TIMELINE FOR THE HISTORY OF EGYPT.
304- BC- Greek Ptolemies a major sea power in eastern Mediterranean, controlling Medierranean coast and many Aegean islands.
200 BC- Ptolemies defeated at battle of Panion- but Egypt flourishes culturally under their rule. Temples of Edfu and Endera built.
30 BC- Egypt falls to Rome under Octavian.
451- Christian Church brands Ehptian Christians heretics because of the latter's adoption of Monophysite Christianity which held that Christ had only one nature, note two (human and divine)
-The Coptic Church's head becomes the Patriarch of Alexandria and all Egypt and is based in Cairo.
641- Muslim conquest of Egypt.
-Egyptian Christians who do not embrace Islam are named 'Copts.'.
909-1171- Shia Fatimid Dynasty of North Africa rivals Sunni Abbasids.
1250-1517- Mameluke Sultante of Egypt and Near East.
1517- Ottoman Sultanate takes Egypt from Mamelukes.
1798-1801- Egypt occupied by Napoleon Bonaparte for France.
1869- construction of the Suez Canal.
1879- Egyptians revolt against the Khedive.
British Occupation of Egypt opposed by Wafd.
1882- Britain intervenes in the Egyptian revolt, occupies Egypt.
1906-66- Sayyid Mohammed Qutb. Muslim ideologue. Born in Asyut, Egypt. Trained as a teacher in Cairo.
1906- birth of Islamist leader Hassan al Banna,
1914- Britain declares Egypt to be under occupation.
1918- Nov 11- Saad Zaghloul leads a delegation ('Wafd') to the British High Commission in Cairo asking that the delegation be allowed to go to London to argue the case for independence. The British refusal results in riots with periodic talks over the following years.
Formation of Nationalist Wafd Party and Wafd Government.
1919- WAFD political party formed of Egyptians objecting to British rule. Copts grow to form much of the membership.
1919- 'Wafd' organization formed by lawyer Saad Zaghloul with hopes of ending the British occupation.
1922- Britian recognizes nominal Egyptian independence under King Fuad but continues to occupy the country, insist on the safeguarding of foreign interests and the protection of minorities.
1923- Britains conditions for nominal independence set down in a constitution.
-Wafd wins election and Zghloul becomes prime minister.
-the anti-imperialist movememnt known as the Wafd ('delegation') continues to agitate for the ejection of Britain in Egypt.
Wafd Party and Royalists Split. Founding of Muslim Brotherhood.
1927- nationalists split between the Wafd led by Premier Mustafa Nahas Pasha and King Fuad.
1928- Muslim Brotherhood founded by Hassan al Banna in Egypt for moral and social reform.
1931- King Fuad fires Premier Pasha and suspends the constitution.
1933- al Banna's Muslim Brotherhood sets up in Cairo.
1935- start of war between Italy and Eritrea makes Britain the prkimary foreign powere in Egypt with the power to define the imperial relationship, training and equiping the Egyptian army, demanding improvements in communications, building British ari bases.
1936- April- Wafd is re-elected with large majority. A Regency Council reigns on behalf of young King Faruq (1920-1965).
Anglo-Egyptian Treaty provokes growth of Muslim Brotherhood.
1936- August- the Anglo-Egyptian treaty reiterates Egypt's independence, drops the provision for protecting foreign interests and minorities but insists Egypt maintain its armed forces and reserves priviledges for Britian such as a military presence in the Suez Canal zone until Egypt is considered capable of guarding the canal. Britain would assume all defence responsibilities in time of war.
-treaty is opposed by Egyptian nationalists.
1938- King Faruq excercises full power at age 18. King pursues policy of attacking the opposition and is soon at loggerheads with the Wafd. Faruq dismisses Pasha, appoints Ali Mahir as premier.
-death of Fuad, former king of Egypt.
1939- Muslim Brotherhood becomes a political movement in response to the Arab uprising against the British in Palestine (1936) and Egyptian protest against the the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty (1936). The Brotherhood declares that the Quran and the Hadith are sufficient as a social political code for any time and place.
King's Support For Italy in WW II Undermines Royalist Cause.
1940- Italy enters the war against the allies; King Faruq tries to remain neutral but due to Italian advisers and friends becomes pro-Italy. British demand that Faruq dismiss his new, anti-British premier, Ali Mahir and replace him with the more pro-British Nahas Pasha. Faruq refuses.
1940- the Muslim Brotherhood has 500 branches each with a mosque and social services.
1942- Feb- as Germans advance on Egypt, King Faruq is about to appoint an anti-British premier but the British ambassador, has the palace surrounded by tanks, forcing the king to appoint Nahas Pasha on pain of dethronement. King Faruq complies.
-due to his acquiescance to the British Faruq's prestige drops sharply in Egypt.
1944- Faruq tries to restore his prestige by dismissing Nahas Pasha.
Muslim Brotherhood fights in Palestine War. Sayyid Qutb radicalized by year in US.
1948- Qutb is sent to university in Colorado, USA by his ministry. He is appalled at what he sees as America's decadence and depravity.
1948- Muslim Brotherhood's al Banna holds Egypt responsible for failing to prevent Israel's victory and independence in the Palestine war.
1948- Egypt declares martial law and bans the Brotherhood.
-Egyptian premier, Fahmi Nokrashi Pasha, is assassinated by the Brotherhood.
1948-49- members of the Muslim Brotherhood fight in the Palestine War, recruiting Egyptian officers and gaining military experience. The Brotherhood turns against Egypt which is blames for the 1948-49 war.
1948-49- the Egyptian military's poor performance in the Palestine war of Israeli independence (due to corruption and incompetecne of the officers and poor supply) further lowers the Faruq's status, causing Egyptian officers to plan a coup. Abdul Nasser serves as a major.
-King Faruq agrees to reconciliation with Wafd by offering to call an election- provided both sides ignore the other's incompetence and corruption.
1949- Hassan a Banna, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood is assassinated.
Suez Crisis; Wafd Makes a Push for Full Independence. Qutb returns to Egypt, joins Muslim Brotherhood.
1950- Jan- King Faruq orders general election which puts the Wafd back in power. To get popular backing and recover prestige lost during the Palestine War, the Wafd demands that the British withdraw their troops. Britain refuses to respond.
-Abdul Nasser promoted to colonel.
1950- with the lifting of martial law, the Brotherhood enters mainstream Egyptian politics.
1951- Qutb returns to Egypt but his anti-American views get him expelled from the education ministry. He joins the Muslim Brootherhood. In his writings he says that America should be placed under a sentence of death.
1951- Oct- the Wafd annuls the the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty, declares Faruq king of Egypt and Sudan and demands immediate withdrawal from the Suez Canal Zone. Guerillas and leftist Wafd members begin attacks on the British.
1952- after riots, King Faruq dismisses the Wafd government.
- the Brotherhood rejects the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty and participates in the Cairo riots.
1952- the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) overthrows the regime in Egypt.
Nasser and Officers Overthrow King Faruq, ban Wafd and Muslim Brotherhood.
1952 July -the charismatic Col. Abdul Nasser and Gen. Muhammed Neguib leading the Free Officers overthrow King Faruq and exile him to Italy. The new Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) is led by Neguib. Neguib, as president and premier, favours parliamentary system but Nasser, at head of the Free Officers, overrules him.
1953 Nasser bans the Wafd party and all other political groups in favour or the single 'Liberation Rally' and inaugurates a program of industrialization, land reform and regional Pan-Arabism. His Arab socialism gets him the backing of the Soviet Union.
1954- Feb- Nasser and RCC ban the Muslim Brotherhood without consulting Neguib.
-Neguib resigns in protest causing mobilization and near civil war between Nasser and Neguib
April- Neguib retains presidency in compromise
Nov- FCC dismisses Naguib as president, makes Nasser its shairman.
- full British withdrawal from Egypt.
-opposition to Nasser's Arab nationalism at home and abroad pushes him to the left.
Qtub in Prison, writes Muslim defining work of Islamists.
1954- Qutb and other members are held in a concentration camp. He writes his defining work, Maalim Fi Al Tariq- "Signposts on the Road"- which divides all social systems into "The Order of Islam" and "The Order of Ignorance." The book remains a text book for radical Islam.
23rd Oct.- after Brotherhood members attempt to assassinate President Nasser, the plotters are hanged, many are imprisoned or driven into exile in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
1955- At Bandung Conference, Nasser is infleunced by nonalignment of Jawharlal Nehru of India and Tito of Yugoslavia. Nasser stops pro-western baghdad Pact from moving further.
-US refuses to sell arms to Egypt so Nasser turns to Czecholslovakia. US refuses aid for the Aswan dam project and get World Bank to do the same.
-Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal and accepts aid from Soviet Union.
Nasser Leads the Arab World.
