List of coups and coup attempts

See also: List of coups and coup attempts by country

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

General Bonaparte during the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire in Saint-Cloud, detail of painting by François Bouchot, 1840

A coup d'état, often abbreviated to coup, is the overthrow of a government by non-democratic means. This is a chronological list of coups and coup attempts, from ancient times to the present.

BC

The assassination of Julius Caesar (44 BC), as depicted by Vincenzo Camuccini.

• 876–A military coup, Zimri, a military commander of Israel kills his king King Elah and becomes king himself, he soon committed suicide to avoid being overthrown by his own commander Omri.
• 860–Duke Hu of Qi is overthrown by his half-brother Shan.
• 841–Jehu kills Jehoram of Israel and Ahaziah of Judah, and becomes king of Israel.
• 730–Failed coup attempted by Rezin of Aram-Damascus and Pekah of Israel try to overthrow Ahaz of Judah and the House of David and to replace him with Ben Tav'el.
• 716– King Candaules of Lydia is killed by his bodyguard, Gyges, who then assumed the throne. Gyges had conspired with Candaules's wife.
• 632–Failed coup attempt in Athens by Cylon who attempted to establish himself as a tyrant.
• 509–Members of the Tarquin dynasty led by Lucius Junius Brutus overthrew King of Rome Lucius Tarquinius Superbus and established the Roman Republic.
• 411–Coup at Athens led by Antiphon establishes a short-lived oligarchy known as The Four Hundred.
• 404–Coup at Athens led by Critias establishes the short-lived pro-Spartan oligarchy known as the Thirty Tyrants.
• 209–Xiongnu emperor Modu Chanyu overthrew his father Touman and killed his rival half-brother.
• 185–Coup in Maurya Empire which controlled much of present Indian territory by Mauryan General Pushyamitra Shunga.
• 87–During Sulla's first civil war, Lucius Cornelius Sulla invades Rome and deposes Gaius Marius.
• 82–In Sulla's second civil war, Sulla again marched on Rome, removed Gaius Marius the Younger, and proclaimed himself as Roman dictator.
• 49–Julius Caesar illegally crossed the river Rubicon heading part of the Roman army and marched on Rome. After assuming control of government, he was proclaimed "dictator in perpetuity".
• 44–On the Ides of March, Julius Caesar was assassinated by members of the Roman Senate. The conspirators did not gain control of the Roman Republic, instead, power eventually passed to the Second Triumvirate of Caesar supporters.

AD 1–999

Nero was the target of many plots. Here a plaster bust conserved at the Pushkin Museum, Moscow.

As-Saffah is proclaimed as the first Abbasid caliph, from Balami's Tarikhnama

• 31: Sejanus killed when his upcoming appointment to Emperor was disclosed as a coup.
• 41: Roman Emperor Caligula was killed by his own bodyguard due to his unbalanced nature.
• 65: Pisonian conspiracy against Roman Emperor Nero.
• 69: Following Roman Emperor Nero's death, several complots lead to the year of the Four Emperors.
• 189: Ten Eunuchs of Later Han Dynasty were murdered by troops led by Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu; Dong Zhuo took over the government by force.
• 249: Incident at Gaoping Tombs, where Cao Shuang was captured and executed by the Sima house (Sima Yi, Sima Zhao, and Sima Shi).
• 498: Ōomi Heguri no Matori usurps Yamato Japan's government upon the death of the Ōkimi (ja) (Great Chieftain), now known as Emperor Ninken. Matori is killed by Otomo no Kanamura. Over a century later, the title Ōkimi was posthumously reassigned to the term Emperor.
• 552: Bumin Qaghan overthrew the Rouran Khaganate and declared the Turkic Khaganate.
• 602: Maurice, emperor of the Byzantine Empire, is deposed by a conspiracy of the Balkan army led by a Thracian junior officer named Flavius Phocas, along with Maurice's seven sons. Most of the pro-Maurice government officials and generals are executed along with him (excepting Priscus and Philippicus), and Phocas is acclaimed emperor in the church of St. John the Baptist.
• 610: Heraclian revolt: The same Phocas who had deposed Maurice 8 years earlier is deposed by a conspiracy led by the generals Priscus, his son-in-law, and Heraclius the Elder, the governor of north Africa. The exarch's son, Heraclius the Younger, deposes Phocas with the help of his cousin Niketas.
• 626: During the Xuanwu Gate Incident on 2 July, Prince Li Shimin and his close followers killed Crown Prince Li Jiancheng and Prince Li Yuanji before taking complete control of the Tang government from Emperor Gaozu.
• 642: Yeon Gaesomun of Goguryeo led a military coup that killed King Yeongryu and installed King Bojang as a puppet under military rule.
• 680: King Wamba of the Visigoths is drugged, tonsured and dressed in a monk's cloak, so he would be considered an ordained man and hence he could not reign.
• 717: Inel Qaghan of Second Turkic Khaganate was dethroned and later killed by Bilge Kaghan's brother Kül Tigin.
• 742: Ashina Shi usurped the Second Turkic Khaganate throne after killing three of his rivals.
• 751: Abu Muslim Khorasani stormed Damascus and massacred the ruling Banu Umayyad family, thenceforth As-Saffah became the first ruler of the Abbasid Caliphate.
• 839: Jang Bogo of Silla overthrows King Minae and installs King Sinmu on the throne.

1000–1699

General Yi Seong-gye, later crowned Taejo of Joseon.

