Anwar Sadat
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3rd President of Egypt
Assassination

Muhammad Anwar es-Sadat[a] (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad on 6 October 1981. Sadat was a senior member of the Free Officers who overthrew King Farouk I in the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, and a close confidant of President Gamal Abdel Nasser, under whom he served as vice president twice and whom he succeeded as president in 1970. In 1978, Sadat and Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of Israel, signed a peace treaty in cooperation with United States President Jimmy Carter, for which they were recognized with the Nobel Peace Prize.

In his 11 years as president, he changed Egypt's trajectory, departing from many political and economic tenets of Nasserism, reinstituting a multi-party system, and launching the Infitah economic policy. As President, he led Egypt in the Yom Kippur War of 1973 to regain Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, which Israel had occupied since the Six-Day War of 1967, making him a hero in Egypt and, for a time, the wider Arab world. Afterwards, he engaged in negotiations with Israel, culminating in the Camp David Accords and the Egypt–Israel peace treaty.

Although reaction to the treaty – which resulted in the return of Sinai to Egypt – was generally favorable among Egyptians,[6] it was rejected by the country's Muslim Brotherhood and the left, which felt Sadat had abandoned efforts to ensure a State of Palestine.[6] With the exception of Sudan, the Arab world and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) strongly opposed Sadat's efforts to make a separate peace with Israel without prior consultations with the Arab states.[6] His refusal to reconcile with them over the Palestinian issue resulted in Egypt being suspended from the Arab League from 1979 to 1989.[7][8][9] The peace treaty was also one of the primary factors that led to his assassination; on 6 October 1981, militants led by Khalid Al-Islambuli opened fire on Sadat with automatic rifles during the 6 October parade in Cairo, killing him.

Early life and revolutionary activities

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Sadat graduating from the military college in 1938

Anwar Sadat was born on 25 December 1918 in Mit Abu El Kom, part of Monufia Governorate in what was then the Sultanate of Egypt, to a poor family, and he had 14 siblings.[10] One of his brothers, Atef Sadat, later became a pilot and was killed in action in 1973 during the Yom Kippur War.[11] His father, Anwar Mohammed El Sadat, was an Upper Egyptian, and his mother, Sit Al-Berain, was born to an Egyptian mother and a Sudanese father.[12][13]

He graduated from the Royal Military Academy in Cairo, the capital of what was then the Kingdom of Egypt, in 1938[14] and was appointed to the Signal Corps. He entered the army as a second lieutenant and was posted to the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (the Sudan being a condominium under joint British and Egyptian rule at the time). There, he met Gamal Abdel Nasser, and along with several other junior officers they formed the Free Officers, an organization committed to overthrowing British rule in Egypt and eliminating state corruption.[15]

Muhammed_Naguib_colors
Sadat with Mohamed Naguib, 1952

During World War II, Sadat, a member of the fascist and ultranationalist Young Egypt Party, collaborated with Nazi Germany in Egypt as part of Operation Salam.[16] There were meetings and talk amongst some pro-Axis junior officers of a potential revolt, and Sadat later said that he'd wanted to make Egypt "a second Iraq".[17][18] After the Abdeen Palace incident, Sadat furthered his plans for a coup, but Muslim Brotherhood leader Hassan al-Banna declined to support the plot.[19][20] He then met with two German agents in Cairo to discuss his plan, but was arrested and imprisoned for much of the war. By the end of the conflict, Sadat had already met with the secret society that decided to assassinate Amin Osman, Minister of Finance in the Wafd Party government, and the head of the Egyptian-British Friendship Society, due to his strong sympathies towards the British. Osman was assassinated in January 1946. Following the assassination of Amin Osman, Sadat returned again and finally to prison.[21][22][23]

In Qarmidan prison, he faced the most difficult ordeals of imprisonment by being held in solitary confinement, but the first accused in the Hussein Tawfiq case, escaped, and after there is no criminality evidence all the charges fall and the suspected went free. Salah Zulfikar, then young police officer, at that time was the officer in charge in the prison. He believed in his heart of Sadat's heroism and that he played a patriotic role towards his country and that he was convicted and imprisoned because of his love for his country. Zulfikar brought with him food, newspapers and cigarettes and helped his family a lot in obtaining visitor permits to check on him. Anwar Sadat was active in many political movements, including the Muslim Brotherhood, the fascist Young Egypt Party, the pro-Axis and pro-Royalist Iron Guard of Egypt, and the secret military group called the Free Officers.[24] Along with his fellow Free Officers, Sadat participated in the military coup that launched the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, which overthrew King Farouk I on 23 July of that year. Sadat gave the first statement of the revolution over the radio to the Egyptian people.[25]

During Nasser's presidency

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Nasser_and_Sadat_in_National_Assembly
With Nasser in the National Assembly, May 1964
Nasser,_Sadat,_Sabri_and_Shafei
Top Egyptian leaders of the Arab Socialist Union in Alexandria. From left to right: President Gamal Abdel Nasser, Sadat, ASU head Ali Sabri, and Vice President Hussein el-Shafei, August 1968

During the presidency of Gamal Abdel Nasser, Sadat was appointed minister of State in 1954. He was also appointed editor of the newly founded daily Al Gomhuria.[26] In 1959, he assumed the position of secretary to the National Union. Sadat was the president of the National Assembly (1960–1968) and then Vice President of Egypt and member of the presidential council in 1964. He was reappointed as vice president again in December 1969.

Presidency

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Further information: History of Egypt under Anwar Sadat
Sadat addressing the Arab Socialist Union in 1971

Some of the major events of Sadat's presidency were his "Corrective Revolution" to consolidate power in 1971, the break[when?] with Egypt's long-time ally and aid-giver the USSR, the Yom Kippur War with Israel, the Camp David Accords and the Egypt–Israel peace treaty, the "opening up" (or Infitah) of Egypt's economy, and lastly his assassination in 1981.

Sadat succeeded Nasser as president after the latter's death in October 1970.[27] Sadat's presidency was widely expected to be short-lived.[28] Viewing him as having been little more than a puppet of the former president, Nasser's supporters in government settled on Sadat as someone they could manipulate easily. Sadat surprised everyone with a series of astute political moves by which he was able to retain the presidency and emerge as a leader in his own right.[29]

Sadat_Qaddafi_Assad_1971
Sadat (sitting on the left side), Hafez al-Assad (sitting on the right side) and Muammar Gaddafi (sitting in the centre) signing the Federation of Arab Republics in Benghazi, Libya, on April 18, 1971

On 15 May 1971,[30] Sadat announced his corrective revolution, purging the government, political and security establishments of the most ardent Nasserists. Sadat encouraged the emergence of an Islamist movement, which had been suppressed by Nasser. Believing Islamists to be socially conservative he gave them "considerable cultural and ideological autonomy" in exchange for political support.[31]

In 1971, as part of the Jarring Mission, three years into the War of Attrition in the Suez Canal zone, Sadat endorsed in a letter the peace proposals of UN negotiator Gunnar Jarring, which seemed to lead to a full peace with Israel on the basis of Israel's withdrawal to its pre-war borders. This peace initiative failed as neither Israel nor the United States of America accepted the terms as discussed then.[32][33]

Corrective Revolution

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Main article: Corrective Revolution (Egypt)
1972 Echo newsreel about the early Sadat years

Shortly after taking office, Sadat shocked many Egyptians by dismissing and imprisoning two of the most powerful figures in the regime, Vice President Ali Sabri, who had close ties with Soviet officials, and Sharawi Gomaa, the Interior Minister, who controlled the secret police.[28]

Sadat's rising popularity would accelerate after he cut back the powers of the hated secret police,[28] expelled Soviet military from the country[34] and reformed the Egyptian army for a renewed confrontation with Israel.[28]

Yom Kippur War

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Main article: Yom Kippur War
Egyptianbridge
Egyptian vehicles crossing the Suez Canal on October 7, 1973, during the Yom Kippur War

On 6 October 1973, in conjunction with Hafez al-Assad of Syria, Sadat launched the October War, also known as the Yom Kippur War (and less commonly as the Ramadan War), a surprise attack against the Israeli forces occupying the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula,[35] and the Syrian Golan Heights in an attempt to retake these respective Egyptian and Syrian territories that had been occupied by Israel since the Six Day War six years earlier. The Egyptian and Syrian performance in the initial stages of the war astonished both Israel, and the Arab World. The most striking achievement (Operation Badr, also known as The Crossing) was the Egyptian military's advance approximately 15 km into the occupied Sinai Peninsula after penetrating and largely destroying the Bar Lev Line. This line was popularly thought to have been an impregnable defensive chain.

