Freedom for Egypt

            In 1919 the Egyptians had enough of living under the control of a foreign country.  They began their push for independence led by Saad Zaghlul.  The British arrested and exiled Zaghlul, which angered the Egyptians who revolted.  For some months in 1919 the British government in Egypt broke down and negotiations with the Egyptians were futile.  In 1922 the United Kingdom gave Egypt its independence, and in 1923 the Egyptians declared themselves a constitutional monarchy.  The only problem was that the British reserved the right to station troops throughout Egypt.  They Egyptians had trouble getting the British to leave, improving the living conditions or the economy, and maintaining power over the British.   Finally in 1936 Egypt and the UK solidified Egypt’s independence by signing a treaty that reduced British influence by restricting their troops to the Suez Canal, which still allowed them to trade through the Red Sea (1).  Shortly after the British writer S.R.K. Glanville wrote about how the Brisith now saw the Egyptians in a good light.  He wrote, “It is thus in two main fields that, thanks to her capacity for conservation, Egypt displays herself as our benefactor.” (2)

            In July of 1952 an army group under the name of the Free Officers seized power over Egypt because they felt the government was corrupt.  Led by Gamal Abdel Nasser, they sent the ruling monarch, King Faruk into exile.  They formed the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) in September of 1952.  The Army’s commander in chief, Muhammad Naguib became the president and prime minister of Egypt.  He banned all other political parties that were around before the elections of 1952.  For the first two years, Naguib and Nasser shared power over Egypt with Nasser serving as deputy prime minister.  However, the two could not agree so Nasser became prime minister in 1954.  In November of that year, Naguib lost his presidency and Nasser took over to lead Egypt unchallenged.  Nasser had England agree to remove all their troops from Egypt by 1956 finalizing Egypt’s independence (3).