• 1010: General Gang Jo of Goryeo stages a coup that overthrew King Mokjong.
• 1126: Yi Ja-gyeom of Goryeo makes a failed attempt to overthrow King Injong.
• 1170: General Jeong Jung-bu of Goryeo led a military coup that deposed King Uijong and installed puppet king Myeongjong under military regime.
• 1197: Choe Chung-heon of Goryeo stages a military coup that ousted and killed military dictator Yi Ui-Min, and deposed King Myeongjong.
• 1258: General Kim Jun of Goryeo overthrows and kills then-military dictator Choe Ui.
• 1284: The Ilkhanate ruler Tekuder requests help from the Mamluks, but is overthrown by Arghun.
• 1327: Isabella of France overthrows her husband, Edward II, and becomes regent for their son, Edward III, with her lover and co-regent, Roger Mortimer.
• 1330: Edward III assumes royal power, arrests Isabella of France and executes Roger Mortimer.
• 1388: General Yi Seong-gye of Goryeo led a military coup that deposed King U, murdered General Choe Young, and installed puppet ruler King Chang and eventually King Gongyang. Yi later crowned himself, starting Joseon Dynasty.
• 1398: Prince Yi Bangwon of Joseon leads a coup that murdered Prime Minister Jeong Dojeon and two other princes.
• 1455: Prince Suyang of Joseon leads a coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Hwangbo In and Kim Jong Seo, who were killed during the coup.
• 1459: Prince Lê Nghi Dân leads a coup that killed Emperor Lê Nhân Tông. Lê Nghi Dân later crowned himself.
• 1459: Đỗ Bí and Lê Thụ leads a coup that overthrew Emperor Lê Nghi Dân.
• 1506: A coup d'état in Joseon overthrew Prince Yeonsan and places King Jungjong on the throne.
• 1512: Selim I of Ottomans rebelled against his father Bayezid II and took the throne of Ottoman Empire.
• 1541: Juan de Rada leads a coup that ousts and kills Spanish conquistador and governor of Peru, Francisco Pizarro, and installs Diego de Almagro II as governor.
• 1567: Protestant rebels arrested Mary Queen of Scots and forced her to sign the abdicate on 24 July 1567 in favour of the infant James VI and to appoint her illegitimate half-brother, James Stewart, Earl of Moray, as regent.
• 1605: On November 5, a group of provincial English Catholics led by Guy Fawkes attempted to kill King James I and much of the Protestant aristocracy by blowing up the Houses of Parliament during the State Opening of Parliament.
• 1622: Janissaries revolted against Osman II of Ottomans and imprisoned him in the notorious Seven Towers. He was murdered shortly afterwards.
• 1623: A coup d'état in Joseon overthrew Prince Gwanghae and places King Injo on the throne.
• 1648: Pride's Purge - those MPs who wished to continue political negotiations with Charles I were ejected from the House of Commons. Those remaining - known as the Rump - went on to agree that the king should be put on trial for his life.
• 1653: On 20 April Oliver Cromwell, with forty musketeers under the command of Charles Worsley, entered the House of Commons and forcibly dissolved the Rump Parliament leading to Cromwell becoming Lord Protector and instigating military rule.
• 1660: Frederick III of Denmark stages a coup in Copenhagen that institutes absolute monarchy in the country.
• 1688: Glorious Revolution: the Catholic James II was deposed by a faction favourable to the Protestant William of Orange. The opponents of the change became known as Jacobites from Jacobus, the Latin for James. Others see the event as a successful invasion and takeover by the Dutch Republic. However, England, Scotland and Ireland did not become part of the Netherlands and neither did they become Dutch colonies.
• 1689: Boston Revolt: In an action described by some as a "putsch", the Puritan militia, assisted by a Bostonian mob, arrests Sir Edmund Andros. Andros was the unpopular governor of the Dominion of New England.

1700–1799

• 1756: Louisa Ulrika of Prussia, Queen of Sweden, attempts to strengthen royal power by the Coup of 1756.
• 1762: A coup by Catherine the Great forcing the abdication of Peter III of Russia.
• 1769: Ras Mikael Sehul deposes Emperor Iyoas I of Ethiopia then kills him, in a demonstration of power over the Ethiopian Throne. This action ushers in the Zemene Mesafint ("Era of the Princes"), a lengthy period of civil war and anarchy in Ethiopia.
• 1772: A coup led by Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and her son Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Denmark and Norway deposed the ruling cabinet minister Johann Friedrich Struensee.
• 1772: Revolution of 1772, Coup by Gustavus III, in order to strengthen royal power in the Swedish Constitution of 1772
• 1784: Coup by the crown prince Frederick of Denmark against the ruling cabinet led by Ove Høegh-Guldberg.
• 1791: A political coup, compelling the Polish diet to adopt a new constitution.
• 1793: A coup by Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt, in companionship with Magdalena Rudenschöld, with the intent to depose the guardian government of Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden, is exposed.
• 1794: Coup du 9 Thermidor by members of the Committee of Public Safety against Robespierre.
• 1797: Coup du 18 Fructidor by the French Directory with the support of the military, against the royalists.
• 1799: Coup du 18 Brumaire by Napoléon Bonaparte.

1800–1899

Benito Juárez, after whom Benito Mussolini was named, took part himself in a coup.

