Anwar Sadat
Anwar Sadat ruled Egypt from 1970 to 1981, made peace with Israel, and was assassinated for it. Born in a village in the Nile delta in 1918 to a Sudanese mother and Egyptian father, he entered the military academy after it was opened beyond the elite and joined the Free Officers around Gamal Abdel Nasser. He was imprisoned twice during the war for contacts with German agents, aiming to expel the British, and was involved in a political assassination. He announced the 1952 coup on the radio, and served under Nasser in largely ceremonial posts — speaker of the assembly, then vice-president — which is why he was underestimated when he succeeded on Nasser's death in 1970. He then acted decisively. He purged Nasser's security apparatus in 1971, expelled some fifteen thousand Soviet advisers in 1972, and on 6 October 1973 launched a surprise attack across the Suez Canal, breaching the Bar Lev line. Israel recovered militarily, but the political effect was what he wanted: Egyptian honour restored and a negotiation made possible. He opened the economy under the infitah policy, which produced growth and visible inequality, and bread riots followed subsidy cuts in 1977. In November 1977 he flew to Jerusalem and addressed the Knesset — the first Arab leader to recognise Israel in person. The Camp David Accords followed in 1978, brokered by Jimmy Carter, and a treaty in 1979 returned Sinai to Egypt. He shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Menachem Begin. The Arab League expelled Egypt. He arrested some 1,500 opponents in September 1981, and was shot at a military parade the following month by Islamist officers.
- Lived: 1918 CE – 1981 CE
- Nationality: Egyptian
- Roles: President of Egypt (1970–81)