Sadat and Ahmad Ismail Ali attending the re-opening ceremony of Suez Canal after Yom Kippur war, June 5, 1975

As the war progressed, three divisions of the Israeli army led by General Ariel Sharon had crossed the Suez Canal, trying to encircle first the Egyptian Second Army. Although this failed, prompted by an agreement between the United States of America and the Soviet Union, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 338 on 22 October 1973, calling for an immediate ceasefire.[36] Although agreed upon, the ceasefire was immediately broken.[37] Alexei Kosygin, the chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers, cancelled an official meeting with Danish Prime Minister Anker Jørgensen to travel to Egypt where he tried to persuade Sadat to sign a peace treaty. During Kosygin's two-day long stay it is unknown if he and Sadat ever met in person.[38]

The Israeli military then continued their drive to encircle the Egyptian army. The encirclement was completed on 24 October, three days after the ceasefire was broken. This development prompted superpower tension, but a second ceasefire was imposed cooperatively on 25 October to end the war. At the conclusion of hostilities, Israeli forces were 40 kilometres (25 mi) from Damascus and 101 kilometres (63 mi) from Cairo.[39]

Peace with Israel

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Main articles: Egypt–Israel peace treaty and Anwar Sadat's visit to Jerusalem
External audio
audio icon National Press Club Luncheon Speakers Anwar Sadat, 6 February 1978, National Press Club. Speech begins at 7:31[40]
President Jimmy Carter shaking hands with Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin at the signing of the Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty on the grounds of the White House, 1979

The initial Egyptian and Syrian victories in the war restored popular morale throughout Egypt and the Arab World and, for many years after, Sadat was known as the "Hero of the Crossing". Israel recognized Egypt as a formidable foe, and Egypt's renewed political significance eventually led to regaining and reopening the Suez Canal through the peace process. His new peace policy led to the conclusion of two agreements on disengagement of forces with the Israeli government. The first of these agreements was signed on 18 January 1974, and the second on 4 September 1975.

One major aspect of Sadat's peace policy was to gain some religious support for his efforts. Already during his visit to the US in October–November 1975, he invited Evangelical pastor Billy Graham for an official visit, which was held a few days after Sadat's visit.[41] In addition to cultivating relations with Evangelical Christians in the US, he also built some cooperation with the Vatican. On 8 April 1976, he visited the Vatican for the first time, and got a message of support from Pope Paul VI regarding achieving peace with Israel, to include a just solution to the Palestinian issue.[42] Sadat, on his part, extended to the Pope a public invitation to visit Cairo.[43]

Sadat also used the media to promote his purposes. In an interview he gave to the Lebanese magazine Al Hawadeth in early February 1976, he claimed he had secret commitment from the US government to put pressure on the Israeli government for a major withdrawal in Sinai and the Golan Heights.[44] This statement caused some concern to the Israeli government, but Secretary of State Henry Kissinger denied such a promise was ever made.[45]

In January 1977, a series of 'Bread Riots' protested Sadat's economic liberalization and specifically a government decree lifting price controls on basic necessities like bread. The riots lasted for two days and included hundreds of thousands in Cairo. 120 buses and hundreds of buildings were destroyed in Cairo alone.[46] The riots ended with the deployment of the army and the re-institution of the subsidies/price controls.[47][48] During this time, Sadat was also taking a new approach towards improving relations with the West.[28]

The United States and the Soviet Union agreed on 1 October 1977, on principles to govern a Geneva conference on the Middle East.[28] Syria continued to resist such a conference.[28] Not wanting either Syria or the Soviet Union to influence the peace process, Sadat decided to take more progressive stance towards building a comprehensive peace agreement with Israel.[28]

The 1977 visit by Anwar Sadat to Jerusalem was the first time an Arab leader officially visited Israeli-controlled territory. Sadat met with Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, and spoke before the Knesset in Jerusalem about his views on how to achieve a comprehensive peace to the Arab–Israeli conflict, which included the full implementation of UN Resolutions 242 and 338.[49][50][51]

The peace treaty was finally signed by Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin in Washington, D.C., United States, on 26 March 1979, following the Camp David Accords, a series of meetings between Egypt and Israel facilitated by US president Jimmy Carter. Both Sadat and Begin were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for creating the treaty. In his acceptance speech, Sadat referred to the long-awaited peace desired by both Arabs and Israelis.[52]

The main features of the agreement were the mutual recognition of each country by the other, the cessation of the state of war that had existed since the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and the complete withdrawal by Israel of its armed forces and civilians from the rest of the Sinai Peninsula, which Israel had captured during the 1967 Six-Day War.

The agreement also provided for the free passage of Israeli ships through the Suez Canal and recognition of the Strait of Tiran and the Gulf of Aqaba as international waterways. The agreement notably made Egypt the first Arab country to officially recognize Israel. The peace agreement between Egypt and Israel has remained in effect since the treaty was signed.

Sadat in 1978

The treaty was extremely unpopular in most of the Arab World and the wider Muslim World.[53] His predecessor Nasser had made Egypt an icon of Arab nationalism, an ideology that appeared to be sidelined by an Egyptian orientation following the 1973 war (see National identity of Egyptians). The neighboring Arab countries believed that in signing the accords, Sadat had put Egypt's interests ahead of Arab unity, betraying Nasser's pan-Arabism, and destroyed the vision of a united "Arab front" for the support of the Palestinians against the "Zionist Entity". However, Sadat decided early on that peace was the solution.[28][54] Sadat's shift towards a strategic relationship with the US was also seen as a betrayal by many Arabs. In the United States his peace moves gained him popularity among some Evangelical circles. He was awarded the Prince of Peace Award by Pat Robertson.[55]

In 1979, the Arab League suspended Egypt in the wake of the Egyptian–Israel peace agreement, and the League moved its headquarters from Cairo to Tunis. Arab League member states believed in the elimination of the "Zionist Entity" and Israel at that time. It was not until 1989 that the League re-admitted Egypt as a member, and returned its headquarters to Cairo. As part of the peace deal, Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula in phases, completing its withdrawal from the entire territory except the town of Taba by 25 April 1982 (withdrawal from which did not occur until 1989).[28] The improved relations Egypt gained with the West through the Camp David Accords soon gave the country resilient economic growth.[28] By 1980, however, Egypt's strained relations with the Arab World would result in a period of rapid inflation.[28]

Relationship with Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi of Iran

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Queen Farah Diba, President Anwar Sadat and Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in Tehran in 1975

The relationship between Iran and Egypt had fallen into open hostility during Gamal Abdel Nasser's presidency. Following his death in 1970, President Sadat turned this around quickly into an open and close friendship.[56]

In 1971, Sadat addressed the Iranian parliament in Tehran in fluent Persian, describing the 2,500-year-old historic connection between the two lands.[56]

Overnight, the Egyptian and Iranian governments were turned from bitter enemies into fast friends. The relationship between Cairo and Tehran became so friendly that the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, called Sadat his "dear brother".[56]

After the 1973 war with Israel, Iran assumed a leading role in cleaning up and reactivating the blocked Suez Canal with heavy investment. The country also facilitated the withdrawal of Israel from the occupied Sinai Peninsula by promising to substitute the loss of the oil to the Israelis with free Iranian oil if they withdrew from the Egyptian oil wells in western Sinai.[56]

All these added more to the personal friendship between Sadat and the Shah of Iran. (The Shah's first wife was Princess Fawzia of Egypt. She was the eldest daughter of Sultan Fuad I of Egypt and Sudan (later King Fuad I) and his second wife Nazli Sabri.)[56]

After his overthrow, the deposed Shah spent the last months of his life in exile in Egypt. When the Shah died, Sadat ordered that he be given a state funeral and be interred at the Al-Rifa'i Mosque in Cairo, the resting place of Egyptian Khedive Isma'il Pasha, his mother Khushyar Hanim, and numerous other members of the royal family of Egypt and Sudan.[57]

Assassination

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Main article: Assassination of Anwar Sadat

The last months of Sadat's presidency were marked by internal uprising.[28] Sadat dismissed allegations that the rioting was incited by domestic issues, believing that the Soviet Union was recruiting its regional allies in Libya and Syria to incite an uprising that would eventually force him out of power.[28] Following a failed military coup in June 1981, Sadat ordered a major crackdown that resulted in the arrest of numerous opposition figures.[28] Although Sadat still maintained high levels of popularity in Egypt,[28] it has been said that he was assassinated "at the peak" of his unpopularity.[58]

