Egyptian Revolution

Egypt, the most populous country in the Arab world, erupted in mass protests in January 2011 that have brought the 29-year regime of President Hosni Mubarak to an apparent end, with his announcement on Feb. 1 that he would not run for re-election. The revolution in Tunisia earlier in the month seemed to inflame decades worth of smoldering grievances against Mr. Mubarak's heavyhanded rule.

The protests began on a Tuesday, Jan. 25, growing in strength with tens of thousands of people gathering to demand that Mr. Mubarak to step down. The government quickly banned all demonstrations, but on Wednesday the protesters returned in gathering numbers and clashed with the police in cities across the country despite curfews.

Control of the streets cycled through a dizzying succession of stages. After an all-out war against hundreds of thousands of protesters on the night of Jan. 28, the legions of black-clad security police officers — a reviled paramilitary force focused on upholding the state — withdrew from the biggest cities. After the jails were opened, looters smashed store windows and ravaged shopping malls as police stations and the national party headquarters burned through the night, creating an atmosphere that protesters said would justify a crackdown. Unofficials tallies estimate that more than 100 protesters died in the opening days of the unrest.

That day, Jan. 28, Mr. Mubarak called the army into the streets and that night ordered his government to resign but did not offer to step down himself. He named the head of military intelligence, Omar Suleiman, as his new vice president, and the air force chief, Ahmed Shafik, as prime minister, in an attempt to shore up support among the military.

The change in the cabinet did not slow the protests, and the next day troops and demonstrators fraternized.

The uprising had come about with virtually no leadership, as angry young people used cellphones and social media to coordinate the first protests. Mohamed ElBaradei,...