Anwar Sadat

Biography

Anwar Sadat was born in 1918 in Mit Abu El Kom in the Nile Delta into a poor family. He graduated from the military academy in Cairo in 1938 and, while posted in Sudan, met Gamal Abdel Nasser, with whom he formed the Free Officers. During the Second World War he plotted with German agents against British rule and spent much of the war in prison.

After the Free Officers took power in 1952, Sadat held a series of posts under Nasser: minister of state, editor of the new daily Al Gomhuria, speaker of the National Assembly from 1960 to 1969, and twice vice president. He became president when Nasser died in 1970 and in May 1971 purged his rivals in what he called the Corrective Revolution.

In October 1973 he and Syria launched a surprise war against Israel to recover the Sinai, and its early successes made him a hero in Egypt. He then turned toward the United States, opened the economy to private investment under the Infitah policy, and in 1977 became the first Arab leader to make an official visit to Israel. The 1978 Camp David Accords led to the 1979 peace treaty with Israel, for which he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Menachem Begin, but the treaty isolated Egypt in the Arab world.

After a sweeping crackdown on his opponents in September 1981, he was shot dead by Islamist soldiers during the victory parade in Cairo on 6 October 1981.