Gamal Abdel Nasser

Introduction & Top Questions
Early life
Attainment of power
Nasser’s accomplishments
Legacy

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images

General Mohammed Naguib, center, raises his hat while riding in an open car with Gamal Abdel Nasser, left of center, during a celebratory parade through crowded Cairo streets in 1953.

At a Glance

Gamal Abdel Nasser summary

Quizzes

Mamluk (Mameluke) of Ottoman Imperial Guard. The Mamluk fought Napoleon when he invaded Egypt but lost power in massacre of 1811 instigated by Muhammad Ali Pasha (1769-1849). Aquatint c1820

Egypt Since the Pharaohs

Related Questions

How did Egypt’s 1955 arms agreement with Czechoslovakia affect Soviet influence in the Middle East?
How did Gamal Abdel Nasser plan to use Suez Canal tolls to fund the Aswan High Dam?
How did Gamal Abdel Nasser promote Pan-Arabism?
How did Gamal Abdel Nasser receive the scar on his forehead?
How did Gamal Abdel Nasser respond to the 1954 assassination attempt against him?
How did Gamal Abdel Nasser’s government encourage industrialization in Egypt?
How did Gamal Abdel Nasser’s government restrict political opposition in Egypt?
How did Gamal Abdel Nasser’s policies affect foreign business owners in Egypt?
How did Israel become involved in the Suez Crisis?
How did Israel’s air attack affect Egypt during the Six-Day War?
How did censorship operate under Gamal Abdel Nasser’s government?
How did nationalization expand Egypt’s public sector under Gamal Abdel Nasser?
How did the 1952 Free Officers coup end Egypt’s monarchy?
How did the 1952 coup change Egypt’s political system?
How did the Aswan High Dam affect Egypt’s Nile River floods and electricity supply?
How did the Free Officers overthrow King Farouk I in 1952?
How did the Soviet Union rebuild Egypt’s military after the Six-Day War?
How did the Suez Crisis increase Gamal Abdel Nasser’s popularity in the Arab world?
How did the Suez Crisis weaken British and French influence in the Middle East?
What happened to Gamal Abdel Nasser in the Faluja Pocket during the 1948 war?
What new rights did women gain under Gamal Abdel Nasser’s rule?
What were the main results of the Suez Crisis for Egypt?
When did Gamal Abdel Nasser become president of Egypt?
When did Gamal Abdel Nasser die and who succeeded him as president of Egypt?
Where did Gamal Abdel Nasser receive his military education?
Where was Gamal Abdel Nasser born?
Why did Britain and France oppose Egypt’s nationalization of the Suez Canal?
Why did Egypt and Syria form the United Arab Republic in 1958?
Why did Egypt’s rapid population growth limit improvements in living standards under Gamal Abdel Nasser?
Why did Gamal Abdel Nasser ask the United Nations to remove peacekeepers from the Sinai Peninsula in 1967?
Why did Gamal Abdel Nasser close the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping in 1967?
Why did Gamal Abdel Nasser offer to resign after Egypt’s defeat in the Six-Day War?
Why did Gamal Abdel Nasser reject the Baghdad Pact?
Why did Gamal Abdel Nasser remain president after the Six-Day War?
Why did Gamal Abdel Nasser send Egyptian troops to Yemen in 1962?
Why did Gamal Abdel Nasser support nonalignment during the Cold War?
Why did Syria leave the United Arab Republic in 1961?
Why did the United States and Britain withdraw funding for the Aswan High Dam?
Why did the United States and the Soviet Union pressure Britain France and Israel to withdraw from Egypt?
Why were political parties abolished under Gamal Abdel Nasser’s rule?
What was Gamal Abdel Nasser’s childhood like?
How did Gamal Abdel Nasser become famous?
What were some of Gamal Abdel Nasser’s major accomplishments?
How did Gamal Abdel Nasser change the world?
What did Imhotep accomplish as an architect?
When did Imhotep become a deity?
Why is Hatshepsut so famous?
How did Hatshepsut come to power?
What was Hatshepsut’s reign like?
What was Hatshepsut’s family like?

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External Websites

Al Jazeera - Opinion: Nasser, the torch bearer
BBC - Witness History - The death of Gamal Abdel Nasser
State Information Service - Gamal Abdel Nasser
Jewish Virtual Library - Gamal Abdel Nasser
Official Site of Nasser Youth Movement
United States Naval Academy - Gamal Abdel NasserÂ’s Pan-Arabism and Formation of the United Arab Republic: An Appraisal (PDF)

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

Gamal Abdel Nasser - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
Gamal Abdel Nasser - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Gamal Abdel Nasser

president of Egypt

Also known as: Jamal ʿAbd an-Nāṣīr

Written by

Robert St. John

Journalist, lecturer, and foreign affairs radio commentator. Author of The Boss and others.

Robert St. John

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Nov. 7, 2026 •History

Gamal Abdel Nasser (born January 15, 1918, Alexandria, Egypt—died September 28, 1970, Cairo) was an Egyptian army officer, prime minister (1954–56), and then president (1956–70) of Egypt who became a controversial leader of the Arab world, creating the short-lived United Arab Republic (1958–61), twice fighting wars with Israel (1956, 1967), and engaging in such inter-Arab policies as mediating the Jordanian civil war (1970). Nasser was born in a mud-brick house on an unpaved street in...

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