Anwar Sadat - President of Egypt (1970-1981): biography, domestic politics, death, interesting facts

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:44

For many generations of Soviet people, he became a symbol of betrayal, Arab socialists opposed him, and Islamic radicals killed him. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, faced with political reality, managed to overcome his extreme anti-Semitism and concluded a peace treaty with Israel. Deservedly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with the Israeli Prime Minister.

Early years

In the small village of Mit-Abul-Kum (province of Minufia), located in the Nile Delta north of Cairo, on December 25, 1918, the future president of Egypt, Anwar Sadat, was born. He was one of thirteen children in a large family with Sudanese roots. Due to his African origin, he was naturally very dark, so when the Americans decided to make the feature film "Sadat" in 1983, he was played by black actor Louis Gossett.

His father Muhammad al-Sadat served as a clerk at the local military hospital, mother Sitt el-BarrainShe took care of the household and raised the children. All relatives were very religious and zealous Muslims.

In early childhood, he attended an elementary religious school, which focused on the study of the Koran. In 1925, the family moved to the outskirts of the country's capital, where young Anwar received a secondary education.

Shaping attitudes

The biography of Anwar Sadat notes that in his youth, four historical figures had the strongest influence on the formation of his worldview:

• hanged by the occupation authorities for the murder of a British officer Zahran, participant in the anti-colonial uprising;
• Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi, who advocated non-violent resistance to public violence;
• Turkish President Kemal Atatürk, who led the country's struggle for independence and initiated large-scale secular reforms;
• German Fuhrer Hitler, the only, in his opinion, world leader who could resist British aggression.

At a young age, he developed pro-Nazi and anti-Semitic views, which were superimposed on deep religiosity and extreme nationalism.

The start of the journey

In 1922, Britain unilaterally granted formal independence to Egypt. However, the influence of the British on all aspects of life remained dominant, and British troops continued to be in the country. Anwar Sadat, like many other Egyptian patriots, was very negative about this dependence onmetropolis and dreamed of the complete liberation of the country.

In 1936, he entered the military school just opened by the British, after which he served as a lieutenant at a military base on the outskirts of the country. In 1938 he met Gamal Nasser, the future president of Egypt. They were bound by close friendship, common political views and the desire to make the country independent. Friends, along with a group of patriotic officers, organized a secret revolutionary society that later played a key role in the overthrow of the puppet monarchy.

German intelligence agent

Interesting fact - Anwar Sadat during the Second World War, for ideological reasons, secretly assisted the secret services of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. He hoped that this would hasten the liberation of Egypt from British rule. For this, he was repeatedly arrested by the colonial authorities on charges of collaborating with the German intelligence service Abwehr. On instructions from German agents, he tried to smuggle a retired Egyptian army general to neighboring Iraq, where he was to step up anti-British activity. The covert operation failed and Sadat was re-arrested.

After his release due to insufficient evidence, he resumes cooperation with Nazi intelligence. However, Sadat did not stay at large for long, two German agents with whom he had contact were arrested and handed over his volunteer assistant. In October 1942, he was convicted by a military tribunal, discharged from the army and sent to prison.

Onlyforward

After two years in prison, Anwar Sadat began a hunger strike and was hospitalized in a prison hospital due to deteriorating he alth. He managed to escape, hiding for about a year, often changing his appearance, place of work and residence. Nevertheless, he was arrested again, and from 1946 to 1949 he spent in prison. After his release, he began to engage in journalism, and in 1950 he was again called up for military service.

In July 1952, the organization "Free Officers", an active member of which was Lieutenant Colonel Anwar Sadat, carried out a coup d'état, overthrowing King Farouk and expelling him from the country. It was Sadat who read out the first appeal to the people about the overthrow of the "corrupt" government. Soon he was appointed one of the ministers of the revolutionary government.

After the nationalization of the Suez Canal and the ensuing crisis of 1956, during which Egypt managed to maintain the canal thanks to the assistance of the Soviet Union and the United States, Sadat became one of the most influential figures in the state. Since 1958, he has held various positions in the United Arab Republic (the union state of Syria and Egypt in 1958-1971), since 1969 he has been the country's only vice president.

