Nasser vs Sadat (Part 2)

[continuation of the Part 1] The developing relationship between Egypt and the Soviet Union alarmed President Dwight Eisenhower, and in July 1956 he cancelled a promised grant of 56 million dollars towards the building of the Aswan Dam. So Nasser did what no one had imagined, he nationalized the Suez Canal, arguing that this was the only way to help finance the Aswan Dam.

This enraged the three powers at the time Britain, France, and Israel, so they plotted an attack, and on October 29th, 1956, they did just that. The world condemned the attacks and the United Nations immediately tried to force a cease fire. Egypt suffered a great loss during that war and as retaliation; Nasser blocked the Suez Canal, and used his influence to urge Arab nations to reduce oil exports to western countries.

After the Suez Crisis Nasser became the powerful and popular figure of the Arab world. He represented a new era of defiance and along with other Arab leaders they began to form a united Arab state. All Arabian countries began to see the West as their enemy and vowed to retaliate aggressively.

On May 23rd Nasser closed the Straits of Tiran, and the Israeli port of Eilat, Israel's only access to the Indian Ocean. Israel then attacked Egypt, during what is now known as the six-day war. The worst loss Egypt has ever encountered.

After the war Nasser stepped down from office, as regret for the loss and destruction Egypt had suffered, but the people staged huge demonstrations in order to bring him back, and so he returned. Soon after, in September 1970, Nasser died of a heart attack. It is rumored that he was weakened by the war and this caused his heart to fail, others claim that he was assassinated by members of the Muslim brotherhood. But in either case, during his funeral seven million people showed up to morn his death.

The next in line to hold the presidency was his close friend Anwar El Sadat, Born in 1918 in a town 40 miles from North Cairo. Sadat also began his political interests at a very young age and also had the overwhelming feelings of Egyptian Nationalism, although his actual political activities didn’t start until later in his life. It all began after he graduated from the Royal Military Academy in 1938.

When Sadat met Gamal in Sudan that was when he began his commitment to overthrow the king, but this landed him in jail twice. When released the second time Sadat became discouraged and returned to a civilian life, he also acted in a few films alongside the most famous of actors at that time.

Sometime later, Sadat re-contacted Nasser to find out that their revolutionary movement has grown considerably while he was away. He then returned to the political scene. Sadat’s task during the coup was to oversee the resignation of King Farouq.

Between the coup and his time as president, Sadat was rarely seen or heard. Even though he held various high-level positions during Nasser’s presidency; first he was appointed Minister of State, then he assumed the position of Secretary of the National Union and lastly he held the position of vice president for two terms until Nasser’s death.

When Sadat succeeded Nasser he received Egypt in complete chaos. His first mission was to re-take the territory that Israel had forcefully and undeservedly taken. He also had to prove that, although unknown and untested, he should not be underestimated.

Infuriated by the Soviet’s lack of economic and military support, Sadat ordered the immediate expulsion of thousands of their military advisors from Egypt, leaving Egypt dependent solely on The United States for acquisition of military weapons.

Sadat made it clear that from the beginning he was willing to make peace with Israel; he began by openly offering a peace treaty in exchange for the Sinai Peninsula. But Israel refused, and on October 1973, with help from Syrian, Sadat put into action his plan to strike Israel. With exceptional military precision the army crossed the Suez and drove the Israeli army into the desert. Sadat re-gained Egypt her lost dignity.

Sadat was convinced that peace with Israel would achieve some sort of peace surplus. He openly offered his willingness to travel anywhere in order to negotiate peace with Israel. The final treaty was signed in 1979; and his efforts gained him a Nobel Peace Prize award.

One of Sadat’s greatest influences during his childhood was Mahatma Ghandi. He admired greatly his idealism of peace, even during the most violent of times. This may be the main reason he so desperately wanted to achieve peace and urged other Arab countries to do the same.

But instead Arab states held an Arab League meeting and condemned his actions, they collectively agreed to remove all their Ambassadors from Egypt, sever political and economical ties, and move their headquarters from Cairo to Tunis. Of course, now that the United States was befriended by Sadat, they decided to compensate Egypt for this loss by increasing their aid.

Sadat knew very well that this peace treaty would not go well with the common people of Egypt; but he was certain that if the people felt improvement in their lifestyle, the treaty would not be an issue that would cause domestic tribulations. Therefore he began to negotiate loan agreements in order to improve everyday life for the poor.

But still, for the Arab world, this treaty was viewed as disloyalty to Nasser’s “United Arabs” idealism. This was proven even more when Sadat changed the country’s name from “United Arab Republic” to “Arab Republic of Egypt” signaling that he was putting an end to Nasser’s “United Arabs” era.

Sadat began to reverse all that Nasser had accomplished. First he proclaimed Egypt as having an “open door” economy, hoping that this would attract investments from business men from the West as well as from Arab countries. He also returned some of the land and businesses nationalized by Nasser to their original owners, opening Egypt to entrepreneurs who quickly made huge fortunes at the expense of Egyptian citizens.

Sadat also removed Nasser’s one-party policy, relaxed governmental control, and removed price-control, giving everyone the chance to charge prices as they see fit, even for the basic of necessities such as bread. He cut back food funding, which gave way to a higher percentage of poverty in Egypt, and began planning for political liberalization, which eased all political laws Nasser had put into effect.

Because of his choices and interest in western support and manner the country began falling in a downward spiral, causing a huge number of riots. It was also during his presidency that Christian’s, from the fear of becoming a minority, began a wave of civil unrest against Muslims, significantly increasing the violence between them.

Sadat’s image began to falter, his admirers began to decrease dramatically, and he himself began to fear an assassination attempt at his life. And in February 1981, the arrest of an operative with crucial information foiled one of the many planed assassinations against Sadat; in return he ordered a roundup of more than 1,500 people, including the Coptic Pope. But soon after in October Sadat he was assassinated and apparently by a Muslim radical or by his descendent Hosni Mubarak.

It is apparent that some people believe that by opening Egypt’s economy to the world Sadat was trying to evolve Egypt into a high-class business nation. By allowing large foreign investments he would improve and increase Egypt’s economical status. Others saw this method as taking greater interest in foreign affairs rather than domestic; and unfortunately that didn’t take too well by all people. Maybe it was his methods and choices that forced people to see his efforts as being against the nation’s interest.

The thing admired most about Gamal is that his aim was to restore national pride, not only to Egypt but to all Arab nations, wanting them independent, just, and free from foreign control. He was all about nationalism, and love for ones country, and this is what made people love and respect him so much. Everything he did was for Egypt by Egypt, wanting Egypt to grow on its own without any foreign help or influence.

Those who have a great sense of nationalism will tend to lean more towards Gamal, others who focus on economical growth, and stability will lean more towards Sadat. Either way, their intentions (apparently) were one, and that is to make Egypt a better country. The differences mainly settled on their main priorities and actions taken. In the end the decision lies within our own priorities.

Description Sentence: Evaluating the different methods and schools of thought of the first two presidents after the July 23rd, 1952 Revolution.

[Part 1]