The Algerian army, heir to the national liberation army that fought colonial France, has been at the heart of the country’s political system ever since independence in 1962. Today that arrangement may have reached its limit. The popular revolt that began Feb. 22 is forcing the armed forces to confront their contradictory role as both a key participant and arbiter of government.

The military’s original foray into Algerian politics began with its support for Ahmed Ben Bella as premier in 1962 (Ben Bella was elected Algeria’s first president a year later). In 1965, Col. Houari Boumedienne, the army chief, captured the presidency for himself following a military coup. Since then, directly or indirectly, the army has been making and unmaking nominally civilian governments while guiding the country’s political life.

Engaged in a brutal fight against Islamists in the 1990s, the army sponsored Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s rise to power in 1999. Overexposed during the years of civil war, the military was happy to give Bouteflika free rein and reclaim its behind-the-scenes role as kingmaker.

The scheming Bouteflika in turn adeptly played rival army chiefs off of one another. In 2004, during Bouteflika's first reelection campaign, Gen. Mohamed Lamari, the army chief of staff who opposed Bouteflika and discreetly backed presidential rival Ali Benflis, resigned. Fellow generals — notably the head of the intelligence and security service Mohamed Mediene, commonly known as Gen. Toufik — continued to support Bouteflika, including during constitutional changes that opened the way for presidency for life in 2008.