1956- with new constitution, Nasser becomes president for a 6 year term. Nasser begins with a nonideological but Arab Nationalist approach.
1956- Oct-Nov- Britain, France and Israel try and fail to seize back the canal in the Suez War, attempting to assassinate Nasser.
1957- March- Britain, France and Israel withdraw in defeat. from Suez.
-Nasser becomes a hero to the Arab world alll the while moving farther to the left,
- President Nasser reserves constituencies for Copts.
Nasser Fails to Lead the Arab World.
1958- Egypt and Syria together form the United Arab Republic (UAR) with Nasser as president- hoping to unite the whole Middle East under his leadership.
-Nasser visits USSR as leader of the Non-aligned Movement.
1961- the UAR splits due to in-fighting. Syria secedes.
-As Syria moves to the left, Nasser moves further nationalizing industry and agriculture and extending land reform to retain leadership of the Non-aligned Movement.
1962- Nasser inagurates the Arab Socialist Union.
1962- after a coup against the king in North Yemen, Egypt helps the republican military to set up a regime there.
1964- Nasser hosts a summit of the Organization of North African Unity.
Qtub freed from prison; enters Muslim Brotherhood leadership.
1964- Qutb and cohorts are released from detainment in Egypt. "Signposts on the Road" is smuggled out of Egypt. Though he is non-violent, the Muslim Brotherhood promotes him into the leadership to avenge their persecution in Egypt.
-Nasser tries to include the Muslim Brotherhood in the Arab Socialist Union to combat Communism.
-repeated attempts by the Brotherhood to assassinate Nasser.
Nasser forms pact with Syria. Qtub tried and executed.
1966- Nasser forms a defence pact with Syria so that Syria will not have a monopoly on defence of the Palestinians which it has been arming and supporting.
-Isreal warns Syria to stop supporting Palestinian attack and ridicules Nasser. Nasser closes the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping and signs a defence pact with Jordan.
-1966-Sayyid Muhammed Qutb is put on trial in Egypt. He states that the nations of the Middle East are a western fabrication and that actually Islam has no nations, only a Community of Believers.
-Sayyid Muhammed Qutb and other Brotherhood leaders are executed.
Nasser's Decline.
1967- through premptive attcks by Israel, Syria, Jordan and Egypt decisively defeated by Israel in the Six-Day War. Nasser loses prestige in his own country.
-Nasser resigns, is reinstated by popular demmand.
1967- Egypt decisively defeated in war with Israel.
1968- popular feeling that Egypt had received divine retribution for Arab Socialism causes Nasser to grant a general amnesty to the Muslim Brotherhood.
- Nasser initiates a political 'War of Attrition' against Israel to prevent Israel crom consolidating its gains on Egyptian territory.
1969-1970- Nasser acts as peacemaker between the PLO and Lebanon and the PLO and Jordan.
1970- death of Nasser. Anwar Sadat becomes president.
-new Egyptian president, Anwar Sadat, attempts to integrate the Brotherhood into the mainstream.
Sadat's Failed Attack on Israel Results in Peace Treaty with Israel. Sadat bans Muslim Brotherhood from elections.
1973- Sadat joins with Syria on a surprise attack on Israel, nearly knocking Israel out of the sky. However, he deserts the Soviet Union for the United States and works out a compromiose peace twith Israel.
1976- fearing the expanding power of the Brotherhood, President Sadat bans it from Egyptian elections. 15 Brotherhood members are elected as members of other parties causing a radical wing to split off in protest.
-the Muslim Brotherhood radicalizes and turns against Sadat's modernization and pro-Israel and pro-West policies.
1977- June- the Law of the System of Political Parties, a veteran of the old Wafd, Fuad Serag al Din forms the Neo-Wafd Party.
1978- Ayman Zawahiri graduates as as a surgeon from Cairo's University's medical school.
1979- Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Begin sign the Egyptian-Istaeli peace Treaty. But his new peace costs Egypt membership in the Arab League.
-Zawahiri joins Ismail Tantawi's Islamic Jihad and succeeds him as leader when Tantawi departs for West Germany.
-due to the unpopularity of the treaty at home, Sadat becomes increasingly autocratic.
Sadat Assassinated by Islamist Officers. Succeeded by Mubarak.
1981- Oct. Sadat is assassinated by Islamist officers during a military review.
Ayman al Zawahiri is among those jailed in the plot.
-Sadat is succeeded by Hosni Mubarak, whose conciliatory approach to the Arab world wins him backing at home and Egypt re-admittance to the Arab League.
-while applying the free market to the economy, Mubarak rigged elections as Sadat had done before him.
Mubarak Begins Repression of Islamists.
1984- EgyptianPresident Mubarak maintains elections ban on Muslim Brotherhood. Muslim Brotherhood members get elected as members of the Neo-Wafd party.
-the Muslim Brotherhood, uses highy educated members to dominate syndicates of lawyers, doctors, journalists and engineers.
-Zawahiri is released from prison in Egypt.
1987- The Muslim Brotherhood gains singificant power in the Egyptian parliament by allying itself with socialist parties. Brotherhood deputies demand an end to the Israeli-Egyptian treaty, to all ties with the United States and the application of Sharia law.
1991- Gulf War: Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood supports Saddam Hussein.
1993- Mubarak wins his second election to the presidency. However he faces increasing opposition form the Muslim Brotherhood and Gamat al Islamiya. Over the following years his escalating repression of Islamist organizations, with no regard for human rights, causes the increasing concern of the Clinton administration in Washington.
Muslim Brotherhood manages electoral progress.
1995- finally allowed to campaign openly in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood runs 150 candidates, all of whom lose.
1999- Mubarak is re-nomniated by the legislature for the presidency.
1999- 20 members of the Muslim Brotherhood arrested for plotting to overthrow the government and ifiltrating professional syndicates.
-the Muslim Brotherhood wins 17 seats in the Egyptian parliament.
9/11: Mubarak Tries to Persuade US of Pro-Palestine, anti-Terror Strategy.
2001- Sept. 11- after the 9/11 attacks on the U.S., Mubarak takes a two-pronged approach, cooperating fully in President Bush's War on Terror but recommending an intgernational convention on terrorism as well as impartial attention to the plight of the Palestinians under Israeli occupation. On these last two, Mibarak received no cooperation.
Talks between Presidents Bush and Mubarak; Mubarak supports Palestinians.
2002 February - Hundreds of passengers are killed after their train catches fire south of Cairo.
Sinai bomb
March 2-6 Mubarak begins 4-day cisit to US. Pres. Mubarak asks Pres. Bush for greater US participation in seeking Middle East peace.
April 3- Egypt severs relations with Israel over JDF offsensive into West Bank.
June 8- US Prs. Bush meets Mubarabak who tells him no peace in the Middle East will be possible until Israel withdraws from Palestine.
Sept 9- a military court sentences 51 Islamists.
2003- Feb 17- 13 CIA agents kidnap Egyptian cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr in Milan and take him to Egypt where he is interrogated, tortured and released.
June 3- In Cairo Bush meets Arab leaders who pledge to fight terror but insist that Israel must ease up on Palestine.
Dec. 10- Leaders of Egypt and Iran meet for the first time since 1979, agree on a nuclear deal.
Cabinet Resigns as Mubarak Consolidates Power.
2004- July 9- Jul 9, Cabinet of President Hosni Mubarak's resigns. Ahmed Nazief (Nazif), an outsider, is appointed to replace Atef Obeid as prime minister. This further consolidates Mubarabk's power when there is more pressure than ever for political and economic change. Half of the 26 regional governors were also replaced.
2004 October - Al Qaeda named in 4 car bomb attacks target Israeli tourists Jewish resort at Sukkot on Sinai peninsula; 34 people are killed.
Nov 13- Egypt releases 200 Islamist militants to mark the end of Ramadan
2004 November - Funeral of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is held in Cairo.
Dec 8- several thousand Christians protest alleged forced conversion of a Christian woman to Islam.
2005- Feb 1-5- Egyptian security forces clash with Islamists in Sinai while making arrests in Sokkot bombings.
Feb 19- Mubarak and Linya's Ghaddafi agree to an all-African plan for the Darfur crisis.
Feb 21- 500 protest against a further term for Mubarak and also his plans to be succeeded by his son Gamal.
Mubaraks ìnitiative for multi-candidate Elections rejected as Insincere.
Feb 26- Mubarak reforms elections laws and allows for multiple candidates.
March 9- Parliament agrees to electoral changes.
2005 February-April - Pro-reform and opposition activists including Muslim Brotherhood mount anti-government demonstrations.
May 4- thousands in Muslim Brotherhood protest in Cairo and across the Egypt demaind political reform.
2005 May - Referendum vote backs a constitutional amendment that will allow multiple candidates to stand in presidential elections.
