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Nasser: Power
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One of the most controversial of Nasser's achievements is the creation of the Aswan Dam and the eponymous lake in southern Egypt. Built to provide electricity for heavy industry and reduce the risk of flooding along the Nile River, the dam submerged most of Nubia's archeological remains (except the ones saved by UNESCO). It ... created major ecological problems. The lake's huge surface lets a significant part of the Nile's water evaporate in vain, while the dam prevents sediment from enriching the delta soil. According to some agronomists, the Nile valley's agricultural productivity subsequently decreased. Still, the dam helped provide electric power to Egypt's then growing economy, and was essential in modernizing rural Egypt through the introduction of electricity.
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Behind the new government, nominally headed by Gen. Mohamed Neguib, Nasser was chairman of the Revolution Command Council (which held the actual power), headed the new "Liberation Rally," and then was deputy premier and minister of the interior. Meanwhile, Neguib had begun to alienate most of the officers by his involvement in efforts to reestablish parliamentary rule. Early in 1954 Nasser displaced Neguib, taking the title of prime minister in April (and in 1956 he was elected first president of the Egyptian republic).
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Nasser led the first successful coup d'etat in Egyptian history. It was bloodless, swift, and within days had become a true revolution, supported by the people. In less than two weeks, an insignificant, junior army officer was transformed into the de facto ruler of Egypt. In any country in the world, such a quick ascent to power and toppling of an entire, established regime would have been extremely significant; in Egypt, where pharaohs have long been literally adored, it was monumental.
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Nasser's political views are presented in his own work, The Philosophy of the Revolution (1959). Joachim Joesten, Nasser: The Rise to Power (1960), contains useful details but has many errors and is incomplete. A fine book is Robert Stephens, Nasser: A Political Biography (1971). Miles Copland, The Game of Nations (1969), is very useful.
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After a defeat in the 1967 Six-Day War against Israel, Nasser sought to resign from his position, but the Egyptian people asked for him to remain in power. He consequently led Egypt through the War of Attrition in 1969-1970. Nasser died of a heart attack only two weeks after the war ended, on September 28, 1970. He was succeeded by Anwar Sadat.
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In Nasser's very variety and uncategorisability, and for all the authority he wielded at the time he ruled, he represents a challenge to contemporary values, trends and dominant powers in Egypt and the Arab world. And it is this open, dissentient, contrary element in relation to the current social, political and economic order that lends his legacy both allure and peril.
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