim Ramadan, Nasser decision to nationalize the Suez Canal was his alone, made without political or military consultation.
On 2 April, Nasser issued a decree establishing the flag of the Republic as three horizontal bars of red, white and black with two stars.
The 1,750-member Congress of representatives from peasant, laborer, professional and occupational associations meets in May to debate the Draft National Charter presented by Nasser.
In 1962, Egypt became involved in the civil war in Yemen, supporting the revolutionary regime of Abdullah al-Sallal that had ousted the country's former ruler, Imam Badr, and declared a republic.
This proved to be a considerable financial and military burden on Egypt and created antipathy toward Saudi Arabia, which supported the Yemeni loyalists.
Jordan and Syria entered the war on Egypt's side, and Israel reacted and occupied the Jordanian territories of the West Bank and the Syrian Golan Heights.
Egypt's defeat in the 1967 War compelled Nasser to resign on 9 June, naming Vice-President Zakaria Mohieddin as his successor.
Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces Field-Marshal Abdel-Hakim Amer was arrested and is reported to have committed suicide while in custody in August.
Land reform, the major assets' confiscation programme, the dramatic growth in university education, the creation of a dominating public sector flattened the social curve.
Doctors, engineers, teachers, lawyers, journalists, constituted the bulk of the swelling middle class in Egypt under Nasser.
