The 23 July 1952 Revolution marked a new dawn for Egypt and the Egyptian people.
Nearly 30 years before, the country had seen its first 20th-century popular revolution, the 1919 Revolution, which had been mainly against the British occupation. It fought to end the British protectorate over Egypt that had been declared in 1914 coinciding with the outbreak of the World War I.
One common feature of these two revolutions that have defined the political, economic, and social destinies of the Egyptian people throughout the 20th century is the fact that they both took place after world wars and they both had one overriding aim: to gain independence and freedom from British occupation.
The two revolutions formed the framework in which the nationalist and patriotic movement in Egypt developed in the course of the first half of the last century. However, they broke out in different political, economic, and social circumstances, a fact that explains the different backgrounds of their leaders. The 29 years that separated the two revolutions brought changes to Egyptian society that ultimately led to the July 1952 Revolution.
The 1919 Revolution, culminating in Britain granting Egypt nominal independence on 28 February 1922, led to the 1923 Constitution, modelled along the lines of the Belgian Constitution of the time. It established the modern Egyptian constitutional monarchy, ushering in what is commonly described as the era of “liberal democracy” in the country.
The intentions behind the constitution were genuine, no doubt, but in practice neither of the two monarchs that reigned in Egypt in subsequent decades, Fouad I (1923-1936) and his son Farouk I (1936-1952), played by the rules of a democratic polity. The same thing can be said of the period’s leading political parties and forces. Between 1923 and July 1952, Egyptian voters elected 11 legislatures, ten of which were dissolved by the Royal Palace.
The major difference between the two revolutions, a significant one that made possible the July Revolution, was the absence of social and economic content in the 1919 Revolution, which was led by a coalition of the landed aristocracy and big business. In the almost three decades separating the two revolutions, the largest share of the Egyptian economy was under the control of foreign interests.
The period from 1945 to 1952 saw widespread and growing opposition to the economic and social conditions of the majority of Egyptians, a situation that led to strikes and political instability. 1948 was a turning point and probably also the dividing line between the two revolutions.
In that year, the Egyptian army was defeated in the Palestine War, which ended in the establishment of the State of Israel in Palestine. The army officers who fought the armed Zionist gangs in Palestine – the Irgun, the Hagana, and the Stern – included among them a certain Major Gamal Abdel-Nasser. He considered the defeat to be a direct result of the corruption of the whole political system in Cairo. Radical changes were necessary, he thought. Something had to be done to change the system.
The country was up in arms against the British Occupation Forces in the Suez Canal Zone before 1952, and the armed confrontation between the Egyptian Resistance Movement and the British came to a height on 25 January 1952, when the Egyptian police refused to lay down their arms after a British ultimatum. Almost 60 Egyptian police officers and soldiers lost their lives fighting the British that fateful day.
Moreover, less than 24 hours later Cairo was ablaze on 26 January 1952, and the authorities lost control of the situation until the army intervened in the afternoon despite the urgent and repeated appeals of the minister of the interior at the time, Fouad (Pasha) Serageddin. When he realised that nobody was listening to his telephone calls, he drove at around 2:30 in the afternoon to Abdeen Palace, where he met with chief of staff of the Royal Court Hafez (Pasha) Afifi.
The army was deployed around 4:00pm after widespread fires had led to the deaths of a dozen foreigners plus the destruction of buildings owned by foreigners or known to be favourite hangouts for them. As night fell, the whole country looked to the future with trepidation, recognising that it was on the verge of radical transformation. The question was when this would take place and who would be the agents of change.
The answer came almost six months later when the army took control of the Military High Command and Abdeen Palace on 23 July 1952 led by the Free Officers commanded by General Mohamed Naguib. The destiny of the country radically changed. The deposed king was asked to go into exile on 26 July 1952, and on 18 June 1953 Egypt became a republic.
Years later, I had the opportunity to interview Fouad Serageddin, who I am related to through my mother’s family, and I asked him who was responsible for setting Cairo on fire on 26 January 1952. The Royal Palace, the British, and the Muslim Brothers, he said. Each of these had an interest in getting rid of the then Wafd Party government headed by Mustafa Al-Nahas Pasha. On 27 January 1952, King Farouk dismissed the Wafd government.
The story of the July Revolution is a fascinating one in its successes and its setbacks. It is the story of the long and persistent struggle of the Egyptian people for freedom, independence, national dignity, social justice, and equal opportunity.
Analysing the July Revolution today, we should take two factors into consideration, one external and having to do with Israel, and the second homegrown and having to do with the Muslim Brothers. These two factors combined proved to be the worst enemies of the July Revolution, particularly under the leadership of president Gamal Abdel-Nasser from 1956 to 1970. They still are today.
The writer is former assistant foreign minister.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 25 July, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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