• 1802: Napoleon Bonaparte becomes Consul for Life of France by a coup d'état.
• 1808: Rum Rebellion in New South Wales deposes Governor William Bligh.
• 1809: Coup of 1809: a few army officers depose king Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden, while an army is marching on Stockholm.
• 1809: Danish adventurer Jørgen Jørgensen arrests governor of Iceland and declares himself 'Protector', two months later English Warship HMS Talbot restores Danish government.
• 1812: French Coup 1812 against Emperor Napoleon I led by a Republican General Claude François de Malet.
• 1814: Spanish absolutist pronunciamiento of Fernando VII and Francisco Javier de Elío
• 1815: French coup against King Louis XVIII of France by Emperor Napoleon I.
• 1815: Failed liberal pronunciamiento of Juan Díaz Porlier at A Coruña in Spain.
• 1820: Successful Spanish liberal pronunciamiento of Rafael del Riego, start of the Trienio Liberal
• 1822: Failed absolutist coup by the Royal Guard of Fernando VII.
• 1828: Unitarian Juan Lavalle deposes and executes federalist Manuel Dorrego as governor of Buenos Aires.
• 1829: Anastasio Bustamante overthrows and murders Vicente Guerrero in Mexico.
• 1832: Mexican president Anastasio Bustamante deposed for the first time by Antonio López de Santa Anna, replaced by Melchor Múzquiz.
• 1835: liberal pronunciamiento of Cordero y de Quesada.
• 1836: Successful liberal mutiny of La Granja de San Ildefonso.
• 1839: Mexican president Anastasio Bustamante deposed for the second time by Antonio López de Santa Anna
• 1842: Francisco Morazán, former Federal President of Central America, invaded Costa Rica and seized power. Later to be deposed by popular uprising and executed.
• 1843: Successful Moderate pronunciamiento of Narváez and Francisco Serrano y Domínguez, end of the Baldomero Espartero regency.
• 1851: President of France, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte dissolves the Assembly and becomes the sole ruler of the country. In the following year, he would restore the Empire by referendum.
• 1854: Following the Plan of Ayutla, Benito Juárez deposes Santa Anna and installs Juan Álvarez as President of Mexico.
• 1854: Successful revolutionary coup in Madrid, led by general Leopoldo O'Donnell.
• 1864: Troops of French Emperor Napoleon III invade Mexico and install Habsburg pretender Maximilian as Emperor.
• 1866: Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza of Romania is forced to abdicate by a political and military coalition.
• 1867: By compulsion of Satchō Alliance, Tokugawa shogunate returned political power to Emperor Meiji.
• 1868: Successful Glorious Revolution, started by the pronunciamiento of Juan Bautista Topete in Cádiz.
• 1870: Bruno Carranza came to power in Costa Rica in the coup d'état of 27 April 1870 that deposed President Jesús Jiménez Zamora. He resigned three months later.
• 1874: Arsenio Martínez Campos overthrows the First Spanish Republic and installs Alfonso XII as king.
• 1874: Successful coup of Manuel Pavía y Rodríguez de Alburquerque in Spain.
• 1876: Aniceto Esquivel Sáenz was President of Costa Rica for a brief period of three months in 1876 before being deposed in a coup d'état led by Vicente Herrera Zeledón.
• 1876: Following the Plan of Tuxtepec, Porfirio Díaz overthrows Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada and installs himself as President of Mexico.
• 1876: Military coup led by Hilarión Daza overthrew the president Tomás Frías Ametller and elevated Daza as President of Bolivia leading to the War of the Pacific.
• 1889: Military coup led by Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca deposes the Brazilian Emperor, Dom Pedro II, proclaims the Republic and installs a provisional government.
• 1891: President of Brazil, Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca dissolved the National Congress and declared himself Dictator but soon after resigned after the Navy rebellion.
• 1893 Sanford Dole and American plantation owners overthrow the independent Kingdom of Hawaiʻi led by Queen Liliʻuokalani
• 1895: Robert W. Wilcox unsuccessfully launches a coup an attempt to restore the Hawaiian Monarchy.
• 1895: Shubar al-Sitri launches an unsuccessful coup to depose the Bahraini monarchy
• 1898: Wilmington Insurrection of 1898
• 1898: Empress Dowager Cixi launches the Wuxu Coup in the Qing dynasty of China in response to the Hundred Days' Reform.
• 1899: Cipriano Castro's army overthrows the government of Ignacio Andrade in Venezuela.

1900–1909

1903

• The Black Hand group, composed of military officers and led by Col. Dragutin Dimitrijević Apis, killed Alexander I of Serbia in coup d'état named Majski Prevrat (May Overthrow)

1908

• Juan Vicente Gómez declares himself president of Venezuela after Cipriano Castro leaves for Europe to receive medical treatment.
• Bombardment of Persian National Consulatative Assembly by Mohammad Ali Shah.
• The Young Turk Revolution breaks out in the Ottoman Empire against the absolute rule of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.

1909

• The Goudi coup in Greece overthrows the Dimitrios Rallis government and calls for wide-ranging reforms.
• The Ottoman countercoup of 1909 unsuccessfully attempts to dismantle the Second Constitutional Era.

1910–1919

The front page of the Le Petit Journal magazine in February 1913 depicting the assassination of Minister of War Nazım Pasha during the coup.

1910

• A republican coup d'état deposes King Manuel II of Portugal and establishes the Portuguese First Republic.

1913

Citizens throng around The Citadel (La ciudadela) building during La decena tragica in 1913.

• Military coup in Ottoman Empire led by Enver Pasha, the Committee of Union and Progress overthrew the Liberal Union coalition and introduced a military dictatorship, led by the Three Pashas. (Coup d'état of 1913).
• During La decena tragica, General Victoriano Huerta overthows and murders the president of Mexico, Francisco Madero.

1916

• While touring the city of Harar, Lij Iyasu V was deposed by a cabal of aristocrats in favor of his aunt Zewditu I. Forces loyal to him are defeated at Segale, and Lij Iyasu wanders northwestern Ethiopia with a small band of loyal followers until captured five years later.
• Yuan Shikai launches a self-coup by proclaiming himself emperor of the Chinese Empire.

1917

• In Costa Rica, President Alfredo González Flores was overthrown in a coup d'état led by General José Federico Alberto de Jesús Tinoco Granados and established a repressive military dictatorship.
• Zhang Xun launches a coup in an attempt to restore the Qing monarchy.
• In Russia, August 1917, the Russian Commander-in-Chief General Kornilov attempted a Putsch, which was rapidly defeated.

1919

• Polish right-wing unsuccessfully tries to overthrow the left-wing government.
• German Communist Party attempts and fails to overthrow the government.
• István Friedrich overthrows the Hungarian Soviet Republic.

1920–1929

Defendants in the Beer Hall Putsch trial. Ludendorff is fifth from the left, with Hitler to the right. Ernst Röhm is to the right and in front of Hitler. Note that only two of the defendants, Hitler and Frick, were dressed in civilian clothing.

1920

• In the Plan of Agua Prieta, General Álvaro Obregón, backed by labor unions and Zapatistas, ousts Mexican President Venustiano Carranza.
• The Kapp Putsch, a failed attempt to overthrow Germany's Weimar Republic by the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt.
• The 1920 Georgian coup attempt, futile efforts by the Bolsheviks to overthrow the Democratic Republic of Georgia with the help of the Soviet Russian Red Army.

