Status quo probably means a lot here. If you had some kind of regime for hundreds of years, when you hear a suggestion to change it, your instincts will most likely go like “that is not going to succeed or last long enough”.
Also, I suppose US generals are unlikely to die in a war. (Unless the nukes start flying, in which case no one is safe.) And they are unlikely to get executed by a president one day, just because they seemed like a possible threat. So, they have a lot to lose by rebelling.
On the other hand, in a dictatorship no one is really safe, so doing dangerous things is relatively less costly. Actually, if you get too powerful, loyalty may be more dangerous than revolution.
Status quo probably means a lot here. If you had some kind of regime for hundreds of years, when you hear a suggestion to change it, your instincts will most likely go like “that is not going to succeed or last long enough”.
Also, I suppose US generals are unlikely to die in a war. (Unless the nukes start flying, in which case no one is safe.) And they are unlikely to get executed by a president one day, just because they seemed like a possible threat. So, they have a lot to lose by rebelling.
On the other hand, in a dictatorship no one is really safe, so doing dangerous things is relatively less costly. Actually, if you get too powerful, loyalty may be more dangerous than revolution.