Egypt In The 20th Century

The history of Egypt began in the 20th century with its finance under control of the Britain and France. During this period, there were two major events that contributed to various changes in Egypt. For example, the 1919 and 1952 Revolution awards made Egypt a semi-independent state and full sovereignty which declared Egypt a Republic country. During the Cold War, Egypt was famous in facing intense political and economical pressure from Eastern and Western blocs which forced them to fight against Israel and to sign a peace treaty in the 1979. The Egyptian chronology events in the 20th Century was mainly based on a dynasties or pharaohs list which were written by the priests called Maneton at the end of the Egyptian period Ptolemaic dynasties. The dates and names offered there is a frame on which the Egyptian chronology was built.

Chronology of Major Events by Moustafa Ahmed

During the 20th Century, different chronology Events by Moustafa Ahmed took place. For example in July 23, 1952, the Egyptian Revolution of the 1952 overturned the monarchy of King Farouk which led to a temporary installation of a new government under Naguib, who was the short-lived president of the revolutionary council. Conversely, in the same year, there were reforms of education such as the installation of a free and compulsory public education for children aged 6 to 12 with co-education at the primary level. In addition, the government as well managed to prioritize the goals of eradicating illiteracy that proved difficult because of lack of facilities in the rural areas (Geoffrey pg.127).

In 1954, there was the rise of Nasser to power. Nasser was known for many years to be very active in getting the British to evacuate the Suez Canal, as well as, suppressing many of the militarist groups such as, the Muslim Brotherhood and establishing a Marxist democratic system in Egypt. In 1955, a reform of implementing family planning clinics were established and in March the same year, the first family planning clinic was opened which helped the state of Egypt to control the population growth within the area (Moustafa, pg.132).

In 1956, there was the introduction of Arab Socialism in Egypt. Arab socialism in Egypt greatly led to the sweeping of various social reforms such as suffrage of women and rights of women to start running for political office. It is reported that in this period, there were two decades period of migration which took place into the urban areas such as Cairo, the Alexandria, Suez and Port Said. These areas were famous to have greater economic and educational opportunities. Despite the fact that there was the abolition of separate Shari’ah courts in this period, there was still personal status law which applied hence made the Ulama independence to decrease further (Geoffrey pg.127).

Between the 1960s-70, the period was known to be a period of feminism in Egypt. The first wave feminism in Egypt was seen to be comparable to the second wave feminism in the United States of America given that they were associated, but not completely with pressures of the late colonialism and westernization efforts in Egypt where many contemporary and postcolonial leaders were ever critical. In this period, Nawal el Saadawi and Andrée Chedid were the most known two people leaders who led in feminists in Egypt, in spite of their influence, the Saadawiís who is said to be still alive continues today. Moustafa Ahmed on the other hand strongly criticized Saadawiís totalizing generalizations in relation to patriarchy, Islam and Egyptian culture. In this era, many changes took place and in 1962, there was the drafting of the National Charter. The drafting of the National Charter mainly claimed for egalitarianism for both men and women; the drafting was then approved formally in 1962 (Moustafa, pg.132).

In the 1967, the Egyptian-Israel war (the Yemen war) broke out leading to the defeat of the Egyptians by the Israel. The war increased the influence of Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic fundamentalism. In his final years, Nasser witnessed the decline of socialist policies and weakening of socialist democratic state, and in the1969, he passed away giving Anwar Sadat an opportunity to serve as the president of Egypt.

Between the 1970s-1980s, there was decline of significant and influence of feminism proper in the Egypt. The veiling only began to increase in 1980s during the decline of Nasserism and egalitarian, socialist reform; however, most scholars argued that the “veiling” was just a protest to westernization and capitalist imperialism. In addition, the issue of hijab was contested to be one among feminists; hijab was popular for postcolonial feminists which resisted the western feminist interpretation of the veil. However, in 1974, the United States and Egypt managed to resume their diplomatic relations, and by September 1975, through the United States mediating efforts, the Egypt and Israel managed to reach several agreements concerning the disengagement of their forces.

In March 1976, friendship treaty with the USSR that was signed in 1971was abrogated by Sadat, and under Sadat’s power, Egypt started experiencing an increase of two conflicting ideologies such as increasing westernization and commercialization. On the one hand, Sadat encouraged the visibility of fundamentalist Islamist groups, who were critical of the socialist government of Nasser; this increased the visibility which eventually led to attacks on Sadat as well (Geoffrey pg.127).

In 1977, Sadat visited Jerusalem where he began process of keeping peace and in January 1980, the Egypt and Israel were able to re-establish the diplomatic relations; however, relations have been strained as most Egyptians are sympathetic to the Palestinians. In 1982, the peace treaty with the Israel was honored by the Sadat’s successor, Hosni Mubarak: however, lack of progress on Palestine issue was criticized (Moustafa, pg.132).

Works Cited

HYPERLINK “http://www.bibme.org/” o “Edit this item”Ahmed, Moustafa. Egypt in the 20th century: chronology of major events. London: MegaZette Press, 2003. Print.

HYPERLINK “http://www.bibme.org/” o “Edit this item”Blainey, Geoffrey. A short history of the 20th century. London: I.R. Dee, 2006. Print.