Earlier in his presidency, Islamists had benefited from the 'rectification revolution' and the release from prison of activists jailed under Nasser.[30] But Sadat's Sinai treaty with Israel enraged Islamists, particularly the radical Egyptian Islamic Jihad. According to interviews and information gathered by journalist Lawrence Wright, the group was recruiting military officers and accumulating weapons, waiting for the right moment to launch "a complete overthrow of the existing order" in Egypt. Chief strategist of El-Jihad was Abbud al-Zumar, a colonel in the military intelligence whose "plan was to kill the main leaders of the country, capture the headquarters of the army and State Security, the telephone exchange building, and of course the radio and television building, where news of the Islamic revolution would then be broadcast, unleashing – he expected – a popular uprising against secular authority all over the country".[59]

In February 1981, Egyptian authorities were alerted to El-Jihad's plan by the arrest of an operative carrying crucial information. In September, Sadat ordered a highly unpopular roundup of more than 1,500 people, including many Jihad members, but also the Coptic Pope and other Coptic clergy, intellectuals and activists of all ideological stripes.[60] All non-government press was banned as well.[61] The roundup missed a Jihad cell in the military led by Lieutenant Khalid Al-Islambuli, who would succeed in assassinating Anwar Sadat that October.[62] The assasination plot altogether was led by Muhammad Abd al-Salam Faraj, an Egyptian Islamic Jihad member who was a civilian engineer.[63][64][65]

According to Tala'at Qasim, ex-head of the Gama'a Islamiyya interviewed in Middle East Report, it was not Islamic Jihad but his organization, known in English as the "Islamic Group", that organized the assassination and recruited the assassin (Al-Islambuli). Members of the Group's 'Majlis el-Shura' ('Consultative Council') – headed by the famed 'blind shaykh' – were arrested two weeks before the killing, but they did not disclose the existing plans and Al-Islambuli succeeded in assassinating Sadat.[66]

On 6 October 1981, Sadat was assassinated during the annual victory parade held in Cairo to celebrate Egypt's crossing of the Suez Canal.[67] Al-Islambuli emptied his assault rifle into Sadat's body while in the front of the grandstand, mortally wounding the President. In addition to Sadat, eleven others were killed, including the Cuban ambassador, an Omani general, a Coptic Orthodox bishop and Samir Helmy, the head of Egypt's Central Auditing Agency (CAA).[68][69] Twenty-eight were wounded, including Vice President Hosni Mubarak, Irish Defence Minister James Tully, and four US military liaison officers.

The assassination squad was led by Lieutenant Al-Islambuli after a fatwā approving the assassination had been obtained from Omar Abdel-Rahman.[70] Al-Salam Faraj and four defendants who directly attacked Sadat, including Al-Islambuli, were found guilty, sentenced to death, and executed on April 15, 1982.[64][63][71] Sadat's two military assailants, al-Islambuli and Sergeant Hussein Abbas Mohammed, would be executed by a firing squad, while the three civilian perpetrators, al-Salam Faraj, engineer and former army officer Abdel-Salam Abdel Aal and engineer Atta Tayel Hemida Raheel, were hung.[71][64] By April 1982, 19 people would be tried for Sadat's assassination, with 17 being jailed and two being acquitted.[71][64]

Aftermath

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Sadat was succeeded by his vice president Hosni Mubarak, whose hand was injured during the attack. Sadat's funeral was attended by a record number of dignitaries from around the world, including a rare simultaneous attendance by three former US presidents: Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon. Sudan's President Gaafar Nimeiry was the only Arab head of state to attend the funeral. Only 3 of 24 states in the Arab League – Oman, Somalia and Sudan – sent representatives at all.[72] Israel's prime minister, Menachem Begin, considered Sadat a personal friend and insisted on attending the funeral, walking throughout the funeral procession so as not to desecrate the Sabbath.[73] Sadat was buried in the unknown soldier memorial in Cairo, across the street from the stand where he was assassinated.

Over three hundred Islamic radicals were indicted in the trial of assassin Khalid Al-Islambuli, including future al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, Omar Abdel-Rahman, and Abd al-Hamid Kishk. The trial was covered by the international press and Zawahiri's knowledge of English made him the de facto spokesman for the defendants. Zawahiri was released from prison in 1984. Abboud al-Zomor and Tareq al-Zomor, two Islamic Jihad leaders imprisoned in connection with the assassination, were released on 11 March 2011.[74]

Despite these facts, the nephew of the late president, Talaat Sadat, claimed that the assassination was an international conspiracy. On 31 October 2006, he was sentenced to a year in prison for defaming Egypt's armed forces, less than a month after he gave the interview accusing Egyptian generals of masterminding his uncle's assassination. In an interview with a Saudi television channel, he also claimed both the United States and Israel were involved noting that no one from the special personal protection group of Sadat fired a single shot during the killing, and not one of them has been put on trial.[75]

Media portrayals of Anwar Sadat

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Yuri Gagarin with Sadat and Gamal Abdel Nasser in Cairo, 1962

In 1983, Sadat, a miniseries based on the life of Anwar Sadat, aired on US television with Oscar-winning actor Louis Gossett Jr. in the title role. The film was promptly banned by the Egyptian government, as were all other movies produced and distributed by Columbia Pictures, over allegations of historical inaccuracies. A civil lawsuit was brought by Egypt's artists' and film unions against Columbia Pictures and the film's directors, producers and scriptwriters before a court in Cairo, but was dismissed, since the alleged slanders, having taken place outside the country, fell outside the Egyptian courts' jurisdiction.[76]

The film was critically acclaimed in North America, but was unpopular among Egyptians and in the Egyptian press. Western authors attributed the film's poor reception in Egypt to racism – Gossett being African-American – in the Egyptian government or Egypt in general.[77] Either way, one Western source wrote that Sadat's portrayal by Gossett "bothered race-conscious Egyptians and wouldn't have pleased [the deceased] Sadat," who identified as Egyptian and Northeast African, not black.[78] The two-part series earned Gossett an Emmy nomination in the United States.

He was portrayed by Robert Loggia in the 1982 television movie A Woman Called Golda, opposite Ingrid Bergman as Golda Meir.

The first Egyptian depiction of Sadat's life came in 2001, when Ayyam El Sadat (English: The Days of Sadat) was released in Egyptian cinemas. The movie was a major success in Egypt, and was hailed as Ahmed Zaki's greatest performance to date.[79]

Sadat was a recurring character on Saturday Night Live, played by Garrett Morris, who bore a resemblance to Sadat.

Honours awarded

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National

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Foreign

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Bibliography

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See also

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Notes

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References

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Sources

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  • Tripp, Charles (1993). "Ali Mahir and the Politics of the Egyptian Army, 1936–1942". Contemporary Egypt: Through Egyptian eyes. Routledge. pp. 45–71. ISBN 9780203413166.

Further reading

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Anwar Sadat

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Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian army officer and statesman who served as the third president of Egypt from 15 October 1970 until his assassination on 6 October 1981.[1][2] A participant in the 1952 Revolution that overthrew the Egyptian monarchy, Sadat rose through the ranks under Gamal Abdel Nasser, becoming vice president in 1969.[3] Following Nasser's death, he consolidated power by purging rivals and shifting Egypt's foreign policy from Soviet dependence toward alignment with the United States.[3] Sadat's presidency is defined by his initiation of the 1973 Yom Kippur War against Israel, which aimed to reclaim territories lost in 1967 and restore Egyptian military credibility, followed by a dramatic pivot to diplomacy with his 1977 visit to Jerusalem and the 1978 Camp David Accords mediated by U.S. President Jimmy Carter, leading to the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty—the first between Israel and an Arab state.[1][4] For these efforts, he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in 1978.[1] Domestically, he introduced the Infitah economic reforms to liberalize Egypt's socialist economy, fostering private enterprise but also exacerbating inequality and corruption.[3] These policies, combined with the peace treaty, alienated much of the Arab world and fueled Islamist opposition, culminating in Sadat's assassination by army officers affiliated with Egyptian Islamic Jihad during a military parade.[3]