May 25- thousands demonsrtrate amid arrests and beatings as protestors reject constitutional changes to allow multi party candidates as merely cosmetic.
Muslim Brotherhood launches political offensive against Mubarak.
June 30- Mulsim Brotherhood launches political alliance for peaceful democratic reform and the legal and constitutional removal of Mubarak.
July- opposition parties call in unision for boycott of presidential election in September.
Terror Atrtack at Sharm al Sheikh.
2005 23 July - Scores of people are killed in bomb attacks in the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh.
July 28- Mubarak announces multi-candidate elections for Sept. 7.
July 30- protestors beaten for demonstrating against Marbarak's announcment that he would run in presidential elections for a fifth time.
Mubarak`s election to fifth term marked by low turnout, fraud and boycott.
2005 September - President Mubarak is re-elected for a fifth consecutive term. Mubarak's image as a democratic reformer is marred by electoral fraud and a widespread boycott of the vote. Turnout is 23%
Sept 16- thousands of Gazans break through Palestinian Authority guards at the entry point into Egypt. Ordinary Palestinains take over the crossing point during a temporary opening.
Nov. 7- the EU agrees to monitor border crossing.
Muslim Brotherhood makes electoral gains.
2005 December - Parliamentary polls end with clashes between police and supporters of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood. The National Democratic Party and its allies retain their large parliamentary majority. Muslim Brotherhood supporters, elected as independents, win a record 20% of seats.
More than 20 Sudanese migrants die after police break up a protest camp outside the UN offices in Cairo.
Dec 31, In Egypt President Hosni Mubarak swears in new Cabinet retaining major figures from previous government, adding two pro-American business figures and Egypt's first minister to wear a headscarf.
Jan 4- two Egyptian border guards shot by Palestinians attempting a forces crossing.
2006 February - Up to 1,000 people die when a ferry carrying about 1,400 passengers from Saudi Arabia to Egypt sinks in the Red Sea.
Feb 14- parliament approves Mubarak's proposed 2-year postponement of municipal elections over objections of the U.S. and the Islamist opposition.
March- crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood begins.
Repression of Judges.
Mar. 17- 1,000 judges mount silent protest against government's refusal of judicial independence.
April 13-16- 3 days of rioting between Muslims and Christians in Alexandria.
2006 April - Bomb attacks in the Red Sea resort of Dahab kill more than 20 people.
May 11- demonstrators in Cairo supporting judges who raised the alarm on election fraud are brutally repressed by police.
May 12- Gamal Mubarak, generally assumed to be Mubarak's successor, meets White House Officials, including VP Dick Cheney.
May 20- Mubarak opens the World Economic Forum meeting in Egypt with strong words, apparently meant for the U.S.- that Egypt has no intention of any quick political reform.
June 19- March to June crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood reaches 700 detained.
2006 August - Egypt praises the way the guerrilla group Hezbollah held out in the war with Israel in Lebanon after earlier questioning its judgement.
2006 November - Egypt is one of at least six Arab countries developing domestic nuclear programmes to diversify energy sources, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reports.
-President Mubarak promises democratic and constitutional reform in an address to parliament. Opponents are skeptical.
Crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood.
2006 November - Upsurge in arrests of Muslim Brotherhood members.
March 18- 100 mainly Islamist MPs walk out of parliament in protest against constitutional amendments which strengthen the regime's grip on power.
2007 March - Referendum on constitutional amendments. The authorities say 76% of voters approve changes, opposition groups say the poll was rigged.Turnout was toughtly 10%.
2007 April - Amnesty International criticises Egypt's record on torture and illegal detention.
More than 30 members of the Muslim Brotherhood go on trial, the first time in seven years that members of the group have been tried under military jurisdiction.
May 12- Security forces arrest 59 Muslims for setting fire to Christian shops and homes in a dispute of the building of a Christian church in Bamha.
2007 June - Parliamentary elections. Governing National Democratic Party wins most votes as police bar voters from polling stations amid allegations of fraud.
2007 October - Independent, opposition newspapers protest against "government harassment" after seven journalists are imprisoned and an editor is put on trial.
-Dustur newspaper editor Ibrahim Eissa sentenced to six months in jail for reporting rumours about President Mubarak's health. Rights groups demand change to law on reporting "false information".
Mubarak Annoints his Son.
Nov 3- Mubarak's son Gamal promoted to a key committee in a move seen to set him on the path to succession.
Dec.- Israeli defence Minister Ehud Barak visits Egypt to protest lax security on arms smuggling to Hamas in gaza.
2008- Jan- tension between EU and Egypt over EU's criticism of Egypt's record on human rights.
2008- March- as protests mount against high food prices, Mubarak complains publicly that Egypts high birth rate is draining the sgtate's budget.
April 6- shops looted andf fires set as rioters protest high food prices and stangnant salaries.
2008 April - Military courts sentence 25
leading Muslim Brotherhood members to jail terms in crackdown targeting
the organisation's funding. More than 800 arrested over a month.
Brotherhood boycotted municipal elections after only 20 candidates
allowed to stand.
Mubarak Attempts Strategic Economic Reforms.
Nov 1- Mubarak promises to press ahead with financial reforms and action against poverty.
2008 November - The governing NDP says it will privatise some state firms and distribute free shares to citizens. State will retain majority stakes in strategically important assets such as iron, steel, transport and tourism.
-Security forces redeploy in Sinai after clashes over smuggling into Gaza Strip with local Bedouin left several tribesmen dead.
2009 February - Leading opposition figure Ayman Nour freed after serving three years of five-year sentence on forgery charges that he said were politically motivated.
-Bomb attack in popular tourist area of Cairo kills a French student and injures 24 other people. Authorities arrest three suspects, say small Islamist cell thought to be responsible.
Egypt Remains close to Sudan`s Bashir despite Darfur.
March 25- Egypt welcomes Sudan's Al Bashir despite international censure of Bashir for his brutal policies in darfur.
April 4-6th- demonstrators from Islamist and pro-democracy groups in nation-wide protests arrested by police.
2009 April - Egyptian authorities say they arrested 49 people the previous year on suspicion of helping Hezbollah send money and aid to Hamas in Gaza.
2009 May - Egyptian police clash with Coptic Christian pig farmers trying to stop their animals being taken away for slaughter as a precaution against swine flu.
Interior Ministry says seven people with suspected links to al-Qaeda arrested in connection with Cairo bomb attack which killed a French student in February.
Obama`s Cairo Speech.
2009 June - US President Barack Obama makes key speech in Cairo calling for a new beginning between the United States and the Muslim world.
-75 people sentenced to death in June- a record for one month- compared to 86 for all of 2008.
2009 July - Egyptian officials say 25
militants suspected of having al-Qaeda links were arrested for plotting
attacks on ships in the Suez Canal.
2009 August - Twenty-six members of an alleged cell of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah go on trial in Cairo on charges of plotting attacks in Egypt and helping to send weapons to Hamas in Gaza.
Oct 9- Egypt`s Grand Mufti of Sunni Islam bans veils from Egypt`s main Sunni relgious university- Al Azar.
2009 November - Row between Egypt and Algeria following violence at football matches.
2009 December - Foreign activists protest in Cairo against Egypt's refusal to let aid convoys into Gaza.
2010 January - Coptic Christians clash with police at a massive funeral after an apparently sectarian shooting outside a church in which 3 gunmen killed 6 Christian worshipers on Jan 6, the Coptic New Years Eve.
Jan. 16- Muslim Brotherhood`s new leader is appointed- Mohammed Badie, from a the Brotherhood`s conservative wing.
ElBaradei Returns to Egypt; forms Opposition Coalition. Muslim Brotherhood loses upper house elections.
2010 February - Former UN nuclear chief Mohammed ElBaradei returns to Egypt and, together with opposition figures and activists, forms a coalition for political change. ElBaradei says he might run in presidential election scheduled for 2011.
March 2- ElBaradei calls for constitutional changes.
2010 March - President Mubarak undergoes gall-bladder surgery in Germany, returning to Egypt three weeks later.
April 2-6- at a public gathering Elbaradei calls for change in defiance of an emergency decree banning gatherings opposed to the government; police then crack drown on Baradei supporters.
April 12- Elbaradei calls for boycott of upcoming elections.
May 11- Egypt calls for a 2-year extension of its emergency law.
June 13, 20, 25- Police brutally repress opposition demonstrations which killed a man, culminating a massive June 25th protest led by ElBaradei.
2010 June - Muslim Brotherhood fails to win any seats in elections to the Shura consultative upper house of parliament; alleges vote was rigged. Vote suffers from boycott and apathy as ruling party wins massive `majority`.
Crackdown ahead of November Elections
Oct 5, 12- journalists and the Muslim Brotherhood accuse the government lof cracking down ahead of parliamentary elections.
