| Gamal Abd El-Nasser He was born in
Alexandria in 1918 to a family that comes from Assiut Govornorate, brought up and educated
in Alexandria and Cairo.
In 1938, he graduated from the
Military Academy and was appointed as an Officer in the Infantry in Assiut. He served in
Sudan then was appointed as an instructor in the Military Academy. Nasser joined the
General Staff Academy where he was appointed as an instructorIn 1948, he took part
in the Arab Israeli War and was besieged along with his troop in Al Falouga, while he was
also the one who founded the Free Officers Movement.
In 1954, Nasser assumed the Prime
Minister position and signed the evacuation agreement of British forces from the Canal
base in July 27, 1954.
He played a key role in the Bandung Conference held in 1955 which resulted into
launching the nonalignment movement.
In 1956, a referendum concerning the enactment of the new constitution as well as
Nasser's election for presidency was conducted .
On July 26, 1956 Nasser made the historcial decision of nationalizing the Suez Canal
which led to the tripartite aggression against Egypt.
It was also during his reign when the first Egyptian People's Council was inaugurated.
This major step took place on July 22, 1957.
His ambitions streteched beyond merely the
situation in Egypt to be crowned with Egypt's union with Syria that is when he became the
President of the Arab United Republic established in February 1958 and continued
until September 1961. Nasser's era was charateristic of a number of major
achievements which had significant impact on the Egyptian society at large namely; the
enactment of the Land Reform Law in order to eliminate feudalism, construction of the High
Dam in Aswan in addition to a wide range of socialist resolutions issued in July 1961.
Most important of such
resolutions were the limitation of agricultural land ownership to a 100 feddan/family,
nationalization of major institutions, as well as provide workers and peasants
unprecedented advantages. On the political level, Nasser founded the Liberation
Organization, the National Union and the Socialist Union in 1953, May 1957 and 1962
respectively. Whereas on the regional level, he supported national liberation movements
throughout Africa and the Arab countries. Nasser's personal activities included publishing
a book titled "The Revolution's Philosophy" and he died on September 28, 1970. |
