Traditional theories of democracy speak of basic conditions necessary for a successful democratic transition, including the existence of political parties and an active civil society. These theories, however, neglect one of the key factors behind any country’s successful transition: civilian control over the military establishment. Egypt’s case, where a revolution heralded the start of democratic transformation, exhibited this most apparently. The successive setbacks witnessed during the transitional phase, thereby leading to the army’s return on July 3, 2013, call for a thorough study of civil-military relations in post-revolution Egypt in order to better understand what will happen in light of the attempts made during the transitional phase to exclude the military from power and hasten the transfer of power to an elected government and president.