Free Officers Movement

The Free Officers Movement was a clandestine Egyptian military organization that overthrew King Farouk in the 1952 Egyptian coup d'état and ended the monarchy.

Egyptian Revolution of 1919: A mass uprising against British rule in Egypt that began in 1919 and helped secure limited independence. Its unfinished struggle for sovereignty shaped the political climate in which the officers emerged.
Gamal Abdel Nasser: An Egyptian military officer who led the Free Officers and later became president of Egypt. He organized the movement’s clandestine work and became its dominant political leader.
Egyptian coup d'état of 1952: The military operation that forced King Farouk to abdicate in July 1952. It was the movement’s coordinated seizure of strategic military and political positions.
Abolition of the Egyptian monarchy: The termination of Egypt’s royal dynasty and monarchy in 1953. It was the movement’s central institutional consequence.
Egyptian monarchy: The constitutional monarchy established in Egypt in 1922 and ended by the 1952 coup. The movement formed against the monarchy’s corruption, dependence on Britain, and political weakness.
Muhammad Naguib: An Egyptian general who became the first president of the republic after the 1952 coup. His senior rank and public reputation gave the movement a respected figurehead.
Egyptian Revolutionary Command Council: The body of Free Officers that exercised supreme authority in Egypt after the 1952 coup. It converted the officers’ clandestine organization into a ruling authority.
Land reform in Egypt: A program begun after the 1952 coup that limited large landholdings and redistributed some agricultural land. The new regime used land reform to weaken the landed elite and broaden its support.
Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936: An agreement that recognized Egyptian independence while allowing British forces to remain in the Suez Canal Zone. Its limits on sovereignty fueled nationalist anger among the officers.
Anwar Sadat: An Egyptian officer who joined the Free Officers and later became president of Egypt. He participated in the coup and carried the movement’s legacy into a later presidency.

Linked from 16 pages