Essay About Said K. Aburish And Royal Military Academy

Nasser Book Report
Essay Preview: Nasser Book Report
Report this essay
A Report on a Previously Read Book Entitled:
Nasser; The Last Arab
Written by Said K. Aburish
I chose a book titled “Nasser; The Last Arab” written by Said K. Aburish. This
book is a bibliography written about a former Egyptian president named Gamal Abdel
Nasser. Many refer to Nasser as the most powerful and brilliant political leader who
achieved unprecedented popularity in both Egypt and the Arab world. He was said to be
the most influential leader of the Arab world. Nasser was born in Alexandria on January
15th, 1918 as the son of a postman. After his secondary schooling in Cairo, Egypt, he
joined the Royal Military Academy. Later he would graduate the academy in 1938.
Throughout his time in the Royal Military Academy Nasser started a secret revolutionary
society called “The Free Officers.” At this point in time Egypt was ruled by a small
landowning class that owned 30% of the land and totally consumed the parliament. At
that time the British presence was omnipresent and the King Faruk I was described as an
irresponsible philanderer. As the leader of the Free Officers, Nasser focused on getting
rid of British rule, as well as the King of Egypt. Soon after on July 23, 1952 the Free
Officers staged a maneuver to overthrow King Faruk. Nasser at this point remained in the
background, and was not very forthcoming with his involvement with the Free Officers.
Said K. Aburish does a wonderful job of describing many important points in Nassers
life, that in turn made him the leader he is thought of today.
Aburish considered Nasser as the “towering Arab leader of the twentieth century.”
He describes him as a pro-West Egyptian colonel since 1952, whom had a vast
knowledge of the CIA and who would later would be involved in the clash between the
West and theArabs. He believes that what separated other leaders and Nasser, was the
fact that other leaders were dependent upon Western support, and in turn disregarded
their very own people.
One of the most memorable happenings in Nassers time was the building
of the Aswan Dam on the Nile River in Egypt. Nasser managed to build this important
feature in spite of his extreme opposition to Israel, and outspoken aspersion to the
Western civilization, which would have earned him the U.S. and European support for
the dam. Because of his actions towards the West, Nasser was forced to turn to the
Soviets for aid. It is said that the Suez Canal was nationalized for the single purpose of
raising enough capital to build the Aswan Dam. The soon to follow “Suez Crisis” was
said to have propelled him to the front of the Arab Nationalist movement. Pan Arab unity
was the most important theme in the Arab World from the late 1950s to 1967. At
this time Nasser would become the main promoter and delegate. In 1958 the most
important display of Pan-Arabism took place when Egypt and Syria united to form the
United Arabic Republic. But interests between the two countries never fit to combine,
because Nasser was essentially an Egyptian Nationalist. Therefore the union effectively
came to nothing.
Many believed that Nassers Pan-Arabism was all show before Egypt entered the
Yemeni Civil war against the dictatorship of the leftist guerrillas, which only further
diverted Saudi Arabia and the west. While this was happening Nasser was focused on
strengthening Egyptian ties to the Soviet Union. Nasser needed the communists for
their technological and military assistance to fight the Israeli army, who at the time was
assisted by the United States. You can see Nassers devotion to alienating himself from
the west, in fact he fully supported the formation of the Palestinian Liberation
Organization.
Nasser knew that he would never successfully develop Egypt without large
contributions of foreign aid. He also knew that the west was the largest and most reliable
source of obtaining this aid. Nasser realized he needed the aid from the west, he also
realized that the more anti-Western he portrayed himself to be, the more foreign aid he
was offered by the western countries.