Free Officers Movement

In Egypt, the clandestine revolutionary Free Officers Movement was founded by Colonel Gamal Abd al-Nasser in the aftermath of Egypt's sense of national disgrace from the War of 1948. It was composed of young junior army officers committed to unseating the Egyptian monarchy and its British advisors. Nasser formed a coordinating committee (1949), of which he was acclaimed head (1950). The Free Officers Committee enlisted General Muhammad Naguib as a public figurehead in preparation for the successful coup of July 23, 1952.

The nine men who had constituted themselves as the Committee of the Free Officers Movement and led the 1952 Revolution were Lieutenant Colonel Gamal Abdul Nasser, Major Abd al Hakim Amir, Lieutenant Colonel Anwar Sadat, Major Salah Salim, Major Kamal ad Din Husayn, Wing Commander Gamal Salim, Squadron Leader Hasan Ibrahim, Major Khalid Muhi ad Din, and Wing Commander Abd al Latif al Baghdadi. Major Husayn ash Shafii and Lieutenant Colonel Zakariyya Muhi ad Din joined the committee later.

The Free Officers Movement can be seen in context at the entries for Nasser and Naguib.

The name was consciously assumed by opposition leaders in Saddam Hussein's Iraq, led by Brigadier-General