This is a list of coups d'état and coup attempts by country, listed in chronological order. A coup is an attempt to illegally overthrow a country's government. Scholars generally consider a coup successful when the usurpers are able to maintain control of the government for at least seven days.[1]
June–December 1924: The June Revolution (Albanian: Kryengritja e Qershorit or Lëvizja e Qershorit), also known as the Antibourgeois Democratic Revolution (Albanian: Revolucioni Demokrat Antiborgjez), was a peasant insurgency backed by the parliamentary opposition to the Zogu government, following the 1923 Albanian parliamentary election. Fan Noli became the Prime Minister of Albania.
September 14, 1998: The funeral of Azem Hajdari, a Member of Parliament, turned violent as the office of the Albanian prime ministerFatos Nano was attacked, obliging the Nano to hastily flee and step down shortly after. His party remained in power.[9]
21 September 1962 – 5 April 1963: a revolt by Anti Peronist elements of the Argentine Navy after the government decided to allow Peronist candidates to run for political office.
October 6, 1970: Military revolt. Three armed forces chiefs overthrew Alfredo Ovando Candía but ruled for less than a day before Ovando loyalists under Juan José Torres took back control. Ovando agreed to entrust the presidency to Torres.
September 12, 1963: Displeased lower-ranking military personnel rebelled in Brasília after the Supreme Federal Court reaffirmed their ineligibility for legislative posts, in the Sergeants' Revolt.
August 31, 1969: The military prevented Pedro Aleixo, civilian vice-president and legal successor according to the military dictatorship's recently enacted constitution, from assuming power after Costa e Silva suffered a stroke.
September 14–29, 1923: Staged in September 1923 by the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP) under Comintern pressure, this was an attempt to overthrow Alexander Tsankov's new government that had come to power with the June 9 coup d'état. Other than its communist base, the uprising was also supported by agrarians and anarchists. The uprising's goal was the "establishment of a government of workers and peasants" in Bulgaria.
October 2003: The attempted coup was carried out against long-time strongman President Blaise Compaoré and his CDP regime, and resulted in the imprisonment of several members of the military and political dissidents.[38]
September 17, 2015: The presidential guard headed by Gilbert Diendéré overthrew interim president Michel Kafando one month before elections. However, the coup collapsed one week later and Kafando was reinstalled.
January 23, 2022: President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré was reported to have been detained by the soldiers at the military camp in the capital.[42] On January 24, the military announced on television that Kaboré had been deposed from his position as president.[43] After the announcement, the military declared that the parliament, government and constitution had been dissolved.[44]
1891–94: Several Balmacedist plots, planned by Hernán Abos-Padilla, Nicanor Donoso, Diego Bahamondes, Luis Leclerc, Herminio Euth, José Domingo Briceño, Edmundo Pinto, Manuel and Emilio Rodríguez, Virgilio Talquino, and Anselmo Blanlot against the new government.
1912: A failed plot against President Ramon Barros Luco. In September, Gonzalo Bulnes the appointed leader of the plot, desisted.
1919: A failed plot by Generals Guillermo Armstrong and Manuel Moore against President Juan Luis Sanfuentes.
September 27, 1932: A successful coup of General Pedro Vignola that resulted in the resignation of President Bartolomé Blanche and a return to civilian rule.
1933: A failed plot against President Arturo Alessandri. Commander-in-Chief of the army, Pedro Vignola, called "to resist the Milicia Republicana by any means."
1935: Humberto Videla's plot, failed rebellion of NCOs.
1936: plot against Alessandri by René Silva Espejo and Alejandro Lagos.
February 960 – Coup at Chen Bridge: during the Later Zhou dynasty, one of its distinguished military generals, Zhao Kuangyin, staged a coup d'état, forcing the last ruler of the dynasty, Emperor Gong, to abdicate the throne in his favor. Thus the general Zhao Kuangyin became Emperor Taizu who founded the Song Dynasty, reigning from 960 until his death in 976.
September 4, 1323: Coup d'état at Nanpo against Gegeen Khan (alias Emperor Yingzong of Yuan, or Shidibala).[60]
April 18, 1926: Zhang Xueliang and Wu Peifu captured the capital, Beijing, and then sacked the city, leading to the collapse of the Beiyang government and the near destruction of Guominjun faction.
