The nationally respected Arab-Israeli War veteran Mohamed Naguib joined the Free Officers in 1949. Naguib's hero status, and influence within the army, granted the movement credibility, both within the military and the public at large. He became the official leader of the Free Officers during the turmoil leading up the revolution that toppled King Farouk in 1952. The Movement was succeeded by the Revolutionary Command Council after the overthrow of Farouk that was later succeeded by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.[3]
The Great Depression affected national economies around the globe, including those of Egypt and Sudan. During this time, the Great Powers in the Arab World and Middle East began removing institutions for economic development after some positive advancement became evident. This encouraged many political groups to organize against the politicians who dominated the parliamentary politics of the time. Workers had become accustomed to development efforts which were meant to stabilize the economies of the region. These state-led initiatives set the standard for what the people expected of their government, including the regulation of imports, industrial investment, commodity distribution, production supervision.[4]
Formation
Politicians and government bodies were forced to respond to the demands of groups who were directly affected by the initiative changes and withdrawals. Some of these groups included military officers. While the first military coups began in Syria in the late 1940s, it was the Free Officers coup in Egypt and the revolution of 1952 that would have the greatest impact, and encourage later movements.[4] The members were not from the wealthy elite, but rather the middle class, young workers, government officials and junior officers.[2] The movement, which began and spread throughout the 1940s, came to fruition with the leadership of Gamal Abdel Nasser. Nasser, who commanded the loyalty and respect of the other members, formed a coordinating committee (1949), which he was later asked to lead (1950).[5]
Coming from a modest background, he represented the group's majority: the hard-working middle class. The Free Officers consisted of urban dwellers and educated militants with a lower-middle-class upbringing. Nasser was a war hero who rose quickly in military rank to colonel. He, like many others, dedicated his time and energy to reversing the corruption seen on the part of the government throughout the 1947–1949 Palestine war by restoring a democracy. He saw the problem of domestic passivity towards imperialism as being as much a problem as imperialism itself.[4] The Free Officers strengthened a "new" middle class. Due to this dedication to change, the Free Officers referred to their group and its entirety as simply a "movement." Later however, it would become a revolution.
The Free Officers Committee enlisted General Muhammad Naguib as a public figurehead in preparation for the successful coup of 23 July 1952. The men who had constituted themselves as the Committee of the Free Officers Movement and led the 1952 Revolution were Lieutenant Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser (1917–70), Major Abdel Hakim Amer (1919–67), Lieutenant Colonel Anwar El-Sadat (1918–81), Major Salah Salem (1920–62), Major Kamal el-Din Hussein (1921–99), Wing Commander Gamal Salem (1918–2001), Squadron Leader Hassan Ibrahim[6] (1917–90), Major Khalid Mohieddin (1922–2018), and Wing Commander Abdel Latif Boghdadi (1917–99); Major Hussein el-Shafei (1918–2005) and Lieutenant Colonel Zakaria Mohieddin (1918–2012) joined the committee later.
World War II
Anwar Sadat, in his autobiography "In Search of an Identity," described how the Free Officers movement attempted to defect to the Nazis in advance of the Battle of El Alamein. The Free Officers took aerial photographs of British positions and sent this intelligence along with a letter offering allegiance to Axis in a British warplane headed to Erwin Rommel in El Alamein. "The general feeling in Egypt was against the British and, naturally, in favor of their enemies."[7] The plan was stifled when the Germans failed to recognize the sign of friendship and shot down the British warplane, a Gloster Gladiator, killing the pilot.
"It was agreed that one of us would be sent to El Alamein to tell Erwin Rommel we were honest Egyptians who had an organization within the army; that, “like you,” we were fighting against the British; that we were prepared to recruit an entire army to fight “on your side,” and to provide him with photographs showing the lines and positions of the British forces in Egypt; and that we would take it upon ourselves not to let one British soldier leave Cairo, in return for granting Egypt complete independence so that she would not be given to Italy or fall under German domination, and so that no one whatsoever would interfere in her affairs, internal or external.
These were the terms of the treaty dictated by me and flown to El Alamein on board the aircraft piloted by Ahmed Saudi Hussein. The film and the draft treaty were put into a bag and given to Saudi to fly to Rommel in Alamein. That day Hassan Ibrahim’s aircraft was scheduled to be on alert; he gave it to Saudi, who flew it as though on a regular patrol but headed for El Alamein. It was, naturally, British made, a “Gladiator.” So, although Saudi gave a signal of friendship, the Germans shot it down and Ahmed Saudi was killed. When it came to be known that the aircraft was lost, Hassan Ibrahim was tried and his promotion delayed, but nobody detected any planning behind the incident."[8]
The Free Officers continued to try to contact the Germans, and found a pair of German spies who gave Sadat a broken German radio transmitter. However, Sadat, the German spies, and other Free Officers were caught by the British and imprisoned for treason. Sadat was stripped of rank. The Allied victory at the Battle of Alamein put the question to rest and Sadat and other imprisoned Free Officers were granted leniency.[9] Nasser returned from his mission in Sudan in 1943 and assumed control over the Free Officers organization while Sadat was in prison.[10]
Rise
In 1951, while operating covertly within the military, the Free Officers formulated a six-point plan to direct their administration following the coup. The program called for the overthrow of British rule in Egypt, the elimination of Egyptian feudalism, the end of the political control of Egypt's government by foreign capital, the establishment of social justice, the formation of a strong national army and the creation of a healthy democratic society.[11]
The continued agitation within Egypt as a result of British control led to a series of skirmishes in which British military outposts were attacked. During 1950–52, Arab fedayeen in the Suez Canal Zone engaged in guerilla operations against British forces. The pro-British Egyptian government in Cairo issued a public warning to fedayeen not to continue their activities. Despite this, attacks were made against the British garrison and the Egyptians who worked with them. At this point, Egyptian nationalist groups were divided and disorganised. The military was the only area that still held some sort of organised mission, which led to the revolution of 1952. The revolutionaries publicised the need for reform and social justice, marched on Cairo and forced King Farouk to abdicate his throne. The revolution led to the end of British control over Egypt, which had begun in 1882 during the Anglo-Egyptian War.[4]
Legacy
Similar movements were organised by other groups of junior officers seeking to mimic the Free Officers' ascent to power. In Iraq, a faction of Arab and Iraqi nationalist officers, who referred to themselves as the "Free Officers", toppled the pro-British Hashemite government of Nuri al-Said and Faisal II in 1958.[12] Said and Faisal, Nasser's chief regional rivals at the time, were both killed during the coup. In 1963 some of the same officers aligned themselves with the Ba'ath Party and overthrew the government of Abd al-Karim Qasim, who was killed by the organizers of the coup.
In Syria a coalition of Arab nationalist officers, including Nasserists, Ba'athists and independents, toppled the secessionist government of Nazim al-Qudsi in 1963 and vowed to restore the union with Egypt in the United Arab Republic (1958–1961). In Saudi Arabia during the 1960s the Prince Talal invoked a similar idea, the Free Princes Movement, in an unsuccessful effort to overthrow his country's conservative monarchy. He was exiled to Egypt as a result and was given asylum by Nasser.
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