History of the Republic of Egypt
On 22–26 July 1952, the Free Officers, a group of disaffected officers in the Egyptian army founded by Gamal Abdel Nasser, and headed by General Muhammad Naguib, initiated the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 with the overthrowing King Farouk, whom the military blamed for Egypt's poor performance in the 1948 war with Israel and lack of progress in fighting poverty, disease, and illiteracy in Egypt. In the following two years, the Free Officers consolidated power, and, following a brief experiment with civilian rule, abrogated the 1953 constitution, and declared Egypt a republic on 18 June 1953, Muhammad Naguib as Egypt's first President.
United States involvement in regime change
Project FF (the "FF" standing for "Fat Fucker") was a CIA program initially designed to modernize the Kingdom of Egypt under Farouk I, pulling Egypt into the anti-soviet camp. However, the unwillingness of the king to comply led Kermit Roosevelt Jr. to support efforts to replace the regime entirely. Upon hearing rumors of discontent within the Egyptian military, Roosevelt met with the leaders of the nationalist, anti-communist, Free Officers Movement, most notably future Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, and informed them of American support for their imminent coup d'état. On July 23, 1952, the Free Officers Movement toppled the monarchy and established the Republic of Egypt.