August 27, 1828[es]: After the failure of the Convention of Ocaña, Simón Bolívar performs a self-coup by declaring a dictatorship under the title of "President-Liberator."[61]
1981: attempted coup by head of the Dominica Defence Force Frederick Newton against Eugenia Charles. Newton would be sentenced to death and executed in 1986.
June 22, 2019: Failed coup against the regional government in Amhara Region resulted in the death of several prominent Ethiopian civil and military officials.
July 26–28, 1794: A conspiracy of anti-Robespierrist Montagnards formed an alliance to have de facto dictator Robespierre and his associates arrested and executed; they escaped but were arrested again and executed.
June 18, 1799: The Councils obtained the removal of three out of the five members of the French Directory through military pressure, leaving Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès as the dominant member of the French government.
1832: A plot by Georgian nobles to assassinate members of the Russian local administration of Georgia and restore political independence under the Bagrationi dynasty failed.
December 7, 2022: Police arrested 25 people for allegedly planning a coup. Part of the alleged plot included storming the Bundestag, the German parliament building.[79]
November 5, 2024: police arrested 8 people for planning a coup to take over the state of Saxony.[80]
1831: A naval mutiny organized by Andreas Miaoulis against the government of Ioannis Kapodistrias led to the burning of the fleet on August 13 in the port of Poros.
1831: After the assassination of Kapodistrias, a revolt against his brother Augustinos forced the Senate to take refuge in Astros.
October 11, 1923: Leonardopoulos–Gargalidis coup d'état attempt led by royalist officers.
Second Hellenic Republic
June 25, 1925: A coup d'état brought General Theodoros Pangalos to power.
August 22, 1926: General Georgios Kondylis overthrew General Pangalos.
March 6, 1933: Republican General Nikolaos Plastiras led an attempted coup.
March 1, 1935: General Plastiras and Venizelos attempted a coup d'état.
October 10, 1935: A coup, led by General Kondylis, signaled the end of the Second Hellenic Republic and led to the restoration of King George II to the throne, according to a referendum.
December 13, 1967: Greek counter-coup attempt led by King Constantine II against the Regime of the Colonels. The failure of the counter-coup forced the King to leave Greece definitively.
May 23, 1973: The Velos mutiny against the Regime of the Colonels. The crew of the destroyer HNS Velos (D-16), under the command of Nikolaos Pappas, demanded political asylum in Italy, while the rest of the mutiny in Greek territory was suppressed.
January 17, 1893: A coup d'état against Queen Liliʻuokalani on the island of Oahu by subjects of the Hawaiian Kingdom, United States citizens, and foreign residents residing in Honolulu. A majority of the insurgents were foreigners.[88] They prevailed upon American minister John L. Stevens to call in the U.S. Marines to protect United States' interests, an action that effectively buttressed the rebellion. The revolutionaries established the Republic of Hawaii, but their ultimate goal was the annexation of the islands to the United States, which occurred in 1898.
July 3, 1946: The Prime Minister, Sutan Sjahrir, was kidnapped by factions within the military opposing the Republic's negotiations with the Dutch during the Indonesian National Revolution. It ended with the release of Sjahrir and a re-structure of both the Republican government and the army.[89]
September 19, 2002: failed coup to remove Laurent Gbagbo from power. the attempt resulted in civil war.
June 12, 2012: attempt to overthrow Alassane Ouattara and reinstate Laurent Gbagbo as Ivorian President.
Lunar August, 456 AD: Historical texts state that Mayuwa no Ōkimi (ja:眉輪王) assassinated reigning ŌkimiEmperor Ankō (安康天皇) over the alleged killing of his father. According to the Nihon Shoki, the influential ŌomiKatsuragi no Tsubura was also killed by arson, whereas the Kojiki says he killed himself. This potentially could have been a coup attempt because the two most senior statesmen were targeted and eliminated, nevertheless there is no indication that the plotter wanted to assume the throne, instead Emperor Yuryaku ascended three months later.