1921

• Colonel Reza Khan with Zia'eddin Tabatabaee launch a coup against Ahmad Shah Qajar in Iran.
• The former King Charles I of Austria, who had also reigned as Charles IV of Hungary, returns to Hungary twice, to try, unsuccessfully, to retake his throne. His attempts are also called the "First" and "Second Royal coups d'état against Miklós Horthy, Regent of Hungary.

1922

Benito Mussolini and Fascist Blackshirts during the March on Rome in 1922. Mussolini stayed out of most of the march.

• Following the defeat in the Asia Minor Campaign, Venizelist army officers, chief amongst them Nikolaos Plastiras and Stylianos Gonatas, lead the Greek Army in revolt against the royal government and force the renewed abdication of King Constantine I of Greece.
• A failed coup d'état attempt in Albania led by Bajram Curri, Elez Isufi, Hamit Toptani and Halit Lleshi.
• Between October 27 and 29, the March on Rome by the Blackshirts led to the installation of Benito Mussolini of the National Fascist Party as prime minister of the Kingdom of Italy, supported by King Victor Emmanuel III. After the election of 1924 and the assassination of Giacomo Matteotti, Mussolini established a dictatorship on January 3, 1925.

1923

• Miguel Primo de Rivera installs a dictatorship in Spain without overthrowing the king.
• In Bulgaria, the military-backed 9 June coup d'état overthrows the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union government of Aleksandar Stamboliyski, installing one headed by Aleksandar Tsankov.
• The Beer Hall Putsch, a failed coup attempt by Nazi party leader Adolf Hitler in Germany.
• The royalist Leonardopoulos-Gargalidis coup attempt fails in Greece.

1924

• Chilean President Arturo Alessandri resigns and flees after the army, led by Luis Altamirano, heads a coup.
• Unsuccessful pro-Communist coup in Estonia.
• "June Revolution of 1924" in Albania, was, in fact, a coup d'état overthrew the pro-Ahmet Zogu government and established a leftist government led by Fan Noli. In the Christmas Eve of that year, Zogu returned in power while Noli and his government fled from the country.

1925

• General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo and Colonel Marmaduque Grove depose the military ruler of Chile, Luis Altamirano. They later allow former president Arturo Alessandri to return to Chile.
• General Theodoros Pangalos seizes power in a coup in Athens, Greece.

1926

Józef Piłsudski and other leaders of the May Coup (1926) on Poniatowski Bridge in Warsaw.

• May Coup (Poland) of Józef Piłsudski in Poland.
• 28th May military coup of Gomes da Costa in Portugal.
• 1926 Lithuanian coup d'état of Antanas Smetona in Lithuania
• The dictatorship of General Theodoros Pangalos in Greece is overthrown by General Georgios Kondylis
• Failed "Sanjuanada", a coup against the Spanish dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera.

1928

• Uprising by Ras Balcha Safo against King Tafari Makonnen (the future Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia); the uprising never amounted to more than a show of force and was put down decisively by Ras Kassa Haile Darge; Balcha Safo surrendered and was imprisoned.
• Ethiopian coup d'état of 1928 against King Tafari Makonnen (the future Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia); the coup d'état ended in failure.

1929

• 1929 Tuvan coup d'état – Pro-Soviet, anti-Buddhist coup in the Tuvan People's Republic.

1930–1939

1930

• Uprising by Ras Gugsa Welle against King Tafari Makonnen (the future Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia) put down decisively at the Battle of Anchem by the Minister of War, Ras Mulugeta Yeggazu.
• Brazilian Revolution of 1930, Getúlio Vargas takes power in Brazil, in a bloodless coup.
• Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro takes over from Augusto B. Leguía y Salcedo, in Peru.
• Military coup in Argentina. General José Félix Uriburu overthrew President Hipólito Yrigoyen.
• Rafael Leónidas Trujillo takes over from Horacio Vásquez, in the Dominican Republic after a devastating hurricane.

1931

• In March 1931 a failed Japanese coup was launched by the radical Sakurakai.
• On October 21, 1931 a second failed Japanese coup was also launched by the radical Sakurakai.
• Maximiliano Hernández Martínez takes over from Arturo Araujo, in El Salvador.

1932

March in support of the proclamation of the Socialist Republic of Chile, in front of La Moneda Palace (June 12, 1932).

• The Mäntsälä Rebellion, failed coup attempt by the Lapua Movement in Finland.
• The May 15th Incident, an attempted coup in Japan.
• The Siamese coup d'état of 1932 marks the bloodless transition from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy in what is now called Thailand.
• The Chilean military heads a coup, which deposes President Juan Esteban Montero and creates the Socialist Republic of Chile. After twelve days, other army officers head a counter-coup and end the Socialist Republic. The new provisional president, Abraham Oyanedel, restores democracy.
• José Sanjurjo failed to overthrow Manuel Azaña in Spain.
• The Colonial Building riot was a riot that occurred in St. John's, Newfoundland (Pre Confederation, Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949) on April 5, 1932. Prompted by the Great Depression and corruption in the Squires administration, a peaceful protest degenerated into riots and violence. The riots led to the fall of the Squires government and the defeat of Squires's Liberal Party.

1933

• The President of Uruguay, Gabriel Terra dissolves Parliament and heads a coup.
• Fulgencio Batista of Cuba ousts Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada in the Sergeants' Revolt.
• The Business Plot against the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States is planned, but not carried out due to General Smedley Butler's decision to report it to the authorities.
• The National Union of Greece marched to Athens, in apparent imitation of Benito Mussolini's 1922 March on Rome.

1934

• Supposed coup plot by the Vaps Movement in Estonia.
• Coup of Konstantin Päts in Estonia.
• Coup of Kārlis Ulmanis in Latvia.
• 25 July failed coup attempt in the First Austrian Republic by Austrian Nazis, the so-called July Putsch (German: Juliputsch), resulting in the assassination of chancellor Engelbert Dollfuß
• 19 May coup d'état in the Kingdom of Bulgaria.
• 1934 Cuban coup d'états

1935

• Failed Venizelist coup attempt on 1 March in Greece
• In an internal coup in Mexico, President Lázaro Cárdenas deports and exiles ex-President Plutarco Elías Calles, effectively ending Calles' control over the Mexican government.
• On 10 October, General Georgios Kondylis deposes government and abolishes the Republic, restoring the Greek monarchy.

