United Arab Republic
In 1952, after the creation of the Republic of Egypt, Gamal Abdel Nasser pursued the unification of all Arab nations, Pan-Arabism. Another keypoint of this ideology was to rid the Arab world from Western influences. From 1952-1952 he served as Egypt’s prime-minister and from 1954-1970 he served as Egypt’s president. Syria´s and Egypt's relations improved in 1955 when they signed their first military agreement. In 1958 the Syrian government proposed a union with Egypt. The Syrian government feared a communist take-over and they felt intimidated by the Baghdad pact which included neighboring Jordan and Iraq. There was also the threat of war with Turkey after skirmishes at the border. In Syria the worker’s unions and the socialist party thought that a union with the socialistic Egypt of Nasser would help speed up the process of Syria’s ‘conversion’ to socialism. Also the landowning elites and the bourgeoisie thought the union with Egypt would improve the economic situation in Syria. For Nasser it was an opportunity to make the first step in his dream of creating a Pan-Arab nation. On the first of February of 1958 the union was formed.