479 AD: An attempt by Prince Hoshikawa to gain the throne failed.
1866–68: A Samurai uprising led to the overthrow of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the establishment of a "modern" parliamentary, Western-style system under the Meiji era.
December 7, 1969: An attempted coup by defense minister Moussa Ahmed and interior minister Adam al-Hawaz failed to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi.[103]
1970: Counter-coup plots involving Abdullah al-Abid al-Senussi and Ahmed al-Senussi, two distant cousins of King Idris, were foiled by Gaddafi's RCC regime.[104]
May 12, 1863: Prime Minister Rainivoninahitriniony successfully deposed king Radama II, who was (supposedly) killed and succeeded by his wife, Queen Rasoherina.
March 27, 1868: An attempted coup to reinstate Rainivoninahitriniony as prime minister failed.
1980: Former president Nassir, along with his brother in law Ahmed Naseem, the health minister Mohammed Mustafa Hussain and a leading businessman Khua Mohammed Yusuf, allegedly hired a group of nine former members of Britain's elite Special Air Service commandos and sent them to assassinate President Gayoom. The mercenaries used Sri Lanka as their base and carried out several reconnaissance trips. They were also provided arms to carry out their mission and promised an inducement of $60,000 each. The attempt was called off by the SAS members because they started having second thoughts.[108]
1988: Abdullah Luthufi, assisted by PLOTE, staged a coup to overthrow the government of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. They seized control of the capital until the Indian Navy retook the city from the rebels.
May 18, 1822[es]: Regent Agustín de Iturbide performed a self-coup with army support, proclaiming himself emperor. The Congress, upon which this proclamation was imposed, was dissolved after a few months.[110]
October 1958: A split within the AFPFL threatened to provoke a coup from field officers. To settle the situation, U Nu invited the military to form a caretaker government. From 1958 to 1960, the caretaker government under General Ne Win was formed. The caretaker government initially appeared to be interested in building state capacity. It reduced corruption, improved bureaucratic efficiency, and managed to deal with the pocket armies.
1559: Drabya Shah killed the Khadka, Raja by his own hand with a sword and began the rule of his dynasty under Shahas.[118]
October 31, 1846: A political massacre organized by Jung Bahadur Rana reduced the Shah Monarch to a figurehead and made prime minister and other powers hereditary to Ranas.[119][120]
1882: Chautariya Colonel Ambar Bikram Shah and his Gorkhali aide attempted to assassinate Ranodip Singh. They failed and were killed in Teku by the Ranas.
March 16 1990: Coup attempt by police commissioner Paul Tohian against Prime Minister Rabbie Namaliu was caused by the situation in Bougainville and Tohian being drunk.[129]
From the 1565 Spanish conquest until 1898, there were more than 20 failed Philippine revolts against Spain, including the Chinese revolts (1603, 1662), Dagohoy rebellion (1744–1825), Silang rebellion (1762–1763), and Pule revolt (1840–1841), all crushed by the Spanish colonial government. Most of these were due to redress personal grievances (land use, unjust taxation, forced labor) and were not aimed to overthrow the government in Manila. The following list includes plots that did aim to overthrow the national government.
May 21, 1967: A failed overthrow by Lapiang Malaya of the Third Philippine Republic was led by PresidentFerdinand Marcos. It ended with government forces killing and arresting the participants.
December 1–9, 1989: A failed coup attempt, led by Colonel Gregorio Honasan together with soldiers loyal to former president Marcos, was crushed by the Philippine government.
March 4, 1990: Government troops under Brigadier General Oscar Florendo fought against rebel forces led by suspended Cagayan Governor Rodolfo "Agi" Aguinaldo and were crushed by the Philippine government.
October 4–6, 1990: Mutinying soldiers staged a dawn raid on an army base in Mindanao, and were defeated by the government.
Attempts to wrest control of a chamber of Congress are plots, not coups, because the do not the definition of "removal of an existing government from power" because the head of state and government are not at stake (The Philippines uses the presidential system of government with separation of powers). There had been several instances of this, the latest of which were in 2020 in the House of Representatives and in 2018 in the Senate. One example was in March to April 1952 when the Senate presidency changed three times.
