MrHola
Banned
Gamal Abd al-Nasser was speaking to a large crowd in Alexandria on October 26, 1954 when eight gun shots rang out. Nasser heard the bullets whizzing past his ears. Happily for him, the gunman, Mahmoud Abd al-Latif, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, was a bad shot even at close range. Those seated on the dais heard popping sounds as the bullets struck an electric light above. Nasser didn't flinch. Interrupting his prepared speech, he cried out, “Let them kill Nasser. What is Nasser but one among many? My fellow countrymen, stay where you are. I am not dead, I am alive, and even if I die all of you is Gamal Abd al-Nasser.”
Alright – here is the WI: the assassination attempt is successful. Here are my thoughts on the matter.
In Egypt the assassination of Nasser would have brought the secret military arm of the Brotherhood into the light with conflict against the Revolutionary Command Council, the military organbization ruling Egypt. Sadat was one of its leading figures and would have been the successor to Nasser in 1954 as he was in 1970.
The OTL Moslem Brotherhood survived the post-1954 attacks on its organization and reemerged in 1966 with another assassination attempt on Nasser. This TL MB would seem to be as strong as any of the current "pure Islam" groups. It had branches in Jordan and Syria and would have brought the issue of Westernization into play before the oil boom made the Arab countries rich and Egypt peripheral.
A union in some form of Syria and Iraq and Jordan might have survived if the combination avoided actual armed conflict with Israel. Whatever happened to the Suez Canal, post no-Nasser 1954, would either enhance the stature of the group that thrrew the Brits and French out or diminish them to the lackies of the West.
Fertile ground for the Soviet Union and arms sales to the now united Fertile Crescent and Egypt. Another union between Egypt, Sudan and Qadaffi's Lybia was contemplated in 1971 OTL, would the unifying force of the Brotherhood have pulled this off if only as a form of customs union?
Implications for Suez? Middle East politics in general? Cold War politics in general?
Alright – here is the WI: the assassination attempt is successful. Here are my thoughts on the matter.
In Egypt the assassination of Nasser would have brought the secret military arm of the Brotherhood into the light with conflict against the Revolutionary Command Council, the military organbization ruling Egypt. Sadat was one of its leading figures and would have been the successor to Nasser in 1954 as he was in 1970.
The OTL Moslem Brotherhood survived the post-1954 attacks on its organization and reemerged in 1966 with another assassination attempt on Nasser. This TL MB would seem to be as strong as any of the current "pure Islam" groups. It had branches in Jordan and Syria and would have brought the issue of Westernization into play before the oil boom made the Arab countries rich and Egypt peripheral.
A union in some form of Syria and Iraq and Jordan might have survived if the combination avoided actual armed conflict with Israel. Whatever happened to the Suez Canal, post no-Nasser 1954, would either enhance the stature of the group that thrrew the Brits and French out or diminish them to the lackies of the West.
Fertile ground for the Soviet Union and arms sales to the now united Fertile Crescent and Egypt. Another union between Egypt, Sudan and Qadaffi's Lybia was contemplated in 1971 OTL, would the unifying force of the Brotherhood have pulled this off if only as a form of customs union?
Implications for Suez? Middle East politics in general? Cold War politics in general?