--- The Republic ---

Gamal Abdel Nasser ruled (1954 - 1970) , He was the mastermind of the covert formation of the Free Officers that acted against the monarchy and sought to take over the rule. In 1950, he was appointed head of the Free Officers Executive and on 23 July 1952, the Free Officers set about a coup d'état, later regarded as a "revolution." They declared Mohamed Naguib as the commander-in-chief.	Gamal Abdel Nasser
After that, the group announced their Six Principles purporting the end of occupation, ending feudalism and monopoly, achieving social justice, formation of a strong army, achieving democracy and abolishing censorship. Broader plans were also dedicated to the agrarian reforms. Mohamed Naguib was made a prime minister and the 1923-constitution was suspended. In early 1953 the political parties were disbanded and the Free Officers Executive was renamed as Revolutionary Command Council (RCC). Mohamed Naguib declared his supreme power in the country. Later in that year, the monarchy was abolished, Naguib was made president of the new republic and Nasser formed the government. Power struggle arose between Nasser and Naguib. They were both exchanging posts of premiership and RCC chairmanship. Nasser, however, drummed up enough supports from trade unions and the Liberation Rally, a government political group formed in March 1953. Moslem Brotherhood, an Islamic reformist movement founded in 1928, was allowed to resume its non-political activities. In October 1953, Nasser held negotiations with the British side and reached the Anglo-Egyptian Evacuation Treaty. The Moslem Brotherhood opposed the agreement because it gave British forces a period of 20 months to implement total evacuation, a period they saw as long time. As a result, a member of the group attempted to assassinate Nasser. To Nasser that was the last straw. He took the attempt as a pretext to place Mohamed Naguib under a house arrest, ripping him from presidency and suppressing the Moslem Brotherhood. In 1955, Nasser secured an arms-deal from the Soviet Union and the next year a referendum was held based on the new constitution and Nasser was officially elected as president. The RCC was disbanded and both martial laws and censorship were abolished. Earlier in February, the UN's International Bank for Reconstruction and Development approved the financing of the High Dam project at Aswan. However, later USA and Britain withdrew their offer to financially support the project. Nasser responded by nationalizing Suez Canal in July 1956 to exploit its revenues in financing the building of the Dam, a move that provoked Britain. Tension increased in the region and Israel attacked the canal in October. Raged by the nationalization of the canal, Britain followed the attack in November. France took part in the attack as it was irritated by Egypt's support for the Algerian revolution. The tripartite attack caused a crisis inside the Security Council and under pressures practiced from the USSR and the USA, the aggressors withdrew to make Abdel Nasser celebtrated as a victor and a symbol of resistance in front of imperialism. After the war, the government soon started a crackdown on oppositionists and communists. In February 1958, a union was formed between Egypt and Syria under the name of United Arab Republic (UAR) with Nasser its president. In 1961, Syria broke away from the union after Syrian disapproval for Egyptian policies. Despite that, Egypt kept the UAR title until 1971. In 1962 Egypt sent troops to support Yemen's revolutionists against royalists. Nasser's pan-Arab policies were shaken from time to time and Egypt's relations with other Arab countries were fluctuating. The Arab Socialist Union was founded in July 1962 to consolidate the party activities of the government. The Union installed itself as the only political party until the introduction of the multiparty system in Sadat's rule. In 1964, a new provisional constitution was introduced and in 1965, President Nasser was reelected president. The next year, Nasser signed a joint defense pact with Syria. Israel soon attacked Jordan. Early in 1967, Israel attacked Jordan and Syria. Consequently, tension grew between Egypt and Israel. Nasser asked the UN troops in Sinai to leave and pushed his troops in, then he closed the strategic strait of Tiran, blocking the Red Sea waterway before Israel. As a result, the six-day way broke out on 5 June 1967. Israel carried an all-out attack on Arab states. Israel succeeded to occupy Sinai from Egypt, Golan Heights from Syria and the West Bank from Jordan. The war was a tragic defeat for Egyptians. The air force fleet was even destroyed on ground and suffered a big loss. Egyptian troops haphazardly withdrew from Sinai and tens of thousands of soldiers were killed on their way back to the mainland. USA and USSR interfered and a cease-fire was reached between Egypt and Israel. After the crushing defeat, Nasser offered his resignation but popular protests erupted and the masses requested him to rethink his decision; so under the popular pressure Nasser resumed his post. General Abdel Hakim Amer, chief of staff and the direct responsible for the defeat was dismissed and reportedly committed suicide few weeks later. Despite Nasser's resumption for the presidency post, the war left him broken and incapable of making effective changes domestically and externally. Nasser had to deal with problems emerged in the war, particularly the economy slump and the increase of hostility with Israel. Continuous confrontation with Israel brought about Egypt's dependence on the Soviet Union for getting weapons. In March 1969, the war of attrition erupted between Egypt and Israel until it stopped in August 1970 after efforts from USA led to a cease-fire. Nasser died of a heart attack on 28 September and was succeeded by his vice-president Anwar El-Sadat.