Oct 13- government tightens controls over television broadcasting.
2010 November - Coptic Christians clash with police in Giza over construction of church.
Parliamentary polls, followed by protests against alleged vote rigging. Muslim Brotherhood fails to win a single seat, though it held a fifth of the places in the last parliament.
2011 January - 21 killed in bomb at church in Alexandria where Christians had gathered to mark the New Year.
Huge Anti-Mubarak Demonstrations inspired by Tunisian Revolt.
Jan 24-30- massive demomstrations in Cairo and all over Egypt set off by the revolution in Tunisia. The police pull back and army intervention is minimal as millions call for Mubarak`s resignation. ElBaradei is put forward as interim leader of an entirely new and democratic government.
Feb. 2 Wafd and other opposition parties agree to deal with government to manage peaceful transtion to a new regime.
Mubarak Steps Down, Cedes Power to the Military.
Feb 11- Mubarak Steps down. Vice President Suleiman announces a transition of power to the military, headed by General Tantawi. The military promises that it will hold power termporarily until free and fair elections can be held.
2011 March - Egyptians approve package of constitutional reforms aimed at paving the way for new elections.
2011 April - Former President Mubarak and his sons, Ala and Gamal, are arrested on suspicion of corruption.
2011 April-August - Protests continue in Cairo's Tahrir Square over slow pace of political change. Islamist groups come to the fore. Army finally disperses protestors in August.
July 9- Tens of thousands of Egyptians protest for political reforms and swifter trials for police and former government officials charged with killing hundreds of demonstrators during the revolution that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.
Mubarak goes on trial. Army Extends Emergency Law. Protests Grow.
2011 August - Former President Mubarak goes on trial in Cairo, charged with ordering the killing of demonstrators earlier in the year.
Aug. 15- Judge Ahmed Refaat, who had grown exasperated with grandstanding by lawyers representing the families of victims allegedly gunned down by Hosni Mubarak’s security forces, rules that television cameras will not be allowed in the courtroom when proceedings resume Sept. 5
Sept. 9-12: SCAF expands the hated emergency law after protesters breach the Israeli embassy. Protesters say SCAF has become more repressive than Mubarak.
Sept. 30- Thousands of protesters once again gather in the heart of Cairo to voice their exasperation with the ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces. Protesters and political groups call for an end to emergency laws, amendments to the new elections law, a date for a presidential election, and a clear timeline for drafting a new constitution.
Oct 12- In an attempt to stem widening criticism of their grip on power, generals in Egypt’s ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces said that soldiers were attacked by mobs and did not intentionally kill Coptic Christian protesters.
Nov. 3- Activists and politicians worry that the military, Egypt’s most revered institution before the revolution, refuses to have its authority and financial interests answerable to an emerging democracy.
2011 November - Violence in Cairo's Tahrir square as security forces clash with protesters accusing the military of trying to keep their grip on power. Prime Minister Essam Sharaf resigns in response to the unrest. Start of parliamentary elections.
Democracy protests precede election of Islamist-dominated parliament.
Nov. 20-Clashes erupt for the second day between police and protesters. Anger has been building over the unrealized promise of a revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak but has yet to steer the country toward democracy.
Nov. 19-21: Largest protests since uprising occur; military promises transition to civilian rule by July 2012
Nov. 28-29: First round of parliamentary elections begins, eventually yielding an Islamist-dominated parliament.
Dec, 4- In the first round of parliamentary elections, Islamist parties win more than 60% of the vote.
2011 December - National unity government headed by new Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri takes office.
Dec. 16- In the worst violence since the start of parliamentary voting last month, one person is killed and more than 130 people are hurt in a clash with pro-democracy protesters in downtown Cairo.
Islamists take 70% of parliament.
Dec, 24-Islamist parties have solidified their lead in Egypt’s historic parliamentary elections, capturing about 70% of the seats up for grabs in the second phase of a three-part poll.
2012 January - Islamist parties emerge as victors of drawn-out parliamentary elections.
Jan 21- A new political era in Egypt begins as Islamist parties win nearly three-quarters of the seats in parliamentary elections to inherit a nation mired in economic crisis and desperate to move beyond military rule and the corrupt legacy of deposed President Hosni Mubarak.
2012 March - Pope Shenouda III, the veteran head of the Coptic Church, dies.
Liberals protest Islamist domination, walk out of parliament
March 28: Liberals walk out in protest of the selection process for a 100-seat assembly that will write a new constitution; Islamists get a majority of the seats.
April 10: Court suspends the assembly.
April 14- Egypt’s volatile presidential race is jolted when the election commission disqualifies three controversial front-runners — the nation’s former spy chief and two impassioned Islamists — just five weeks before voters go to the polls.
2012 April - Crisis in relations with Saudi Arabia over the Saudi detention of an Egyptian lawyer briefly threatens the substantial aid that the Saudis provide Egypt.
Muslim Brotherhood's Morsi wins first round of presidential elections.
First free presidential poll 2012 May - Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi tops the first round of voting in first free presidential elections, narrowly ahead of Mubarak-era prime minister Ahmed Shafiq. Official media put turnout at a low 43%.
Military ends state of emergency; Mubarak sentenced to life in prison. Morsi elected president.
Military leaders announce the end of the state of emergency in place since Anwar al-Sadat's assassination in 1981, as its last renewal expires.
June 2: Mubarak sentenced to life in prison.
2012 June - Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi narrowly wins presidential election.
Court strikes down martial law. Parliament reconvenes despite court order. Morsi accepts army ruling invalidating parliamentary elections.
June 26- A move by Egypt’s ruling generals to revive martial law is blunted as a court strikes down a government decree that had allowed soldiers and military intelligence services to arrest civilians during the nation’s political turmoil
2012 August - New prime minister Hisham Qandil appoints a cabinet dominated by figures from the outgoing government, technocrats and Islamists, to the exclusion of secular parties.
Morsi forces Army out of politics.
President Mursi dismisses Defence Minister Tantawi and Chief of Staff Sami Annan and strips military of say in legislation and drafting the new constitution.
Islamist Upsurge in Sinai.
Islamist fighters attack an army outpost in Sinai, killing 16 soldiers, and mount a brief incursion into Israel, highlighting the tenuousness of government control over the largely-lawless area.
2012 September - Egypt kills 32 militants and destroys 31 smuggling tunnels to Gaza in an offensive against militants who attacked troops in Sinai in August.
Oct 10- Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi issues a blanket pardon for hundreds of activists arrested during the revolution and its turbulent aftermath, in what was widely viewed as a morally wise but politically timed move from a leader attempting to calm his critics amid social and economic turmoil.
2012 November - Bishop Tawadros is chosen as the new pope of Egypt's Coptic Christians.
Morsi decrees himself sweepig powers. Islamist parliament approves Islamist constitution.
-The Islamist-dominated constituent assembly approves the final text of draft constitution that boosts the role of Islam, in a session boycotted by liberal, left-wing and Christian members. The vote is held earlier than scheduled, after the constitutional court threatened to dissolve the assembly.
-President Morsi issues a decree giving himself extensive new powers. The decree sparks angry demonstrations and is condemned by Egypt's top judges, who accuse him of undermining the independence of the judiciary.
Massive democracy demonstrations threaten presidential palace.
Nov. 23- Clashes erupt across Egypt over President Mohamed Morsi’s decree expanding his authority, a move that sharpens lines between Islamists and those who fear the president is stealing power in order to edge the country closer to Islamic law.
Dec. 4- Protesters reach the presidential palace. Located several miles from activist-central in Tahrir Square and protected as a “red line” during the Mubarak era, this is a major symbolic moment. The palace is located in the upscale suburb of Heliopolis, not a traditionally Islamist place. Pro-Morsi protesters gather as well, and fighting begins.
Dec. 15- Scheduled date of a national referendum on the constitution. The government set the up-or-down vote for just a week and a half from now. The timing heightens the urgency of protesters who fear Morsi will attempt to force through an Islamist-friendly constitution and reduces the odds that now-weakened courts will be able to intervene in time. Morsi is under intense pressure to reconsider the timing and the constitution but has not budged.
304- BC- Greek Ptolemies a major sea power in eastern Mediterranean, controlling Medierranean coast and many Aegean islands.
200 BC- Ptolemies defeated at battle of Panion- but Egypt flourishes culturally under their rule. Temples of Edfu and Endera built.
30 BC- Egypt falls to Rome under Octavian.
451- Christian Church brands Ehptian Christians heretics because of the latter's adoption of Monophysite Christianity which held that Christ had only one nature, note two (human and divine)
-The Coptic Church's head becomes the Patriarch of Alexandria and all Egypt and is based in Cairo.
641- Muslim conquest of Egypt.