1820: This Portuguese political revolution began with a military insurrection in the city of Porto that quickly and peacefully spread to the rest of the country. The Revolution resulted in the return in 1821 of the Portuguese court to Portugal from Brazil, where it had fled during the Peninsular War, and initiated a constitutional period in which the 1822 Constitution was ratified and implemented.
September 1917: Lavr Kornilov attempted to march into Petrograd, overthrow the Provisional Government, dissolve the Petrograd Soviet and possibly establish a military dictatorship after being appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army by Alexander Kerensky. The coup failed because of a lack of support and mass resistance, but it eroded the Provisional Government's legitimacy and revived the Bolsheviks. It also resulted in the provisional government formally abolishing the Russian monarchy and proclaiming the Russian Republic.
January 28, 1961: The monarchy in Rwanda, then a part of the Belgian mandate of Ruanda-Urundi, was abolished and replaced with a republican political system.
November 1964: At the request of Crown Prince Faisal (Ibn Saud's third son), his brother Muhammad bin Abdulaziz (Ibn Saud's fourth son) led a palace coup that ousted King Saud (Ibn Saud's second son), making Faisal king.[133]
1986: There was a series of coup attempts against President René led by the Seychelles Minister of Defence, Ogilvy Berlouis. Operation Flowers are Blooming was the name of an operation by the Indian Navy to help avert a threatened coup against the government of President France-Albert René.
July 31, 2023: Sierra Leone police arrested 19 people—including 14 serving personnel of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces, 2 officers of the Sierra Leone Police, and 1 retired chief superintendent of police—who were allegedly planning a coup between August 7 and 10.[135][136][137][138] In addition, five military officers and three police officers were subject to a search and capture warrant.[136]
November 26, 2023: An attempted coup involving attacks on barracks and a prison resulted in the death of 19 people. The incident resulted in the arrest of 13 officers and 1 civilian.[139]
February 10, 1988: A short-lived coup that installed Rocky Malebane-Metsing as president of Bophuthatswana was defeated by intervention by the South African Defence Force, which reinstated Lucas Mangope to the position.
June 2, 1985: A group of far-right soldiers and officers (along with some civilians) planned to take power following a false-flag attack, but the conspiracy was later aborted.[citation needed]
1964: The October Revolution in Sudan, driven by a general strike and rioting, forced President Ibrahim Abboud to transfer executive power to a transitional civilian government, and eventually to resign.
1797: Peasants of Baselgebiet rebelled against the City of Basel and ousted Peter Ochs and Peter Vischer.[citation needed]
January 8, 1800: Republicans (Hans Konrad Escher, Paul Usteri, Albrecht Rengger, and Bernhard Friedrich Kuhn) ousted the Patriots (Karl Albrecht von Frisching, Karl von Müller-Friedberg, and Carl Heinrich Gschwend).
August 7, 1800: Patriots ousted the Republicans.
October, 27–28 1801: Federalist (Alois Reding and Johann Rudolf von Frisching), with help from the French Raymond Verninac, ousted the Unitarier and Patriots.
April 17, 1802: Unitarier, led by Bernhard Friedrich Kuhns, ousted the Federalist Alois Reding.
1917–1918: Riots in Stockholm were followed by Socialist threats of revolution, but the plans were never realized. However, king Gustaf V finally accepted parliamentarism and appointed Nils Edén as prime minister for a Liberal-Social Democrat coalition government to ease political tension[150]
1982: hundreds of Syrian Air Force officers became involved in a coup attempt against President Hafez al-Assad, originally planned to take place in coordination with an armed uprising in the city of Hama.
The number of coups in Thailand—whether successful or unsuccessful— is uncertain, leading one academic to call for a concerted effort to make a definitive list.[151]
According to Paul Chambers, a professor at Chiang Mai University's Institute for South-East Asian Affairs, there have been almost 30 coup attempts in Thailand (whether successful or unsuccessful) since 1912. Some count 11 coups since 1932.[152] Others claim there were 13 since 1932.[153]
1912: Coup planned by military officers was discovered and thwarted.
