LARGEST PROTESTS EVER IN EGYPT'S TAHIR SQUARE AS DEMONSTRATORS ATTACK MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD HQ.

HISTORY IN THE NEWS:



History never dies. It is reborn every minute of every day.





DEDICATED TO THE ORIGINS OF CONTEMPORARY EVENTS AROUND THE WORLD.

EGYPT:



IN BRIEF: A vast and efficient Social and Religious Organization which once served, fed, and educated millions of poor since the 1930s, has become an instrument of intolerant one party rule.


IN THE NEWS:  IN WHAT MAY BE THE LARGEST DEMONSTRATION EVER, PROTESTERS FILL TAHRIR SQUARE WHILE OTHERS STORM THE HEADQUARTERS OF THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD, DEMANDING THE RESIGNATION OF PRESIDENT MOHAMMED MORSI. MR. MORSI IS ATTEMPTING TO IMPOSE PERSONAL AND ISLAMIC RULE, DEPRIVING THE ARMY AND JUDICIARY OF DECISION MAKING. EGYPTIANS ARE FED UP WITH ECONOMIC MISMANAGEMENT, A FAILING ECONOMY, SECTARIAN VIOLENCE AND WHAT LOOKS INCREASINGLY LIKE ONE-PARTY RULE BY THE BROTHERHOOD. EIGHT PROTESTERS DIED IN A GUN BATTLE OUTSIDE THE HEADQUARTERS. MILITARY SPOKESMEN HAVE SAID THE ARMY WOULD INTERVENE ONLY WHEN TOTAL CHAOS THREATENED. THE NATIONAL SALVATION FRONT, ANOTHER ATTEMPT TO UNIFY THE DISPARATE AND DISORGANIZED OPPOSITION, IS STILL MORE OF A NAME THAN A UNIFIED POLITICAL FORCE.

UPDATE: The armed forces have given Morsi and the protestors 48 hours to form a government; if they faul to do so, the army will intervene. Morsi has refused the ultimatum. The protesters celebrate it. When former president Mubarak himself resigned, the military took control. 


 


THE FACTS:

-the Islamic social and political organization, the Muslim Brotherhood (MBH) was founded in 1928, just as Egyptian nationalist movements like the Wafd began to rise against British rule n Egypt. The Brotherhood's purpose was to feed, educate and protect millions of Egypt's poor and disenfanchized who lived under a string of secular tyrannies.

-the MBH gained strength as a political movement by supporting the 1939 Arab uprising against the British in Palestine and in the 1948 Palestine War against the newly created state of Israel.

-after independence in 1952, President Abdul Nasser's secular Arab Nationalism ran contrary to the Islamic ideals of MBH and it was outlawed by Nasser in 1954.

-aware of the scale of its growth, Nasser tried without success to draw the MBH over to Arab Socialism. In the end, he had its leadership along with its president and ideologist Sayyyid Qutb executed.

-Nasser and secular Egypt's defeat in the 1967 War with Israel only increased the MBH's popularity.

-Nasser's successor, Anwar Sadat had no more success with the MBH and banned them from elections.

-Sadat's 1979 peace treaty with Israel only served to increase the Brotherhood's power and popularity.

-Sadat's assassination by radical Islamist army officers, however, brought about the iron fist authoritarianism of Sadat;s successor, Hosni Mubarak.

-now, political secularism in Egypt would take two forms, pro-government authoritarian or democratic.

-meanwhile, Mubarak's police state banned, tortured and imprisoned thousands of members of the MBH.

-the MBH evaded Mubarak, occasionally winning seats in parliament by joining other parties.

-severe repression of the MBH began in 1993 and gained momentum in 2005.

-in 2006, secular democracy protests began to take centre stage. In one month that summer, a record of 75 people were executed.

-the MBH, performing poorly in elections joined democracy activists and protestors in charging the Mubarak was blatantly rigging votes.

-after the Arab Spring of 2011 sweeps Egypt, Mubarak is forced from power.

-the loose, disorganized alliance of secular parties ad democracy activists proves ineffectual and in 2012 the
MBH and other Islamist parties sweep the parliamentary elections.

-with the election of MBH candidate Mohammed Morsi as President of Egypt, the courts declare the parliamentary elections invalid.

-with opposition divided and chaotic in the streets, Morsi seized more power by banning the army from politics and ignoring all court decision not in favour of his personal rule or the Islamist policies of the MBH.

-at the end of 2012, Morsi, attempts to bar the judiciary from any influence on the writing of a new constitution by an Islamist and MBH controlled Constituent Assembly.

-nothing less than a final provocation, Morsi's seizure of power from the courts gives rise to an organized secular democratic opposition, The National Salvation Front.

-in 2013 as protesters return to Tahrir Square, where Egypt's reovlution had begun in 2011, the Morsi government uses police repression and the protests turn violent.

-the court upholds an order for the suspension of parliamentary elections- against Morsi's wishes.
-Morsi's appointment this month of Islamist governors in the provinces may have proven to be the last straw. 




IN HISTORY:
  
1879- Egyptians revolt against the Grand Khedive, Viceroy for the Ottomans,
1882- Britain intervenes in the Egyptian revolt, occupies Egypt.

