[2] It was created subsequent to the 1952 movement by Gen. Mohammad Laithi Nassif (1922 - 24 August 1973), on the instructions of Egypt's second president, Gamal Abdel Nasser.

The Egyptian Republican Guard, however, doesn't recruit directly from the population, unlike their Syrian, Yemeni, and (formerly) Iraqi counterparts.

The bulk of its troops are recruited from other Army units, mainly on the basis of performance and advanced training in urban and other types of modern warfare.

The Republican Guard is mainly equipped with M60 Patton and M1A1 Abrams tanks, Fahd 280, BMP-1 and AIFV armoured fighting vehicles.

At dawn on July 8, 2013, a series of clashes erupted between Republican Guard soldiers and protesters who demanded the return of the former President Mohamed Morsi to power following the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état.