-Egyptian Christians who do not embrace Islam are named 'Copts.'.
909-1171- Shia Fatimid Dynasty of North Africa rivals Sunni Abbasids.
1250-1517- Mameluke Sultante of Egypt and Near East.
1517- Ottoman Sultanate takes Egypt from Mamelukes.
1798-1801- Egypt occupied by Napoleon Bonaparte for France.
1869- construction of the Suez Canal.
1879- Egyptians revolt against the Khedive.
British Occupation of Egypt opposed by Wafd.
1882- Britain intervenes in the Egyptian revolt, occupies Egypt.
1906-66- Sayyid Mohammed Qutb. Muslim ideologue. Born in Asyut, Egypt. Trained as a teacher in Cairo.
1906- birth of Islamist leader Hassan al Banna,
1914- Britain declares Egypt to be under occupation.
1918- Nov 11- Saad Zaghloul leads a delegation ('Wafd') to the British High Commission in Cairo asking that the delegation be allowed to go to London to argue the case for independence. The British refusal results in riots with periodic talks over the following years.
Formation of Nationalist Wafd Party and Wafd Government.
1919- WAFD political party formed of Egyptians objecting to British rule. Copts grow to form much of the membership.
1919- 'Wafd' organization formed by lawyer Saad Zaghloul with hopes of ending the British occupation.
1922- Britian recognizes nominal Egyptian independence under King Fuad but continues to occupy the country, insist on the safeguarding of foreign interests and the protection of minorities.
1923- Britains conditions for nominal independence set down in a constitution.
-Wafd wins election and Zghloul becomes prime minister.
-the anti-imperialist movememnt known as the Wafd ('delegation') continues to agitate for the ejection of Britain in Egypt.
Wafd Party and Royalists Split. Founding of Muslim Brotherhood.
1927- nationalists split between the Wafd led by Premier Mustafa Nahas Pasha and King Fuad.
1928- Muslim Brotherhood founded by Hassan al Banna in Egypt for moral and social reform.
1931- King Fuad fires Premier Pasha and suspends the constitution.
1933- al Banna's Muslim Brotherhood sets up in Cairo.
1935- start of war between Italy and Eritrea makes Britain the prkimary foreign powere in Egypt with the power to define the imperial relationship, training and equiping the Egyptian army, demanding improvements in communications, building British ari bases.
1936- April- Wafd is re-elected with large majority. A Regency Council reigns on behalf of young King Faruq (1920-1965).
Anglo-Egyptian Treaty provokes growth of Muslim Brotherhood.
1936- August- the Anglo-Egyptian treaty reiterates Egypt's independence, drops the provision for protecting foreign interests and minorities but insists Egypt maintain its armed forces and reserves priviledges for Britian such as a military presence in the Suez Canal zone until Egypt is considered capable of guarding the canal. Britain would assume all defence responsibilities in time of war.
-treaty is opposed by Egyptian nationalists.
1938- King Faruq excercises full power at age 18. King pursues policy of attacking the opposition and is soon at loggerheads with the Wafd. Faruq dismisses Pasha, appoints Ali Mahir as premier.
-death of Fuad, former king of Egypt.
1939- Muslim Brotherhood becomes a political movement in response to the Arab uprising against the British in Palestine (1936) and Egyptian protest against the the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty (1936). The Brotherhood declares that the Quran and the Hadith are sufficient as a social political code for any time and place.
King's Support For Italy in WW II Undermines Royalist Cause.
1940- Italy enters the war against the allies; King Faruq tries to remain neutral but due to Italian advisers and friends becomes pro-Italy. British demand that Faruq dismiss his new, anti-British premier, Ali Mahir and replace him with the more pro-British Nahas Pasha. Faruq refuses.
1940- the Muslim Brotherhood has 500 branches each with a mosque and social services.
1942- Feb- as Germans advance on Egypt, King Faruq is about to appoint an anti-British premier but the British ambassador, has the palace surrounded by tanks, forcing the king to appoint Nahas Pasha on pain of dethronement. King Faruq complies.
-due to his acquiescance to the British Faruq's prestige drops sharply in Egypt.
1944- Faruq tries to restore his prestige by dismissing Nahas Pasha.
Muslim Brotherhood fights in Palestine War. Sayyid Qutb radicalized by year in US.
1948- Qutb is sent to university in Colorado, USA by his ministry. He is appalled at what he sees as America's decadence and depravity.
1948- Muslim Brotherhood's al Banna holds Egypt responsible for failing to prevent Israel's victory and independence in the Palestine war.
1948- Egypt declares martial law and bans the Brotherhood.
-Egyptian premier, Fahmi Nokrashi Pasha, is assassinated by the Brotherhood.
1948-49- members of the Muslim Brotherhood fight in the Palestine War, recruiting Egyptian officers and gaining military experience. The Brotherhood turns against Egypt which is blames for the 1948-49 war.
1948-49- the Egyptian military's poor performance in the Palestine war of Israeli independence (due to corruption and incompetecne of the officers and poor supply) further lowers the Faruq's status, causing Egyptian officers to plan a coup. Abdul Nasser serves as a major.
-King Faruq agrees to reconciliation with Wafd by offering to call an election- provided both sides ignore the other's incompetence and corruption.
1949- Hassan a Banna, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood is assassinated.
Suez Crisis; Wafd Makes a Push for Full Independence. Qutb returns to Egypt, joins Muslim Brotherhood.
1950- Jan- King Faruq orders general election which puts the Wafd back in power. To get popular backing and recover prestige lost during the Palestine War, the Wafd demands that the British withdraw their troops. Britain refuses to respond.
-Abdul Nasser promoted to colonel.
1950- with the lifting of martial law, the Brotherhood enters mainstream Egyptian politics.
1951- Qutb returns to Egypt but his anti-American views get him expelled from the education ministry. He joins the Muslim Brootherhood. In his writings he says that America should be placed under a sentence of death.
1951- Oct- the Wafd annuls the the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty, declares Faruq king of Egypt and Sudan and demands immediate withdrawal from the Suez Canal Zone. Guerillas and leftist Wafd members begin attacks on the British.
1952- after riots, King Faruq dismisses the Wafd government.
- the Brotherhood rejects the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty and participates in the Cairo riots.
1952- the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) overthrows the regime in Egypt.
Nasser and Officers Overthrow King Faruq, ban Wafd and Muslim Brotherhood.
1952 July -the charismatic Col. Abdul Nasser and Gen. Muhammed Neguib leading the Free Officers overthrow King Faruq and exile him to Italy. The new Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) is led by Neguib. Neguib, as president and premier, favours parliamentary system but Nasser, at head of the Free Officers, overrules him.
1953 Nasser bans the Wafd party and all other political groups in favour or the single 'Liberation Rally' and inaugurates a program of industrialization, land reform and regional Pan-Arabism. His Arab socialism gets him the backing of the Soviet Union.
1954- Feb- Nasser and RCC ban the Muslim Brotherhood without consulting Neguib.
-Neguib resigns in protest causing mobilization and near civil war between Nasser and Neguib
April- Neguib retains presidency in compromise
Nov- FCC dismisses Naguib as president, makes Nasser its shairman.
- full British withdrawal from Egypt.
-opposition to Nasser's Arab nationalism at home and abroad pushes him to the left.
Qtub in Prison, writes Muslim defining work of Islamists.
1954- Qutb and other members are held in a concentration camp. He writes his defining work, Maalim Fi Al Tariq- "Signposts on the Road"- which divides all social systems into "The Order of Islam" and "The Order of Ignorance." The book remains a text book for radical Islam.
23rd Oct.- after Brotherhood members attempt to assassinate President Nasser, the plotters are hanged, many are imprisoned or driven into exile in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
1955- At Bandung Conference, Nasser is infleunced by nonalignment of Jawharlal Nehru of India and Tito of Yugoslavia. Nasser stops pro-western baghdad Pact from moving further.
-US refuses to sell arms to Egypt so Nasser turns to Czecholslovakia. US refuses aid for the Aswan dam project and get World Bank to do the same.
-Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal and accepts aid from Soviet Union.
Nasser Leads the Arab World.
1956- with new constitution, Nasser becomes president for a 6 year term. Nasser begins with a nonideological but Arab Nationalist approach.
1956- Oct-Nov- Britain, France and Israel try and fail to seize back the canal in the Suez War, attempting to assassinate Nasser.
1957- March- Britain, France and Israel withdraw in defeat. from Suez.
-Nasser becomes a hero to the Arab world alll the while moving farther to the left,
- President Nasser reserves constituencies for Copts.
Nasser Fails to Lead the Arab World.
1958- Egypt and Syria together form the United Arab Republic (UAR) with Nasser as president- hoping to unite the whole Middle East under his leadership.
