Editing History of Egypt (section)

=== Sadat era ===
{{Main|History of Egypt under Anwar Sadat}}[[File:Sadat 1 (cropped).jpg|thumb|170px|[[Anwar El Sadat|Anwar Al Sadat]]]]

Sadat switched Egypt's [[Cold War]] allegiance from the Soviet Union to the United States, expelling Soviet advisors in 1972. He launched the [[Infitah]] economic reform policy, while clamping down on religious and secular opposition.

In 1973, Egypt, along with Syria, launched the [[Yom Kippur War|October War]], a surprise attack against the Israeli forces occupying the Sinai Peninsula and the [[Golan Heights]]. It was an attempt to regain part of the Sinai territory that Israel had captured six years earlier. Sadat hoped to seize some territory through military force, and then regain the rest of the peninsula by diplomacy. The conflict sparked an international crisis between the US and the USSR, both of whom intervened. The second UN-mandated ceasefire halted military action. While the war ended with a military stalemate, it presented Sadat with a political victory that later allowed him to regain the Sinai in return for peace with Israel.{{citation needed|date=September 2023}}

Sadat made a historic visit to Israel in 1977, which led to the 1979 [[Egypt–Israel peace treaty|peace treaty]] in exchange for Israeli withdrawal from Sinai. Sadat's initiative sparked enormous controversy in the [[Arab world]] and led to Egypt's expulsion from the [[Arab League]], but it was supported by most Egyptians.{{sfnp|Vatikiotis|1991|p=443}} On 6 October 1981, [[Assassination of Anwar El Sadat|Sadat and six diplomats were assassinated]] while observing a military parade commemorating the eighth anniversary of the October 1973 War. He was succeeded by [[Hosni Mubarak]].