38 CultureShock! Egypt
their internal affairs. A new constitutional monarchy was
established under King Fuad. Neither King Fuad nor his son
successor, King Farouk, trusted Wafd leaders.
During the years of the monarchy, the Egyptian military
developed a strong corps of professional officers, most of
whom were from lower- and middle-class backgrounds.
Among this group of professional officers was Gamal Abdel
Nasser, who was already an active anti-British demonstrator
by the time he entered the newly formed Egyptian Military
Academy. When World War II ensued, the British needed a
military staging base in North Africa to ensure their control
of the Suez Canal. As a result, the British officially reinstituted
Egypt as a protectorate. This action energised Egyptian
officers into forming a revolutionary movement.
Following World War II, the establishment of the state
of Israel in May 1948 resulted in Egypt, along with other
Arab countries, embarking on an attempt to destroy the
new nation. During this action, the Egyptian army was
defeated. Officers were appalled at the evident corruption
and ineffectiveness of their own government. Nasser and
his compatriots attributed the defeat to their government’s
failures, not their own weaknesses. They formed a secret
organisation, the Free Officers, determined to overthrow the
monarchy. Other groups seeking to overthrow the monarch
existed but the Free Officers developed the best internal
organisation and support of the army.
The Free Officers launched their revolution on 23
July 1952. In an essentially bloodless coup, King Farouk
abdicated the throne. The coup came only six months after
‘Black Sunday’, the burning of Cairo by mobs protesting
the continued presence of British troops in Egypt. By the
time the monarchy was officially abolished in 1954, Nasser
emerged as the clear leader and became president, prime
minister and head of the Revolution Command Council (RCC)
which was set up to run the country after the success of
the coup.
Nasser established ambitious goals for Egypt: to restore
dignity and status to Egypt; to eliminate foreign control; and
to establish Egypt as the leader of the Arab world. During