United Arab Republic and its composition. Coat of Arms and Coins of the United Arab Republic

The United Arab Republic was established in 1958 as part of Egypt and Syria and existed until 1961, when the latter withdrew from it after a coup. Egypt continued to be officially known as the UAR until 1971.

Prerequisites

On February 1, 1958, a group of political and military leaders of Syria invited Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser to merge the two states as the first step on the road to a large pan-Arab state.

The sentiments for uniting all the Arabs were traditionally very strong in Syria, and Nasser was a popular leader in the entire Arab world after the Suez War of 1956. The Arab Socialist Revival Party (Baath) was the main champion of such a union.

At that time in Syria, there were contradictions between the strengthening of their positions by the Communists and the ruling Baath Party, which was experiencing an internal crisis from which its eminent members sought to find salvation in the form of an alliance with Egypt. Syria was a democratic state after the overthrow of the military regime in 1954, but the army continued to play a dominant role in the state at all levels. This did not suit the charismatic and authoritarian-minded Nasser, who sought to fully integrate Syria into the "Egyptian" system of power that developed under his leadership.

Commencement

The final conditions of Nasser for the union were decisive and not subject to discussion:

• A referendum on the support of the people of the unification of the two countries;
• Dissolution of parties;
• Withdrawal of the army from politics.

While the referendum seemed a sensible event for the majority of the Syrian elite, the last two conditions were extremely alarming. Many believed that their adoption could destroy political life in Syria. Despite these fears, the Syrian leaders realized that it was too late to turn back. Elite in Syria sees a merger with Egypt as the lesser of two evils as a means of resisting the growing influence of Communists. They believed that Nasser's conditions were unfair, but given the intense pressure inside their own country, they believed that they had no other choice.

Egyptian President Nasser and Syrian leader Kuatli on 1 February 1958 signed a preliminary agreement on the unification of their countries. Although the signed declaration indicated that the United Arab Republic is made up of Egypt and Syria, it was stressed that any Arab country could join the UAR. The referendums held in the same month in both countries confirmed the support of the union by their peoples.

Nasser became president of the UAR and very soon began repressions against the Syrian communists and opponents of the union, who were dismissed from their posts.

The actual practice of the construction of the political system of the UAR

Supporters of the alliance with Egypt believed that Nasser uses their Baath party to control Syria (in the photo below, he is shown in company with the founders of this party in 1958). Unfortunately for the Baathists, it was not his intention at all to divide power evenly between the Egyptians and the Syrians. Nasser established a new interim constitution, according to which the United Arab Republic received a National Assembly (parliament) of 600 members (400 from Egypt and 200 from Syria), and dissolved all Syrian political parties, including Baath. The only legal party in the UAR was the pro-presidential National Union.

Syria and Egypt: two unequal parts of the UAR

Although Nasser allowed past Baath party members to take prominent positions in power structures, they never achieved the same weight in running their own country as Egyptian officials did. In the winter and spring of 1959-60. Nasser slowly "squeezed" the prominent Syrians from important positions. In the Syrian Ministry of Industry, for example, seven of the thirteen positions were filled with Egyptians. In the General Petroleum Administration, four of the six largest leaders were Egyptians.

Economic transformations in the UAR

In June 1960, Nasser attempted to carry out economic reforms that were supposed to bring the Syrian economy, based on private property, closer to the Egyptian economy, based on the domination of the public sector in it. Nasser embarked on an unprecedented wave of nationalization both in Syria and in Egypt. At the same time, the opinion of the Syrian elite was ignored. All cotton trade was placed under the control of the government, all import-export firms were also nationalized. Nasser announced the nationalization of banks, insurance companies and all heavy industry. Land allotments of more than 100 feddans (1 feddan = 4200 m ² ) were subject to confiscation from the owners (a kind of "dekulakization" in Arabic). Taxes on peasants have been sharply reduced to weed up to complete abolition in some cases. Ninety percent of the tax was set on all incomes above 10,000 Egyptian pounds. Workers and employees were admitted to the management of enterprises and were entitled to 25% of their profits. The average working day was also reduced to seven hours without a reduction in wages.

Growth of anti-Egyptian sentiment

Not everyone in Syria liked such changes in the spirit of "Arab socialism." The officers of the Syrian army resented their subordinate position before the Egyptian officers, and the Syrian Bedouin tribes received money from Saudi Arabia to prevent them from becoming loyal to Nasser. In addition, land reform in the Egyptian style led to the decline of Syrian agriculture, the Communists once again began to gain influence, and Baath party intellectuals, who initially supported the union, changed their moods.

