Fall of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt
- Date
- 11 February 2011
- Category
- Politics & governance
- Region
- Egypt
- Era
- Contemporary
- Significance
After 18 days of mass protests centred on Cairo's Tahrir Square, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak resigned on 11 February 2011, ending nearly 30 years of autocratic rule.
The uprising began on 25 January 2011, inspired by Tunisia's revolution, with Egyptians demanding 'bread, freedom and social justice'. Between roughly 800 and 1,100 civilians were killed during the protests. Vice-President Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak had handed power to the armed forces, and crowds in Tahrir erupted in celebration. Mubarak's fall was the most consequential episode of the Arab Spring given Egypt's size and regional weight. The subsequent transition proved turbulent: the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi won the 2012 presidential election but was removed in a July 2013 military takeover led by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who consolidated authoritarian rule. Egypt's trajectory came to symbolise both the hopes raised by the 2011 uprisings and their largely unfulfilled democratic promise.
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Related politics & governance events
- The end of apartheid and Nelson Mandela's election in South Africa27 April 1994 (election); 10 May 1994 (inauguration)
- Dissolution of the Soviet UnionAugust–December 1991
- German reunification3 October 1990
- Fall of the Berlin Wall9 November 1989
- Revolutions of 1989 across Eastern Europe1989 (Autumn of Nations)
- Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika1985–1991 (from 11 March 1985)
Further reading
The wider story
The State of Africa: A History of the Continent Since Independence
Gripping account of Africa's nations from independence to the present.
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