Early Life and Revolutionary Activities

Personal Background and Influences

Anwar Sadat was born on December 25, 1918, in the village of Mit Abu El Kom in Monufia Governorate, located in Egypt's Nile Delta region.[5] He came from a large, poor rural family of 13 children, with his father working as a government clerk in a local military hospital after completing only a grade school education himself.[6] His mother was of Sudanese origin, reflecting the family's mixed Sudanese-Egyptian heritage, and his father had met her while employed in an army medical unit in Sudan.[7] The family struggled financially, often unable to afford basic items like bakery bread, which instilled in Sadat an early awareness of rural hardship amid the fertile but economically strained Delta landscape.[8] Growing up in this modest environment, Sadat was exposed to traditional Islamic values and the enduring ethos of the Egyptian fellah, or peasant, which emphasized resilience, faith, and communal ties to the land.[9] His father's limited resources and the village's isolation from urban centers highlighted the disparities under British occupation, fostering a sense of deprivation that later fueled his nationalist sentiments.[10] As a schoolboy, Sadat participated in demonstrations against British forces, who maintained control over Egypt despite nominal independence, an experience that deepened his resentment toward imperial influence.[10] Sadat's early ideological formation was shaped by admiration for Egyptian nationalist leaders, particularly Saad Zaghloul of the Wafd Party, whose push for full sovereignty inspired widespread anti-colonial fervor in the 1910s and 1920s.[10] Figures like Zaghloul, Mustafa Kamil, and Mustafa Nahhas symbolized resistance to foreign domination, embedding in Sadat a worldview prioritizing Egyptian independence and cultural revival over subservience.[10] This rural grounding in poverty, piety, and patriotism contrasted with the elite cosmopolitanism of Cairo, orienting his perspective toward authentic Egyptian identity rather than Western or pan-Arab abstractions at this stage. In 1938, Sadat graduated from the Royal Military Academy in Cairo and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Signal Corps, marking his entry into the army as a vehicle for disciplined service and potential reform.[5] The academy's emphasis on martial professionalism, combined with pervasive anti-British undercurrents in officer training—stemming from the military's partial control by British advisors—reinforced his commitment to sovereignty, though pan-Arab ideals remained secondary to core Egyptian nationalism in his formative outlook.[5]

Anti-Colonial Activism and Free Officers Movement

During World War II, Anwar Sadat, then a captain in the Egyptian army, engaged in clandestine efforts to expel British forces from Egypt by collaborating with German agents in plots aimed at undermining the occupation.[11] These activities stemmed from his rejection of British colonial control, viewing Axis powers as potential allies against the occupiers despite their broader ideologies. In October 1942, British authorities arrested Sadat on charges of pro-Nazi subversion, leading to his imprisonment and expulsion from the military.[12][13] Sadat remained incarcerated until October 1944, when he staged an escape from a military hospital following a hunger strike that prompted his transfer there; he then evaded capture by hiding until martial law ended in 1945.[8][14] Post-escape, he reconnected with radical nationalist circles, renewing ties with the underground Free Officers Organization—a secretive cadre of mid-level army officers, including Gamal Abdel Nasser, formed to combat King Farouk's corrupt palace regime and lingering foreign influences that perpetuated Egyptian dependency.[15] Sadat joined this group around 1948, contributing to its plotting against the monarchy's elite betrayal of national sovereignty and the socioeconomic stagnation under colonial remnants.[16] The Free Officers' activism culminated in the 1952 revolution, where Sadat played a supporting role in the July 23 coup that overthrew King Farouk, involving the seizure of key government sites and arrest of officials to neutralize resistance.[17] On the morning of the takeover, Nasser designated Sadat to broadcast the announcement of the monarchy's end, signaling the military's assumption of power to establish a republic free from royal corruption and external meddling.[17] This action directly advanced the causal chain toward Egyptian independence, dismantling the puppet structures that had sustained British strategic interests post-1936 treaty.[18]

Rise to Power Under Nasser

Governmental Roles and Imprisonments

After the 1952 revolution, Anwar Sadat assumed prominent bureaucratic roles within Gamal Abdel Nasser's administration, leveraging his early involvement in the Free Officers Movement. In 1953, he was appointed editor-in-chief of Al-Gumhuriyya, the official newspaper established to propagate the revolutionary government's policies, a position he held through 1956 while authoring works defending the regime's actions.[3][19] Sadat served as Minister of State from 1954 to 1956, handling administrative responsibilities amid the consolidation of power following the monarchy's overthrow, including efforts to nationalize key institutions and promote Arab nationalism.?lang=en-us)[14] He subsequently became Vice-Chairman of the National Assembly in 1957, advancing to Chairman from 1960 to 1968, where he oversaw legislative activities supporting Nasser's socialist reforms and foreign policy initiatives.[19] Despite the stability of these appointments, Sadat navigated periods of internal suspicion during Nasser's purges of potential rivals in the late 1950s and early 1960s, particularly amid tensions over the United Arab Republic's dissolution in 1961, which tested loyalties within the regime but did not derail his trajectory. His unwavering alignment with Nasser facilitated reappointment as Vice President in 1964, a role he held until 1966, and again from 1969 until Nasser's death in 1970, positioning him as a reliable successor amid the centralization of power.[19][3]

Loyalty Amid Nasser's Policies

Anwar Sadat exhibited steadfast public loyalty to Gamal Abdel Nasser's Arab socialist policies throughout the 1950s and 1960s, including endorsement of the nationalization of major industries, banks, and insurance companies starting in 1961, alongside agrarian reforms that capped landholdings at 200 feddans and redistributed excess to peasants.[20] [21] These measures, intended to dismantle feudal structures and promote equity, instead fostered bureaucratic inefficiencies, suppressed private enterprise, and contributed to chronic economic stagnation, with GDP growth averaging under 4% annually amid rising inflation and food shortages by the late 1960s.[21] Sadat's alignment, despite emerging reservations about excessive state centralization that stifled initiative, positioned him as a reliable deputy within the regime.[20] Sadat actively supported Nasser's pan-Arab ambitions, notably through his appointment as deputy speaker of the United Arab Republic's parliament after the union with Syria on February 1, 1958, a federation that embodied socialist integration but dissolved amid Syrian discontent by 1961.[17] Post-1956 Suez Crisis, he backed the pivot toward Soviet military aid, which delivered over 1,000 tanks and aircraft by 1967 but engendered dependency on Moscow's strategic priorities, limiting Egypt's operational autonomy and exacerbating vulnerabilities exposed in the Six-Day War defeat, where Arab forces lost territories equivalent to 50% of pre-war holdings.[21] Private indications of disillusionment with this reliance surfaced in Sadat's later reflections on Soviet hesitancy to support offensive capabilities, foreshadowing his post-Nasser expulsion of advisors in 1972.[22] [23] Sadat's survival amid Nasser's internal purges of perceived rivals, such as the 1964 dismissal of figures like Mohamed Talaat Mustafa, stemmed from his perceived lack of ambition and consistent deference, enabling him to retain roles like vice president from 1969.[9] This loyalty culminated in his unopposed ascension as president following Nasser's death on September 28, 1970, inheriting a system whose socialist rigidities and foreign alignments Sadat would subsequently dismantle to avert collapse.[24] [25]

Consolidation of Presidency

Corrective Revolution and Purges

Following Gamal Abdel Nasser's death in September 1970, Anwar Sadat inherited a power structure dominated by pro-Soviet Nasserists who resisted deviations from established socialist and Arab nationalist policies. On May 2, 1971, Sadat dismissed Ali Sabri, Nasser's designated successor, vice president, and head of the Arab Socialist Union (ASU), amid growing tensions over policy direction.[26] Domestic intelligence reports soon revealed an alleged coup plot led by Sabri and allies, prompting Sadat to act decisively to neutralize the threat.[17] On May 15, 1971, Sadat announced the "Corrective Revolution," a purge arresting Sabri, Interior Minister Sharawy Gomaa, War Minister Muhammad Fawzi, and over 100 other high-ranking officials from government, military, and security sectors, charging them with conspiracy to overthrow the regime with Soviet encouragement.[26][27] The targets were primarily left-leaning figures aligned with Soviet interests, who sought to maintain Nasser's orthodox foreign and economic alignments against Sadat's emerging pragmatic shifts.[28] This operation, backed by military loyalty and public demonstrations, empirically forestalled immediate internal subversion, securing Sadat's control without widespread violence.[26] To institutionalize his authority, Sadat oversaw the drafting of a new constitution promulgated on September 11, 1971, and ratified via referendum on September 30, which vested extensive powers in the presidency, including the ability to appoint and dismiss officials freely and to steer policy beyond rigid socialist dogma.[29][30] These amendments dismantled the ASU's monopoly, reorganizing it into a framework allowing controlled pluralism and enabling future deviations from Nasserism. While effective in stabilizing the regime against factional challenges, the purges and reforms faced accusations of authoritarian consolidation, as they sidelined opposition without judicial trials for many detainees, prioritizing causal security over procedural openness.[31]

