The Free
Officers after the coup, 1 January 1953. From left to
right: Zakariya
Muhieddin, Abdel Latif
Boghdadi, Kamel el-Din Hussein
(standing), Nasser
(seated), Abdel Hakim
Amer, Muhammad Naguib
and Ahmad Shawki
The Egyptian Revolution of
1952 (Arabic:
ثورة 23
يوليو
1952),
also known as the 23 July Revolution, began on 23 July 1952, with a
military coup d´état
by the Free
Officers Movement, a group of
army officers led by Egypt´s first president Muhammad
Naguib. The revolution was initially aimed at
overthrowing King Farouk
and establishing democratic governance.
After Gamal Abdel Nasser
deposed Mohamed Naguib in 1953, he soon
moved to abolish the constitutional
monarchy and aristocracy of Egypt
and Sudan, establish
a republic, end the British occupation
of the country, and secure the independence of Sudan (hitherto
governed as an Anglo-Egyptian
condominium). The
revolutionary government adopted a staunchly nationalist,
anti-imperialist
agenda, which came to be expressed
chiefly through Arab
nationalism, and
international non-alignment.
The
revolution was faced with immediate threats from Western imperial
powers, particularly the United Kingdom, which had occupied Egypt
since 1882, and France, both of
whom were wary of rising nationalist sentiment in territories under
their control throughout the Arab world, and
Africa. The ongoing state of war with
Israel also posed a serious challenge, as the
Free Officers increased Egypt´s already strong support of
the Palestinians.
These two issues conflated four years after the revolution when
Egypt was invaded by Britain, France, and Israel in
the Tripartite Aggression
of 1956. Despite enormous military
losses, the war was seen as a political victory for Egypt,
especially as it left the Suez Canal
in uncontested Egyptian control for the
first time since 1875, erasing what was seen as a mark of national
humiliation. This strengthened the appeal of the revolution in
other Arab and African countries.
Wholesale agrarian
reform, and huge industrialisation
programmes were initiated in the first
decade and half of the revolution, leading to an unprecedented
period of infrastructure building, and urbanisation.
By the 1960s, Arab socialism
had become a dominant theme,
transforming Egypt into a centrally
planned economy. Official
fear of a Western-sponsored counter-revolution, domestic religious
extremism, potential communist infiltration, and the conflict with
Israel were all cited as reasons compelling severe and longstanding
restrictions on political opposition, and the prohibition of a
multi-party system. These restrictions on political activity would
remain in place until the presidency of Anwar Sadat
from 1970 onwards, during which many of
the policies of the revolution were scaled back or
reversed.
The early
successes of the revolution encouraged numerous other nationalist
movements in other Arab, and African countries, such
as Algeria,
and Kenya, which were
engaged in anti-colonial struggles against European empires. It
also inspired the toppling of existing pro-Western monarchies and
governments in the region and the
continent.
The
Revolution is commemorated each year on Egypt´s national
day, Revolution
Day, on 23
July.
