Laval University From the SelectedWorks of Fathi Habashi April, 2018 Rule of Military in Egypt Fathi Habashi Available at: https://works.bepress.com/fathi_habashi/281/
The Rule of the Military in Egypt Fathi Habashi Laval University, Quebec City, Canada Fathi.Habashi@arul.ulaval.ca INTRODUCTION During the Mamluks era the army in Egypt was mainly mercenaries bought from Europe. When Mohamed Ali (1769-1849) took over the rule of Egypt in 1805 he created a national army from Egyptians. Khedive Ismail (1830-1895), grandson of Mohamed Ali, took extensive loans from British banks and could not pay them back. As a result, the British exiled him and occupied the Suez Canal. His eldest son Mohamed Tewfiq (1852-1892) got in conflict with Colonel Orabi Pasha (1841-1911) and called the British for his protection. As a result they occupied Egypt in 1882. Since then those who entered the army were from feudal Egyptian families who owned thousands of feddans of land and were devoted to the King and the British. Mohamed Ali founder of the royal family in 1805 Ismail Pasha Tewfiq Pasha Ahmed Fouad Farouk Some of the decedents of Mohamed Ali who ruled Egypt till 1952
THE ANGLO-EGYPTIAN TREATY In 1936, Prime Minister Nahas Pasha (1879-1965) the leader of the Egyptian majority succeeded in signing the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty which removed the British Army from Cairo to the Suez Canal zone and opened the Military College to ordinary Egyptians. He was removed from office at the end of 1937 by King Fouad I (1868-1936) son of Khedive Ismail. Nahas Pasha making a speech in the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty memorial stamp During the last years of the reign of his son King Farouk (1920-1965) corruption and favouritism were infiltrated in all aspects of life in Egypt. There were 22 governments in 15 years beside the riots of students, inflation, etc. Everybody was discontent with the situation but nobody could do anything. ARMY IN POWER It was on July 23, 1952 that the army took over power, exiled the King, declared a republic, eliminated feudalism, removed the British from the country, established heavy industry of iron and steel, and went on the construction of the High Dam to produce electricity. The peaceful coup was strongly supported by the people. Young officers who took power in 1952 appointed General Mohamed Naguib [seated 2 nd from right] as head of the Council
The young officers who took over power were those that entered the Military College in 1936 when Nahas Pasha signed the Anglo - Egyptian Treaty. Although the rule of the army was generally positive yet it made so many mistakes that infuriated the people. There were arrests of newspaper editors and others who criticized the government. There were those who were inflaming religious difference between Moslems and Copts and the government did nothing. There were transportation and apartments problems, inflation, etc. Then came the nationalization of the banks and industry including the minor industry which was a disaster for Egypt. People were so disgusted with the military and many protests took place. The situation became extreme when Mohamed Morsi of the Moslem Brotherhood came to power in June 2012 by election and tried to take full control of state institutions. During his rule, the economy was progressively collapsing and the people had enough but could not do anything because no leader was available! President Morsi (b. 1951) Lieutenant General Al Sisi (b. 1954) A movement called Tamarrud [Rebellion] collected signatures to overthrow the regime. They went in the streets by the millions starting April 26, 2013 asking for withdrawing confidence from the President and to conduct early elections. Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi then Minister of Defence, made a speech to the military calling the government to answer the demands of the people within one week but nothing happened. He called the people to go in the streets if they wanted the army to solve the problem. The people did that. On July 3, 2013 he removed Morsi from office, arrested him together with the leading Muslim Brotherhood members. He assigned Adly Mansour, Head of the Supreme Constitutional Court, as Interim President to take care of the situation till a government is formed. Al-Sisi was elected President in June 8, 2014. THE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT During the Arab - Israeli War of 1948, the Egyptian Army was not prepared to war and it was the King and his inner circle who made the decision. Egypt did not manufacture war equipment and had to buy all of it from outside paying high price and most of the equipment was old and not suitable. After this bitter lesson, when the army was in power, it established its own factories for the manufacture of war equipment as well as creating a Research Department. The army then participated in major projects in the country which cost billions of dollars. It also obtained billions of dollars from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf
States as a support against the Moslem Brotherhood. Al-Sisi saved Egypt from a fate like that of Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Libya. The author thanks his loving wife Nadia for recovering the speeches of Al-Sisi from YouTube. References Speeches of Al-Sisi: - June 23, 2013 - June 26, 2013 - July 1, 2013 - July 3, 2013 - July 24, 2013