World War One: Britain Strengthens it Grip
1879- Egyptians revolt against their ruler the Grand Khedive
1882- Britain intervenes in the Egyptian revolt, occupies Egypt.
1914- Britain declares Egypt to be under occupation.
- While the Wafd Pary, led by Prime Minister Nahas Pasha in 1927, becomes the prime mover for independence, a conservative, nationalist wing develops with King Fuad's dismissal of Pasha and suspension of the constitution.
-The Muslim Brotherhood is founded the following year, in 1928, by Hassan al Banna- for moral and social reform.
- The Anglo-Egyptian treaty OF 1936  further defines Egyptian independence by dropping the provisions for protecting minorities and foreign interests while insisting on British occupation of the Canal Zone and her right to assume full military defecne of Egypt in time of war.
1939- The Muslim brother hood 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.

RELEVANT DATES for  July1, 2013 Protests and Attacks on the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood.

                      EGYPT UNDER BRITISH RULE
Wafd Party and Royalists Opposed.

1927- nationalists split between the Wafd led by Premier Mustafa Nahas Pasha and King Fuad.

The Muslim Brotherhood.

1928- Muslim Brotherhood founded by Hassan al Banna in Egypt for moral and social reform.
1939- Muslim brother hood 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.

1940- the Muslim brotherhood has 500 branches each with a mosque and social services.
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.

The Palestine War.


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- Egypt declares martial law and bans the Brotherhood.

-Egyptian premier, Fahmi Nokrashi Pasha, is assassinated by the Brotherhood.

1949- Hassan a Banna, leader of the Egyptian Brotherhood is assassinated.

1950- with the lifting of martial law, the Brotherhood enters mainstream Egyptian politics.

Sayyid Qutb



1951- Sayyid 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.

                                NASSER AND INDEPENDENCE.
Nasser and Officers Overthrow King Faruq, ban Wafd.
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.


1952- the Brotherhood supports Egypt in rejecting the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty and participates in the Cairo riots.

1952- the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) overthrows the regime in Egypt.


Egypt bans the Muslim Brotherhood.

1954- Egypt's RCC bans the Muslim Brotherhood. 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.

                                 QUTB LEADS MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD
Qutb Becomes Leader of the Muslim Brotherhood.

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.

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.

                                     THE BROTHERHOOD AND ISRAEL.

Muslim brotherhood gains from 1967 War with Israel.

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.

-new Egyptian president, Anwar Sadat, attempts to integrate the Brotherhood into the mainstrem.

1975 (circa) Saalafis active in Kuwait where they want a republican, democratic regime.


Egypt's Sadat Bans the Muslim Brotherhood causing it to Radicalize.

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.
1979- Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Begin sign the Egyptian-Istaeli peace Treaty. But his new peace costs Egypt membership in the Arab League.

-due to the unpopularity of the treaty at home, Sadat becomes increasingly autocratic.

Sadat Assassinated by Islamist Officers. Succeeded by Mubarak.

1981- Sadat is assassinated by Islamist officers during a military review.

-Sadat is succeeded by Hosni Mubarak, whose conciliatory approach to the Arab world wins him backing at home and Egypt readmittance to the Arab League.

                                       PRESIDENT HOSNI MUBARAK
1984- Egyptian President 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.
 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.
Mubarak Begins Repression of Islamists.
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
Broadening Opposition to Mubarak.
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 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.

                                        MUBARAK'S FULL-SCALE REPRESSION
Mubarak's Crackdown
2006- March- crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood begins.
June 19- March to June crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood reaches 700 detained.
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 April - Amnesty International criticizes 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.
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.

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.
Jan. 16- Muslim Brotherhood`s new leader is appointed- Mohammed Badie, from a the Brotherhood`s conservative wing.\
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 2010 Elections
Oct 5, 12- journalists and the Muslim Brotherhood accuse the government lof cracking down ahead of parliamentary election.

                                   THE ARAB SPRING
Huge Anti-Mubarak Demonstrations inspired by Tunisian Revolt.
2011- 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 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.

National Unity Government Takes Office. Islamists Take Parliament.
2011 December - National unity government headed by new Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri takes office.
2012 January - Islamist parties emerge as victors of drawn-out parliamentary elections
Muslim Brotherhood's Morsi ahead in Presidential Polls over Mohammed Shafiq.
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%.

                          BROTHERHOOD'S MORSI WINS PRESIDENCY
Morsi Wins Presidential Elections; Mubarak Sentenced to Life In Prision.
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. 

Supreme Court Declares Previous Parliamentary Elections Invalid.

2012 July - President Morsi 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.

                               MORSI SIDELINES THE MIITARY
Morsi Strips Military of Top Generals and any say in Politics
President Morsi dismisses Defence Minister Tantawi and Chief of Staff Sami Annan and strips military of say in legislation and drafting the new constitution.