1936

1st Lt. Niu Yoshitada and his rebel troops in the February 26th Incident of 1936.

• Xi'an Incident, General Chiang Kai-shek was kidnapped by his deputy Zhang Xueliang, who demanded that Chiang stop fighting the Chinese Communists and instead agree to a united resistance against the Japanese. His wife's and her brother's subsequent negotiation with Zhang ensured Chiang's release.
• Part of the army seizes control of parts of Spain commencing the Spanish Civil War. Later General Francisco Franco assumes control of the country as dictator.
• The February 26th Incident, a failed coup attempt in Japan by junior military officers that did succeed in installing a militarist government.
• Coup of Ioannis Metaxas in Greece on August 4, and establishment of the 4th of August Regime.
• October 30 coup of Bakr Sidqi and Hikmat Sulayman in the Kingdom of Iraq to depose Prime Minister Yasin al-Hashimi.
• Germán Busch helped David Toro taking over from José Luis Tejada Sorzano, in Bolivia.

1937

• The Cagoulard plot to install a pro-Nazi government in France was foiled by French police.
• Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas, governing democratically since 1934, launches a self-coup and becomes the Dictator of Brazilian Estado Novo ("New State").

1938

• King Carol II of Romania launches a self-coup, abolishing parliamentary democracy in favor of a royal dictatorship.
• Vargas forces detected the attempted Integralista coup in Brazil. Vargas and guards shoot it out with insurgents at the Guanabara Palace.

1939

• A coup by military officers and Spanish Socialist Workers' Party members in the Republican zone of Spain results in the formation of the National Council of Defense as a step towards a negotiated peace with the Nationalists. The negotiations eventually fail, but the coup signals the end of the Spanish Civil War.

1940–1949

1940

• The Norwegian fascist politician Vidkun Quisling attempts to overthrow the Norwegian government in response to the German invasion of Denmark and Norway.
• Soviet organised coups during the occupation of the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania
• Juan Andreu Almazán attempts a coup to prevent the inauguration of Mexican president-elect Manuel Ávila Camacho.

1941

• Legionnaires' Rebellion: Romanian Iron Guard paramilitaries (also known as Legionnaires) unsuccessfully attempt to overthrow Conducător Ion Antonescu.
• Pro-German Rashid Ali Al-Gaylani and the Golden Square overthrew the regime of the Pro-British Regent 'Abd al-Ilah (1941 Iraqi coup d'état) leading to the Anglo-Iraqi War.
• Pro-British King Peter II and his supporters staged a coup in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia to replace pro-German Regent Prince Paul leading to the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia.

1942

• French resistance coup in Algiers, by which 400 Civil French patriots neutralized Vichyst XIXth Army Corps in Algiers during 15 hours, arrested vichyst generals (Juin, Darlan, etc.), and so allowed the immediate success of Operation Torch.

1943

• Military coup in Argentina on June 4. Arturo Rawson overthrew Ramón Castillo. Juan Domingo Perón, in the Department of Labor, would become so popular that he was democratically elected in 1946.
• The 24 July coup to remove Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Italy and replace him with Marshal Pietro Badoglio; Count Dino Grandi and the Grand Council of Fascism voted overwhelmingly to ask King Victor Emmanuel to resume his full constitutional powers and, on the following day, the King summoned Mussolini to his palace and dismissed him.

1944

The conference room where Hitler survived the 20 July plot of 1944 after the explosion.

• 20 July plot launched by German resistance and German Reserve Army as part of Operation Valkyrie to kill Adolf Hitler and seize control of the Third Reich so to negotiate peace with the Allies. The coup fails after it is found Hitler did not die in the bomb blast and the Reserve Army begins to refuse to take orders from the German resistance. 5,000 conspirators are given show trials and summarily executed.
• King Michael's Coup on 23 August; pro-German dictator Ion Antonescu was overthrown and King Michael of Romania switched nation from the Axis side to the Allies.
• The 9 September coup d'état in Bulgaria; the government of pro-German Prime Minister Konstantin Muraviev was overthrown and Kimon Georgiev of the Fatherland Front switched the nation from the Axis side to the Allies.
• Operation Panzerfaust in October; Nazi Germany forcefully replaced the royalist Hungarian government of Regent Miklós Horthy with the pro-Nazi government of Arrow Cross leader Ferenc Szálasi.

1945

• Getúlio Vargas's government in Brazil ends in a coup led by General Mourão, one of his former supporters.
• Isaías Medina Angarita is overthrown in a coup and Rómulo Betancourt is appointed to lead a civilian-military junta in Venezuela.
• Indonesian nationalist Sukarno comes to power after establishing independence from The Netherlands.
• On 29 November 1945, the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia was proclaimed after the deposition of King Peter II, thus ending the monarchy, bringing Josip Broz Tito to power

1947

• Coup in Thailand; the ouster of Thawal Thamrong Navaswadhi and the return of Plaek Pibulsonggram.
• Communist-led coup in Hungary. The democratically elected Prime Minister Ferenc Nagy steps down in the face of blackmail from the Hungarian Communist Party, and is replaced by the fellow traveller Lajos Dinnyés.
• Communist coup in Romania. King Michael is forced to abdicate and leave the country at the hands of the Romanian Communist Party.

