This day in history: The birth of the Egyptian Republic

Post-revolution challenges

Heated topics were put on Neguib's table, which the Free Officers could not agree on, starting with how to run the country now that Farouk was gone, onto how to oust the British who had occupied Egypt since 1882.

One thing that the Free Officers did agree on was the urgent need for land reform, given that less than 6% of Egypt's population owned more than 65% of the agricultural land. All of them hailed from peasant backgrounds and had an axe to grind with the landed notability, passing the land reform law as early as 11 September 1952.

From thereon, Egyptians were prohibited from owning more than 200 fedans and a limit was placed on how much they could charge farmers for rent.

It is doubtful that any of the Free Officers were aware of a similar debate that had taken place in other monarchies that shifted to monarchism.

Neguib was well-read and boasted a grand library, but the rest of his colleagues had focused their entire education on military studies, with very little exposure to world history. They knew little to nothing about the French Revolution or—nearer to home—how Kemal Ataturk had abolished the Ottoman sultanate after World War I, bringing down the House of Osman.

One can only wonder if they had any exposure to the history of Iran, where another officer named Mohammad Reza Pahlavi had toppled the Qajar Dynasty three decades earlier, and after toying with the notion of a republic based on the Ataturk model, eventually decided to keep the Peacock Throne and proclaim himself shahanshah (king of kings), creating the Pahlavi Dynasty that would rule Iran until 1979.  

The interim constitution of 1953

The previous Egyptian constitution of 1923 was formally abolished on 10 December 1952 and the birth of the Egyptian Republic coincided with the adoption of a new republican charter for Egypt.

Issued on 10 February 1953, it gave broad powers to the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) and was signed off by  Naguib, who would become the country's first president that year.

His charismatic colleague Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser became deputy prime minister and minister of interior. The Declaration of the Republic was harshly critical of the extravagant life of members of the Mohammad Ali Dynasty that had ruled Egypt since the early 19th century, especially Khedive Ismail who drove Egypt into debt and relied on forced labour during the digging of the Suez Canal.

The document included three demands: abolishing the Mohammad Ali Dynasty, declaring the republic and appointing the RCC for what the Free Officers insisted was a "transition period." Its signatories included three future presidents of Egypt (Naguib, Abdel Nasser, and Anwar Sadat), future army commander Abdul Hakim Amer, and future vice-presidents Zakariya Muhiddine, Hussein al-Shafei, and Abdul-Latif al-Baghdadi, among other.  

Birth of the Republic

The rest of the story—of course—is pretty well known to historians of Egypt and the modern Arab World. Naguib would stay in power until being overthrown by Abdel Nasser in a bloodless soft coup in November 1954.

Accused of supporting the recently outlawed Muslim Brotherhood he was placed under house arrest at the confiscated villa of Zeinab al-Waqik, (Nahhas Pasha's wife) and would remain in confinement until Anwar Sadat ordered his release in 1971.

Gamal Abdel Nasser famously ruled Egypt from 1954 until his sudden death at the young age of 52, on 28 September 1970. His presidency witnessed monumental events starting with the 1956 nationalisation of the Suez Canal onto the Tripartite Aggression launched by Great Britain, France, and Israel.

Read more: The Suez Canal: A lifeline to Egypt and crucial gateway for global trade

Then came the short-lived union with Syria in 1958-1961, followed by the fiasco of the Six-Day War of 1967, which Nasser coined "al-Naksa." He launched a War of Attrition against Israel but died before it was completed in 1970.

Read more: The 1967 Naksa relived through the memoirs of Abdel Nasser's top generals

His last act in office was mediating a ceasefire in the events of 1970, known as Black September, between Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and King Hussein of Jordan.  

Anwar Sadat came next as the third of the Free Officers who ruled Egypt after 1952. He succeeded Nasser in 1970 and would remain president until his assassination on 6 October 1981.

His presidency witnessed the 1973 October war with Israel and his 1977 visit to Jerusalem, followed by the 1978 Camp David Accords that were co-signed on the White House lawn with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

His deputy and successor Mohammad Husni Mubarak would rule Egypt from 1981 until his recent overthrow by the 25 January Revolution of 2011. Briefly, Sufi Abu Taleb preceded him as acting head of state for eight days, running between the assassination of Sadat and the inauguration of Mubarak.

Husni Mubarak brought Egypt back to the Arab fold after its expulsion from the Arab League in response to Camp David, helping attract major Arab and foreign investment during the 1990s.

His old age, along with the political rise of his son Gamal as a potential successor triggered the Egyptian Revolution that brought him down in 2011, coming on the heels of the revolt that brought down his Egyptian counterpart Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. 

A military council headed by Field Marshal Mohammad Hussein al-Tantawi ran Egypt from 11 February 2011 until 30 June 2012. He was replaced by Mohamed Morsi, the first civilian president to run Egypt since 1952, who was also a ranking member of the Muslim Brotherhood.

His tenure was short, however, and he was subsequently toppled by General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on 3 July 2013. Judge Adly Mansour succeeded him as acting president until el-Sisi formally became president on 8 June 2014.

A significant evolution

Over the years, Egypt has changed, and so has both the republic and its many institutions. When Naguib became president in 1953, there were no advisers at the presidency, no Republican Guard, and none of the trappings that developed under Abdel Nasser.

Republicanism was new and completely unheard of.

Egyptian clerics from al-Azhar initially frowned upon the concept of a republic, claiming that Islam knew no such form of government since the days of the Prophet Mohammed.

Naguib lacked King Farouk's international exposure and had no family to lean on. He had none of Abdel Nasser's charisma or any of Sadat's dramatic ambitions.

In the age of radio and cinema, he was also a humble orator but he was also a decent man with good intentions who wanted to come across as a fatherly figure to all Egyptians.

He wanted the shift from monarchism to be smooth and bloodless, preferring accommodation of the old political elite, rather than confiscating their wealth and sending them either to jail or into permanent exile.

Many have asked what if Naguib remained president and was not toppled in 1954? What would have changed in Egypt the republic? What would have come of the ambitious Abdel Nasser?

Would Egypt have risen to lead the Arab nation as it did in the aftermath of the 1956 Suez Crisis? And had it not assumed that role, then would the Arabs have gone to war in 1967? 

There are very interesting questions, but we will never know the answers.