April 1, 1981: A coup led by the army's deputy commander-in-chief failed when forces loyal to the government suppressed the revolt. The "Young Turk" group of officers who staged the coup were dismissed from the army.[155]
May 15, 1826: The Janissaries revolted and attempted to overthrow Sultan Mahmud II in opposition to his military modernizations, but he had the Sipahis force them back to their barracks and then permanently disbanded them.
May 30, 1876: Due to the public discontent caused by crop failures, public debt and excessive spending, the thirty-second Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Abdulaziz was deposed by his ministers and found dead several days later, which was attributed to suicide. He was replaced by Murad V.[156]
February 22, 1962: A failed coup attempt was led by Colonel Talat Aydemir due to the discontent by the election results on July 9, 1961.
May 20, 1963: A second failed coup attempt was led by officers loyal to Colonel Talat Aydemir who was retired after the previous coup attempt. The plotters were motivated by the purges of army officers that took part in the May 27, 1960 coup. İsmet İnönü's government prevented the coup. Colonel Talat Aydemir, who was granted amnesty for the previous attempt, was executed.
February 28, 1997: the General Staff issued a memorandum demanding the reversal of several policies of the Islamist government of Necmettin Erbakan, precipitating its collapse. Due to the lack of an overt military takeover, the event is popularly known as the "postmodern coup" (Turkish: Post-modern darbe).
1913: During the suffragette bombing and arson campaign, Special Branch detectives discovered that the WSPU had plans to create a suffragette "army" known as the "People's Training Corps" and informally as "Mrs. Pankhurst's Army".[165] The army was intended to proceed in force to Downing Street to imprison ministers until they conceded women's suffrage.[165] After the discovery of the plans, they were aborted.[165]
August 29, 1786: Daniel Shays led a march on the federal Springfield Armory in an unsuccessful attempt to seize its weaponry and overthrow the government. The federal government found itself unable to finance troops to put down the rebellion, and it was consequently put down by the Massachusetts state militia and a privately funded local militia. The widely held view was that the Articles of Confederation needed to be reformed as the country's governing document, and the events of the rebellion served as a catalyst for the Constitutional Convention and the creation of the new government.[166]
1933–1934: A group of businessmen were said to be conspiring to overthrow Franklin D. Roosevelt and install a fascist dictatorship. It allegedly failed when Smedley Butler refused to participate and instead testified before Congress.
October 14, 1931: Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana Paul N. Cyr had himself sworn in as Governor while Governor Huey Long was out of state. Long had been elected to the Senate in 1930 but intended to remain Governor until the end of his term in 1932. Long sent the National Guard to the Governor's mansion and the state Capitol and returned to Baton Rouge to secure his position as governor. Long had Cyr removed as Lieutenant Governor by successfully arguing to the Louisiana Supreme Court that Cyr had vacated the position by swearing himself in as governor.[168][169][170]
October 18, 1945: President Isaías Medina Angarita was overthrown by a rebellion and a popular movement, which saw a transition to a democratic government.
November 27, 1992: A failed coup in which a group of remnant officers loyal to the Hugo Chávez-led MBR-200 attempted to seize control of the government.
Spring 1516: Emperor Lê Tương Dực was deposed in a military coup in favor of his nephew Lê Chiêu Tông.
1524: Emperor Lê Chiêu Tông fled the capital due to a rebellion. General Mạc Đăng Dung quashed the rebellion, seized the opportunity to stage a coup against the emperor (who was killed by Mạc's supporters soon after), and raised his brother Lê Cung Hoàng to the throne.[173]
June 15, 1527: Emperor Lê Cung Hoàng, the puppet of general Mạc Đăng Dung, was deposed and executed in a military coup by Mạc, who proclaimed himself the emperor of his own new Mạc dynasty. This led to the Lê–Mạc War (1527/1533–1592).
1965: Army units commanded by General Lâm Văn Phát and Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo fought to a stalemate with those of the ruling military junta, led by General Nguyễn Khánh. Following this, however, General Nguyễn Cao Kỳ and Air Marshal Nguyễn Chánh Thi (hostile to both the plotters and to Khánh himself) seized power themselves with the backing of the United States. They then forced Khánh into exile.
