Muhammad Tantawi (31 October 1935 – 21 September 2021) was Defense Minister of Egypt from 20 May 1991 to 12 August 2012 (succeeding Sabri Abu Taleb and preceding Abdel Fattah el-Sisi) and the military ruler of Egypt from 11 February 2011 to 30 June 2012 (succeeding Hosni Mubarak and preceding Mohamed Morsi).
biography[]
Muhammad Tantawi was born in Cairo, Egypt in 1935 to a family of Nubian origin. He graduated from the military academy in 1955 and served in the Egyptian Army during the Suez Crisis, the North Yemen Civil War, the Six-Day War, the War of Attrition, and the Yom Kippur War, after which he served as a military attache to Pakistan, commanded the Egyptian Republican Guard from 1989 to 1991, and served in the Gulf War. Tantawi was promoted to Lieutenant-General and Defense Minister in 1991, serving until 2012. He and the military assumed power following President Hosni Mubarak's resignation during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, and Tantawi handed over most governing powers to the Supreme Constitutional Court. In 2012, President Mohamed Morsi had Tantawi retire as head of the armed forces in exchange for immunity from prosecution for his involvement in violently suppressing liberal protests.