United Arab Republic

The United Arab Republic (UAR) was a union between Egypt and Syria, established on February 1, 1958 as a first step towards a pan-Arab nation. It was created when a group of political and military leaders in Syria, worried about the danger of a communist take-over in their country, turned to Gamal Abdal Nasser's Egypt for help.

The union bound the two nations together into a united state with its capital in Cairo and, following his 5 February 1958 nomination to the position, under the presidency of Nasser. Egyptian military and technical advisors poured into Syria and the communist threat was defeated. The Syrian people began to grow annoyed at being ruled from distant Cairo, however, and the leaders of Syria who were forced to live in Cairo felt disconnected from their sources of power. There was also widespread arrogance on the part of the Egyptians in Syria, many of whom treated Syria as a de facto colony of Egypt.

Attempts were also made to include Yemen in the union, but the UAR collapsed in 1961 after a coup d'état in Syria. Egypt, now alone in the United Arab Republic, continued to used the name until the death of Nasser in 1971.