Leader Analysis Sheet

Name of Leader: Gamal Abdul Nasser
Lifespan
1918-1970 / Title:
Dictator
Country/region:
Egypt / Years in Power
1952-1970
Political, Social, & Economic Conditions Prior to Leaders Gaining Power
-armed forces have been divided by religious and ethnic rivalries that have been disuptive in new nations
-the military posesses the monopoly of force that is essential for restoring order in conditions of political breakdown--makes soldiers more ready and less concerned with destructive consequences
-most military leaders have been anticommunist--attracted covert technical and financial assistance from Western governments
-banned civilian political parties and imposed military regimes of repression
-^worst= Uganda under Myanmar, and Congo--quashed civil liberties while making little attempt to reduce social inequities or improve living standards. imprisoning, torturing, eliminating political dissidents
Ideology, Motivation, Goals:
-Egypt won their independence in mid 1930s, wanted to establish a stable country
-Wanted to improve the living standards for Egyptians after self-centered civilian politicians and corrupted khedival regime did nothing to help
-Terrible conditions and weak government parties
-Wanted revolution in Egypt
Significant Actions & events During Term of Power
-Free Officers Movement- evolved from secret organization from Egypt, founded by the Revolutionary Command Council, allied with the Muslim Brotherhood, revolutionary alternative to the khedival regime
-brotherhood that combined interest in scientific subjects with active involvement in demonstrations to support Wafd demands--he developed contempt for the wealthy minority
-al-Banna founded the Muslim Brotherhood to remedy these injustices and drive away Egypt's foreign opppresors
-organization was involved in promoting trade, building medical clinics, educating women, pushing for land reform (1952 revolution start)
-Nasser and his officers used the powers they won in the coup to force programs to help Egypt--intervened in land reform, state financed education through the college level was available, the government became the main employer, subsidies were used to lower price of basic food, industrial growth occurred
-1956- he rallied international opinion to oust the British and their French allies from the Suez Canal zone
Short-Term effects:
-Nasser’s efforts failed in some aspects such as uncontrolled population rising
-Decline in fertility of farmlands due to Nasser’s Aswan Dam project that interfered with flow of the Nile / Long-Term Effects
-Enacted land reforms
-Used state resources to reduce unemployment
-Drove away the British from the Suez Canal in 1956

Leader Analysis Sheet

Name of Leader: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
Lifespan
1900-1989 / Title:
Ruler
Country/region:
Iran / Years in Power
1979-1989
Political, Social, & Economic Conditions Prior to Leaders Gaining Power
-Revolution of 1979 to expel Pahlavi shah of Iran
-anticolonial resistance movements that were led by the Mahdi of the Sudan in 1880s
Ideology, Motivation, Goals:
-Revolutionize Iran in 1979 through motivation from followers
-return to a society that believed in “the golden age” of the prophet of Muhammad
-toppling Western-backed governments—Mahdists’ the Anglo-Egyptian presence in the Sudan and Khomeini’s autocratic Iranian shah and Pahlavi dynasty
Significant Actions & events During Term of Power
-modernization gained support and was established in Iran, as well as colonized Iran
- the shah attempted to insolate the country of Iran by using its oil natural resources--however Mohammed Mosaddeq gained power in 1953
-the new shah angered ayatollahs and mullahs because of his strong desire for Western influences and neglect towards what the Islamic people were looking to worship instead
- Saddam Hussein tried to take advantage of the country’s state of turmoil
-ultimately restored their old Islamic traditions
Short-Term effects:
-Attempted to eliminate Western influences / Long-Term Effects
-Emphasized religious purification
-Established purely Islamic government