1948

• Communist coup in Czechoslovakia.
• Coup overthrows the democratically elected government of Rómulo Gallegos in Venezuela. A military junta is installed with Carlos Delgado Chalbaud as its leader.
• Failed coup attempt in Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen

1949

• Military coup in Syria by U.S.-backed general Husni al-Za'im overthrows elected president Shukri al-Quwatli, allowing passage of the Trans-Arabian Pipeline. Syria experiences two more coup d'états before the end of 1949.
• Mao Zedong comes to power in the People's Republic of China (PRC)

1950–1959

1951

• Unsuccessful military coup (Navy) in Thailand.
• Successful military coup (Army) in Thailand.
• "Rawalpindi conspiracy" unsuccessful military coup attempt in Pakistan.
• Unsuccessful military coup in Argentina against Juan Domingo Perón.
• Bolivian general Hugo Ballivián establishes a military junta in Bolivia to prevent elected reformist Víctor Paz Estenssoro from taking office.

1952

• Military coup in Egypt overthrows the monarchy.
• Fulgencio Batista leads a successful and bloodless coup to topple democratically elected government of Cuba.

1953

Events of the 1953 Iranian coup d'état.

• A joint US/UK coup in Iran, codenamed Operation Ajax, overthrows Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddeq.
• "Constitutional Coup" in Pakistan by Governor-General of Pakistan, Ghulam Mohammad supported by Field Marshal Ayub Khan. Mohammad dismissed the Prime Minister and dissolved the Constituent Assembly.

1954

• In Guatemala, the democratically elected government of Colonel Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán was ousted by Coronel Carlos Castillo Armas in an operation organized by the American Central Intelligence Agency codenamed Operation PBSUCCESS.
• Military coup in Paraguay brings Alfredo Stroessner to power.
• Military coup in Yanaon (French Colony in India) led by Dadala Raphael Ramanayya, overthrown French rule in Yanaon.
• Brazilian Coup d'etat attempt led by Carlos Lacerda and Eduardo Gomes which foresaw the overthrow of the second Vargas government. Thanks to his suicide the coup was unsuccessful and was postponed by 10 years.

1955

• A counter-coup in Brazil led by Marshal Lott overthrows the government of Carlos Luz and prevents a coup against the elected president Juscelino Kubitschek.
• Revolución Libertadora in Argentina where a military coup overthrows President Juan Domingo Perón

1956

• Unsuccessful military coup attempt led by Colonel Ramón Barquín against Cuban President Fulgencio Batista

1957

• The Colombian military supported strikes and student riots and deposed Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, giving power to the Colombian Military Junta and chairman Gabriel París Gordillo.
• Quasi-coup leads to the coexistence of two governments in San Marino for a month (so-called "Fatti di Rovereta").
• Coup in Thailand; ouster of Plaek Pibulsonggram.
• Unsuccessful attempt at a coup led by key Soviet politicians Georgy Malenkov, Vyacheslav Molotov, Lazar Kaganovich and Dmitri Shepilov against Premier Nikita Khrushchev, who together with Marshal Georgy Zhukov (backed by the Soviet Army) eventually put down the attempted overthrow.

1958

• After three weeks of protests, the Venezuelan military removed Marcos Pérez Jiménez and installed Wolfgang Larrazábal, commander of the Venezuelan Navy.
• Military coup in Pakistan. Army Chief and Defence Minister Gen. Ayub Khan overthrows the government of Iskander Mirza and becomes President after a winning a rigged referendum.
• Military coup in Iraq. Resulted in the overthrow of the Hashemite monarchy.
• Military coup in France. General Jacques Massu takes over Algiers and threatens to invade Paris unless Charles de Gaulle becomes head of state.

1959

• Failed coup by Arab Nationalists in Iraq against the prime minister Abd al-Karim Qasim.
• Air Force military hijack a civil airplane and attempt a coup against Juscelino Kubitschek, in Brazil.
• Successful coup against Fulgencio Batista led by Fidel Castro establishing a communist-ruled Cuba

1960–1969

1960

• Military coup in Turkey.
• Military coup in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• Failed military coup against Haile Selassie I in Ethiopia
• August coup in Laos is reversed in December by a countercoup.

1961

• The coup d'état of 16 May in South Korea led by Park Chung Hee. Overthrew Second Republic of South Korea and established the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction.
• The Sanmu Incident of 1961 where right-wing extremists from the JSDF attempted a coup, but was foiled by the National Police Agency.
• Failed military coup in France in the midst of the Algerian War by four retired army generals seeking to overthrow president Charles de Gaulle, who himself came to power through the 1958 military coup d'état.
• The 1961 Somaliland coup d'etat, 9 December led by Somaliland Military officers to dismantle the union of the two states of Somaliland and Somalia.

1962

• Military coup in Argentina. President Arturo Frondizi was overthrown by the military while abroad.
• Military coup in Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen
• Attempted military coup led by Christian officers in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).
• Military coup in Burma by General Ne Win overthrow the constitutionally elected government of Prime Minister U Nu.

1963

• Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes of Guatemala is overthrown by the military. Enrique Peralta Azurdia took power and established the Institutional Democratic Party until elections took place in 1966.
• The military overthrew President Juan Bosch in September 1963, only seven months into his term as the first democratically elected president in the Dominican Republic since 1924. Bosch was replaced by a junta until it was overthrown in 1965.
• Failed military coup attempt in Turkey.
• Military coup in South Vietnam, overthrowing Ngo Dinh Diem with U.S. support.
• Military coup in Ecuador.
• Military coup in Togo, see 1963 Togolese coup d'état.
• Military coup in Benin, see 1963 Dahomeyan coup d'état
• Military coup in Syria.
• A military coup in Iraq, carried out by Baathist leaders in Baghdad, overthrew the regime of Gen. Abd al-Karim Qasim, the General himself being captured and shot.
• Military overthrows democratic government of Honduras, ten days before a scheduled election. Oswaldo López Arellano takes power from Ramón Villeda Morales, preventing the likely succession of Modesto Rodas Alvarado.
• pro-Nasserist Iraqi officers lead a successful coup against the Ba'athist government.

