Antoun Saadeh was born on the 1st of March 1904 in Al-Shouwayr in the El-Metn province of Mount Lebanon.
He finished primary school in his hometown, had some further studies at "The Brother School" in Cairo-Egypt and then back in Lebanon at "Broumana High School", Broumana, Mount Lebanon.
He left Lebanon end of 1919 to the USA and in February 1921 moved to Brazil where he joined his father Dr. Khalil Saadeh to edit "Al-Jaridah and Al-Majallah, a newspaper and a magazine which were published in Arabic there.
In 1924 he established a secret association for the purpose of liberating and unifying the whole natural Syria but resolved it in 1925. He studied German and Russian languages while in Brazil.
He returned to Lebanon on July 1930. Moved to Damascus in 1931 to edit Al-Ayam newspaper, then went back to Beirut where he taught the German language course at the American University of Beirut. He republished "Al-Majallah" in Beirut which was to cease publication after four issues only.
On 16 November 1932 he secretly established the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP). Its existence and activities unfolded in 1935. This lead to the arrest of Saadeh with some of his top aids. He spent six months in prison where he wrote "The Genealogy of Nations".
He was arrested again end of June 1936 until early November the same year where he wrote "Explanation of the Principles", only to return to prison early March 1937. There he wrote "The Genealogy of the Syrian Nation" whose manifest was confiscated by the French mandate authorities who refused to give it back to Saadeh at his release and later it was lost completely.
He got out of Prison end of May 1937 and established "Al-Nahda" newspaper in November 1937 and led the SSNP until he left the country in 1938 to organise the SNSP's branches overseas. In the same year he established "Souria Al-Jadidah" newspaper in Brazil. He was arrested as a result of Syrians who were British agents turning him into the Brazilian authorities but proved innocent and released after two months.
He moved to Argentina where he was caught unable to travel further, because the French consulate there confiscated his passport, as he was convicted to 20 years in prison and 20 years in exile by French authorities back at home. World War II erupted during this time, and he had to stay there until 1947. While in Argentina he established "Al-Zawbaa" and wrote "The Intellectual Struggle in the Syrian Literature", which was published in Buenos Aires.
He got married to Juliet Al-Meer in 1943 and had three daughters, Elissar, Saphya and Raghida.
He returned to Beirut 2 nd of March 1947, where he delivered a very strong worded speech to the mass of people who welcomed him at the airport, thus scaring the Lebanese authorities who issued a warrant for his arrest, but withdrew it after seven months.
He established "Al-Jeal Al-Jadid" newspaper in Beirut, where its printing offices were lit with fire by some members of the Lebanese Phalange Party who were protected and guided by the Lebanese authorities who in turn retaliated against the SSNP, which also led Saadeh to declare the 1st Revolution against the Lebanese government on July 4, 1949.
While Saadeh was busy planning and leading the revolution from Damascus, he was unaware that Mr. Husni Al-Zaeem, the head of the Syrian military government who had just assured him full support, had changed his mind. Under pressure from some Arab and foreign regimes, he decided to give Saadeh up to the Lebanese authorities who received Saadeh at the Lebanese-Syrian border. They court martialled and sentenced him to death in less than 24 hours and executed the death penalty in front of a firing squad at a deserted beach at the outskirts of Beirut at 3:20 am, dawn of July 8, 1949 .