ABSTRACT
On 23 July 1952 an officers' cabal marked the beginning of a new era in the modern history of Egypt. These officers belonged to or sympathised with various political groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, fascist Young Egypt, communists and others; they quixotically declared their intention to be the overthrow of Egypt's parliamentary system in order, they claimed, to restore ‘sound parliamentary life’. On 26 July, having deposed King Faruq, the young officers promptly installed ‘Ali Mahir, a long-time ardent supporter of the monarch. Ironically, in the 1940s ‘Ali Mahir had established, through his protege ‘Aziz ‘Ali al-Misri, the ‘secret officers' organisation’, the purpose of which was to ensure the thwarting of all plots such as the one executed by the Free Officers. 1 Initial reaction in Egypt was as contradictory as the Free Officers' actions: Wafdists, Muslim Brothers, communists, and rightists each had cause to consider ‘the blessed revolution’ (al-thaura al-mubaraka) its own, 2 based on the officers' disparate backgrounds, and their diffuse early statements and actions, in which nearly every political force found something to its taste. The ideological incongruities accumulated so quickly and obviously, however, that the political blocs soon realised that they could hardly decipher the officers' agenda, let alone identify with it. 3