1964

• Plotted coup in Italy.
• Local revolutionaries overthrow Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah in Zanzibar.
• Humberto Castelo Branco was installed as president after a military coup in Brazil overthrew João Goulart.
• Vice President René Barrientos and General Alfredo Ovando Candía of Bolivia overthrew President Víctor Paz Estenssoro.
• Military coup in South Vietnam, overthrowing Duong Van Minh.
• Military coup in Bolivia: General René Barrientos Ortuño takes power from Víctor Paz Estenssoro.
• Brief military coup in Gabon is suppressed with the aid of France.
• April coup in Laos suppressed by U.S. Ambassador; August coup fails

1965

• A conspiracy in the People's Republic of Bulgaria to overthrow Todor Zhivkov is uncovered.
• Military coup in Algeria Defense minister Col. Houari Boumedienne takes over.
• Failed allegedly-coup attempt in Indonesia.
• Military coup in Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• Failed coup attempt in Burundi
• Military coup in Central African Republic.
• Simultaneous and independent January coups fail in Laos.

1966

• Military coup in Ghana.
• Military coup in Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso). On January 3, Sangoulé Lamizana overthrows Maurice Yaméogo.
• Military coup in Syria.
• The first of military coups in Nigeria, leading to end of first republic. Major-General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi becomes Head of State.
• Shakhbut Bin-Sultan Al Nahyan, the ruler of the Abu Dhabi was deposed in a bloodless coup, being replaced by his brother Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
• Military coup in Nigeria. Yakubu Gowon comes to power by overthrowing Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi.
• Military coup in Argentina. Civilian president Arturo Illia is overthrown by military forces supporting the leadership of General Juan Carlos Onganía.
• Alleged coup attempt in Sri Lanka.
• 1966 Laotian coup via air strike fails
• Failed coup attempt in Saudi Arabia.

1967

• Military coup in Greece. Establishment of the Regime of the Colonels.
• Attempted military coup (Operation Guitar Boy) in Ghana.
• Military coup in Togo leads to thirty-eight-year rule of Gnassingbé Eyadéma
• Military coup against Prime Minister of Sierra Leone, Siaka Stevens and Governor-General of Sierra Leone, by Brigadier David Lansana who declares himself interim leader.
• Biafran Army colonel Victor Banjo plots a coup against Biafran President Odumegwu Ojukwu. The coup plot is uncovered by an informant and subsequently Banjo and 2 other coup plotters are executed on September 22.
• Suharto overthrows Sukarno in a military coup in Indonesia. Beginning of New Order in Indonesia.

1968

• Coup in Panama against President of Panama Arnulfo Arias Madrid, led by Major Boris Martinez.
• Military coup in Iraq brings the Ba'ath Party to power.
• Military coup in Peru, led by General Juan Velasco Alvarado.
• "Sergeants' Coup": Military coup against Brigadier Andrew Juxon-Smith by Brigadier John Amadu Bangura restores Siaka Stevens as Prime Minister of Sierra Leone.
• Military Coup in Mali against President Modibo Keita, led by Lieutenant Moussa Traore

1969

• Muammar al-Gaddafi overthrows the monarchy of King Idris in Libya. see 1969 Libyan coup d'état.
• Military Coup in Sudan. Colonel Gaafar Nimeiry overthrew the government of President Ismail al-Azhari.
• Pedro Aleixo, the legal vice-president of Brasil, is replaced by a Military Junta after Artur da Costa e Silva leaves the office due to a stroke.
• Military coup in Pakistan, Army Chief Gen. Yahya Khan forces President Field Marshal Ayub Khan (who himself came to power in a coup) to hand over power to him.
• Attempted military coup fails in Saudi Arabia.
• Military leaders in Somalia overthrow the government on 21 October and create a military junta.

1970–1979

1970

• Coup in Syria, led by Hafez al-Assad (Corrective Revolution).
• Coup in Bolivia, soon followed by a leftist countercoup.
• Coup in Oman, Qaboos bin Said ousts his father Said bin Taimur to become Sultan.
• Abortive coup attempt in Italy by neo-fascist groups.
• Coup attempt in Japan by the Tatenokai.
• Military coup in Cambodia ousts Norodom Sihanouk and installs Lon Nol.
• US plans "constitutional coup" to prevent Salvador Allende from assuming power in Chile.
• Failed PLO coup in Jordan against King Hussain.

1971

• Military coup in Turkey (Coup by Memorandum).
• Military coup in Uganda led by Idi Amin.
• Prime Minister Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn launches a self-coup overthrow his own government in Thailand.
• A short-lived military coup in Sudan against the government of Gaafar Nimeiry.
• A Chinese alleged coup plot against the Chinese leader Mao Zedong by the supporters of Lin Biao, then Vice-Chairman of the Communist Party of China.
• Failed military coup in Skhirat, Morocco against king Hassan II's regime.

1972

• Colonel Ignatius Kutu Acheampong led a coup d'état to overthrow the democratically elected government of the Progress Party and its leader Dr. Kofi Busia on 13 January 1972 in Ghana.
• A self-coup was declared by Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos on September 21.
• A self-coup of South Korean president Park Chung-Hee, called October Yusin(October Restoration) on October 17.

1973

• In June Roberto Souper launch a failed coup, called Tanquetazo, against Chilean president Salvador Allende.
• A coup by former Prime Minister Mohammed Daoud Khan overthrows King Mohammed Zahir Shah of Afghanistan and establishes a Republic.
• The Attock Conspiracy took place in Pakistan, whereby a handful of Army and Air-Force officers plotted, unsuccessfully, to overthrow the government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
• In Rwanda, Major General Juvénal Habyarimana overthrows President Gregoire Kayibanda in a rally. Kayibanda later dies of hunger
• On September 11 a military coup overthrows Socialist-Marxist President of Chile Salvador Allende, succeeding in installing a junta headed by Gral. Augusto Pinochet.
• President Juan María Bordaberry of Uruguay dissolves Parliament and heads a coup.
• On 25 November, Army hardliners led by Brigadier Dimitrios Ioannidis overthrow the hitherto leader of the Greek junta, President Georgios Papadopoulos.
• 1973 Laotian coup via air strike fails.

1974

• A leftist military coup in Portugal, the Carnation Revolution, ends the dictatorship of Marcello Caetano.
• Military coup in Cyprus sponsored by Greek colonels overthrows Makarios and triggers invasion by Turkey.
• Failed military coup in Uganda against Idi Amin.
• Military coup in Ethiopia by the communist junta led by General Aman Andom and Mengistu Haile Mariam.