-Nasser visits USSR as leader of the Non-aligned Movement.
1961- the UAR splits due to in-fighting. Syria secedes.
-As Syria moves to the left, Nasser moves further nationalizing industry and agriculture and extending land reform to retain leadership of the Non-aligned Movement.
1962- Nasser inagurates the Arab Socialist Union.
1962- after a coup against the king in North Yemen, Egypt helps the republican military to set up a regime there.
1964- Nasser hosts a summit of the Organization of North African Unity.
Qtub freed from prison; enters Muslim Brotherhood leadership.
1964- Qutb and cohorts are released from detainment in Egypt. "Signposts on the Road" is smuggled out of Egypt. Though he is non-violent, the Muslim Brotherhood promotes him into the leadership to avenge their persecution in Egypt.
-Nasser tries to include the Muslim Brotherhood in the Arab Socialist Union to combat Communism.
-repeated attempts by the Brotherhood to assassinate Nasser.
Nasser forms pact with Syria. Qtub tried and executed.
1966- Nasser forms a defence pact with Syria so that Syria will not have a monopoly on defence of the Palestinians which it has been arming and supporting.
-Isreal warns Syria to stop supporting Palestinian attack and ridicules Nasser. Nasser closes the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping and signs a defence pact with Jordan.
-1966-Sayyid Muhammed Qutb is put on trial in Egypt. He states that the nations of the Middle East are a western fabrication and that actually Islam has no nations, only a Community of Believers.
-Sayyid Muhammed Qutb and other Brotherhood leaders are executed.
Nasser's Decline.
1967- through premptive attcks by Israel, Syria, Jordan and Egypt decisively defeated by Israel in the Six-Day War. Nasser loses prestige in his own country.
-Nasser resigns, is reinstated by popular demmand.
1967- Egypt decisively defeated in war with Israel.
1968- popular feeling that Egypt had received divine retribution for Arab Socialism causes Nasser to grant a general amnesty to the Muslim Brotherhood.
- Nasser initiates a political 'War of Attrition' against Israel to prevent Israel crom consolidating its gains on Egyptian territory.
1969-1970- Nasser acts as peacemaker between the PLO and Lebanon and the PLO and Jordan.
1970- death of Nasser. Anwar Sadat becomes president.
-new Egyptian president, Anwar Sadat, attempts to integrate the Brotherhood into the mainstream.
Sadat's Failed Attack on Israel Results in Peace Treaty with Israel. Sadat bans Muslim Brotherhood from elections.
1973- Sadat joins with Syria on a surprise attack on Israel, nearly knocking Israel out of the sky. However, he deserts the Soviet Union for the United States and works out a compromiose peace twith Israel.
1976- fearing the expanding power of the Brotherhood, President Sadat bans it from Egyptian elections. 15 Brotherhood members are elected as members of other parties causing a radical wing to split off in protest.
-the Muslim Brotherhood radicalizes and turns against Sadat's modernization and pro-Israel and pro-West policies.
1977- June- the Law of the System of Political Parties, a veteran of the old Wafd, Fuad Serag al Din forms the Neo-Wafd Party.
1978- Ayman Zawahiri graduates as as a surgeon from Cairo's University's medical school.
1979- Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Begin sign the Egyptian-Istaeli peace Treaty. But his new peace costs Egypt membership in the Arab League.
-Zawahiri joins Ismail Tantawi's Islamic Jihad and succeeds him as leader when Tantawi departs for West Germany.
-due to the unpopularity of the treaty at home, Sadat becomes increasingly autocratic.
Sadat Assassinated by Islamist Officers. Succeeded by Mubarak.
1981- Oct. Sadat is assassinated by Islamist officers during a military review.
Ayman al Zawahiri is among those jailed in the plot.
-Sadat is succeeded by Hosni Mubarak, whose conciliatory approach to the Arab world wins him backing at home and Egypt re-admittance to the Arab League.
-while applying the free market to the economy, Mubarak rigged elections as Sadat had done before him.
Mubarak Begins Repression of Islamists.
1984- EgyptianPresident Mubarak maintains elections ban on Muslim Brotherhood. Muslim Brotherhood members get elected as members of the Neo-Wafd party.
-the Muslim Brotherhood, uses highy educated members to dominate syndicates of lawyers, doctors, journalists and engineers.
-Zawahiri is released from prison in Egypt.
1987- The Muslim Brotherhood gains singificant power in the Egyptian parliament by allying itself with socialist parties. Brotherhood deputies demand an end to the Israeli-Egyptian treaty, to all ties with the United States and the application of Sharia law.
1991- Gulf War: Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood supports Saddam Hussein.
1993- Mubarak wins his second election to the presidency. However he faces increasing opposition form the Muslim Brotherhood and Gamat al Islamiya. Over the following years his escalating repression of Islamist organizations, with no regard for human rights, causes the increasing concern of the Clinton administration in Washington.
Muslim Brotherhood manages electoral progress.
1995- finally allowed to campaign openly in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood runs 150 candidates, all of whom lose.
1999- Mubarak is re-nomniated by the legislature for the presidency.
1999- 20 members of the Muslim Brotherhood arrested for plotting to overthrow the government and ifiltrating professional syndicates.
-the Muslim Brotherhood wins 17 seats in the Egyptian parliament.
9/11: Mubarak Tries to Persuade US of Pro-Palestine, anti-Terror Strategy.
2001- Sept. 11- after the 9/11 attacks on the U.S., Mubarak takes a two-pronged approach, cooperating fully in President Bush's War on Terror but recommending an intgernational convention on terrorism as well as impartial attention to the plight of the Palestinians under Israeli occupation. On these last two, Mibarak received no cooperation.
Talks between Presidents Bush and Mubarak; Mubarak supports Palestinians.
2002 February - Hundreds of passengers are killed after their train catches fire south of Cairo.
Sinai bomb
March 2-6 Mubarak begins 4-day cisit to US. Pres. Mubarak asks Pres. Bush for greater US participation in seeking Middle East peace.
April 3- Egypt severs relations with Israel over JDF offsensive into West Bank.
June 8- US Prs. Bush meets Mubarabak who tells him no peace in the Middle East will be possible until Israel withdraws from Palestine.
Sept 9- a military court sentences 51 Islamists.
2003- Feb 17- 13 CIA agents kidnap Egyptian cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr in Milan and take him to Egypt where he is interrogated, tortured and released.
June 3- In Cairo Bush meets Arab leaders who pledge to fight terror but insist that Israel must ease up on Palestine.
Dec. 10- Leaders of Egypt and Iran meet for the first time since 1979, agree on a nuclear deal.
Cabinet Resigns as Mubarak Consolidates Power.
2004- July 9- Jul 9, Cabinet of President Hosni Mubarak's resigns. Ahmed Nazief (Nazif), an outsider, is appointed to replace Atef Obeid as prime minister. This further consolidates Mubarabk's power when there is more pressure than ever for political and economic change. Half of the 26 regional governors were also replaced.
2004 October - Al Qaeda named in 4 car bomb attacks target Israeli tourists Jewish resort at Sukkot on Sinai peninsula; 34 people are killed.
Nov 13- Egypt releases 200 Islamist militants to mark the end of Ramadan
Dec 8- several thousand Christians protest alleged forced conversion of a Christian woman to Islam.
2005- Feb 1-5- Egyptian security forces clash with Islamists in Sinai while making arrests in Sokkot bombings.
Feb 19- Mubarak and Linya's Ghaddafi agree to an all-African plan for the Darfur crisis.
Feb 21- 500 protest against a further term for Mubarak and also his plans to be succeeded by his son Gamal.
Mubaraks ìnitiative for multi-candidate Elections rejected as Insincere.
Feb 26- Mubarak reforms elections laws and allows for multiple candidates.
March 9- Parliament agrees to electoral changes.
2005 February-April - Pro-reform and opposition activists including Muslim Brotherhood mount anti-government demonstrations.
May 4- thousands in Muslim Brotherhood protest in Cairo and across the Egypt demaind political reform.
2005 May - Referendum vote backs a constitutional amendment that will allow multiple candidates to stand in presidential elections.
May 25- thousands demonsrtrate amid arrests and beatings as protestors reject constitutional changes to allow multi party candidates as merely cosmetic.
Muslim Brotherhood launches political offensive against Mubarak.
June 30- Mulsim Brotherhood launches political alliance for peaceful democratic reform and the legal and constitutional removal of Mubarak.
July- opposition parties call in unision for boycott of presidential election in September.
Terror Atrtack at Sharm al Sheikh.
2005 23 July - Scores of people are killed in bomb attacks in the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh.
July 28- Mubarak announces multi-candidate elections for Sept. 7.
July 30- protestors beaten for demonstrating against Marbarak's announcment that he would run in presidential elections for a fifth time.