                                THE NATIONAL SALVATION FRONT.
2012- November 22- Morsi issued a declaration purporting to protect the work of the Constituent Assmebly drafting the new constitution from judicial interference. In effect, this declaration immunises his actions from any legal challenge. The decree states that it only applies until a new constitution is ratified.
 2012-November- 24- The National Front for Salvation of the Revolution is formed in response to Morsi's placing himsefl above the law. A number of political parties and leading figures formed a coalition to force the president to rescind his decree; form a new, more representative constituent assembly; and issue a transitional justice law that guaranteed fair retrials for those responsible for the deaths of protesters during the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak.  The NSF includes a wide range of liberal, secular and leftist groups, such as the Egyptian Popular Current, al-Dustour, al-Tajammu, Free Egyptians, New Wafd, Democratic Front, the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, Nasserist Democratic Party and the Conference Party.
Its three most prominent leaders are Mohammed ElBaradei, the former head of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Amr Moussa, the former secretary general of the Arab League; and Hamdeen Sabahi, a Nasserist politician who came third in the presidential election.
The NSF  has more than 35 groups involved overall. Observers are concerned that the NSF will not be able to become a coherent political force though. The different groups mainly agree on opposing Morsi but only on few topics going beyond that.

2012- Nov. 30- There was further outrage on 30 November, when the constituent assembly approved a rushed version of the draft constitution to avoid dissolution by the SCC, despite a boycott by Christian, liberal and secularist representatives. Mr Morsi subsequently called a referendum for 15 December.

The NSF said the president was "trying to impose a constitution monopolised by one trend and is the furthest from national consensus, produced in a farcical way". Its leaders called for the referendum to be postponed and said they would consider a boycott if it was not.
2012- Dec. 5- There were deadly clashes on 5 December when opposition demonstrators were confronted by Muslim Brotherhood supporters outside the presidential palace.
In a televised speech the next day, Mr Morsi called for a "national dialogue" to resolve the crisis, but insisted that he would not rescind his decree and that the referendum could not be delayed.
The NSF rejected the invitation to talks with the president and reiterated its demands to begin an overhaul of the constituent assembly. "He has to take these steps, and I hope that he listens to us," Mr ElBaradei said.
On 8 December, the president bowed to the pressure and rescinded most of his 22 November decree. He did not, however, agree to the opposition's demand that he postpone the referendum.
The NSF swiftly rejected the concession and suggested it was planning to boycott the referendum. Spokesman Sameh Ashour warned that organising such a vote "in a state of seething and chaos" amounted to a "reckless and flagrant absence of responsibility, risking driving the country into violent confrontations that endanger its national security".
The coalition has vowed to stage more mass protests in the coming days


                                  ISLAMIST CONSTITUTION
Islamists Approve Draft Constitution Increasing Power of Islam and Restricting Freedoms.
2012 December - Islamist-dominated constituent assembly approves draft constitution that boosts the role of Islam and restricts freedom of speech and assembly. Public approve it in a referendum, prompting extensive protest by secular opposition leaders, Christians and women's groups.

A new Cabinet and new clashes 
2013-  January 6- Morsi carries out his promised government shake up, and 10 new ministers are sworn in, including key posts at the interior ministry and in a number of financial ministries. Despite calls for a less partisan government, the new Cabinet includes eight members of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, compared to five before the reshuffle.
The ministerial reshuffle comes before talks with the IMF regarding the $4.8 billion loan. The new finance minister El-Morsi El-Sayed Hegazy is an Islamic finance expert.

                                          The National Salvation Front
2013- Jan 26 -The National Salvation Front puts forth several demands as conditions for national consensus, among them amending controversial articles in the constitution, forming a national unity government and sacking the prosecutor-general appointed via the November decree.

2013- January 28- Morsi holds a dialogue with mostly Islamist parties, including the Salafist Nour Party and its ally Al-Wasat Party, as well as the Strong Egypt Party headed by ex-Muslim Brotherhood leader and former presidential contender Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh.The main opposition alliance, the NSF, rejects dialogue with Morsi. While asserting that the group isn’t against talks per se, opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei says the NSF refuses to engage in a “fake” dialogue, citing Morsi’s dialogue with opposition leaders over the constitution which was followed by his November decree that protected the contentious Constituent Assembly.

2013 February 26- Morsi holds another national dialogue session to discuss upcoming parliamentary elections. The session is attended mainly by Islamist groups while the opposition National Salvation Front boycotts the meeting, holding to its demands of dismissing PM Hisham Qandil’s government and calling for the postponing of the elections.
 
                           MORSI TURNS AGAINST COURTS.
Court Stalls Morsi's Parliamentry Elections; Protests Spread Against Morsi Government
2013 March - A court halts President Morsi's plans to bring parliamentary elections forward to April, citing failure to refer the electoral law to the Constitutional Court. The main opposition National Salvation Front had announced a poll boycott earlier.

2013  Mar 22, Thousands of Egyptian protesters clashed with riot police and backers of the president's Muslim Brotherhood, ransacking several offices nationwide as anger over allegations of beatings and power-grabbing boiled over into the largest and most violent demonstrations yet on the doorstep of the powerful group.

Despite Morsi, Courts Succeed in Suspending Elections; Justice Minister Resigns.

2013  Apr 21, Egypt's state news agency says that a government legal agency representing President Mohammed Morsi has lost an appeal to reverse a court-ordered suspension of parliamentary elections. Justice Minister Ahmed Mekki submitted his resignation, in a move that signaled strong disapproval of the president's handling of a prolonged showdown with the country's judiciary.

Peaceful Protests Turn Violent.

2013  May 17, Egyptian security forces fired tear gas at protesters hurling firebombs at them in central Cairo, hours after hundreds of opponents of Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi rallied peacefully in the streets denouncing his rule and demanding early presidential elections.