Initial Domestic Stabilization

Upon assuming the presidency following Gamal Abdel Nasser's death on September 28, 1970, Anwar Sadat faced significant domestic challenges, including lingering factionalism from the Nasser era and public disillusionment over the 1967 defeat. To consolidate support beyond the military and Nasserist core, Sadat initiated selective releases of political prisoners, particularly members of the Muslim Brotherhood who had been imprisoned under Nasser. This amnesty, beginning shortly after his ascension and extending into the early 1970s, aimed to enlist Islamist elements against leftist opponents and broaden his political base.[32][33] Student unrest erupted in January 1972, with demonstrations in Cairo's Tahrir Square protesting Sadat's perceived inaction in reclaiming territories lost in 1967, amid economic strains and agitation from leftist groups critical of the post-war stalemate. Sadat attributed the riots to "outside elements" seeking to divide the home front, deploying riot police who used tear gas and charges with bamboo staves to disperse crowds at multiple locations. This suppression restored order but highlighted underlying tensions tied to unresolved military humiliations.[34] To counter eroded national morale, Sadat delivered speeches emphasizing Egypt's resolve for decisive action against Israel, framing 1971 as a "year of decision" for war unless diplomatic progress occurred. These addresses sought to restore pride diminished by Nasser's policies, portraying Sadat as committed to liberation and unity, thereby laying groundwork for public support amid preparations for confrontation.[35]

Military and Strategic Initiatives

Yom Kippur War Planning and Outcomes

Anwar Sadat initiated planning for a limited military offensive against Israel to shatter the diplomatic impasse following Egypt's 1967 defeat, aiming to restore national honor and compel negotiations through demonstrated battlefield resolve rather than territorial conquest.[36][37] Recognizing Israel's superior air and armored capabilities, Sadat prioritized initial psychological and tactical shocks over sustained advances, coordinating with Syrian forces for a two-front assault to divide Israeli reserves.[38] The operational blueprint, developed under General Mohamed Abdel Ghani el-Gamasy as chief of operations, centered on Operation Badr: a surprise crossing of the Suez Canal using high-pressure water jets to erode the Israeli Bar-Lev Line's sand barriers, followed by amphibious assaults and pontoon bridges to deploy infantry and armor east of the waterway.[39][40] Egyptian units, armed with Soviet-supplied SA-6 surface-to-air missiles for air cover and AT-3 Sagger wire-guided anti-tank missiles carried by infantry squads, executed the assault on October 6, 1973, coinciding with Yom Kippur to exploit Israeli complacency and reduced alertness.[37][41] In the opening hours, Egyptian forces overran the canal's eastern fortifications, destroying over 100 Israeli tanks and securing bridgeheads up to 15 kilometers deep, inflicting severe initial losses and restoring Arab operational credibility after years of perceived weakness.[42] Israeli counteroffensives, bolstered by mobilized reserves and U.S. resupplies, reversed Egyptian momentum by mid-October; Ariel Sharon's division crossed the canal westward on October 15-16, encircling the Egyptian Third Army and prompting superpower intervention.[38] A UN-brokered ceasefire took effect on October 25, 1973, leaving Egyptian forces holding limited Sinai enclaves but facing encirclement threats.[43] Egypt incurred approximately 15,000 military fatalities and heavy equipment losses, including hundreds of tanks, underscoring the operation's high human cost despite tactical innovations.[44] Strategically, the war's early successes shattered Israel's aura of invincibility, enabling Sadat to parlay restored deterrence into diplomatic initiative, though ultimate territorial recovery hinged on subsequent talks rather than battlefield dominance.[36] This outcome validated Sadat's calculus that credible combat performance, not decisive victory, could alter the conflict's trajectory by compelling international engagement.[37]

Post-War Diplomatic Leverage

Following the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat leveraged the conflict's initial successes—such as the crossing of the Suez Canal and the psychological restoration of Egyptian military credibility—to initiate diplomatic negotiations that prioritized territorial recovery over continued confrontation. The Geneva Peace Conference, convened on December 21, 1973, under United Nations auspices with U.S. and Soviet co-chairmanship, marked the immediate post-war diplomatic forum, though it yielded no binding agreements due to disagreements over participation and sequencing, with Syria absent and Arab states insisting on multilateral preconditions.[45][46] Sadat viewed the conference as a platform to engage the United States directly, bypassing Soviet influence and radical Arab insistence on comprehensive solutions tied to Palestinian demands.[47] U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's subsequent shuttle diplomacy capitalized on Egypt's battlefield momentum, resulting in the first Sinai Disengagement Agreement signed on January 18, 1974, between Egypt and Israel. Under this accord, Israel withdrew from the western bank of the Suez Canal to positions 10-15 miles east, while Egypt cleared mines and limited forces on the canal's eastern bank, enabling partial Egyptian control over reclaimed territory west of the canal and access to the Suez ports of Suez and Adabiya.[48][45] A second disengagement agreement, concluded on September 4, 1975 (Sinai II), further advanced Egyptian gains through Israeli withdrawal to the Mitla and Gidi Passes, with U.S. monitoring stations deployed along the buffer zones to enforce demilitarization; this returned approximately 20% of the Sinai Peninsula to Egyptian administration and included economic aid commitments from the U.S. to Egypt.[45][49] These pacts demonstrated Sadat's shift toward bilateral U.S.-brokered talks, enhancing Egypt's bargaining position by securing tangible concessions without full Arab coordination.[50] Sadat rejected demands from radical Arab states, such as Syria and elements of the Palestine Liberation Organization, for a unified confrontation front that would precondition any talks on Israeli withdrawal from all occupied territories and rejectionist stances toward partial deals. Instead, he emphasized Egyptian national interests, pursuing disengagement as a pragmatic step to recover Sinai incrementally rather than awaiting collective Arab leverage, which he deemed ineffective post-1967.[47] This approach isolated Egypt from harder-line positions at forums like the Arab League but positioned Sadat to exploit U.S. support amid the war's oil embargo dynamics and Soviet restraint.[45] Domestically, Sadat framed the war's outcomes as a strategic victory that shattered the post-1967 stalemate and restored national pride, thereby diminishing the influence of leftist and Nasserist critics who had questioned his leadership. The partial territorial recoveries and international attention bolstered his regime's legitimacy, justifying subsequent policy pivots away from Soviet alignment and toward economic opening, as public perception shifted from humiliation to renewed agency.[36][37]

Economic Reforms

Infitah Policy Implementation

Sadat announced the infitah ("open door") policy through the October Working Paper presented to the People's Assembly on April 1, 1974, marking a deliberate pivot from the state-controlled Arab socialism of Gamal Abdel Nasser toward greater reliance on private enterprise and market mechanisms to stimulate economic activity.[51] The policy aimed to revive the private sector by offering tax holidays of up to 10 years for new investments, exemptions from customs duties on imported capital goods, and guarantees against nationalization, specifically targeting inflows of capital from Gulf oil states and Western investors to address Egypt's stagnant growth and foreign exchange shortages.[52] Joint ventures between Egyptian and foreign entities were encouraged, with provisions for profit repatriation and the establishment of free zones to facilitate export-oriented manufacturing.[53] Complementing the October Paper, Presidential Decree No. 43 of 1974 established the legal framework for foreign and Arab investment, repealing prior restrictions and permitting full foreign ownership in most sectors outside strategic areas like defense.[53] The law streamlined investment approvals through a centralized General Authority for Investment, reduced bureaucratic hurdles, and lowered tariffs to promote imports of technology and machinery, while allowing foreign banks to re-enter the market after years of nationalization.[54] These measures sought to harness expatriate Egyptian labor remittances, which surged from negligible levels in 1971 to approximately $2.2 billion by 1979, primarily from workers in Saudi Arabia and Libya, providing a critical influx of hard currency that fueled consumer spending and import capacity.[54] Implementation yielded measurable economic expansion, with Egypt's GDP registering average annual growth of around 8-9% from the mid-1970s onward, driven by infitah-induced private investment and ancillary revenues.[53] Suez Canal tolls, following its reopening in June 1975, climbed from $44 million in fiscal year 1975-76 to over $600 million by 1979-80, while tourism earnings began rising from a post-1967 nadir, contributing to foreign exchange reserves that peaked at supportive levels for policy continuity.[54] Foreign direct investment approvals under Law 43 totaled several hundred projects by the late 1970s, though actual capital realization lagged due to infrastructural bottlenecks and regulatory ambiguities.[52]

