Egyptian Army

The Egyptian Army officially Egyptian Ground Forces (Arabic: القوات البرية المصرية‎; Arabic pronunciation: [el qowat el brih el masriya]) the largest service branch within the Egyptian Armed Forces, and is the largest army in Africa.

The modern army was established during the reign of Muhammad Ali Pasha (1805-1849), who is considered to be the "founder of modern Egypt". Its most significant engagements in the 20th Century were in Egypt's five wars with the State of Israel (in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1967-1970, and 1973), one of which, the Suez Crisis of 1956, also saw it do combat with the armies of Britain, and France. The Egyptian army was also engaged heavily in the protracted North Yemen Civil War, and the brief Libyan-Egyptian War in July 1977. Its last major engagements was Operation Desert Storm, the liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi occupation in 1991, in which Egyptian army constituted the second largest contingent of allied forces.

As of 2014, the army has an estimated strength of 310,000 soldiers, of which, approx. 90-120,000 are professionals with the rest being conscripts.