President Gamal Abdel Nasser – Egypt 1970
The president Gamal abdel Nasser (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian officer who led the July revolution that ended the monarchy in Egypt and established the republic.
He served as the second Egyptian president from 1964 until his death in 1970. He led a big transformation of the Egyptian society through very ambitious development plans in many domains such as agriculture, industry and culture.
Under his rule, Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal, built the High Dam of Aswan, implemented free education at all levels, built numerous new universities, modernized its industry and developed its agriculture.
Nasser enjoyed a very high popularity among Egyptian people and in the Arab world and played an international role in support of liberation movements in the world and especially in Africa.He provided an important support to the Algerian revolution that started in 1954 against the French occupation. He co-founded the non-aligned movement that tried to distance itself from the two major political blocs in the world at the time.
During his presidency, Egypt suffered two major wars. The first was the Suez War in 1956, when Britain, France and Israel attacked Egypt after the nationalization of the Suez Canal. The second was the Six Day War in 1967 in which Israel occupied the Sinai Peninsula.
President Gamal Abdel-Nasser died of a heart attack shortly after the end of the Arab League summit in 1970. His death plunged the entire Arab world into mourning. More than five million people attended his funeral in Cairo.
These two stamps were issued on 6 November 1970, a week after the death of the president Nasser.
Catalog Reference:
Yvert & Tellier: 834 and 835
Scott: 846 and 847