Achievements and Structural Shifts

The Infitah policy, enacted via Law No. 43 on May 29, 1974, marked a pivotal liberalization that curtailed the public sector's monopoly—responsible for over 90% of industrial output under Nasser—and spurred private enterprise, including joint ventures with foreign capital.[55] This restructuring diversified production toward light industries such as textiles, food processing, and consumer electronics, fostering export-oriented manufacturing that leveraged the Suez Canal's reopening on June 5, 1975, which generated $1.1 billion in revenues by 1980.[54] Worker remittances from Egyptian laborers in Gulf states, peaking at $2.2 billion annually by 1980—surpassing oil export earnings—further fueled import of consumer goods, alleviating chronic shortages and elevating middle-class access to appliances, automobiles, and household items previously scarce.[18] Infrastructure gains amplified these shifts, with the Aswan High Dam's full operational benefits materializing under Sadat after its dedication on January 15, 1971, enabling irrigation for an additional 2 million acres of cropland and generating 2.1 gigawatts of hydroelectric power by the late 1970s.[56] These developments stabilized agricultural output, reducing vulnerability to Nile flood variability and supporting year-round transport along the river, which enhanced logistical efficiency for nascent export sectors.[57] Decoupling from Soviet economic reliance, formalized by the expulsion of over 20,000 Soviet advisors on July 18, 1972, redirected aid flows toward Western sources, including $1.5 billion in annual U.S. assistance post-1979 Camp David Accords, which diversified trade partners and mitigated the prior stagnation from Moscow-tied barter systems limited to heavy industry inputs.[22] This pivot enabled endogenous growth trajectories, with GDP expanding at an average 6.5% annually from 1975 to 1980, breaking the 2-3% inertia of the Nasser era and laying foundations for reduced state overreach.[58]

Criticisms of Inequality and Corruption

The infitah policy's liberalization measures enabled urban elites and politically connected businessmen to secure lucrative import licenses, joint ventures with foreign firms, and access to subsidized credit, widening income disparities as rural and working-class Egyptians faced stagnant wages amid inflation rates exceeding 20% annually by the late 1970s.[59][60] This cronyism concentrated wealth among a narrow cadre of beneficiaries, including relatives and associates of high officials, who profited from non-productive speculation in commodities and real estate rather than industrial expansion.[61] Critics highlighted institutionalized corruption, such as bribery in awarding contracts and evasion of foreign exchange regulations, which eroded public trust and diverted resources from equitable development.[62] The abrupt removal of subsidies on staple goods in January 1977, intended to curb fiscal deficits, provoked the Bread Riots on January 18–19, as price hikes of up to 50% on bread, rice, and oil sparked nationwide protests by workers, students, and the urban poor, resulting in over 70 deaths from clashes with security forces.[63][64] Sadat rescinded the cuts within days, but the unrest underscored how policy shifts burdened lower-income groups without compensatory safety nets.[65] Foreign debt escalated sharply under infitah, with publicly guaranteed long-term external obligations surging from more than $3 billion in 1974 to approximately $15.8 billion by 1980, tripling the burden and increasing vulnerability to creditor pressures.[66] This influx financed consumption and speculative imports over productive investments, fostering black markets for foreign currency and goods where official rates diverged significantly from street values, further distorting resource allocation.[67][68] Leftist intellectuals and Islamist activists decried infitah as an abandonment of Nasser-era socialism in favor of Western-oriented capitalism, arguing it imported moral decay and economic dependency; empirical data linked these reforms to heightened social tensions, including strikes and demonstrations, though they did not precipitate systemic collapse during Sadat's tenure.[69][70]

Foreign Policy Reorientation

Expulsion of Soviet Influence

On July 18, 1972, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat abruptly announced the termination of all Soviet military advisory functions in Egypt, ordering the departure of approximately 20,000 Soviet military personnel, including advisers and experts embedded in Egyptian armed forces units.[71][72] The move, executed over the following weeks, dismantled a pervasive Soviet presence that had grown since the 1950s, with advisers exercising de facto control over key Egyptian military operations and decision-making.[73] Sadat framed the decision as a response to Soviet overreach, accusing Moscow of undermining Egyptian sovereignty by prioritizing its own strategic interests over Cairo's needs.[74] The underlying causes traced to accumulated grievances from the 1967 Six-Day War defeat, after which Sadat repeatedly requested advanced offensive weaponry—such as long-range bombers and missiles—to enable a potential reclamation of lost territories, requests the USSR consistently denied to avoid escalating confrontation with the United States and Israel.[22] Soviet caution stemmed from a policy of maintaining a frozen "no peace, no war" status quo in the region, which Sadat viewed as perpetuating Egyptian dependency and military impotence rather than supporting genuine Arab recovery.[73] This refusal, coupled with Soviet reluctance to increase broader economic and military aid amid Egypt's mounting debts, convinced Sadat that the alliance had devolved into a one-sided patron-client dynamic, where Moscow treated Egypt as a proxy rather than an equal partner.[74] Moscow reacted with indignation, withdrawing remaining diplomatic and technical support while publicly decrying the expulsion as ungrateful betrayal, which further chilled bilateral ties for years.[22] For Egypt, the rupture restored operational autonomy to its military command, unencumbered by foreign vetoes, allowing Sadat to recalibrate strategy toward self-reliant preparations unhindered by superpower constraints.[75] The action underscored Sadat's pragmatic realism in discarding an unreliable hegemon whose support had proven strategically hollow.[76]

Alignment with the United States

Following the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the subsequent Sinai disengagement agreements facilitated by U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Anwar Sadat pursued closer bilateral ties with the United States as a means to bolster Egypt's military and economic position.[38] This realignment materialized in Sadat's landmark official visit to the United States from October 27 to November 5, 1975, the first by an Egyptian president, during which he met President Gerald Ford and sought substantial economic and military assistance.[77] [78] The visit yielded commitments for increased U.S. aid, with fiscal year 1975 economic support reaching $250 million, marking the onset of a sustained aid program that escalated to over $750 million annually in combined economic and military grants by the late 1970s, tied to Egypt's compliance with disengagement protocols and broader regional stability efforts.[79] [80] During the trip, Sadat requested $5-7 billion in arms over a decade to phase out Soviet dependencies, emphasizing Egypt's strategic pivot toward Western partnerships to enhance its defense capabilities.[81] U.S.-Egypt cooperation extended to intelligence sharing, particularly in countering Islamist extremism within Egypt, which helped mitigate internal threats and integrated Egypt into Western security networks, alleviating its post-war isolation.[82] While leftist Arab critics decried the alignment as a capitulation to imperialism, empirical outcomes included stabilized military procurement and economic inflows that supported Sadat's infitah reforms, enabling modernization without prior Soviet constraints.[83] By 1979, cumulative U.S. economic assistance since 1974 exceeded $7 billion, underpinning Egypt's fiscal recovery.[84]

Peace Process with Israel

On November 9, 1977, Sadat announced in Egypt's People's Assembly his willingness to visit Jerusalem to address the Israeli Knesset, a dramatic gesture aimed at breaking the deadlock in Arab-Israeli negotiations.[85] Eleven days later, on November 19, 1977, Sadat arrived at Ben-Gurion Airport, becoming the first Arab leader to visit Israel, where he prayed at Al-Aqsa Mosque and addressed the Knesset on November 20, calling for peace based on Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories and mutual recognition.[86] [87] This initiative shifted diplomacy from indirect channels to direct talks, though it immediately provoked outrage among Arab nationalists who decried it as capitulation to Israel.[88] The visit paved the way for the Camp David summit, convened by U.S. President Jimmy Carter from September 5 to 17, 1978, at the presidential retreat in Maryland, involving Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in intensive negotiations.[89] The resulting Camp David Accords comprised two frameworks: the first outlined a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, with Israel committing to full withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula in exchange for normalized diplomatic relations and security guarantees; the second proposed a five-year transitional period for Palestinian self-governance in the West Bank and Gaza, linked to broader Middle East peace talks.[89] [90] These agreements ended the formal state of war between Egypt and Israel but drew sharp Arab nationalist condemnations for sidelining Palestinian claims and fragmenting unified Arab opposition to Israel.[91] Implementation followed with the signing of the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty on March 26, 1979, at the White House, establishing full diplomatic relations, open borders, and a phased Israeli military withdrawal from Sinai over three years, completed on April 25, 1982.[92] [93] For their roles in forging this bilateral peace, Sadat and Begin jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize in October 1978, recognizing the accords' contribution to regional stability despite unresolved territorial disputes beyond Sinai.[94] The treaty's success in averting further Egypt-Israel conflict was tempered by persistent Arab critiques portraying Sadat's concessions—foregoing linkage to Palestinian issues—as a pragmatic but isolating abandonment of pan-Arab principles.[88]

