Why Egypt’s army overthrew Morsi
In fact, the army had not really left the political scene since Morsi dismissed the defence minister and head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, and Chief of Staff Sami Anan, in August 2012. Under the latter duo, the army had first run the country since the fall of Mubarak, in a transition period of 16 months, and then, after the election of Morsi in June 2012, wanted to maintain an extremely dangerous duality of civil-military power that would inevitably lead to a collision between the presidency and military institution. This confrontation was quickly ended, against all odds, with the dismissal of Tantawi and Anan less than two months after the inauguration of Morsi.