The decision made by the Wafd government…
1952 CE
future of Egypt.
It meant that men such as Nasser and Sadat were able to become officers in the army and thus be in a position to shape events in Egypt.
The decision had been made, not to create a more egalitarian officer corps, but rather to meet a desperate need for more officers.
As it turned out, most members of the Free Officers' group and all of the original members of the RCC had entered the Military Academy during the period between 1937 and 1940.
The men who have profited from this new policy are not from the poorest families; their families had to have enough money to send their children to secondary schools.
For the most part, they are from families of moderately prosperous landholders and minor government officials, who constitute the class of rural notables.