The army establishes a fragile peace in Egypt When Hosni Mubarak was toppled from power in Egypt in 2011, we cautioned those in the West who were cheering on the revolution that it might unwittingly have unleashed the forces of radical Islam. So it proved. Indeed, the election last year of a Muslim Brotherhood government should not have come as any great surprise. Mubarak had so dismantled the normal political processes inside Egypt that the only two extant institutions were the army and the Muslim Brotherhood. The latter, though effectively banned, had worked away for 80 years at the grass-roots level and was therefore the only party in a position to profit from the country's move to democracy. However, what President Mohammed Morsi failed to understand was that his victory obliged him to reach out to those who did not support the Brotherhood. Yes, he could claim democratic legitimacy; but only up to a point. As the beneficiary of a revolution, he should have led an inclusive administration that recognised the powerful secular instincts of a large section of Egypt's population. Instead, he took the country on a journey down the road to an Islamist future that alienated many of those who had been at the forefront of the 2011 uprising. The rights of women were curtailed, sharia was imposed and the tourists on whom Egypt's economy relied stayed away. When the people once again poured on to the streets last weekend demanding reforms, Mr Morsi further demonstrated his obduracy by digging in his heels. With the country on the brink, the military stepped into the breach. Once it had issued its ultimatum to Egypt's political leaders to sort out their differences, the president's fate was sealed. The constitution has now been suspended and new elections will be held to form a government of national unity, which might at least spare Egypt the ghastly prospect of civil war. However, the last time the army in an Arab country overturned the election of an Islamist government was Algeria in 1991. That ushered in a decade-long civil war in which an estimated 200,000 people died. The crowds were setting off celebratory fireworks in Tahrir Square last night, but the potential for serious violence in Egypt cannot be dismissed.