But did it lose?
The Nasserists mocked them. Called them "Mamaliq" (plural of Mamluk)—slaves to the old order, slave to the West, slaves to their own ancestral paranoia. mamluqi 1958
1958, in contrast, was the year of ideology. Nasser was not a slave-king; he was a prophet of the masses. He spoke on the radio. He mobilized the poor. But did it lose
The Mamluk, remember, is the ultimate outsider who seizes the inside. He is the slave who becomes king, only to be overthrown by a younger, hungrier slave. There is no legitimacy. Only force. Only ghalaba (overcoming). 1958, in contrast, was the year of ideology
It never happened. Why? Because the CIA reportedly got cold feet. Because General Chehab personally threatened to have any conspirators shot. Because Nasser's intelligence service (the Mukhabarat ) got wind of it and threatened to bomb the homes of the plotters' families in Damascus.
So what happens when you combine the —paranoid, slave-born, elite, violent—with the modern, revolutionary fever of 1958 ?
The conspiracy dissolved. But the name stuck.