Anwar El Sadat's 1973 Victory Speech Will Be Taught in Schools

The text of President Anwar Sadat’s October 16th, 1973 address to the People’s Assembly has been added to Egypt’s national history curriculum for second baccalaureate students. The Ministry of Education and Technical Education said the speech appears within a dedicated lesson on the October 1973 War in unit five of the textbook, which covers Egypt and the Palestinian cause.

The lesson spans pages 63 to 72 and places the war within a wider political and diplomatic framework rather than treating it solely as a military campaign. Students are expected to study the circumstances that led to the war, Egyptian diplomatic efforts before October 6th, Arab coordination, the roles of senior military leaders, the positions of the United States and Soviet Union, and the conflict’s outcomes. The material also asks students to connect values drawn from the lesson with present-day situations.

The textbook traces the build-up to the war through the rebuilding of the armed forces and the preparation of a strategy designed to offset Israeli advantages including air superiority, the Bar Lev Line and rapid mobilisation. Its operational account covers the opening air strikes and artillery barrage, the crossing of the Suez Canal, the breaching of the Bar Lev Line using water pumps, and the establishment of bridgeheads east of the canal under Egyptian air defence cover. It also addresses the simultaneous Egyptian and Syrian offensives and the financial and economic support provided by other Arab states.

A biographical section introduces major military and political figures connected to the war, including Anwar Sadat, Ahmed Ismail Ali, Saad El Shazly, Fouad Zekry, Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, Mohamed Ali Fahmy, Mohamed Abdel Ghani El Gamasy and Fouad Nassar.