The Revolution of 1952: Days Before The Revolt

The People of Egypt were living under oppression by the selfish king and heartless British military.  The following events were the sparks that finally set the revolution in effect.  In December, 1951, British troops in Egypt bulldozed fifty Egyptian mud brick houses to make way for a new road to a water supply for British military installations.  Then on January 25, 1952, British troops attacked the Egyptian police barracks in Ismailia when the police refused to surrender.  The attack killed fifty Egyptian police officers and one hundred wounded.  This event caused Egypt to erupt in fury.  The very next day on January 26, 1952, also known as Black Saturday, the people of Egypt burned Cairo targeting British interests such as Shepherd's Hotel, BOAC offices, and the British Turf Club.  This is also known as the Second Revolution.  The first was in the spring of 1919, when Egyptians were infuriated at the British expulsion of Wafd Party nationalist leader Saad Zaglul and three other who were exiled to Malta for their part in stirring up Egyptian aspirations for independence.  The result of this after three weeks was the lives of 800 Egyptians.  The British finally backed down and Saad was freed on April 7th.

The Revolution of 1952 & early years of the New Egyptian Government

The committee of the Free Officers’ Movement led the 1952 Revolution which was to unite Egypt in gaining control from the British. Lt Col Gamal Abdul Nasser & LtCol Anwar as Sadat along with 7 other committee members formed the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) which dictated policy to the civilian cabinet, abolished all civil titles such as pasha & bey, and ordered all political parties to purify their ranks and reconstitute their executive committees.  The RCC, as well as elected Muhammad Naguib, the president & commander in chief were part of the Free Officers.

The decision by Wafd government after the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936 allowed sons of non-aristocratic families to enter the Military Academy; allowing men such as Nasser and Sadat to become officers, and later, put in positions to shape the events of future Egypt. The men who profited most from this new policy were the poorest families that could not afford to send their children to secondary schools.  Nasser came from a rural notable family, from a small village in Upper Egypt.  His father moved to Alexandria, where on January 15, 1918 Gamal was born. He was later sent to Cairo to attend school. After marching in a demonstration against the British in November 1935, Gamal was wounded by a bullet and because he was such an agitator, the police asked him to resign from school, which lead him to joining the army.  Nasser would become the real power behind the RCC in the years to come.

All political parties were dissolved and banned on January 17, 1952 and Egypt was declared a republic and the monarchy was abolished.  This ended the rule of Muhammad Ali’s dynasty.  Naguib became the first president as well as prime minister; Nasser became deputy prime minister and the minister of interior.  Between 1952 and 1954 a struggle between Naguib and Nasser as well as the colleagues on the RCC for control of the government and the future form of the government broke out, ultimately Nasser won.  Naguib resigned on February 23, 1954 when conflicts came to a head.

The army was called in to end a violent strike involving more than 10,000 workers at Misr Company Textile factories in August 1952. The premises were set on fire, destroying property and equipment, causing clashing with police.  Few were killed, many however were injured and thirty persons were charged with belonging to the outlawed Community Party of Egypt (CPE).  The Democratic Movement for National Liberation, a faction of the CPE, reacted by denouncing the regime as a military dictatorship.  On September 7, the RCC passed the Agrarian Reform Law of 1952, abolishing the power of the absentee landlord class, to encourage investment in industry, and to build support for the regime.  The RCC also dealt with labor legislation and education, initially raising minimum wages, reducing working hours, and creating more jobs to reduce unemployment.  Rent control was also established and the government undertook construction of housing for workers.

One of the major concerns of the Free Officers was the evacuation of the British from Egypt, and to achieve this they needed to end British involvement with two contentious issues – the Sudan and Suez Canal.  In February 1953, the Egyptian government agreed to plan for a three-year self-determination for Sudan, however, they opted for independence rather than unite with Egypt. As early as September, 1952, the British wanted Egypt to fit into a regional defense system and the Baghdad Pact, bringing an alliance & agreement of Britain, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, and Iraq to precede a withdrawal from the canal.  The British government attempted to force Egypt to join the alliance by refusing to discuss evacuation of the Suez Canal base.  By October 1954, Nasser signed an agreement providing for the withdrawal of all British troops , with a provision that the British base could be reactivated in the event Egypt was attacked.

Nasser was criticized for rewriting the old treaty and his critics consisted of the communists and the Muslim Brotherhood, who made an attempt on his life on October 26, 1954.  The following day, Nasser deliberately exposed himself to the crowds in Alexandria which only strengthened his popularity. Though the Brotherhood had a long history of anti-British and anti-regime activities, its leaders stipulated they would work with the Free Officers only if the officers would agree to Brotherhood objectives. In February Nasser outlawed the organization, which instigated Naguib’s attack on Nasser, which gave Nasser the pretext needed to remove Naguib from the presidency in November 1954.

     Early in 1955, Nasser was asked again to join the Baghdad pact, which he refused. Most Egyptians were afraid that entering into the pact would just lead to a different kind of domination from Britain. Nasser eventually worked toward nonalignment, so that he could avoid both pro- and anti-Soviet pacts. He attended the Conference of the Nonaligned Movement in Bandung, Indonesia in April of 1955 where Egypt’s independence was truly recognized.

                Nasser had avoided spending money trying to arm Egypt and unarm Israel until Israel attacked Egyptian military outposts in Gaza. He sought Western aid, but was rejected by the United States, Britain, and France. As a result, in September of 1955, Nasser negotiated an arms agreement with Czechoslovakia.

                The Aswan High Dam was a pivotal concern of Nasser’s. The Free Officers had decided long ago that the dam would help generate power and irrigate the land and serve as the symbol of the new Egypt. The United States had agreed on a loan to help with the dam, and Britain and the World Bank had offered sums, as well. However, after the Soviet Union had offered a loan to Egypt, the United States withdrew their loan offer, and it wasn’t long before the World Bank and Britain did the same.

                On July 26^th, 1956, Nasser appeared in the same square where his assassination had been attempted just twenty months earlier. He gave a three hour speech and then gave the signal to take over the Suez Canal. Britain then invaded Egypt with France and Israel in 1956, to be called the Tripartite Invasion. In October, during the battle for Port Said, about 2,700 Egyptians were killed or wounded, however threats from the Soviet Union were strong against Britain and France. The United States, also disagreeing with the Tripartite Invasion, pressured Britain and France to withdraw from Egypt.

                Nasser became a hero of the Arab world for standing up to the West, and succeeding. The move toward nationalism continued in Egypt as a large part of Nasser’s administration. Egypt also became an important part of the Soviet Union’s Middle East policy.