Egypt in 1952 was ruled by a parliamentary monarchy but occupied by British troops.
Gamal Abdel Nasser was an intructor at the Royal Military Academy and a member of
a group of officers who sought to raise the repect of Egypt by overthrowing the
monarchy. His group had just learned that the King had a list of the members of
the revolutionaries and they had to move their schedule up or else they would all
be imprisoned. Nasser notified both the American and British embassies of their
intention to overthrow the Egyptian king and asked them not to intervene or
mis-interpret the actions of the revolution. They also negociated with the
Muslim Brotherhood and the communist party to assure their support for the coup.
On July 22, 1952 the first sign of the coup was the statement from the dissenting
officers being broadcast over the radio. Nasser was busy driving around arresting
royalist commanders so they could not activate the troops under their command.
Troops loyal to revolutionaries also siezed the militarys general headquarters
and arrested all the officers present. The Egyptian people celebrated.
The Egyptian king tried to get foreign nations to intercede on his behalf but all
refused his requests. The revolutionaries set to work restructuring the nation.
A military detachment was sent to surround the kings palace and the king fled to his
yacht, which was instructed not to leave.
The revolutionary council voided the constitution and created orders that eventually