Middle East Politics 1880 - Present Day

Died in Office
Socialist measures and modernization
Pan-Arabism

• Seeks to support counter- Islamist militancy in North Africa
• Donates half his salary to support Egypt's econoy
• Enforced rules on maximum wages
• Spoke out on sexual assault
• Wants to unify religious divisions - e.g. went to a Christmas service

Arab Socialist Union, then National Democratic Party
- Departed from the one party socialism of Nasser
- Engaged in negotiations with Israel - Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty (led to his assassination as other Arab states didn't like it)

National Democratic Party
- Heavily dependent on US aid
- Against Islamic Fundamentalism
- Anti-Iraq war 2003
- Corrupt government

First democratically elected head of state in Egyptian history
- Granted himself unlimited powers to legislate
- Issued an Islamist backed draft constitution - "Islamist Coup"
- Overthrown by el-Sisi

(acting President)

REscued country's finances, modernized.
- Foreign policy = pan-Islam, anti-Communist, pro-Palestinian nationalism

Conservative and traditional - continuing policies of predecessor
- Criticized for human rights record
March 2015 - bombed Yemen in response to their civil war

Bought billions of dollars of arms from the US and UK
Gave women right to vote in municipal councils
Maintained status quo during Arab Spring

Supported Saddam Hussein against Iran, supported conservative religious establishment, ally of US, Assad and Mubarak

Build up infrastructure, established GCC, Islamic solidarity with Iran, close with Western powers

Syrian Ba'ath Party
- Sided with the Soviet Union during the Cold War
- Divided government along sectarian lines - Sunnis, formal heads of political institutions, Alawites, control over military, intelligence and security apparatus
- Nepotism

Authoritarian regime -Ba'ath Party
- Initially seen as a potential reformer - not once he'd cruelly cracked down on Arab Spring protests preceding the Syrian Civil War
- Implicated of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the UN during the civil war

Successful peasant rebellion , required 20,000 extra British troops

Coup led by the Free Officers Movement in Egypt deposes British-backed monarch. Gamal Abdel Nasser becomes President of the new Arab republic of Egypt

CIA and MI6-backed coup against democratically elected Iranian Prime Minister Mossadeq. Shah Reza Pahlavi installed as monarch. Deposed in 1979 during the Iranian revolution

Coup led by the Free Officers Movement in Iraq leads to the overthrow of the Hashemite monarchy. The coup overthrew King Faisal II, the regent and Crown Prince 'Abd allah and Prime Minister Nuri al-Said. The coup established an Iraqi Republic.

Coup in Turkey organized by Turkish army officers against the democratically elected government of the Democratic party. The military junta returned power to civilian rules 17 months later in October 1961

Coup in Yemen leads to North Yemen Civil War fought between royalists of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen and factions of the Yemen Arab Republic. The war began with a coup carried out by the republican leader, Abdullah as-Sallal, which ousted Imam Al-Badr

Against the French

Ba'ath Party takes over in Syria

Iraqi coup overthrows the regime of Brigadier General Abdul-Karim Qassem. The Ba'ath Party took power under the leadership of General Ahmed Hasan al-Bakr (PM) and Colonel Abdul Salam Arif (President)

Coup in Algeria led by Colonel Houari Boumedienne, President Ben Bella ousted in the process

Coup in Iraq. The second Ba'athist regime takes over. A blood-less coup by senior Arab Nationalist officers and retired Ba'thist officers overthrows the regime of President Arif. Saddam Hussein, though Deputy Secretary-General of the Ba'th Party at the time, plays a minor role in the coup

Coup in Libya led by a young army officer Muammar Qaddafi - Establishes Libyan Revolution

Minister of Defence, Hafez al-Assad leads the coup ousting the civilian party leadership and assuming the role of President

• Israel declared Independence 15 May 1947
• Arab armies invade to "protect" Palestine
• Ceasefire drawn up 1949

• Between the Royalists of the Mutwakkilite area and the supporters of the Yemen Arab Republic
• Jordan, Saudi Arabia and UK gave support in aid and arms to the royalist side
• Egypt (70,000 troops and chemical weapons) and the Soviet Union (allegedly planes) supported the Republicans
• Dubbed by historians "Egypt's Vietnam"
• Republican Victory - Republican government formed with members of the royalist faction but none of the royal family

Between Israel and the United Arab Republic (Egypt, Syria and Jordan)
- Heightened tensions after Egyptian troops mobilized along the Israeli borderline --> Israel - preemptive airstrikes
- Egyptians completely unprepared for any kind of military attack - the airstrikes took out their planes, foot soldiers along the Gaza strip and the Sinai Peninsula also caught them by surprise and they evacuated with little organization
- Over 20,000 Arabs killed, less than 1000 Israelis
- Well organized Israeli Offensives, poorly organized Arab leaders

No serious diplomatic efforts followed the Six Day War - tensions still high
- Arab states formulated the "3 Nos" policy - peace, recognition or negotiation with Israel
- Hostilities resumed along the Suez Canal
- By 1969, Egyptian army prepared for large scale offensives - large-scale shelling of the Suez Canal, extensive aerial warfare and commando strikes.
- By then end of the war in 1970 - no changes to the frontiers, no efforts at peace negotiations

• Military combat actions took place mostly in the Sinai and the Golan Heights with the exception of a few isolated attacks on Israeli territory
• Arab coalition launched a joint surprise attack on Israeli positions on Yom Kippur - the holiest day in the Jewish calendar
• Near confrontation between the two superpowers as they supply huge amounts of aid to their respective allies
• In 3 days Israel managed to push Syria back to its pre-war borders
• Four day counter-offensive deep into Syria - shelling the outskirts of Damascus
• The Arab world felt vindicated by the early successes in the conflict
• lead to the 1978 Camp David peace talks which returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt and in which Egypt was the first Arab country to recognize Israel

Judiciary was given to the Wahhabi but political institutions for the Saudi royal family

Approx. 700,000 refugees expelled from Palestine (Israeli officials say they weren't expelled... they were expelled.)