Anwar Sadat

Born in the Delta village of Mit Abu el-Kom on December 25, 1918, and of peasant origin, Sadat had a military career that began with his entry in the Royal Military Academy in the 1930s. In 1938 he entered the army as a second lieutenant and was posted in the Sudan. There, he met with Gamal Abdel Nasser, and together, along with several other junior officers, they formed the secret, anti-British, anti-monarchy Free Officers revolutionary organization. During World War II the British imprisoned Sadat for treason, but he escaped. In 1952 the Free Officers succeeded in seizing power. Sadat worked closely with Nasser, who in 1954 emerged as the regime's strongman. In 1964, Sadat became Egypt's vice president. When Nasser died suddenly of a heart attack in 1970, Sadat succeeded him.

As president, Sadat inherited a relationship with the Soviet Union that was deteriorating. Moscow was not fulfilling Egypt's requests for economic and military aid, Egypt was refusing to become a Soviet foreign policy pawn, and the United States was working to disrupt the relationship. In July 1972 Sadat ordered the immediate withdrawal of the Soviet Union's 5,000 military advisers. They were followed by 15,000 air combat personnel. The relationship was partially restored later in the year. In October 1973, Egypt and Syria attacked Israel, aiming to reverse losses suffered during the 1967 Six Day War and destroy the Jewish state. Initially, the Arabs gained much ground. However, with U.S. help the Israelis turned the tide. The war ended after both the Soviet Union and the United States intervened to prevent a destruction of the balance of power in the region. When U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger brokered a truce, Sadat became convinced that good relations with Washington served Egypt's interests better than friendship with Moscow. Sadat abrogated the Soviet-Egyptian Treaty of Friendship in 1976.

Having achieved a somewhat improved negotiating position vis-a-vis Israel in 1973 and '74, and with the sympathy of the United States, Sadat next pursued peace. In November 1977, in order to overcome Israeli suspicions, he made a historic trip to Israel, also addressing the Israeli parliament (Knesset). This breakthrough led to the Camp David talks moderated by the new U.S. president, Jimmy Carter, and eventually the Camp David peace treaty. In 1978, Sadat and his Israeli counterpart, Prime Minister Menachem Begin, jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize. But although welcomed in the West, the Camp David Accords were almost unanimously rejected by the Arab world, and to many Arabs Sadat was a traitor. Sadat was assassinated on October 6, 1981, in Cairo by Muslim fundamentalists while reviewing a military parade commemorating the 1973 Yom Kippur war. He was 62.