Nasser was a war hero who rose quickly in military rank to colonel. He, like many others, dedicated his time and energy to reversing the corruption seen on the part of the government throughout the 1947–1949 Palestine war by restoring a democracy. He saw the problem of domestic passivity towards imperialism as being as much a problem as imperialism itself. The Free Officers strengthened a "new" middle class. Due to this dedication to change, the Free Officers referred to their group and its entirety as simply a "movement." Later however, it would become a revolution. The Free Officers Committee enlisted General Muhammad Naguib as a public figurehead in preparation for the successful coup of 23 July 1952. The men who had constituted themselves as the Committee of the Free Officers Movement and led the 1952 Revolution were Lieutenant Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser (1917–70), Major Abdel Hakim Amer (1919–67), Lieutenant Colonel Anwar El-Sadat (1918–81), Major Salah Salem (1920–62), Major Kamal el-Din Hussein (1921–99), Wing Commander Gamal Salem (1918–2001), Squadron Leader Hassan Ibrahim (1917–90), Major Khalid Mohieddin (1922–2018), and Wing Commander Abdel Latif Boghdadi (1917–99); Major Hussein el-Shafei (1918–2005) and Lieutenant Colonel Zakaria Mohieddin (1918–2012) joined the committee later. The continued agitation within Egypt as a result of British control led to a series of revolts in which British military outposts were attacked. During 1950–52, workers in the Suez Canal Zone went on strike but were blockaded by the British Army. The pro-British Egyptian government in Cairo issued a public warning to Egyptian nationalists not to continue their activities. Contrarily, attacks were made against the British and the Egyptian elites who worked with them. At this point, Egyptian nationalist groups were divided and disorganised. The military was the only area that still held some sort of organised mission, which led to the Revolution of 1952. The revolutionaries publicised the need for reform and social justice, marched on Cairo and forced King Farouk to abdicate his throne. The revolution led to the end of British control over Egypt, which had begun in 1882 during the Anglo-Egyptian War. Legacy Similar movements were organised by other groups of junior officers seeking to mimic the Free Officers' ascent to power. In Iraq, a faction of Arab and Iraqi nationalist officers, who referred to themselves as the "Free Officers", toppled the pro-British Hashemite government of Nuri al-Said and Faisal II in 1958. Said and Faisal, Nasser's chief