1962: This coup kicked of a civil war in North Yemen. Revolutionary republicans led by the army under the command of Abdullah as-Sallal. He dethroned the newly crowned King and ImamMuhammad al-Badr and declared Yemen a republic under his presidency.
1965: Following the colonial government's Unilateral Declaration of Independence, the colonial governor dismissed the government, but the government ignored this and instead replaced the governor with an "Officer Administering the Government."
Powell, Jonathan M.; Thyne, Clayton L. (1 March 2011). "Global instances of coups from 1950 to 2010 A new dataset" (PDF). Journal of Peace Research(Preprint). 48 (2): 249–259. doi:10.1177/0022343310397436. ISSN 0022-3433. S2CID 9066792. Retrieved 20 June 2022. Coups may be undertaken by any elite who is part of the state apparatus. These can include non-civilian members of the military and security services, or civilian members of government.
Jelavich, Barbara (1999) [1983], History of the Balkans: Twentieth century, vol.2, Cambridge, UK: The Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, p.103, ISBN0-521-27459-1, retrieved January 25, 2011, Soon the government was faced with major peasant revolt
"Fighting in Albania, The armistice broken". The Advertiser. Adelaide: 15. 1914. Retrieved January 25, 2011. Essad Pasha wished to obtain the Crown of Albania, and the peasants' revolt as well as Arif Hikmet's actions were his work.
Heaton-Armstrong, Duncan (2005). "An Uprising in the Six-Month Kingdom". Gervase Belfield and Bejtullah Destani (IB Tauris, in association with the Centre for Albanian Studies). Archived from the original on July 23, 2011. Retrieved January 25, 2011. Muslim uprising in central Albania, one of the factors that led to the Prince's withdrawal from the country and the fall of the so-called six-month kingdom on the eve of the First World War.
Purcell, Roett (1997). Brazil Under Cardoso. Lynne Rienner Publishers. p.103. ISBN9781555874520. Retrieved 2016-03-19– via google.ca. Coup against pETER II Brazil.
Bingham, Woodbridge (1950). "Li Shih-min's coup in A. D. 626. I: The climax of princely rivalry". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 70 (2): 89–95. doi:10.2307/595537. JSTOR595537.
Torres, José Antonio (20 February 2010). "Golpe de Estado a Horacio". El Nacional (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
Johnson, Wray R. (2019). Biplanes at War: US Marine Corps Aviation in the Small Wars Era, 1915–1934. University Press of Kentucky. p.66. ISBN9780813177069.
Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the Congress. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1894. Who were the parties that asked for American Aid. Six of them were Hawaiians, one English, and one German; five were Americans, but residents of Honolulu; a majority alien to us.
Ricklefs, M. C. (1986). A history of modern Indonesia: c. 1300 to the present. Macmillan Asian histories series (Repred.). London: Macmillan. ISBN978-0-333-24380-0.
Kosterman, Hans (1999). "Alva en de tiende penning; De Unie van Utrecht; De Armada; De terechtstelling van Johan van Oldenbarnevelt". In Willem Velema (ed.). Het aanzien van een millennium. Kroniek van historische gebeurtenissen van de Lage Landen 1000–2000. Utrecht: Uitgeverij Het Spectrum. p.63. ISBN9027468443.
Dominguez, Jorge (1989). o Make a World Safe for Revolution: Cuba's Foreign Policy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. pp.114–120, 168–169. ISBN978-0674893252.
Kamnuansilpa, Peerasit; Khan Minh, Le Anh (19 September 2019). "Thailand's 'wicked' development trap"(Opinion). Bangkok Post. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
Richards, Leonard (2003). Shays's Rebellion: The American Revolution's Final Battle. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN978-0-8122-1870-1.
Kosterman, Hans (2000). "De Unie van Utrecht" [The Union of Utrecht]. In Velema, Willem (ed.). Het aanzien van een millennium: kroniek van historische gebeurtenissen van de Lage Landen 1000-2000[The appearance of a millennium: chronicle of historical events of the Low Countries 1000-2000] (in Dutch) (2nded.). Utrecht: Het Spectrum. pp.61–63. ISBN978-90-274-6844-4.