2013 Jun 5, Egypt's state-run news agency said the state prosecutor has referred 12 activists including several prominent bloggers to trial on charges of instigating violence during a March demonstration at the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group from which the president hails. A signature drive, known as "Tamarod" or "Rebel" in Arabic, has reportedly collected some 7 million signatures calling for the removal of Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

Morsi Consolidates Power in the Provinces. 
2013  June - President Morsi appoints Islamist allies as regional governors, putting them in charge of 13 of Egypt's 27 governorships. Most controversially he appoints a member of the former armed group Gamaa Islamiya governor of Luxor, where Gamaa fighters killed about 60 tourists in a 1997 attack. This prompts protests in Luxor and the tourism minister threatens to resign.


CONTENTS: SCROLL DOWN FOR:
EGYPT: 1882-1973
EGYPT: 1974-2011.
EGYPT: 2012--2012
RECENT BACKGROUND TO THE EVENTS.
 TIMELINE FOR THE HISTORY OF EGYPT

EGYPT: 1882-1973

WAFD PARTY FIGHTS FOR INDEPENDENCE FROM BRITAIN.

Britain, having taken control of Egypt in 1882, declares the country to be under military occupation in 1914, at the outbreak of World War I. At the close of the war in 1918, a lawyer, Saad Zaghloul leads a 'delegation' ('Wafd' in Arabic) to London to present the case for Egyptian independence. The denial of the Wafd's request results in periodic riots for Egyptian independence over the following  years. Zaghloul reorganizes the Wafd into a political movement in 1919 to work for  Egyptian independence. Britain edges toward granting nominal independence in 1922, reserving the right to safguard foreign interests and protect minorities. Britain formalizes the terms for independence in the constitution of 1923, the year in which the Wafd wins the legislative elections and Zaghloul becomes prime minister.

ANGLO EGYPTIAN TREATY MAINTAIN MILITARY SUPREMACY OVER EGYPT.

While the Wafd, led by Prime Minister Nahas Pasha in 1927, becomes the prime mover for independence, a conservative, nationalist wing develops with King Fuad's dismissal of Pasha and suspension of the constitution. Italy's invasion of Eritrea in 1935 further strengthens Britain's hold over Egypt as the English determine the country's requirements in military equipment, training and communications and the right to build British air bases. The Anglo-Egyptian treaty OF 1936  further defines Egyptian independence by dropping the provisions for protecting minorities and foreign interests while insisting on British occupation of the Canal Zone and her right to assume full military defecne of Egypt in time of war.






In 1938, King Faruq, the young successor to King Fuad, follows his father's policies in attacking the Wafd head-on, dismissing Pasha once again and appointing his own man, Ali Mahir. Tensions reach a height when Italy enters the war in 1940, and King Faruq, bending to pro-Italian friends and advisers, holds on to his anti-British prime minister, Ali Mahir. The British surround the palace with tanks and demand that Faruq appoint Nahas Pasha on pain of dethronement. The king complies but his prestige among the Egyptian people plummets and he tried to restore his standing by dismissing Pasha and reappointing Mahir in 1944.


1948 WAR WITH ISRAEL DISCREDITS MONARCHY. NASSER OVERTHROWS GOV'T.

The breaking point for the Egyptian monarchy is the 1948 Palestine war for the state of Israel in which Egyptian troops perform so badly against the fledgling Jewish state that Egyptianh troops begin planning a coup. Faruq tries to placate the Wafd in 1950 by calling an election while the Wafd demands the evacuation of British troops. The British, however, refuse. In 1951, the Wafd abrogates the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty, declares the king sovereign of Egypt and Sudan and mounts guerilla attacks on the British. Rioting follows, the king dismisses the Wafd government in 1951 and  the Free Officers group, led by Col Abdul Nasser and Muhammed Neguib mount a coup, overthrowing the monarchy and exiling the king to Italy.  Neguib, at the head of the Revolutionary Ruling Council, is appointed President and Prime Minister and chooses a parliamentary system of government. Nasser, now head of the still-powerful RCC, opposes and overrules him.



Quickly going his own way, Nasser bans the Wafd and all other parties in 1953. Instead he brings out a single party, the Liberation Rally. He launches programs of industrialization and land reform and promotes Arab Socialism which gets him the backing of the Soviet Union. Without consulting Naguib, Nasser bans the Mislim Brotherhood in 1954. Naguib resigns in protest and after being dismissed from the presidency, turns to his own military forces, and the country nearly collapses into civil war before Nasser before Naguib is allowed to retain the presidency in a compromise and Nasser is appointed chairman of the RCC. Felling the directions things have taken, the British withdraw from Egypt.


Now an international figure, Nasser promotes Arab Nationalism. Facing opposition at home and abroad, he  moves further to the left. At the 1955 Bandung Conference, he manages to the stop the Baghdad Pact from  pulling more Arab coountries over to the West and draws inspiration from from the Non-aligned Movemenrt of India's Nehru and Yugoslavia's Tito. America's susequent refusal to sell arms to Egypt only pushes Nassar to buy weapons from Yugoslavia. In retaliation the US refuses aid for the Aswan Dam and persuades the World Bank to do the same. In turn, Nasser  natonalizes the Suez Canal and accepts aid from the Soviet Union.


NASSER AND HIS ARAB NATIONALISM TRIUMPH AFTER KEEPING BRITS, FRENCH AND ISREAL OUT OF SUEZ.







