For Egypt, the 20th century was a time of great change. Egypt gained independence from the British only in 1922, when Fuad became king. However, many were unhappy with the way Fuad, and later his son Farouk, ruled the country and this sparked a historic uprising in the early 1950s, which led to Gamal Abdel Nasser becoming president and declaring Egypt a republic. Nasser's presidency in Egypt presented the public with a new and modern way of life, leading to a period of profound economic and political change, not only in Egypt, but throughout the Arab world. During his time, Nasser revolutionized the economy and education, as well as improved the lives of the general public, especially women. Through careful analysis of primary sources and further research on the work of historians, the influence of Nasser's policies on the population will be assessed. Before 1953, the Egyptian economy was in disarray as the country was overpopulated and in debt due to British occupation policies. The aftermath of the Second World War saw waves of civil unrest and political instability in Egypt, which continued throughout the 1940s and early 1950s. When Nasser became president, he took it upon himself not only to restore relations abroad, but also to bring his own country to order, with his first dramatic reform targeting land ownership. In September 1945, Makram Ebeid, the Egyptian Finance Minister, presented the government with a fully drafted bill aimed at increasing the percentage of fertile land owned by small landowners; give more land to those who owned less than fifty acres. Abdel Rahman Al-Rafei Pasha supported this further in 1948, however it was evident that inequalities remained because by 1950 more than a third of all fertile land was owned by only 0.5% of the Egyptian population. As Tarek Osman has recognised, Nasser's reforms meant that by the end of 1955, the