CAIRO - Nasser's legacy is much debated today. To his sympathisers, he was a leader who reformed his country and re-established Arab pride both inside and outside of it. They testify that, under him, Egyptians enjoyed unprecedented access to housing, education, health services and food, as well as other forms of social welfare. The Egyptian leader is credited for severely curtailing British influence in Egypt, elevating it to upper world circles, and reforming the country's economy through agrarian reform, major modernisation projects such as that in Helwan and the Aswan High Dam, and various nationalisation schemes. While Nasser was President, Egypt experienced a cultural boom, particularly in theatre, film, literature and music. Nasser's Egypt dominated the Arab world in these fields, producing singers such as Um Kulthum and Mohamed Abdel-Wahab, and literary figures such as Naguib Mahfouz and Tawfiq el-Hakim, as well as producing over 100 films a year. Today, the country produces little more than a dozen films a year. The beginning On 25 January 1952, the British forces posted along the Suez Canal engaged in a major confrontation with the police in Ismailiya, resulting in the deaths of 40 Egyptian policemen. The next day, protesters in their thousands marched in the streets of Cairo, attacking foreign and pro-British Egyptian establishments resulting in the deaths of 76 people, including nine British subjects. In May 1952, Nasser received word that King Farouq was aware of the names of the Free Officers and intended to arrest them. He therefore immediately entrusted Zakariya Mohieddine with drawing up plans for the takeover of the Government by Army units loyal to the association. Coinciding with Nasser's return to Egypt was Husni al-Za'im's coup d'état in Syria. The success of the coup and the support from the Syrian people further encouraged Nasser's revolutionary pursuits. Soon after his return, he was summoned and interrogated by Prime Minister Ibrahim Abdel-Hadi, on suspicion that he was forming a secret group of dissenting officers, an allegation which Nasser convincingly denied. In 1950, the group adopted the name ‘Association of Free Officers' and talked of freedom and the restoration of their country's dignity. Abdel-Nasser organised the founding committee of the Free Officers which eventually comprised 14 men from different social and political backgrounds, with some being members of Young Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Egyptian Communist Party, as well as the aristocracy. Nasser was unanimously elected chairman of the organisation. The 1952 revolution was a big inspiration for the young Egyptians in the January 2011 revolution that toppled president Hosni Mubarak. Photos of Gamal Abdel-Nasser were raised by the young Egyptians in Al-Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the revolution. Governmental corruption and defeat in the 1948 War were the main reasons why the Free Officers led by General Mohamed Naguib launched a revolution on July 23rd, 1952, seizing Army GHQ and laying siege to Abdin Palace in downtown Cairo and Ras el-Tin Palace in Alexandria. They also seized control of all governmental buildings, radio stations and police stations in Cairo. Mohamed Naguib assumed leadership of the new revolutionary Government, becoming the first President of Egypt on June 18th 1953, the day on which the Egyptian and Sudanese monarchy was abolished, and the Republic of Egypt was declared. Nasser and the Free Officers expected to become the ‘guardians of the people's interests' against the monarchy and the Pasha class, while leaving the day-to-day tasks of government to civilians. Thus, they asked Ali Maher, a former prime minister, to resume his previous position and form an all-civilian cabinet. The Free Officers then renamed themselves the Egyptian Revolutionary Command Council (RCC), with Naguib as chairman and Nasser as vice-chairman. In September 1952, the first Agrarian Reform Law was enacted, limiting land ownership to 200 feddans. For the first time, land was distributed to landless peasants. The Free Officers gradually engaged in politics during the following years.