Relations with Regional Powers

During the 1970s, Sadat cultivated a strategic alliance with Iran under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, driven by shared anti-Soviet orientations and mutual economic interests. Egypt, facing energy shortages, received critical oil supplies from Iran, including 650,000 tons in early 1975 that averted a domestic crisis.[95] This cooperation extended to military support during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, where Iranian assistance bolstered Egypt's position.[96] The partnership formed part of a broader anti-communist axis involving Egypt, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, aligning against Soviet influence in the region.[97] Sadat's expulsion of Soviet advisors in 1972 facilitated this realignment, fostering diplomatic and economic ties with Tehran.[98] Relations with Iran deteriorated sharply following the 1979 Iranian Revolution, as the new Islamist regime under Ayatollah Khomeini condemned Egypt's warming ties with Israel and the United States. The revolutionary government severed diplomatic relations and supported anti-Sadat Islamist elements, viewing his policies as a betrayal of Islamic solidarity. Sadat briefly considered hosting the deposed Shah in 1979-1980 amid regional pressures but ultimately declined, prioritizing domestic stability over deepening the rift.[96] This shift underscored the fragility of Sadat's pragmatic outreach to non-Arab regional powers, which prioritized national interests over ideological unity. Sadat's pursuit of the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty provoked severe backlash from Arab neighbors, particularly Syria and Saudi Arabia, leading to Egypt's suspension from the Arab League on March 31, 1979, by a conference of 18 Arab states' foreign ministers.[99] Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, who had coordinated with Sadat in the 1973 war, denounced the treaty as a separate peace that undermined collective Arab leverage against Israel, exacerbating longstanding rivalries. Saudi Arabia, despite prior oil embargo coordination in 1973, withdrew ambassadors from Cairo and halted financial aid, perceiving Sadat's unilateral diplomacy as abandoning pan-Arab causes.[100] Post-treaty, Sadat sought limited pan-Arab reconciliation by framing the accords as a step toward broader regional stability, yet these efforts yielded minimal results amid widespread boycotts and economic sanctions from Baghdad Pact-aligned states. Egypt endured diplomatic isolation until after Sadat's 1981 assassination, with reinstatement to the Arab League occurring only in 1989 under successor Hosni Mubarak. This ostracism highlighted the causal trade-offs of Sadat's realpolitik: short-term gains in bilateral ties traded for enduring alienation from Arab consensus, as evidenced by the league's headquarters relocation from Cairo to Tunis.[101]

Domestic Oppositions and Authoritarian Measures

Suppression of Leftist and Islamist Groups

Following his ascension to power in 1970, Anwar Sadat released thousands of Muslim Brotherhood members imprisoned under Gamal Abdel Nasser, enlisting their support to counterbalance leftist and Nasserist factions within Egyptian politics.[32] This strategic tolerance aimed to fragment opposition and stabilize his regime amid ideological rivalries, allowing the Brotherhood to operate semi-openly through student groups and mosques while remaining formally banned.[102] By the late 1970s, however, this policy contributed to the resurgence of radical Islamist elements, including jihadist networks like al-Jihad, which conducted violent attacks such as the 1980 assassination of a government official and assaults on Coptic Christians, escalating threats to public order.[103] Sadat's administration responded with targeted arrests of extremists, viewing their activities—rooted in rejection of his peace initiatives and secular reforms—as direct challenges to state authority rather than legitimate dissent, prioritizing national security over expanded pluralism.[104] Leftist groups, including communists and socialists, faced parallel suppression for agitating against Sadat's policies, with incidents of strikes and protests met by security forces amid fears of Soviet-aligned subversion.[105] The culmination occurred in early September 1981, when Sadat ordered the arrest of approximately 1,600 individuals over September 3–4, encompassing Muslim Brotherhood leaders like Omar al-Tilmisani, jihadist operatives, communist activists, and even some Coptic clergy, in a sweeping operation to neutralize coordinated unrest.[104] [106] These measures, justified by Sadat as essential to curb factionalism and violence, dismantled networks poised for further destabilization, though critics later argued they alienated moderate Islamists without addressing underlying grievances.[107]

Major Controversies and Viewpoints

Sadat's regime faced accusations of cronyism, as critics alleged favoritism toward loyalists in economic liberalization under the Infitah policy, enabling networks of patronage that exacerbated inequality, though such claims often stemmed from opposition figures sidelined during his purges of Nasserist elements.[108] Press censorship intensified in the late 1970s, with newspapers facing closures or fines for reporting on dissent, exemplified by the 1977 ban on the revived Wafd Party led by Fouad Serageldin, who was subsequently jailed amid the bread riots of January 18-19, 1977, before release.[109][110] Human rights reports documented thousands of detentions without trial, targeting leftists and emerging Islamists perceived as threats to stability, with Amnesty International noting over 1,000 political prisoners by 1980, actions Sadat justified as necessary to avert Soviet-backed coups or Islamist insurgencies akin to those in Afghanistan.[111][112] The 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty, signed March 26, 1979, at Camp David, sparked vehement Arab opposition labeling it capitulation, as it isolated Egypt from the Arab League, which suspended Cairo on March 31, 1979, and relocated to Tunis, viewing Sadat's concessions—full normalization without broader Palestinian resolution—as betrayal of pan-Arab solidarity.[88] Islamist groups, including precursors to Egyptian Islamic Jihad, accused Sadat of apostasy for recognizing Israel and abandoning jihad, framing the treaty as un-Islamic submission that eroded Egypt's moral standing.[113] Leftist critics, particularly Nasserists, decried it as abandonment of anti-imperialist struggle, arguing it prioritized U.S. aid—$1.5 billion annually post-treaty—over collective Arab leverage regained in the 1973 October War.[114] Conversely, Sadat positioned the treaty as strategic realism, recovering all Sinai territory lost in 1967 without endless warfare, restoring Egyptian dignity through the 1973 crossing that shattered Israeli invincibility myths and compelled negotiations.[115][36] Proponents, including U.S. conservatives and anti-totalitarian analysts, praised his expulsion of Soviet advisors in 1972 and pivot to Western alignment as prescient rejection of communist influence, transforming Egypt from a Soviet proxy state into a bulwark against ideological extremism, crediting authoritarian controls with preempting leftist or Islamist overthrows that plagued neighbors like Syria and Libya.[116][117] This realism-versus-authoritarianism debate underscores Sadat's calculus: suppression of over 500 opposition arrests in 1981 alone as bulwark against chaos, weighed against erosion of pluralistic institutions.[118][119]

Assassination and Immediate Aftermath

The Islamist Plot and Execution

On October 6, 1981, during a military parade in Cairo commemorating the eighth anniversary of Egypt's crossing of the Suez Canal in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Anwar Sadat was assassinated by members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), a radical Islamist group.[120] The attackers, including army lieutenant Khalid Islambouli, were embedded in the parade as truck drivers and soldiers; Islambouli led the assault by firing an assault rifle and hurling grenades at the presidential reviewing stand, shouting "I have killed the Pharaoh" in reference to Sadat as an apostate ruler.[121] [122] Sadat sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and neck, collapsing immediately and succumbing to his injuries en route to a military hospital without effective on-site medical intervention or protective measures such as body armor.[123] The attack killed Sadat and seven others, including four military officers, while wounding 28 bystanders and participants.[124] The plot originated within EIJ's jihadist network, which viewed Sadat's 1979 peace treaty with Israel—formalized via the Camp David Accords—as a betrayal of Islamic duty to wage perpetual war against the Jewish state, compounded by his alignment with the United States and suppression of religious extremism in favor of secular governance.[125] [122] EIJ operatives, including Islambouli and planner Abbud al-Zumar, had radicalized through exposure to ideologues like Sayyid Qutb, aiming to spark an Islamic revolution by eliminating Sadat as the symbol of capitulation; al-Zumar later stated the group anticipated mass uprisings following the killing, though none materialized.[122] Planning intensified in the months prior, with reconnaissance of the parade route and recruitment of military insiders, building on EIJ's prior low-level operations against perceived infidels; Sadat's pre-assassination arrests of over 1,500 Islamists in September 1981 inadvertently missed the core plotters. While the operation was executed by domestic EIJ cells without direct foreign orchestration, unverified reports suggested inspirational or logistical encouragement from Libya under Muammar Gaddafi, who had feuded openly with Sadat, and post-facto endorsement from Iran's revolutionary regime, which later named a Tehran street after Islambouli until 2025.[126] [127] These external elements reflected broader regional Islamist currents hostile to Sadat's détente policies but did not alter the plot's internal jihadist impetus, rooted in doctrinal imperatives for takfir (declaring Muslims apostates) and violent restoration of sharia.[128] The absence of rapid security protocols during the parade—despite Sadat's known vulnerabilities to radical backlash—facilitated the assailants' escape attempt, with Islambouli and accomplices subdued only after a brief firefight.[129]

