Anwar el-Sadat had military training. In World War II he fought against the British dominance of Egypt and was imprisoned for several years. After the war he joined the officers who under Nasser’s leadership deposed the pro-English King Farouk in 1952. Nasser died a few years after Egypt’s defeat by Israel in 1967, and Sadat took over as President. He broke Egypt’s links with the Soviet Union, and sought US support in recovering territories lost to Israel. In the autumn of 1977 Sadat undertook a bold journey to Jerusalem, where he offered Begin a peace treaty in return for recovery of the occupied Sinai peninsula.