Thus begins, in 1956, Nasser's period of Triumph with the Suez Crisis. A new constution gives him a six year turn and the the right to one consecutive term and pursues his non ideological Arab nationalism. Britain, France and Israel try, by military force, to seize the Suez Canal. Their failure to do so makes Nasser into a hero throughout the Arab World. Now begins his move further to the left.


Nasser's prestige is abruptly shaken in 1958 by his project to unite Syria and Egypt in a United Arab Republic intended gradually to absorb the whole Middle East under Nasser himself but it fails due to in-fighting and the secession of Syria in 1961. Meanwhile, Nasser visits Moscow as leader of the Non-Aligned Movement. Syria's attempt to outpace Egypt in the implementation of socialist policies causes Nasser to move even farther to the left in an attempt to remain effective leader of the Arab world. He extends his credentials by sending military support to a republican revolution in North Yemen and founding the Arab Socialist Union. He also makes a defence pact with Syria in order to share if not to claim Syria's support of the Palestinian movement against Israel. In 1967 Israel ridicules Nasser and dares him to support Palestinian designs. Nasser responds by closing the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping and forming an alliance with Jordan.



NASSER LOSES SIX-DAY WAR WITH ISRAEL.



Thus begins the Six Day War in which Israel launches pre-emptive strikes against the air forces of Egypt, Jordan and Syria, decisve defeating them. Nasser's prestige irreversibly damaged, he resigns but is recalled by popular demand. In 1968, his political 'War of Attrition' prevents Israel from making any permanent gains of Egyptrian territory and he brokers peace between the PLO and Lebanon and the PLO and Jordan. Upon his death in 1970, Anwar Sadat succeeds him as president of Egypt.


 
EGYPT: 1973-2011.


SADAT LOSES THE YOM KIPPUR WAR AND SIGNS PEACE WITH ISRAEL.



In 1973, Sadat conspires with Syria in an attack on Israel and though Egypt scores initial success in the sky, it loses the Ypm Kippur War. In consequence, Sadat deserts the Soviet Union for the United States and signs a compromise treaty with Israel. He signs the Law of Political Pareties in 1977, legalizign the Wafd and other poltiical parties to participate in a parliamentary system with rigged elections and little democracy. In 1979, Sadat signs a peace treaty with Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin. As a result Egypt is expelled from the Arab League and virulent protest at the treaty causes him to crack down on ther opposition. Long simmering hatred among Islamists over the peace with Israel explodes when Sadat is assassinated in 1981 by Islamist army officers during a review. He is succeeded by Hosni Mubarak.


 

MUBARAK SUCCEEDS SADAT AFTER SADAT'S ASSASSINATION; RIGS ELECTIONS.

Mubarak immediately begins to mend relations with the Arab world, earning him considerable popularity at home and readmission to the Arab League in Egypt. However, he continues Sadat's tradition of rigging elections. After his re-election in 1993, Mubrarak faces increased oppostion from the Muslim Brotherhood and Gamat al Islamiya. His increased crackdowns, arrests, torture and general repression of Islamists begins to cause concern in the Clinton administration, not least because repressive Arab governments are only radicalizing the Islamists.

After Al  Qaeda's 9/11 attacks on New York, Mubarak cooperates with US president Bush's War on Terror. He recommends an international convention on terrorism but at the same time asks for a more even-handed approach to Palestine and Israel. In the end, he obtains neither. In February, 2003, in Milan, CIA agents kidnap Egyptian cleric and Islamist suspect Hassan Nasr and use the rendition program tlo fly him to Egypt where he is torutred and interrogated. But when Bush visits Cairo in June for a meeting of Arab leaders, they insist again that no peace intiative will be possible until Israel eases up on the West Bank.

MUBARAK STRENGTHENS DICTATORSHIP, FIGHTS ISLAMISTS, GIVES DIPLOMATIC SUPPORT FOR PALESTINIANS.



After Mubarak's entire cabinet resigns in July, 2004, he replaces his prime minister with Atef Obeid, an outsider, and replaces half of Egypts 26 governors, further centralizing his power- despite increasing demands for reform. The timing seems strange when, after an October Al Qaeda bombings kills 34 at the Jewish resort of Sikkot on Egypt's Sinai peninsula, Mubarak has 200 Islamists released from prison at the end of Ramadan and in the same month the funeral of the Palestinain leader is held in Cairo. But that is the political tightrope Mubarak must walk between the West and militant Islam.  In February, 2005, as Mubarak asserts regional power by joining Libya's Gaddhafi in attempting to broker a peace between Darfur and Sudan, five hundred protest his intention to run for another term in office and have his son Gamal named as his successor.

Mubarak's initiative to reform electoral laws to include multiple candidates in the early spring of 2005, excite little trust as oppostion groups and the Muslim Brotherhood mount anti-government demonstrations for genuine political reform well into the spring. My May, despite ratification by parliament and an allleged referndum., thousands of protestors have rejected Mubarak's electoral reform as a sham. On June 30, the Muslim Brotherhood mounts forms an opposition alliance for the legal and constitutional removal of Mubarak and the boycott of September elections. July 23, witnesses terror attacks at the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh

Mubarak's election to a fifth consecutive term in September 2005 is marred by blatant electoral fraud and minimal voter turnout. Meanwhile, thousands of Gazans pour into Egypt during a temproary opening of the border. December's parliamentary elections are marked by clashes between police and the Muslim Brotherhood. Mubarak's National Democratic Party wins its predictable majority while Brotherhood candidates, running as independents score a record 20% of seats.