Succession and Short-Term Stability

Hosni Mubarak, who had served as vice president since 1975, immediately assumed the presidency following Anwar Sadat's assassination on October 6, 1981, during a military parade in Cairo commemorating the 1973 Yom Kippur War.[130] Mubarak, a former air force commander with close ties to the military establishment, was formally sworn in by the People's Assembly on October 14, 1981, eight days after the attack that also injured him.[130] [131] This swift transition, enabled by Sadat's constitutional designation of Mubarak as successor, ensured continuity in the executive without immediate institutional disruption.[132] In response to the assassination orchestrated by Islamist militants affiliated with Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Egyptian authorities arrested over 700 suspected fundamentalists in the ensuing weeks, launching a broad crackdown to preempt further unrest.[133] The primary trial of 24 defendants, including assassin Khalid Islambouli who led the four-man squad, commenced in November 1981; Islambouli initially admitted to the killing, citing opposition to Sadat's peace policies with Israel.[134] In March 1982, a military court convicted five conspirators of direct involvement, sentencing them to death by hanging; Islambouli and four others—Attiya Abdel-Aal, Muhammad Abdul-Salam Faraj, Muhammad Shawqi Islambouli, and Hussein Abbas al-Tawil—were executed on April 16, 1982, after a rejected clemency appeal.[135] These proceedings, conducted under heightened security, signaled Mubarak's intent to decisively neutralize the Islamist threat while consolidating loyalty within the armed forces. To bolster regime security, Mubarak reimposed the state of emergency on October 6, 1981—the day of the assassination—granting expanded powers for detentions, censorship, and military trials, which had lapsed briefly in 1980.[136] This measure, extended by the People's Assembly in subsequent months, facilitated short-term stabilization by curbing potential dissent from both Islamist and leftist factions, averting economic shocks through maintained foreign aid flows, and preserving military cohesion amid fears of internal purges.[137] Egypt registered no coup attempts or widespread uprisings in the immediate 1981-1982 period, with public calm prevailing despite the shock of Sadat's death; however, the pervasive security apparatus underscored regime vulnerabilities to radical infiltration within state institutions like the military.[124] [18]

Legacy and Assessments

Strategic Achievements in War and Peace

In July 1972, Sadat ordered the expulsion of approximately 20,000 Soviet military advisors and technicians from Egypt, marking a decisive break from overreliance on Soviet support and initiating a strategic realignment toward the West.[22][76] This move, though initially met with limited immediate Western response, positioned Egypt to pursue independent diplomacy free from Soviet constraints, paving the way for later engagements with the United States. The October 1973 Yom Kippur War represented a calculated limited offensive, launched on October 6, where Egyptian forces successfully crossed the Suez Canal, breached the Bar-Lev Line, and established bridgeheads on the eastern bank, inflicting significant initial losses on Israeli armor and air assets through effective use of anti-aircraft defenses.[36][138] Despite eventual Israeli counteroffensives, the war shattered perceptions of Israeli military invincibility and restored Egyptian national honor after the 1967 defeat, creating diplomatic momentum for disengagement agreements in 1974 and 1975 that began partial Israeli withdrawals from Sinai territory.[139] Post-war, Egypt's demonstrated capability enhanced its deterrence posture, as Israel refrained from preemptive strikes and engaged in negotiations rather than indefinite occupation.[140] This military resurgence enabled Sadat's bold diplomatic initiative, culminating in the Camp David Accords of September 1978 and the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty signed on March 26, 1979, which mandated Israel's complete withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula in phased stages, fully realized by April 25, 1982, thereby recovering 60,000 square kilometers of Egyptian sovereign territory without further conflict.[89][141] The treaty ended the 30-year state of belligerency, transforming the no-war-no-peace stalemate into formal peace and security guarantees, while Sadat's anti-communist pivot secured substantial U.S. military assistance—totaling over $1.3 billion annually by the early 1980s and cumulatively exceeding $50 billion in military aid since 1979—to modernize Egyptian forces with advanced equipment like F-4 Phantom jets.[142] Sadat's prioritization of Egyptian strategic interests over pan-Arab solidarity earned him the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize, shared with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, recognizing their joint efforts in forging the treaty amid regional isolation.[94] This global acclaim underscored the tangible gains: territorial restoration, enhanced military deterrence through Western-aligned modernization, and a stable frontier that allowed Egypt to redirect resources from perpetual mobilization.

Economic and Political Failures

Sadat's infitah policy, launched in 1974 to promote economic liberalization and attract foreign investment, resulted in a rapid escalation of Egypt's external debt, rising from approximately $3 billion in 1974 to $15.8 billion by 1980, as public guarantees for long-term borrowing multiplied fivefold during this period.[66] This influx of capital, coupled with lax oversight, facilitated widespread corruption among regime insiders and crony capitalists, exacerbating income inequality and urban-rural disparities that alienated the working class and fueled perceptions of elite enrichment at public expense.[143] Critics, including Islamist activists, attributed these socioeconomic strains directly to infitah, arguing it undermined Nasser's socialist model without delivering broad-based prosperity, thereby sowing seeds of resentment that contributed to radicalization among disenfranchised youth.[143] Persistent reliance on consumer subsidies for essentials like bread and fuel, which consumed a growing share of foreign exchange earnings—reaching levels where food imports alone strained reserves by the late 1970s—remained unaddressed amid unchecked population growth of about 2.5 percent annually, with 45 percent of Egyptians under age 15 by 1980.[144][145] Sadat's half-hearted family planning efforts and reluctance to overhaul subsidies, underscored by the violent 1977 riots following a brief price liberalization attempt, deferred structural reforms, setting the stage for fiscal crises in the 1980s as demographic pressures overwhelmed infrastructure and job creation.[18] These unresolved issues eroded the policy's credibility, with empirical data showing remittances and Suez Canal revenues—key infitah supports—failing to offset import dependencies, leaving the economy vulnerable to global oil price fluctuations.[146] Politically, Sadat's pivot toward the West and the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty isolated Egypt from the Arab mainstream, provoking boycotts and diplomatic ostracism that deepened domestic resentment among pan-Arabists and Islamists who viewed the accords as a betrayal fostering dependency on U.S. aid without reciprocal security gains.[143] In a bid to preempt unrest, Sadat ordered the arrest of around 1,500 opposition figures—including Muslim Brotherhood members, leftists, and Copts—in September 1981, a sweeping crackdown critics dismissed as reactive authoritarianism that suppressed symptoms of radicalization rather than integrating moderate voices or addressing grievances like inequality and foreign policy isolation.[67] The subsequent assassination on October 6, 1981, by Islamist militants exemplified this shortfall, as failure to co-opt or marginalize groups like the Brotherhood—initially tolerated post-1971 but later targeted—allowed ideological networks to persist underground, contributing to their resurgence and Egypt's enduring Islamist challenges.[18][143]

Long-Term Regional Impact

The Egypt–Israel peace treaty, signed on March 26, 1979, established a durable bilateral framework that removed Egypt—the Arab state's most populous and militarily capable—from the roster of active adversaries to Israel, thereby diminishing the prospects for large-scale interstate Arab–Israeli warfare.[147] This causal shift prioritized mutual non-aggression over pan-Arab confrontation, enabling Egypt to redirect resources toward internal development rather than recurrent mobilizations, and empirically correlated with no further full-scale wars between Arab states and Israel after the 1973 Yom Kippur War.[148] Egypt's subsequent non-alignment policy, decoupled from Soviet influence and less tethered to radical Arab coalitions, influenced parallel diplomatic overtures, such as Jordan's 1994 peace treaty with Israel and the 2020 Abraham Accords normalizing ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco—marking the first such Arab recognitions since Sadat's initiative.[149] The treaty's backlash, however, galvanized rejectionist elements in Syria and Iran, where it was framed as a capitulation that emboldened anti-Western radicals by fracturing Arab unity and providing ideological fodder for Islamist narratives of betrayal.[150] Syria, under Hafez al-Assad, deepened ties with Iran post-1979, fostering proxy networks like Hezbollah that sustained low-intensity conflicts but failed to precipitate the interstate escalations seen in prior decades, such as the 1967 Six-Day War.[151] Empirically, Egypt sidestepped the resource-draining quagmires that afflicted rivals—contrast Iraq's 1980–1988 war with Iran or its 1990 invasion of Kuwait—maintaining border stability despite domestic Islamist unrest culminating in Sadat's 1981 assassination.[152] Assessments from 2023 to 2025, amid renewed Gaza tensions, underscore Sadat's foresight in derisking Egyptian nationalism from perpetual conflict, with the treaty's resilience credited for anchoring regional stability even as proxy dynamics proliferated.[153] While leftist and Islamist critiques—often amplified in biased academic and media circles—persist in decrying the accords as abandonment of Palestinian causes, data on sustained diplomatic normalizations and absent major wars validate the peace model's precedence over jihadist precedents.[154] Egypt's 1989 readmission to the Arab League and ongoing security cooperation with Israel further illustrate how initial isolation yielded long-term reintegration without reversion to hostilities.[150]

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