The struggle between Egypt and Iraq over Arab hegemony constitutes the main theme of this text. Focusing on the struggle over Middle Eastern defense between 1945-1958 and culminating in the conflict over the Baghdad Pact (1955-1958), it sheds new light on Arab politics during that period. This research concentrates predominantly on the regional actors. The underlying assumption is that policies were not necessarily formulated in Washington and London, and that - often enough - major decisions taken in Ankara, Cairo, Baghdad, Damascus, Amman and other Arab capitals affected decision-makers in Western capitals. This text is based on newly-released British, American and Israeli documents, as well as on available Arab sources. The study"s value rests upoon its discussion of the Baghdad Pact, a significant event which has often been neglected. This study"s approach offers an analytical framework with which the present struggle for hegemony in the Arab world may be examined.