Looking back on my earlier years, I cannot believe I have made it this far, I have become the King of Egypt. I started out serving the military. I remember the awful conditions of the Egyptian army and the constant presence of the British troops. In 1942 King Faud I dispersed the government that the British preferred. The British responded by ordering their troops to enclose the royal palace until the King agreed to a Wafdist cabinet under Nahas Pasha. This event was humiliating and it marks where I first decided that I wanted to make a difference in Egypt and formed the Free Officers, a group of men who were dedicated to winning Egypt’s freedom from the British. I spent a great deal of time trying to organize this group. It almost took a decade for our plans to be put into action but it would prove to be worth it.
The performance in the war between the Arabs and Israeli people was terrible. I was furious at King Farouk for not supplying our troops with the proper equipment necessary to keep our soldiers in their best condition for fighting. In 1951 the hatred towards the British grew, and small outbreaks between officers turned into small wars. There was chaos throughout the streets and numerous assassinations due to the fact that British troops still remained in the Suez canal. Farouk became less and less popular when he began stacking the government positions with good friends and relatives who were not well equipped for the job. Everyone was fed up when he appointed his brother-in-law as the minister of war.
It was finally time to put all the time spent organizing the free officers into use. We peacefully secured power over the government, shedding no blood. King Farouk was overwhelmed and abdicated, fleeing into permanent exile and leaving the throne to his infant son Fraud II. I knew this arrangement would not go over well with the people of Egypt so I made the well-liked General Muhammad Naguib head of the new government’s counsel of revolution. About a year later, Naguib was proclaimed president and I was upgraded to vice president, Fraud was taken out of power.
In the beginning of the revolution, I was satisfied to let Naguib take the title of nominal head of the government. I did not think of titles as important, most people felt as if I was in control anyway. Then we began to get in arguments over the directions we wanted to lead Egypt towards. Naguib insisted on introducing the idea that Egypt evolve into a parliamentary democracy. I did not agree with this form of action at all and tried to negotiate with Naguib but he would not budge on the idea. I finally had to take matters into my own hands and arrest him, making myself the head of the government. We did not have the same views and goals. My main hopes for Egypt have always been their complete independence and the formation of social justice, something which I have worked hard to achieve.