JUDICIARY LANGUISHES, MUBARAK IGNORES CALLS FOR REFORM, REPRESSES MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD.



In March, 2006, Egyptian judges protest the judiciary's lack of independence while in May, judges demonstrating against electoral fraud are beaten by police. In April, meanwhile, Egypt has been rocked by rioting between Muslims and Christains in Alexandria.  In May, the US gets a clear message that reform will come no time soon as Mubarak's son Gamal, his designated successor, is introduced at the White House and US and Egyptian officials meet as Egyopt hosts the World Economic Forum.

In June 2006, the Muslim Brotherhood is subjected to a crackdown and arrests and in November Mubaralk once again promises political reform in an address to parliament. The crackdown on the Brotherhood continues in November. Instead of the promised reform, constituional amendments strengthen Mubarak's grip on power as 100 MPs walk out in protest in March, 2007. A referendum consenting to the amendments is widely known to be rigged. In June, police bar voters from polling stations as the government claims another victory in parliamentary elections. In October there follows a crackdown on the press.
Mubarak places his son Gamal in a high government post, a moce seen to assure his succession to the presidency.

MUBARAK TINKERS WITH MODEST FINANCIAL REFORM AS COUNTRY STAGGERS UNDER POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT.

In the spring of 2008, Egyptians protest high food prices with protests, looting and the burning of shops, while sentencing and mass arrests of the Muslim Brotherbood coontinue. In a desperate move, perhaps, to quell popular unrest, Mubarak announces finanacial reforms, action against poverty and the distribution of shares in privatized state enterprises in November. In February 2009 an Islamist bomb attack kills 25 in a tourist area of Cairo. The spring sees Mubarak hosting Sudan's Al Bashir despite international censure of Bashir over atrocities in Darfur.




The Government attempts reforms in fall and winter of 2009, with action against poverty and free shares in government corporations for Egyptians while tje government holds majority shares in all basic industries from iron to tourism. Security forces deal with Beduin smuggling in the Gaza strip as well as a deadly  Islamist bombing, apparently the work of Al Qaeda.  In the spring,  in a presage of things to come, Islamists and pro democracy groups demonstrate against the the government.

Obama delivers his Cairo speech in June, 2009, admitting US errors in Middle Eastern policy and promising a new beginning in Middle-East-US relations. In the summer, the security forces and the courts take action again militants from A Qaeda and Hezbolla for planning terror attacks in Egypt. In December, a deadly riot explodes when Muslims attack a Copt Chrisitan funeral.

REFORMISTS GATHER AMID RIGGED PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

The first half of 2010 is marked by the return of elder statesman and opposition figure Mohammed ElBaradei. Demanding widespread reform, ElBaradei defies a ban on  public gatherings and leads demonstrations demanding widespread government reform. Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood fails to win any seats in the upper house, the Shura, and claims the elections are rigged.



At the end of 2010, the Government cracks down and curtails the media  ahead of the parliamentary elections. When the vote comes, protestors and  the Muslim Brotherhood, having won no seats, accuse the government of rigging elections.


Egypt: 2011-2013

THE ARAB SPRING: EGYPT RISES UP FOLLOWING TUNISIA.

In early 2011, the scene couldn't better set for inspiration by the recent revolution in Tunisia. El Baradei is proposed for interim leader as millions converge on Tahrir Square to demand the resignation of President Mubarak and the institution democratic government. By mid-Febuary, Mubarak has resigned. Throughout the spring, constitutional reforms pave the way for a new administration. mass demonstrations continue, protesting the slow pace of change. In summer, Mubarak goes on trial for having ordered the killing of demonstrators. Protestors now accuse the military or hanging on to power.



In the winter of 2011-2102, an interim government takes office. Parliamentary elections begin in January. Islamist parties win most of the seats. Organized fotball fans aligned with the revolution are set up and massacred by police during a Port Said football riot. 74 of the fans die.

MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD'S MORSI ELECTED PRESIDENT; MUBARAK GOES ON TRIAL.

In May, Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood gains the lead in polls for president. In summer Morsi is elected president and Mubarak is sentenced to life in prison. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court declares the parliamentary vote invalid and Morsi is left with a new interim government made up of old regime technocrats and Islamists. Morsi then strips the army of all political authority and retires army chief Tantawi. In November, Morsi strips the judiciary of the right to rescind his decisions but he is forced to back down in the face of public protests.At the end of the year the Islamist parliament pushes through an Islamist constitution and curtails free speech. The constitution is barely passed by referendum and in the face up much opposition.



MORSI GRABS POWER FROM JUDICIARY IN DAWNING DICTATORSHIP.

2013 opens with mass demonstrations against President Morsi's power grab. Fifty are killed by police. The army warns of general collapse. Morsi calls general elections for April but the Constitutional court blocks him, citing a violation of the electoral law. The loose opposition alliance, the National Salvation Front says it will boycott the elections.

TIMELINE FOR THE HISTORY OF EGYPT FROM THE BRITISH TO MUBARAK. 

With Thanks to: 
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/74754.aspx
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20667661
http://timelines.ws/

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.