Mubarak`s election to fifth term marked by low turnout, fraud and boycott.
2005 September - President Mubarak is re-elected for a fifth consecutive term. Mubarak's image as a democratic reformer is marred by electoral fraud and a widespread boycott of the vote. Turnout is 23%
Sept 16- thousands of Gazans break through Palestinian Authority guards at the entry point into Egypt. Ordinary Palestinains take over the crossing point during a temporary opening.
Nov. 7- the EU agrees to monitor border crossing.
Muslim Brotherhood makes electoral gains.
2005 December - Parliamentary polls end with clashes between police and supporters of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood. The National Democratic Party and its allies retain their large parliamentary majority. Muslim Brotherhood supporters, elected as independents, win a record 20% of seats.
More than 20 Sudanese migrants die after police break up a protest camp outside the UN offices in Cairo.
Dec 31, In Egypt President Hosni Mubarak swears in new Cabinet retaining major figures from previous government, adding two pro-American business figures and Egypt's first minister to wear a headscarf.
Jan 4- two Egyptian border guards shot by Palestinians attempting a forces crossing.
2006 February - Up to 1,000 people die when a ferry carrying about 1,400 passengers from Saudi Arabia to Egypt sinks in the Red Sea.
Feb 14- parliament approves Mubarak's proposed 2-year postponement of municipal elections over objections of the U.S. and the Islamist opposition.
March- crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood begins.
Repression of Judges.
Mar. 17- 1,000 judges mount silent protest against government's refusal of judicial independence.
April 13-16- 3 days of rioting between Muslims and Christians in Alexandria.
May 11- demonstrators in Cairo supporting judges who raised the alarm on election fraud are brutally repressed by police.
May 12- Gamal Mubarak, generally assumed to be Mubarak's successor, meets White House Officials, including VP Dick Cheney.
May 20- Mubarak opens the World Economic Forum meeting in Egypt with strong words, apparently meant for the U.S.- that Egypt has no intention of any quick political reform.
June 19- March to June crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood reaches 700 detained.
2006 August - Egypt praises the way the guerrilla group Hezbollah held out in the war with Israel in Lebanon after earlier questioning its judgement.
2006 November - Egypt is one of at least six Arab countries developing domestic nuclear programmes to diversify energy sources, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reports.
-President Mubarak promises democratic and constitutional reform in an address to parliament. Opponents are skeptical.
Crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood.
2006 November - Upsurge in arrests of Muslim Brotherhood members.
March 18- 100 mainly Islamist MPs walk out of parliament in protest against constitutional amendments which strengthen the regime's grip on power.
2007 March - Referendum on constitutional amendments. The authorities say 76% of voters approve changes, opposition groups say the poll was rigged.Turnout was toughtly 10%.
2007 April - Amnesty International criticises Egypt's record on torture and illegal detention.
More than 30 members of the Muslim Brotherhood go on trial, the first time in seven years that members of the group have been tried under military jurisdiction.
May 12- Security forces arrest 59 Muslims for setting fire to Christian shops and homes in a dispute of the building of a Christian church in Bamha.
2007 June - Parliamentary elections. Governing National Democratic Party wins most votes as police bar voters from polling stations amid allegations of fraud.
2007 October - Independent, opposition newspapers protest against "government harassment" after seven journalists are imprisoned and an editor is put on trial.
-Dustur newspaper editor Ibrahim Eissa sentenced to six months in jail for reporting rumours about President Mubarak's health. Rights groups demand change to law on reporting "false information".
Mubarak Annoints his Son.
Nov 3- Mubarak's son Gamal promoted to a key committee in a move seen to set him on the path to succession.
Dec.- Israeli defence Minister Ehud Barak visits Egypt to protest lax security on arms smuggling to Hamas in gaza.
2008- Jan- tension between EU and Egypt over EU's criticism of Egypt's record on human rights.
2008- March- as protests mount against high food prices, Mubarak complains publicly that Egypts high birth rate is draining the sgtate's budget.
April 6- shops looted andf fires set as rioters protest high food prices and stangnant salaries.
Mubarak Attempts Strategic Economic Reforms.
Nov 1- Mubarak promises to press ahead with financial reforms and action against poverty.
2008 November - The governing NDP says it will privatise some state firms and distribute free shares to citizens. State will retain majority stakes in strategically important assets such as iron, steel, transport and tourism.
-Security forces redeploy in Sinai after clashes over smuggling into Gaza Strip with local Bedouin left several tribesmen dead.
2009 February - Leading opposition figure Ayman Nour freed after serving three years of five-year sentence on forgery charges that he said were politically motivated.
-Bomb attack in popular tourist area of Cairo kills a French student and injures 24 other people. Authorities arrest three suspects, say small Islamist cell thought to be responsible.
Egypt Remains close to Sudan`s Bashir despite Darfur.
March 25- Egypt welcomes Sudan's Al Bashir despite international censure of Bashir for his brutal policies in darfur.
April 4-6th- demonstrators from Islamist and pro-democracy groups in nation-wide protests arrested by police.
2009 April - Egyptian authorities say they arrested 49 people the previous year on suspicion of helping Hezbollah send money and aid to Hamas in Gaza.
2009 May - Egyptian police clash with Coptic Christian pig farmers trying to stop their animals being taken away for slaughter as a precaution against swine flu.
Interior Ministry says seven people with suspected links to al-Qaeda arrested in connection with Cairo bomb attack which killed a French student in February.
Obama`s Cairo Speech.
2009 June - US President Barack Obama makes key speech in Cairo calling for a new beginning between the United States and the Muslim world.
-75 people sentenced to death in June- a record for one month- compared to 86 for all of 2008.
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2009 August - Twenty-six members of an alleged cell of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah go on trial in Cairo on charges of plotting attacks in Egypt and helping to send weapons to Hamas in Gaza.
Oct 9- Egypt`s Grand Mufti of Sunni Islam bans veils from Egypt`s main Sunni relgious university- Al Azar.
2009 November - Row between Egypt and Algeria following violence at football matches.
2009 December - Foreign activists protest in Cairo against Egypt's refusal to let aid convoys into Gaza.
2010 January - Coptic Christians clash with police at a massive funeral after an apparently sectarian shooting outside a church in which 3 gunmen killed 6 Christian worshipers on Jan 6, the Coptic New Years Eve.
Jan. 16- Muslim Brotherhood`s new leader is appointed- Mohammed Badie, from a the Brotherhood`s conservative wing.
ElBaradei Returns to Egypt; forms Opposition Coalition. Muslim Brotherhood loses upper house elections.
2010 February - Former UN nuclear chief Mohammed ElBaradei returns to Egypt and, together with opposition figures and activists, forms a coalition for political change. ElBaradei says he might run in presidential election scheduled for 2011.
March 2- ElBaradei calls for constitutional changes.
2010 March - President Mubarak undergoes gall-bladder surgery in Germany, returning to Egypt three weeks later.
April 2-6- at a public gathering Elbaradei calls for change in defiance of an emergency decree banning gatherings opposed to the government; police then crack drown on Baradei supporters.
April 12- Elbaradei calls for boycott of upcoming elections.
May 11- Egypt calls for a 2-year extension of its emergency law.
June 13, 20, 25- Police brutally repress opposition demonstrations which killed a man, culminating a massive June 25th protest led by ElBaradei.
2010 June - Muslim Brotherhood fails to win any seats in elections to the Shura consultative upper house of parliament; alleges vote was rigged. Vote suffers from boycott and apathy as ruling party wins massive `majority`.
Crackdown ahead of November Elections
Oct 5, 12- journalists and the Muslim Brotherhood accuse the government lof cracking down ahead of parliamentary elections.
Oct 13- government tightens controls over television broadcasting.
2010 November - Coptic Christians clash with police in Giza over construction of church.
Parliamentary polls, followed by protests against alleged vote rigging. Muslim Brotherhood fails to win a single seat, though it held a fifth of the places in the last parliament.
2011 January - 21 killed in bomb at church in Alexandria where Christians had gathered to mark the New Year.
Huge Anti-Mubarak Demonstrations inspired by Tunisian Revolt.
Jan 24-30- massive demomstrations in Cairo and all over Egypt set off by the revolution in Tunisia. The police pull back and army intervention is minimal as millions call for Mubarak`s resignation. ElBaradei is put forward as interim leader of an entirely new and democratic government.
Feb. 2 Wafd and other opposition parties agree to deal with government to manage peaceful transtion to a new regime.
Mubarak Steps Down, Cedes Power to the Military.
Feb 11- Mubarak Steps down. Vice President Suleiman announces a transition of power to the military, headed by General Tantawi. The military promises that it will hold power termporarily until free and fair elections can be held.