The country was in a severe crisis after a brutal defeat in the Six-Day War (1967), when 3,000 Egyptians were killed, and Israel captured the Sinai peninsula and went to the vicinity of the Suez Canal. Thousands of Palestinian refugees flooded into the country, resulting in a significant increase in the number of terrorist threats.

Onpinnacle of power

After Nasser's sudden death from a heart attack, Sadat came to power in the country. He was not an adherent of pan-Arab and socialist ideas and gradually began to curtail the reforms of his predecessor. After suppressing the speech of the opposition from staunch Nasserists, which he called the May Corrective Revolution, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat completely concentrated power in his hands.

In foreign policy, at first, he strove for balance, seeking to derive maximum benefit from relations with the Soviet Union and the United States. Relations with the Americans were officially severed in 1967, but since 1970 they have been resumed under the former president, who understands that the United States is the most important factor in the Middle East. Sadat intended to continue to receive military equipment from the USSR to confront Israel, and to use the United States for political pressure in order to return the lost territories.

It is interesting that the USSR supplied Egypt not only with weapons, Sadat repeatedly asked the Soviet ambassador to send vodka (in boxes). According to intelligence information, he used hashish, he was strongly influenced by his wife Jihan Sadat, without whose advice important decisions were not made.

New Deal

Contacts between the Egyptian and American authorities have become regular, especially after Anwar Sadat proved that he is able not only to stay in power, but also to make serious changes in domestic and foreign policy.

He did not renewthe operation of the Soviet-Egyptian Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation, which ended in 1971. The following year, 15,000 Soviet military advisers and specialists were expelled from the country. According to the researchers, this was most likely due to the easing of tension in Soviet-American relations, when the Soviet Union was not ready to support a sharp escalation of the conflict in the Middle East. The American side, of course, accepted Sadat's actions with satisfaction, but did not show much interest in the region.

Nobel Laureate

According to many politicians, the Yom Kippur War was almost inevitable, Sadat needed to show that Egypt remains a key player in the region, which Israel and the United States must reckon with. It was necessary to use the army, which spent huge amounts of money, the military budget was 21% of GDP. The people needed to be distracted from social problems. The country's authorities also hoped to attract funds from the we althy countries of the Persian Gulf and raise their profile in the Arab world.

The Yom Kippur War began on October 6, 1973, lasted 18 days and ended with another defeat of the Arab countries by Israel. President Sadat has become increasingly inclined to think about the need to conclude a peace treaty. In November 1977, he addressed the Knesset in Jerusalem, as they wrote, with "an unprecedented peace initiative." The Israeli press bashfully kept silent that the pattern on his tie consisted of swastikas. In 1978, through the mediation of President Carter at the American CampDavid Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat signed a peace treaty. Israel returned part of the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in exchange for a peace treaty. In 1978, together with Begin, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Open Door Policy

In 1974, Sadat embarked on sweeping domestic reforms. To attract foreign investment, the taxation system was changed, and the inviolability of private property was guaranteed. The government undertook to reconstruct the communications and transport system of the country. Measures were taken to reduce the budget deficit, and the banking and foreign exchange sectors were liberalized. All these measures have led to an acceleration of economic growth, an improvement in the state of the balance of payments and an increase in the inflow of foreign investment. The domestic policy of Anwar Sadat increasingly increased the dependence of the economy on the West.

However, cutting subsidies almost in half on food and fuel led to higher prices. Across the country swept protests, dubbed "bread riots." And the government had to cancel this decision. The opposition protested against economic reforms, Islamic radicals were dissatisfied with the Americanization of public life, which more than once led to riots. Large-scale purges began, many supporters of Nasser's course, Muslim and Christian clergy were arrested.

The death of Anwar Sadat

In a situation where almost all segments of the population were dissatisfied with the supreme power, employeesEgyptian intelligence organized a plot to eliminate Sadat. On October 6, 1981, during the parade in connection with the anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, the President of Egypt was assassinated by a group of religious fanatics. A grenade was thrown towards the government tribune and fired from machine guns. Severely wounded, Sadat was taken to the hospital, where he died. His last words were: "It can't be… It can't be…".