Early Life
Anwar Sadat was born on 25 December 1918 in Mit Abu al-Kum, al-Minufiyah, Egypt to a poor family, one of 13 brothers and sisters. One of his brothers, Atef Sadat, later became a pilot and was killed in action during the Yom Kippur War in October 1973. His father, Anwar Mohammed El Sadat was Egyptian, and his mother, Sit Al-Berain, was born in Egypt, to a Sudanese father and Egyptian mother. He spent his early childhood under the care of his grandmother, who told him stories revolving around resistance to the British occupation and drawing on contemporary history. During Sadat's childhood, he admired and was influenced greatly by four individuals. The first of his childhood heroes was Zahran, the alleged hero of the Denshawai Incident, who resisted the British occupation in a farmer protest. According to the story, a British soldier was killed, and Zahran was the first Egyptian hanged in retribution. Stories like the Ballad of Zahran introduced Sadat to Egyptian nationalism, a value he held throughout his life.
The second individual was Kemal Atatürk, who was the leader of contemporary Turkey. Sadat admired his ability to overthrow the foreign influence and his many social reforms. He also idolized Mahatma Gandhi and his belief in non-violence when facing injustice. As Egypt was under the occupation of the United Kingdom, Sadat was fascinated by Hitler's Nazi German army for their quick ability to become a strategic threat to Britain.
He graduated from the Royal Military Academy in Cairo in 1938 and was appointed to the Signal Corps. He entered the army as a second lieutenant and was posted to Sudan (Egypt and Sudan were one country at the time). There, he met Gamal Abdel Nasser, and along with several other junior officers they formed the secret Free Officers Movement committed to freeing Egypt from British domination and royal corruption.
During the Second World War he was imprisoned by the British for his efforts to obtain help from the Axis Powers in expelling the occupying British forces. Along with his fellow Free Officers, Sadat participated in the military coup that launched the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 which overthrew King Farouk I on 23 July of that year. Sadat was assigned to announce the news of the revolution to the Egyptian people over the radio networks.
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