The assassination attempt On October 26, 1954, a Brotherhood member, Mohamed Abdel-Latif, attempted to assassinate Nasser while he was delivering a speech in Alexandria, celebrating the British withdrawal. "My countrymen, I spill my blood for you and for Egypt. I will live for your sake and die for the sake of your freedom and honour. Let them kill me; it does not concern me so long as I have instilled pride, honour and freedom in you. “If Gamal Abdel-Nasser should die, each of you shall be Gamal Abdel-Nasser... Gamal Abdel-Nasser is of you and from you and he is willing to sacrifice his life for the nation,” said the leader. The crowd roared in approval and Arab audiences were electrified. The assassination attempt backfired, quickly playing into Nasser's hands. Upon returning to Cairo, he ordered one of the largest political crackdowns in the history of Egypt, with the arrests of over 20,000 people, mostly members of the Brotherhood, but also Communists, Wafd activists and sympathisers of these groups within the military leadership. Nasser chose Gamal Salem, a loyal officer, to head the military tribunal. Eight Brotherhood leaders were sentenced to death, although the sentence of its chief ideologue, Sayyed Qutb, was commuted. President Naguib was removed from the presidency and put under house arrest, but was never tried or sentenced, while no-one in the Army rose to defend him. The crackdown continued well into 1955. The Brotherhood were dissolved and most of their leaders fled to other Arab countries. With his rivals neutralised, Nasser became the undisputed leader of Egypt. His undisputed leadership was confirmed as an impact of the February/March crisis of 1954; General Naguib remained as a figurehead until November 1954, when he was shorn of the presidency and placed under house arrest. Biography Nasser was born on January 15th 1918 in the poor Alexandrian suburb of Bacos to Upper Egyptian parents. Talking about his childhood Nasser said: "I am proud to belong to Beni Morr. And I am more proud to be a member of a poor family from that village. I am saying for posterity that Nasser was born in a poor family and I promise that he will live and die a poor man." Beni Morr is a small village in Assiut governorate in Upper Egypt. His village origins may have explained his love for the peasants. He always thought of their poverty and suffering. Nasser's father was a middle-class employee, which made Nasser more aware of the poverty of most Egyptians. Having been brought up and educated in Alexandria and Cairo, Nasser joined the prestigious Military Academy after the signature of the 1936 pact which for the first time allowed young men from the lower classes to enrol there. He graduated from the Military Academy in July 1938 and was appointed as an infantry officer in Assiut. He also worked in the Sudan (a part of the Egyptian Kingdom at the time). Later, Nasser was transferred to Cairo and was appointed as an instructor in the Military Academy. Soon after that, he joined the General Staff Academy, again as an instructor.
Death and funeral On 28 September 1970, Nasser suffered a heart attack. He was immediately rushed to his home and was pronounced dead soon after. His wife Tahia, famous journalist Mohamed Hassanein Heikal and Anwar Sadat were present, the last reading verses from the Holy Qur'an at his deathbed. Following the announcement of Nasser's death, Egypt and the Arab world were in a state of shock. However, it should be noted that Nasser smoked three packets of cigarettes a day; nor was it publicly known at the time that Nasser had previously suffered two heart attacks. According to his doctor, el-Sawi Habibi, Nasser's probably died of arteriosclerosis, varicose lungs and diabetic complications. There was also a history of heart disease in his family; two of his brothers died in their fifties from the same condition. His funeral procession through Cairo, on October 1st, was attended by at least 5 million mourners. The 10km-long procession to his burial site began at the RCC headquarters with MiG-21 jet fighters flying overhead. His flag-draped coffin was attached to a gun carriage pulled by six horses and led by a column of cavalrymen. All Arab heads of state attended. King Hussein of Jordan and PLO leader Yasser Arafat cried openly while Muammar al-Gaddafi of Libya reportedly fainted twice. Although no major Western dignitaries were present, Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin showed up. Almost immediately after the procession began, mourners engulfed Nasser's coffin shouting "There is no god but Allah, and Nasser is God's beloved... Each of us is Nasser." Police unsuccessfully attempted to quell the crowds and, as a result, most of the foreign dignitaries surrounding his coffin – including Kosygin, Hussein, French Premier Jacques Chaban-Delmas and Haile Selassie of Ethiopia – had to be evacuated. The final destination was the Nasr Mosque, renamed Abdel-Nasser Mosque, where Nasser was buried.