At the same time, in Egypt itself the situation was more positive with the growth of GDP by 4.5% and the rapid growth of industry due to the development of the Syrian market. This also contributed to the growth of discontent in Syria.

Relations with neighbors

The newly created United Arab Republic was seen as a serious threat in neighboring kingdoms (at that time) - Iraq and Jordan. Syria was viewed by both monarchies as a source of incitement to revolution and a shelter for conspirators operating against the Jordanian King Hussein and the Iraqi monarch Faisal II. Egypt was generally regarded as a state hostile to the West, which supported both monarchical regimes. Therefore, the United Arab Republic was viewed by Iraq and Jordan as a direct enemy. Between two countries, in February 1958, an anti-tanker military alliance with a unified military command and a unified military budget was created, 80% of which was to be provided by Iraq, and the remaining 20% by Jordan. In fact, there was a federation of the two countries, however, quickly disintegrated.

The establishment of the UAR in the neighboring Lebanon, whose president, Kamil Shamun, was an opponent of Nasser was unfriendly. In the country, clashes began between supporters of joining the UAR and adherents of independence.

Revolution in Iraq

On July 14, 1958, Iraqi officers staged a military coup and toppled the monarchy in the country. Nasser immediately recognized the new government and stated that "any attack on Iraq would be tantamount to an attack on the UAR." The next day, US marines and British troops landed in Lebanon and in Jordan to protect the two countries from the attack of pro-Nasser forces.

Nasser assumed that the United Arab Republic would soon be replenished with a new member - Iraq. However, the new Iraqi leadership, seeing the fate of its Syrian counterparts in the United Arab Republic, was in no hurry to give up power. And in 1959, Iraq's Prime Minister Kasem stopped negotiating to join the UAR.

In 1963, after the Baath Party came to power in Syria and Iraq, a new attempt was made to unite these countries with Egypt. The leaders of the three countries even signed a joint communiqué on the creation of the Federation. But then the cause of unification did not move because of the differences between the countries about the state structure of the new country.

The collapse of the UAR and its continuation

On September 28, 1961, a group of officers committed a coup and proclaimed the independence of Syria from the UAR. Although the leaders of the coup were ready to continue the union on certain conditions, placing Syria on an equal footing with Egypt, Nasser refused such a compromise. He originally intended to send troops to overthrow the new regime, but declined this intention as soon as he was informed that the last of his allies in Syria recognized the new power. In the speeches that followed the Syrian coup, Nasser declared that he would never abandon his goal of a final pan-Arab union. However, he will never achieve a new tangible success on the way to this goal.

Nasser's hopes for a revival of the union were reflected in the fact that under him Egypt continued to bear the name "UAR", which persisted until 1971.

A new attempt to unite the Arab states was undertaken in the 70 years by the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. As a result of his efforts in 1971, the Federation of Arab Republics (FAR) arose in Libya, Egypt and Syria, which existed until 1977 (in the photo below, the leaders of the three countries sign the treaty on the Federation). This education was of a declarative nature, there were no general governing bodies of the FAR, and the member countries were constantly striving to conclude bilateral alliances (Libya-Egypt, Syria-Egypt) within the federation. Libya and Egypt even had time to fight a little in 1977, remaining members of the FAR.

United Arab Emirates: coat of arms and flag

The UAR adopted a flag based on the design of the Arab Liberation Flag raised during the Egyptian revolution of 1952, but with two stars representing the two parts of the UAR. Since 1980, it is the official flag of Syria. In 1963, Iraq adopted a flag that was almost identical to the flag of the already defunct UAR, but with three stars representing the hope that the united country would recover.

The UAR had a coat of arms, the central figure of which was the so-called. The eagle of Saladin is the image of an eagle, repeating the corresponding bas-relief on the western wall of the Cairo citadel, built by Saladin. On the eagle's chest is a shield with three vertical colored bands - red, white and black, and two green stars in the central white band. These four colors are so called. "Pan-Arabian flowers," which were the colors of the flags of various Arab caliphates.

On the green ribbon in the eagle's claws there is an inscription in Arabic letters: "United Arab Republic".

What money did they have in such a state education as the United Arab Republic? Coins worth one Egyptian pound and one Syrian pound theoretically had equal circulation in the UAR, although in fact their use was localized in the relevant parts of the country.
The photo above shows a pound coin issued in the UAR (Egypt) in 1970 after the death of President Nasser.