672 AD- Egypt taken by the Muslim Arabs.

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 Grand Khedive, Viceroy for the Ottomans,
1882- Britain intervenes in the Egyptian revolt, occupies Egypt.

World War One: Britain Strengthens it Grip 1882- Britain intervenes in the Egyptian revolt, occupies Egypt.
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' 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 Opposed.

1927- nationalists split between the Wafd led by Premier Mustafa Nahas Pasha and King Fuad.
1931- King Fuad fires Premier Pasha and suspends the constitution.
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.

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.

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.
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

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.

Suez Crisis; Wafd Makes a Push for Full Independence.

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.
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.


Nasser and Officers Overthrow King Faruq, ban Wafd.
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.
1955- At Bandung Conference, Nasser is infleunced by nonalignment of Jawharlal Nehru of India and Tito of Yugoslavia. Nasser staops 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,


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.

Nasser at the Height of his Prestige.
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.

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.
1968- 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.


Sadat's Failed Attack on Israel Results in Peace Treaty with Israel.

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.
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.

1979- Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Begin sign the Egyptian-Istaeli peace Treaty. But his new peace costs Egypt membership in the Arab League.

-due to the unpopularity of the treaty at home, Sadat becomes increasingly autocratic.

Sadat Assassinated by Islamist Officers. Succeeded by Mubarak.

1981- Sadat is assassinated by Islamist officers during a military review.

-Sadat is succeeded by Hosni Mubarak, whose conciliatory approach to the Arab world wins him backing at home and Egypt readmittance 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.

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.
1999- Mubarak is re-nomniated by the legislature for the presidency.

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. Mubarek 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 Resings  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 f 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.
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.
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 sceptical.


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.
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.
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.

Egyptians Approve Constitutional Reforms.
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.

Mubaraak Goes on Trial for Killing Demonstrators.
2011 August - Former President Mubarak goes on trial in Cairo, charged with ordering the killing of demonstrators earlier in the year.

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.
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.

National Unit Government Takes Office. Islamists Take Parliament.
2011 December - National unity government headed by new Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri takes office.
2012 January - Islamist parties emerge as victors of drawn-out parliamentary elections.
Feb. 1- At least 74 people are killed in clashes between rival fans following a football match in Port Said amid a total absence of the security apparatus.
Feb 3- Clashes erupt in Cairo over the Port Said massacre.

Feb 6- Trial of suspects in the NGOs’ foreign funding case starts.

March 1- American suspects in the NGOs foreign funding case leave Egypt on a US military plane, causing widescale public anger at the judiciary
2012 March - Pope Shenouda III, the veteran head of the Coptic Church, dies.
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.
 April 9- The Brotherhood opposes the candidacy of former General Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman as president.

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/588/17/Egypt%E2%80%99s------timeline.aspx

Muslim Brotherhood's Morsi ahead in Presidential Polls over Mohammed Shafiq.
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 leaders announce the end of the state of emergency in place since Anwar al-Sadat's assassination in 1981, as its last renewal expires.

Morsi Wins Presidential Elections; Mubarak Sentenced to Life In Prision.
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. 

Supreme Court Declares Previous Parliamentary Elections Invalid.

2012 July - President Morsi 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, excluding secular and liberal forces.
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.

Morsi Strips Military of Top Generals and any say in Politics
President Morsi dismisses Defence Minister Tantawi and Chief of Staff Sami Annan and strips military of say in legislation and drafting the new constitution.
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.


2012 November - Bishop Tawadros is chosen as the new pope of Egypt's Coptic Christians.
President Morsi issues a decree stripping the judiciary of the right to challenge his decisions, but rescinds it in the face of popular protests.
                                            THE NATIONAL SALVATION FRONT.
2012- November 22- Morsi issued a declaration purporting to protect the work of the Constituent Assmebly drafting the new constitution from judicial interference. In effect, this declaration immunises his actions from any legal challenge. The decree states that it only applies until a new constitution is ratified.
 2012-November- 24- The National Front for Salvation of the Revolution is formed in response to Morsi's placing himsefl above the law. A number of political parties and leading figures formed a coalition to force the president to rescind his decree; form a new, more representative constituent assembly; and issue a transitional justice law that guaranteed fair retrials for those responsible for the deaths of protesters during the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak.  The NSF includes a wide range of liberal, secular and leftist groups, such as the Egyptian Popular Current, al-Dustour, al-Tajammu, Free Egyptians, New Wafd, Democratic Front, the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, Nasserist Democratic Party and the Conference Party.
Its three most prominent leaders are Mohammed ElBaradei, the former head of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Amr Moussa, the former secretary general of the Arab League; and Hamdeen Sabahi, a Nasserist politician who came third in the presidential election.
The NSF  has more than 35 groups involved overall. Observers are concerned that the NSF will not be able to become a coherent political force though. The different groups mainly agree on opposing Morsi but only on few topics going beyond that.

2012- Nov. 30- There was further outrage on 30 November, when the constituent assembly approved a rushed version of the draft constitution to avoid dissolution by the SCC, despite a boycott by Christian, liberal and secularist representatives. Mr Morsi subsequently called a referendum for 15 December.