2011 March - Egyptians approve package of constitutional reforms aimed at paving the way for new elections.
2011 April - Former President Mubarak and his sons, Ala and Gamal, are arrested on suspicion of corruption.
2011 April-August - Protests continue in Cairo's Tahrir Square over slow pace of political change. Islamist groups come to the fore. Army finally disperses protestors in August.
July 9- Tens of thousands of Egyptians protest for political reforms and swifter trials for police and former government officials charged with killing hundreds of demonstrators during the revolution that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.
Mubarak goes on trial. Army Extends Emergency Law. Protests Grow.
2011 August - Former President Mubarak goes on trial in Cairo, charged with ordering the killing of demonstrators earlier in the year.
Aug. 15- Judge Ahmed Refaat, who had grown exasperated with grandstanding by lawyers representing the families of victims allegedly gunned down by Hosni Mubarak’s security forces, rules that television cameras will not be allowed in the courtroom when proceedings resume Sept. 5
Sept. 9-12: SCAF expands the hated emergency law after protesters breach the Israeli embassy. Protesters say SCAF has become more repressive than Mubarak.
Sept. 30- Thousands of protesters once again gather in the heart of Cairo to voice their exasperation with the ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces. Protesters and political groups call for an end to emergency laws, amendments to the new elections law, a date for a presidential election, and a clear timeline for drafting a new constitution.
Oct 12- In an attempt to stem widening criticism of their grip on power, generals in Egypt’s ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces said that soldiers were attacked by mobs and did not intentionally kill Coptic Christian protesters.
2011 October - Clashes between Coptic Christians and security forces kill 24 people.
Egypt and Israel swap 25 Egyptians in Israeli custody for a US-Israeli citizen accused of spying.Nov. 3- Activists and politicians worry that the military, Egypt’s most revered institution before the revolution, refuses to have its authority and financial interests answerable to an emerging democracy.
2011 November - Violence in Cairo's Tahrir square as security forces clash with protesters accusing the military of trying to keep their grip on power. Prime Minister Essam Sharaf resigns in response to the unrest. Start of parliamentary elections.
Democracy protests precede election of Islamist-dominated parliament.
Nov. 20-Clashes erupt for the second day between police and protesters. Anger has been building over the unrealized promise of a revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak but has yet to steer the country toward democracy.
Nov. 19-21: Largest protests since uprising occur; military promises transition to civilian rule by July 2012
Nov. 28-29: First round of parliamentary elections begins, eventually yielding an Islamist-dominated parliament.
Dec, 4- In the first round of parliamentary elections, Islamist parties win more than 60% of the vote.
2011 December - National unity government headed by new Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri takes office.
Dec. 16- In the worst violence since the start of parliamentary voting last month, one person is killed and more than 130 people are hurt in a clash with pro-democracy protesters in downtown Cairo.
Islamists take 70% of parliament.
Dec, 24-Islamist parties have solidified their lead in Egypt’s historic parliamentary elections, capturing about 70% of the seats up for grabs in the second phase of a three-part poll.
2012 January - Islamist parties emerge as victors of drawn-out parliamentary elections.
Jan 21- A new political era in Egypt begins as Islamist parties win nearly three-quarters of the seats in parliamentary elections to inherit a nation mired in economic crisis and desperate to move beyond military rule and the corrupt legacy of deposed President Hosni Mubarak.
2012 March - Pope Shenouda III, the veteran head of the Coptic Church, dies.
Liberals protest Islamist domination, walk out of parliament
March 28: Liberals walk out in protest of the selection process for a 100-seat assembly that will write a new constitution; Islamists get a majority of the seats.
April 10: Court suspends the assembly.
April 14- Egypt’s volatile presidential race is jolted when the election commission disqualifies three controversial front-runners — the nation’s former spy chief and two impassioned Islamists — just five weeks before voters go to the polls.
2012 April - Crisis in relations with Saudi Arabia over the Saudi detention of an Egyptian lawyer briefly threatens the substantial aid that the Saudis provide Egypt.
Muslim Brotherhood's Morsi wins first round of presidential elections.
First free presidential poll 2012 May - Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi tops the first round of voting in first free presidential elections, narrowly ahead of Mubarak-era prime minister Ahmed Shafiq. Official media put turnout at a low 43%.
Military ends state of emergency; Mubarak sentenced to life in prison. Morsi elected president.
Military leaders announce the end of the state of emergency in place since Anwar al-Sadat's assassination in 1981, as its last renewal expires.
June 2: Mubarak sentenced to life in prison.
2012 June - Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi narrowly wins presidential election.
Court sentences ex-President Mubarak to life in prison for complicity in the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising.
Courts dissolve parliament. Military strengthens position.
Courts dissolve parliament. Military strengthens position.
June 14-17: Court ruling leads to dissolution of parliament. Just
as polls close in presidential runoff, SCAF makes an 11th-hour power
grab that seems to end all pretense of a civilian transfer by July as
promised.
The battle between Egypt’s military leaders and the ascendant
Muslim Brotherhood over the country’s political fate
dramatically sharpens when the nation’s constitutional court
dissolves the Islamist-dominated parliament while upholding the
right of an ally of deposed leader Hosni Mubarak to remain on the
presidential election ballot.
June 18- The Muslim Brotherhood claims victory in Egypt’s landmark
presidential runoff election, but its historic rise to power is
blunted by a decree from the ruling military council to greatly
limit the authority of the nation’s next leader.
June 22- Protesters return en masse to Egypt’s Tahrir Square as the Muslim
Brotherhood and other groups stage a sit-in to protest actions by
Egypt’s military council ahead of presidential runoff results.
June 24- Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi is declared Egypt’s
first freely elected president, defeating Ahmed Shafik, the last
prime minister to serve deposed leader Hosni Mubarak
Court strikes down martial law. Parliament reconvenes despite court order. Morsi accepts army ruling invalidating parliamentary elections.
June 26- A move by Egypt’s ruling generals to revive martial law is blunted as a court strikes down a government decree that had allowed soldiers and military intelligence services to arrest civilians during the nation’s political turmoil
July 10- Lawmakers defy a court order and reconvene the dissolved
parliament, a symbolic victory for President Mohamed Morsi, who
had ordered it to meet despite a recent court ruling that
disbanded the chamber because of electoral violations
2012 July - President Mursi submits to a
Supreme Court ruling that the parliamentary elections were invalid,
after initially ordering parliament to meet in defiance of a military
decree dissolving it in June. 2012 August - New prime minister Hisham Qandil appoints a cabinet dominated by figures from the outgoing government, technocrats and Islamists, to the exclusion of secular parties.
Morsi forces Army out of politics.
President Mursi dismisses Defence Minister Tantawi and Chief of Staff Sami Annan and strips military of say in legislation and drafting the new constitution.
Islamist Upsurge in Sinai.
Islamist fighters attack an army outpost in Sinai, killing 16 soldiers, and mount a brief incursion into Israel, highlighting the tenuousness of government control over the largely-lawless area.
2012 September - Egypt kills 32 militants and destroys 31 smuggling tunnels to Gaza in an offensive against militants who attacked troops in Sinai in August.
Oct 10- Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi issues a blanket pardon for hundreds of activists arrested during the revolution and its turbulent aftermath, in what was widely viewed as a morally wise but politically timed move from a leader attempting to calm his critics amid social and economic turmoil.
2012 November - Bishop Tawadros is chosen as the new pope of Egypt's Coptic Christians.
Morsi decrees himself sweepig powers. Islamist parliament approves Islamist constitution.
-The Islamist-dominated constituent assembly approves the final text of draft constitution that boosts the role of Islam, in a session boycotted by liberal, left-wing and Christian members. The vote is held earlier than scheduled, after the constitutional court threatened to dissolve the assembly.
-President Morsi issues a decree giving himself extensive new powers. The decree sparks angry demonstrations and is condemned by Egypt's top judges, who accuse him of undermining the independence of the judiciary.
Massive democracy demonstrations threaten presidential palace.
Nov. 23- Clashes erupt across Egypt over President Mohamed Morsi’s decree expanding his authority, a move that sharpens lines between Islamists and those who fear the president is stealing power in order to edge the country closer to Islamic law.
Dec. 4- Protesters reach the presidential palace. Located several miles from activist-central in Tahrir Square and protected as a “red line” during the Mubarak era, this is a major symbolic moment. The palace is located in the upscale suburb of Heliopolis, not a traditionally Islamist place. Pro-Morsi protesters gather as well, and fighting begins.
Dec. 15- Scheduled date of a national referendum on the constitution. The government set the up-or-down vote for just a week and a half from now. The timing heightens the urgency of protesters who fear Morsi will attempt to force through an Islamist-friendly constitution and reduces the odds that now-weakened courts will be able to intervene in time. Morsi is under intense pressure to reconsider the timing and the constitution but has not budged.
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