On July 23, 1952 King Farouk was overthrown in a coup led by the Free Officers Movement, headed by an Army General Naguib. Gamal Abdul Nasser subsequently emerged as the leader of this movement and the eventual head of state, though General Naguib ascended to the presidency immediately upon the abdication of the King who was permitted to go into exile. The political trajectory of Egypt was thus set upon a decades long path with Nasser selecting his successor Anwar Sadat who in turn chose Hosni Mubarak. Has this trajectory come to an end? Sadat of course did alter course by establishing relations with Israel, but his will was followed by the military which backed his protege Mubarak’s rise to power after his own assassination.