The Egyptian Army and Palace Guardism

Palace guardism is what happens when a regime treats its army as both shield and threat. In Armies of Sand, Kenneth Pollack uses the idea to explain how armies built around regime security tend to damage the very qualities that make armies effective: initiative, candour, delegation, and trust.

Egypt’s performance in 1973 is the interesting case because it was not simple failure. Operation Badr was disciplined, limited, and operationally impressive. Egyptian forces crossed the Suez Canal, broke through the Bar-Lev Line, and shocked Israel. But when the war moved beyond the plan — beyond the rehearsed crossing, beyond the SAM umbrella, beyond the script — the old rigidity returned.