Egypt's Hosni Mubarak resigned as president and handed control to the military on Friday, after 30 years in power, bowing to a historic 18-day wave of pro-democracy demonstrations by hundreds of thousands.

Mubarak, 82, had flown with his family from Cairo to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, a ruling party official said.

Al Jazeera's Alan Fisher takes a look at how the former military man rose to power, and how it all began to slip away.