He wanted to be the leader of all Arabs: Who is Gamal Abdel Nasser?

In 1958, he established the "United Arab Republic" with Syria and became president. He dreamed of becoming the leader of all Arabs and then of Africa. However, these dreams would not come true and Syria would leave the United Arab Republic in 1961. Abdel Nasser, who saw a war against Israel as the shortest way to establish the "Arab Union", suffered a heavy defeat against Israel in the Golden Day War, which started on June 5, 1967, and resigned from his post. Unable to resist the street demonstrations held in Egypt and various parts of the world, he returned to his duty and focused on diplomatic relations and mediation activities during his term. Gamal Abdel Nasser died as a result of a heart attack on September 28, 1970.

Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-reaching land reforms the following year. Following a 1954 attempt on his life by a Muslim Brotherhood member, he cracked down on the organization, put President Mohamed Naguib under house arrest and assumed executive office. He was formally elected president in June 1956.

Gamal Abdel Nasser was born on January 15, 1918, in one of the poor neighborhoods of Alexandria. It took its name from the Ottoman officer Cemal Pasha, who, like many of his peers, was famous for standing against the British occupying the region, although he was not successful. Since his father, who worked as a postman, did not have the means, he went to his uncle in Cairo and completed his secondary education there.

Abdel Nasser dropped out of law school, which he attended for a short time, and joined the Royal Military Academy. He completed his 2-year education in 1939 and started working in the Egyptian Army in Sudan. He experienced developments that would affect the rest of his life during his time in Sudan. The defeat of the Arab armies against Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War increased the anger against the existing kings and the British in the region. Abdel Nasser founded the "Free Officers Movement" together with Zechariya Muhiddin, Abdulhakim Amir, Muhammad Necib, and Anwar Sadat, with whom he served, and began to make plans to overthrow the monarchy in the country.

Only one year after being promoted to lieutenant colonel, on July 23, 1952, he took action against King Faruk together with the Free Officers Movement, of which he was one of the founders. The junta led by Muhammad Naguib was successful and King Farouk was removed from the throne. This time, differences of opinion emerged within the Free Officers Movement. While Muhammad Najib and some coup plotters did not see any harm in the continuation of the monarchy, the Revolutionary Command Council, led by Abad al-Nasser, was trying to declare a republic. As a matter of fact, a short time later, a republic was declared in Egypt and Muhammad Necib took office as the country's first president.

Never-ending internal conflicts and Abdel Nasser's radical line did not allow him to remain behind the scenes any longer. In the spring of 1954, Muhammad Najib was removed from his post and sent to house arrest, and Gamal Abdel Nasser entered the political scene. Now it was time to implement the nationalist-socialist ideas in his mind.

He strengthened his position by arresting many members of the Muslim Brotherhood, using an assassination attempt against him as an excuse in 1954, and started the process that would lead to the execution of the Islamic thinker Sayyid Qutb in 1966.

He gave his priority to the nationalization of the Suez Canal and was successful in this. He attended the Bandung Conference in 1955 and started the "Non-Aligned Movement" together with Yugoslavia and India. Soon, due to the crisis that broke out in Suez, Britain, France, and Israel faced cooperation. Although Abdel Nasser was defeated in Suez, he managed to take the canal under control thanks to the US-Russia consensus, which was rarely seen during the Cold War, and his rise in the Arab world accelerated even more.

In 1958, he established the "United Arab Republic" with Syria and became president.

He dreamed of becoming the leader of all Arabs and then of Africa. For this reason, he would contribute to the establishment of the Organization of African Unity in the following years and would also chair the organization for a while. However, these dreams would not come true, and Syria would declare its separation from the United Arab Republic in 1961. Abdel Nasser, who attributed this separation, which dashed his dreams of "Panarabism", to the "reactionary governments" in the Arab countries, soon founded the "Arab Socialist Union".

In addition to receiving the support of the Soviet Union in economic and military matters, its relations with the USA became even more tense when its support for the Republicans in the Yemen Civil War was added. He saw a war against Israel as the shortest way to establish the "Arab League" and began to amass troops in Sinai in 1967. He closed the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli ships and virtually declared war.

He suffered an unexpected and heavy defeat against Israel, supported by the USA, in the Golden Day War, which started on June 5, 1967, and he resigned from his post, assuming responsibility.

Unable to resist the street demonstrations held in Egypt and various parts of the world, he returned to his duty but moved away from his old radical line. Gamal Abdel Nasser, who focused on diplomatic relations and mediation activities during his term of office, died as a result of a heart attack on September 28, 1970.

--------------------------

The legacy of Gamal Abdel Nasser. Where did it go? Who squandered it?

https://nasseryouthmovement.net/Abdul-Nasser-1675