page_title: Mohamed Hussein Tantawi
section_title: Military career
hierarchical_section_title: Mohamed Hussein Tantawi / Military career
caption_attribution_description: English: The Honorable Donald H. Rumsfeld, right, U.S. Secretary of Defense, poses for a photograph with Egyptian Minister of Defense Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, during the minister's visit at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., on March 7, 2006. (DoD photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley)
context_page_description: Mohamed Hussein Tantawy Soliman is an Egyptian field marshal and former politician. He was the commander-in-chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces and, as Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, was the de facto head of state from the ousting of Hosni Mubarak on 11 February 2011 to the inauguration of Mohamed Morsi as President of Egypt on 30 June 2012. Tantawy served in the government as Minister of Defense and Military Production from 1991 until Morsi ordered Tantawy to retire on 12 August 2012.
context_section_description: Tantawy, who is of Nubian origin, joined the Egyptian Military Academy in 1952 and received his commission as an Army officer on 1 April 1955 in the infantry. The following year he took part in the Suez War (or the Tripartite Aggression as it is often known in Egypt) as an infantry platoon commander. He was promoted to Major in 1961 and commanded an infantry company in Yemen during the North Yemen Civil War. Later in his career he was involved in the Six-Day War of 1967 as a Lt.Colonel and Battalion commander, the War of Attrition of 1967–1970, and the October or Yom Kippur War of 1973. During the Yom Kippur War he was a Lieutenant Colonel commanding of 16th mechanized infantry battalion. He held various command and staff appointments including both the Chief of Staff and then Commander of the Second Field Army between 1986 and 1989. Additionally he has served as a military attaché to Pakistan between 1983 and 1985, an important role given the two countries' political and military links. Tantawy served as a Commander of the Republican Guard Forces between 1989 and 1991, and later a Chief of the Operations Authority of the Armed Forces. In 1991, he also commanded an Egyptian Army unit in the U.S.-led Gulf War against Iraq to force Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait, which it had invaded in 1990.
  On 29 May 1991, following the dismissal of Colonel General Youssef Sabri Abu Taleb, Tantawi was promoted to lieutenant general rank and appointed as minister of defense and military production and commander-in-chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces. After one month he was promoted to general colonel rank, which he held for two years before being promoted to the rank of field marshal, the highest rank in the Egyptian military, in 1993. It is believed that Tantawy would have succeeded Mubarak as president of Egypt had the assassination attempt in June 1995 been successful. Early in 2011, Tantawy was seen as a possible contender for the Egyptian presidency.
  Robert Springborg wrote that "Foreign military professionals.. liken[ed] Tantawi to the CEO of the largest corporate conglomerate in Egypt" because his primary concern was the economic well-being of the military, not the performance of its nominal tasks and duties.
caption: Field Marshal Tantawy with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, 7 March 2006
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