Free Officers Movement
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In Egypt, the clandestine revolutionary Free Officers Movement was founded by Colonel Gamal Abdul Nasser in the aftermath of Egypt's sense of national disgrace from the War of 1948. It was composed of young junior army officers committed to unseating the Egyptian monarchy and its British advisors. Nasser formed a coordinating committee (1949), of which he was acclaimed head (1950). The Free Officers Committee enlisted General Muhammad Naguib as a public figurehead in preparation for the successful coup of July 23, 1952.
The nine men who had constituted themselves as the Committee of the Free Officers Movement and led the 1952 Revolution were Lieutenant Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser, Major Abdul Hakim Amer, Lieutenant Colonel Anwar El-Sadat, Major Salah Salem, Major Kamal ad Din Husayn, Wing Commander Gamal Salem, Squadron Leader Hassan Ibrahim, Major Khalid Muhi ad Din, and Wing Commander Abd al Latif al Baghdadi. Major Husayn ash Shafii and Lieutenant Colonel Zakariyya Muhi ad Din joined the committee later.
Similar movements were organized by other Arab politicians seeking to mimick Nasser'a assent. For example, Libyan president Muammar al-Qaddafi used a similar group to overthrow the Libyan King Idris in 1969, and the leaders of the Syrian Ba'ath Party used a similar group to overthrow the Nasser organized union between Egypt and Syria (see United Arab Republic) in 1961. In Saudi Arabia during the 1960's the Saudi Prince Talal used a similar idea, the Free Princes Movement in an unsuccessful effort to overthrow his country's conservative monarchy. He was exiled to Egypt as a result and was given asylum by Nasser.
The Free Officers Movement can be seen in context in the entries for Nasser and Naguib.
The name was consciously assumed by opposition leaders in Saddam Hussein's Iraq, led by Brigadier-General Najib al-Salihi, who signed a confederation agreement with the Assyrian National Congress on June 15, 2002.
External link
- Armed Conflicts events Data: (http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/echo/egypt1952b.htm) Egypt Coup 1952nl:Vrije Officieren