The NSF said the president was "trying to impose a constitution monopolised by one trend and is the furthest from national consensus, produced in a farcical way". Its leaders called for the referendum to be postponed and said they would consider a boycott if it was not.
2012- Dec. 5- There were deadly clashes on 5 December when opposition demonstrators were confronted by Muslim Brotherhood supporters outside the presidential palace.
In a televised speech the next day, Mr Morsi called for a "national dialogue" to resolve the crisis, but insisted that he would not rescind his decree and that the referendum could not be delayed.
The NSF rejected the invitation to talks with the president and reiterated its demands to begin an overhaul of the constituent assembly. "He has to take these steps, and I hope that he listens to us," Mr ElBaradei said.
On 8 December, the president bowed to the pressure and rescinded most of his 22 November decree. He did not, however, agree to the opposition's demand that he postpone the referendum.
The NSF swiftly rejected the concession and suggested it was planning to boycott the referendum. Spokesman Sameh Ashour warned that organising such a vote "in a state of seething and chaos" amounted to a "reckless and flagrant absence of responsibility, risking driving the country into violent confrontations that endanger its national security".
The coalition has vowed to stage more mass protests in the coming days


Islamists Approve Draft Constitution Increasing Power of Islam and Restricting Freedoms.
2012 December - Islamist-dominated constituent assembly approves draft constitution that boosts the role of Islam and restricts freedom of speech and assembly. Public approve it in a referendum, prompting extensive protest by secular opposition leaders, Christians and women's groups.
Government paralysis weakens the currency and delays a $4.8bn (£3bn) IMF loan.

Army Warns That Egypt is on the Brink of Collapse
 2013 January - More than 50 people are killed during days of violent street protests. The army chief warns that political strife is pushing the state to the brink of collapse.

 Muslim-Christian Riots

2013        Feb 28, In Egypt dozens of Muslim residents threw firebombs and rocks at police as they tried to storm a church in southern Egypt in search of a woman suspected of converting to Christianity in the town of Kom Ombo. Tensions rose after a 36 year-old Muslim woman, who has been missing for five days, was allegedly seen outside the church with a female Christian friend. The woman was reported found on Feb 2 and police said that "family and social reasons," not religion, were behind her disappearance, and that she had not converted.

2013 Mar 3, In Cairo, Egypt, US Secretary of State John Kerry rewarded Egypt for President Mohammed Morsi's pledges of political and economic reforms by releasing $250 million in American aid to support the country's "future as a democracy."

2013 Mar 9, An Egyptian court confirmed the death sentences against 21 people for taking part in a Feb, 2012, deadly soccer riot but acquitted 7 police officials for their alleged role in the violence. Suspected fans enraged by the verdict torched the soccer federation headquarters and a police club in Cairo in protest. In unrelated violence, at least 2 protesters were killed in clashes between riot police and demonstrators throwing stones on a Nile-side street in central Cairo.

 Court Stalls Morsi's Parliament; Protests Spread Against Morsi Government

 2013 March - A court halts President Morsi's plans to bring parliamentary elections forward to April, citing failure to refer the electoral law to the Constitutional Court. The main opposition National Salvation Front had announced a poll boycott earlier.

2013 Mar 22, Thousands of Egyptian protesters clashed with riot police and backers of the president's Muslim Brotherhood, ransacking several offices nationwide as anger over allegations of beatings and power-grabbing boiled over into the largest and most violent demonstrations yet on the doorstep of the powerful group.

2013        Apr 6, In Egypt Clashes between Egyptian Muslims and Christians erupted in Shubra el-Kheima, a suburb north of Cairo, leaving at least five people dead. Attackers doused Saber Helal (26), a Copticf Christian, with gasoline and set him on fire. Helal died of hiw wounds on April 11. Police said the clashes started when young Muslims drew inflammatory symbols on an Islamic institute and a local mosque. Residents had different accounts of what sparked the violence.

                             JUDICIARY DRIFTS AWAY FROM MORSI                 

2013        Apr 21, Egypt's state news agency says that a government legal agency representing President Mohammed Morsi has lost an appeal to reverse a court-ordered suspension of parliamentary elections. Justice Minister Ahmed Mekki submitted his resignation, in a move that signaled strong disapproval of the president's handling of a prolonged showdown with the country's judiciary.

 Protests turn Violent.

2013        May 17, Egyptian security forces fired tear gas at protesters hurling firebombs at them in central Cairo, hours after hundreds of opponents of Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi rallied peacefully in the streets denouncing his rule and demanding early presidential elections.

2013        Jun 4, An Egyptian court convicted 43 nonprofit workers, including at least 16 Americans, of illegally using foreign funds to foment unrest in the country, sentencing them to up to five years in jail. Nonprofit pro-democracy groups have trained thousands of young Egyptians in political activism and organizing, an education that played a key part in the success of the 2011 uprising that toppled Mubarak.

2013        Jun 5, Egypt's state-run news agency said the state prosecutor has referred 12 activists including several prominent bloggers to trial on charges of instigating violence during a March demonstration at the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group from which the president hails. A signature drive, known as "Tamarod" or "Rebel" in Arabic, has reportedly collected some 7 million signatures calling for the removal of Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

2013  June - President Morsi appoints Islamist allies as regional governors, putting them in charge of 13 of Egypt's 27 governorships. Most controversially he appoints a member of the former armed group Gamaa Islamiya governor of Luxor, where Gamaa fighters killed about 60 tourists in a 1997 attack. This prompts protests in Luxor and the tourism minister threatens to resign.