Anwar El-Sadat (1918 - 1981) succeeded late president Gamal Abdel Nasser as president of Egypt. Sadat was an active member of the Free Officers before the 1952 revolution and later in the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC). He held several positions in government organizations and worked as a journalist at some period.	Anwar El-Sadat
Nasser chose him as vice-president in December 1969. Sadat ascended to the presidency post after Nasser's death in September 1970. A referendum confirmed him as a president soon after. Sadat had some political opponents who contended for leadership after Nasser's era. They arranged a plot in May 1971 to overthrow him, which gave him a pretext to purge them from the government in the framework of what he called "the Corrective Revolution." Hereafter, he succeeded to rid the rule from his opposers and break up the security apparatus set by Nasser. The next year, Sadat expelled the Soviet technicians. In early 1973, Sadat secured an arms-deal from the Soviet Union for he was girding himself for a possible attack on Israel. On 6 October 1973, Egypt and Syria initiated a joint attack on Israel that took it with a surprise. This gave Egypt an initial success at least to cross to the east bank of the Suez Canal, but after American military aids were sent to Israel via an airlift, the latter successfully launched a counterattack. The situation ended up with the third army of Egypt besieged in Sinai, when the two parties finally accepted a cease-fire on 22 October. The first disengagement agreement was reached in January 1974. This gave Egypt a thin strip along the Suez Canal in Sinai Peninsula. Even if it was not a clear-cut victory, the war accredited to Sadat and empowered the country to regain its national pride. It also encouraged Sadat to go on with his plan of economic changes. After the war, Sadat introduced an open-door policy in economy. Though intended to liberate the economy, the policy proved to be shortsighted. It brought about instant riches of certain Egyptian classes and widened the gap between poor and rich. Extensive importing of foreign goods was a main characteristic of this scheme. This weakened the competition capability of local goods and caused the inflation rate to soar. In 1975 the second Egyptian-Israeli disengagement agreement was concluded, the same year that the USA announced its vast aid program to Egypt. In June 1976, a law was passed to approve the formation of political parties, inaugurating a new era of the multiparty system. In September, Sadat was reelected president by an overwhelming number of votes in a referendum. Egypt later held talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Talks ended with Egypt required by the organization to remove the subsidies. Provoked by economic hardships and the removal of subsidies, people went on street demonstrations in Cairo, leaving dozens killed and thousands injured. The riots forced Sadat to rethink his economic policy. On the other hand, USA and the Soviet Union intensified efforts to reach a peace accord between Egypt and Israel. In a surprise move, Sadat visited Jerusalem in November 1977 to approach peace with Israel and later in 1978 an agreement was virtually reached between the two sides. The courageous move of Sadat angered the Arab countries and in November 1978 Arab states convening in Baghdad vowed to impose sanctions on Egypt if it signed an agreement with Israel. The same year saw the formation of the National Democratic Party, which was chaired by Sadat until his death.
In March 1979, the Egyptian-Israeli Camp David accord was finally signed in the USA under the sponsorship of the American administration. According to the agreement, Egypt regained all Sinai but a buffer zone was established with the presence of UN peacekeeping forces. A mechanism was also drawn up for future negotiations with the Palestinians. Finally, normalization between the two states was carried out and an exchange of ambassadors took place. The Arab states denounced the agreement, which they considered as treachery to Arabs generally and Palestinians particularly. As a result, Arab nations expelled Egypt from the Arab League. Though the majority of Egyptians hailed the peace accord, fundamentalist groups and other opposing elements expressed their discontent from the agreement. In September 1981, Sadat arrested more than 1300 including Islamic and Coptic figures and many other prominent political figures. On 6 October 1981 Sadat was assassinated by members of the radical Islamic group while he was watching a military parade commemorating Egypt's crossing for the Suez Canal in 1973. Sadat was succeeded by his vice-president Hosni Mubarak.
President Hosny Mubarak President Hosny Mubarak was born in Al-Menoufiyah governorate, located in the heart of Egypt, in the Delta area. Upon his completion of high school, Mr. Mubarak joined the Egyptian Military Academy, where he received his Bachelor Degree in Military Sciences. In 1950, Mr. Mubarak joined the Air Force Academy and earned his Bachelor in Aviation Sciences. Since then he has held many command positions in the Egyptian Air Force as a Pilot, Instructor, Squadron Leader and Base Commander.	Hosny Mubarak
In 1964, Mr. Mubarak headed the Egyptian Military delegation to the USSR and was appointed as the Commander of the Western Air Force Base, at Cairo West Airfield. During the period from 1967 to 1972, he was appointed as the Director of the Air Force Academy and Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Air Force, and remained in this post until 1972 when he became Commander of the Air Force and Deputy Minister for Military Affairs. In October 1973, he was promoted to the rank of Air Marshall. In April 1975, Mr. Mubarak was named as Vice president of Egypt and was appointed as the Vice Chairman of the National Democratic Party (NDP), in 1978. In 1981, Mr. Mubarak became President of the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Chairman of the National Democratic Party. President Mubarak was re-elected by majority votes in 1987,1993, and 1999 for three successive terms. In recognition of his international leading role, President Mubarak was elected twice as the Chairman of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), during the periods of 1989-1990 and 1993-1994. He has been, also, awarded various local and international prizes such as the Armour of the “Man of Peace” (1983), Prize of "Personality of the Year" (1984), Prize of "Man of the Year 1984" (1985), The Medal of the Astrolabe (1989), Prize of Democratic Human Rights (1990), Membership and Decoration "Honoris Causa" (1991), UN Prize of Population (1994). Nationally, President Mubarak was awarded numerous Egyptian Civilian and Military Decorations such as Decoration of the Nile, Decoration of the Republic, Decoration of the Republic of the First Order, Decoration of Merit of the First Order, Decoration of Work of the First Order, Decoration of Sciences and Arts of the First Order, Decoration of Sports of the First Order, Memorial Decoration of Merit of the First Order, Memorial Decoration of Excellence of the First Order, Decoration of the Sinai Star of the First Order, Order of the Star of Honor, Military Star Medal, Military Decoration of the Republic of the First Order, Military Decoration for Courage of the First Order, Military Decoration for Duty of the First Order.

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