Modern History
 
    Years before the 1952 Cairo fire, a young Egyptian officer called Gamal Abdel-Nasser was determined to drive the British forever out of Egypt. Nasser was born in 1918 in the poor Alexandrian suburb of Bacos to southern Egyptian parents. He graduated at the Military College and fought at the first Arab-Israeli War. Together with a group of colleagues, he formed a semi-underground organization, The Free Officers, and carefully planned his coup. In the morning of July 23, 1952, Egyptians heard on the news that the Free Officers, led by General Mohamed Naguib, assumed control over strategic military zones within Cairo and elsewhere in a white coup. General Naguib was a respected senior officer who was only appointed as a figure-leader to enhance the credibility of the coup. On July 26, King Farouk of Egypt left Alexandria on his personal Yacht, never to return to Egypt again, and his toddler son, Ahmad Fouad, was soon declared King. The remaining British troops were asked to evacuate the country and, by 1954, the last British soldier had indeed left.

    Whatever their motive, the Free Officers gradually engaged in politics during the following years. Some believe they were driven by the events and supported by the long-oppressed citizens, some think they were seduced by power, and others affirm that every step was planned from the very beginning. In 1953, the Free Officers deposed Ahmad Fouad, the last King, and declared Egypt a Republic, with Mohamed Naguib as its first president. Naguib, who grew up within the old system, was a courageous yet peaceful man and had no plans for radical change. So he too was deposed in 1954 by the true leader of the coup, Nasser, who became the country's head of state. Mohamed Naguib was banned from participating in politics, and died broke in 1981. He was the first Egyptian to rule Egypt since the Pharaoh Nectanebo I, a contemporary of Alexander the Great.

    It was only when Nasser became president that the 1952 military coup started turning into a real social and political revolution, now referred to as the 1952 Revolution. A controversial character, he is highly praised by his supporters for his Nationalization of the Suez Canal, his Agrarian reform, and his socialist policies that brought the vast majority of Egyptians out of poverty. His opponents, on the other hand, describe him as a dictator surrounded by a corrupt military, and hold him responsible for the defeat of the Egyptian army in 1967 in the war against Israel. Shortly after the defeat, Nasser resigned, but thousands of Cairenes marched in his support. For the next three years, Nasser would never emerge back as the great and ultimate Leader of the Arabs he was before 1967.

    When Nasser died of serious health complications in 1970, the Egyptian vice-president Anwar El-Sadat, another Free Officer, was elected head-of-state. He started by isolating Nasser's old guard, and in 1973 became even more popular by declaring victory in the fourth Arab-Israeli war. However, Sadat would only become an internationally renowned character after his historic visit to Jerusalem in 1977. Sadat, the peacemaker, became the first Egyptian to win a Nobel prize after signing a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. When he was assassinated in 1981 at a military parade, he was succeeded by his vice-president Hosni Mubarak, who rules to date.

    Since the 1952 revolution, Cairo's landscape has changed significantly. The city's population more than tripled, and several satellite cities simply became suburbs of Greater Cairo. The once rural regions stretching between the Nile and the Pyramids today are as crowded as downtown. However, some scenes still remain unchanged. A walk through the Khan Al-Khalili bazaar is a trip back in time to the Mamelouk and Ottoman days. It was in the narrow alleys near Al-Azhar and Al-Husein that Nobel Laureate, Naguib Mahfouz, wrote his famous novels, Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street, and many others . The stones of Saladin's Citadel, Al Azhar, the old city gates, and the spiral minaret of Ibn Tulun, the Fortress of Babylon, the Hanging Church, and the Virgin's Tree tell about some of the city's most glorious days. And the Pyramids, these magnificent structures, still stand at the western edge of Cairo, witness to the splendor of a civilization that flourished at this very spot some 5000 years ago.
 
 
 

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