Mohammad Najeeb (20 February 1901 – 28 August 1984):
Born in Khartoum when Sudan was united with Egypt, he was the son of an Egyptian Army officer and followed in his father’s footsteps, enlisting in the Egyptian Army in 1918. His military prowess saw him rise in the military’s ranks while his involvement in the 1948 Palestine War allowed him to earn the respect of his comrades in the Egyptian Army.
Because of his stature as a highly regarded military figure, the Free Officers appointed him as the movement’s figurehead. Najeeb also led the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) after the abdication of King Farouq, holding the positions of Prime Minister, Minister of War and Navy later becoming Egypt’s first President in June 1953. Najeeb stepped down from the position in November 1954 following differences with the junior officers of the RCC—most notably with Jamal Abdul Nasser.
Jamal Abdul Nasser (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970):
Born in Alexandria to a postal officer from rural Egypt, Nasser joined the Egyptian Royal Military Academy in 1939 where he met Anwar Sadat.
Nasser gained greater respect in the Egyptian military after he fought with determination in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, where his army unit was besieged in the Palestinian village of Faluja until the signing of an armistice agreement in February 1949.
His experiences in the battlefield strengthened his belief that the monarchy acted in ways detrimental to Egypt’s national interests and so he founded the Free Officers Movement, which staged a coup against King Farouq in 1952. Nasser became the second president of Egypt in June 1956. He championed a nationalistic and socialist agenda (later coined Nasserism) that sought to give back dignity to Egyptians until his death in 1970.
Anwar Sadat (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981): Sadat was born to a poor family in Al Minufiyah. He graduated from the Royal Military Academy in Cairo in 1938.
A confidant of Jamal Abdul Nasser, Sadat held similar views on the Egyptian state of affairs eventually joining the Free Officers Movement.
He was instrumental in managing the coup and communicating its goals to the Egyptian people. Sadat held the positions of Speaker of the National Assembly, Prime Minister, Vice President and was Egypt’s third President following Nasser’s death. Sadat garnered widespread popularity after the October 1973 War with the Israelis. He also inspired hostile opposition following the signing of a peace treaty with the Israelis on 26 March 1979, eventually leading to his assassination in 1981.
