While Sadat had been in jail, the revolutionary movement had grown considerably. On July 23, 1952, the Free Officers Organization staged a rebellion, and overthrew the monarchy. From the moment of the coup, Sadat became Nasser's public relations minister, and trusted lieutenant. Nasser assigned Sadat the task of overseeing the abdication of King Farouk. .
While working with Nasser, Sadat learned the game of building up a nation in a world with superpower rivals. Egypt eventually became the leading "non-aligned" country in the world and voiced through Nasser, the desires and needs of the under-developed and post colonized countries. Egypt's most important trial came over the Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Indian Ocean. In a coordinated effort, England, France, and the new State of Israel launched an attack on Egypt hoping to reestablish control over the Canal and its profits. The 1956 war ended only after the United States pressured its allies to withdraw. Egypt came out of the war as a hero of the under-developed countries because it showed it could resist the colonial powers and it maintained power of the Canal. (Aufderheide 34).
Nasser's popularity suffered greatly during and after the Six Day War with Israel. Nasser had gotten some military intelligence that told him Israel was about to attack Syria. Thinking this was his shining moment, he moved the Egyptian army into the Sinai desert and ordered the Israeli port city Eilat be shut off completely. Nasser also called for the United Nations troops in the border area between Egypt and Israel to be removed. On June 5, 1967, while Egypt's defense was still under inspection and the troops were not fully mobilized, squadrons of Israeli aircraft caught almost the entire Egyptian military off guard, on the ground and completely wiped it out. With all of the Israeli planes timed as to attack their targets at almost the exact same time so Egypt would not have time to move planes from one field to another, the Israeli air force devastated 309 of Egypt's 340 working planes.
Persian Gulf War- August 2, 1990 On August 2nd, 1990, Iraqi military forces invaded and occupied the small Arab state of Kuwait. The order was given by Iraqi dictatorial president Saddam Hussein. His aim was apparently, to take control of Kuwait's oil reserves. Iraq accused Kuwait, and also ...
