Following Gamal Abdel Nasser’s death, Vice President Anwar Sadat became acting president and was then confirmed via a single-candidate referendum, setting the stage for major shifts in Egypt’s domestic and foreign policy.
Sadat launched the Corrective Movement, purging prominent Nasserist/pro-Soviet officials and strengthening presidential control over the state and security apparatus.
Egypt adopted the 1971 Constitution, a key institutional framework for Sadat’s era that formalized aspects of governance and political organization in the post-Nasser period.
Sadat expelled thousands of Soviet advisers, signaling a strategic reorientation away from Soviet dependence and toward greater diplomatic flexibility—especially with the United States.
Egypt and Syria initiated the October (Yom Kippur) War with a surprise attack on Israeli positions, including Egypt’s crossing of the Suez Canal—an event that reshaped regional diplomacy and Sadat’s domestic legitimacy.
UN Security Council Resolution 338 demanded a ceasefire and urged implementation of Resolution 242, helping move the conflict from battlefield to diplomacy and opening the path to disengagement talks.
Egypt and Israel signed the first Sinai disengagement (Sinai I) agreement, establishing separation zones and UN monitoring arrangements, an early step in the post-war diplomatic process.
Sadat’s October Working Paper articulated the direction of infitah (“open door”)—a pivot toward encouraging private enterprise and foreign investment as a response to economic strain and post-war reconstruction needs.
After being closed since 1967, the Suez Canal reopened for global navigation, restoring a critical revenue source and symbolizing Egypt’s recovery and new diplomatic momentum after the 1973 war.
The Sinai II agreement expanded Israeli withdrawal and created new buffer/monitoring arrangements, reinforcing a negotiated (rather than military) track for recovering territory.
Large-scale protests—often called the Bread Riots—followed proposed reductions in subsidies and price increases for key staples, highlighting social limits and political risks associated with economic liberalization.
Sadat traveled to Jerusalem and addressed Israel’s Knesset, a dramatic diplomatic breakthrough that shifted Egypt toward direct negotiations with Israel and provoked intense controversy across the Arab world.
Sadat established the National Democratic Party (NDP) as the successor-dominant force after dismantling the Arab Socialist Union’s one-party structure, reconfiguring controlled pluralism under presidential leadership.
Egypt and Israel signed the Camp David Accords, two frameworks that outlined a path to an Egypt–Israel peace treaty and introduced a contentious autonomy framework related to Palestinian territories.
Egypt and Israel signed a formal peace treaty in Washington, D.C., committing to Israeli withdrawal from Sinai in exchange for normalized relations—one of Sadat’s defining foreign-policy achievements and a source of domestic backlash.
Egypt held early People’s Assembly elections in a multiparty format; Sadat’s NDP won a dominant majority, reinforcing executive control despite the appearance of electoral competition.
Sadat’s security forces began sweeping arrests of opposition figures, intellectuals, and religious leaders amid escalating unrest and criticism of Camp David–era policies, intensifying authoritarian measures late in his rule.
Sadat was assassinated during an October War anniversary military parade, bringing his presidency to an abrupt end and marking a critical transition in Egypt’s leadership and internal security trajectory.
Anwar Sadat’s Presidency: Infitah, the October War, and Domestic Policy (1970–1981)