1975

• Military coup in Bangladesh. Several young Majors in support of Khondaker Mustaq Ahmed and some other Awamilegue leaders overthrow the government of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and set Khondaker Mustaq Ahmed as the head of the state.
• Military coup in the Comoros; mercenary Bob Denard removes president Ahmed Abdallah from office in an armed coup on August 3, 1975.
• Military coup in Nigeria overthrows Yakubu Gowon. Murtala Ramat Mohammed comes to power.
• Military coup in Bangladesh led by Brigadier Khaled Mosharraf, arrests Army Chief Of Staff Ziaur Rahman. 4 days later, Khaled Mosharraf was killed in a counter-coup led by Abu Taher, which frees General Ziaur Rahman & restores him as the Army Chief of Staff. Ziaur Rahman gained control over whole country from Colonel Taher. After a month General Ziaur Rahman hanged Abu Taher due to mass killing of army officers.
• Military coup in Chad overthrows and kills President François Tombalbaye.
• Failed military coup in Greece.

1976

• Military coup in Ecuador.
• Marshall Ye Jianying and political leader Hua Guofeng stage a coup against the Gang of Four, led by Chairman Mao Zedong's widow, Jiang Qing and leading to the return of Deng Xiaoping and the launch of China's reform era.
• Military coup in Thailand.
• Failed coup attempt in Nigeria. Murtala Ramat Mohammed killed but Olusegun Obasanjo escapes assassination and becomes head of state.
• Military coup in Argentina overthrows Isabel Martínez de Perón and leads to the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional.

1977

• Military coup in Pakistan. Army Chief Gen. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq overthrows the civilian government and hangs Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1979 after a sham trial.
• 21 Failed coup occurs during the time of General Ziaur Rahman in Bangladesh. General Ziaur Rahman killed 2500 soldiers and officer (Army, Air Force, Navy) for these failed coups.
• Successful Military Coup in the Seychelles against Sir James Machan by Albert Rene.

1978

• Communist coup in Afghanistan.
• Attempting a coup in Somalia, a group of officials mainly from the Majeerteen (Darod) clan, failed to overthrow the dictatorial administration under Siad Barre. Most of the people who had helped plot the coup were summarily executed however prominent officials including Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed survived and formed the first resistance group against Barre known as the Somali Salvation Democratic Front.
• Failed military coup in Spain.

1979

• The Iranian Revolution counter-coup which overthrew the pro-Western monarch Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the Iranian monarchy with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini taking power.
• The Coup d'état of December Twelfth in South Korea. Chun Doo-hwan established presidency.
• On 4 June, Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, Maj. Boakye Danquah and others lead a military uprising that removes the Ghanaian government of Gen. FWK Akuffo from power after an earlier unsuccessful attempt in May.
• Central African emperor Jean-Bédel Bokassa was overthrown in the coup Operation Barracuda led by France on September 20. The Central African Empire fell and the Central African Republic was restored with David Dacko being the president.
• In El Salvador, a coup was raised to remove the military force from the country's government. This led to a decade of war (known as the Salvadoran Civil War) by the Soviet intervention in El Salvador, and the U.S. reinforcement to take down the Communist movement through America.

1980–1989

1980

• Coup d'état of May Seventeenth in South Korea, The second military coup of General Chun Doo-Hwan
• 'Cocaine Coup' in Bolivia of Luis García Meza Tejada.
• Military coup in Turkey.
• Military coup in Liberia, led by Master Sergeant Samuel K. Doe, overthrows government led by President William R. Tolbert, ending 102 years of continuous rule by the True Whig Party.
• Military coup in Guinea Bissau.
• Successful coup in Suriname by military officers led by Dési Bouterse that resulted in military rule until 1988.
• 1980 Upper Voltan coup d'état in Upper Volta.
• Failed coup in Iran against Supreme Leader of Iran Ruhollah Khomeini, and President Abolhassan Banisadr led by Shapour Bakhtiar.

1981

• Failed coup in Spain led by Antonio Tejero.
• Failed coup in The Gambia led by Kukoi Sanyang; suppressed by Dawda Jawara with the assistance of Senegalese troops.
• Assassination of Ziaur Rahman.
• Failed coup in Suriname, led by Wilfred Hawker.
• On September 1, Central African president David Dacko is overthrown in a bloodless coup by the army chief of staff General André Kolingba.
• 31 December, Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings stages a second successful military coup in Ghana, overthrowing Dr. Hilla Limann's constitutional government.
• Failed coup in Seychelles led by Mike Hoare.
• Successful military coup in Poland led by Wojciech Jaruzelski.

1982

• Military coup in Bangladesh by General Hossain Mohammad Ershad overthrows the constitutionally elected government of President Abdus Sattar.
• Failed coup in Kenya by some members of the Kenya Air Force.
• Failed coup in Suriname, led by Surendre Rambocus.
• 1982 Upper Voltan coup d'état in Upper Volta.

1983

• 1983 Upper Voltan coup d'état in Upper Volta
• Another 1983 coup in Upper Volta, bringing Thomas Sankara to power, who later renamed the country Burkina Faso.
• Military palace coup in Nigeria. Second republic president Shagari overthrown; Muhammadu Buhari takes power.
• Military coup in Grenada by Hudson Austin and counter-coup and invasion with U.S. support.

1984

• Failed coup in Cameroon by some members of the Presidential Guard.
• Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya rises to power in Mauritania after a coup that overthrows the president Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla.
• Coup in Guinea brings Lansana Conte to power.
• Failed coup plot in Romania against dictator Nicolae Ceausescu

1985

• Military coup in Uganda led by Bazilio Olara-Okello and Tito Okello.
• Military coup in Nigeria. Ibrahim Babangida replaces Muhammadu Buhari.
• Military coup in Sudan led by Abdel Rahman Swar al-Dahab (see Transitional Military Council)

1986

• Failed coup in Philippines led by Juan Ponce Enrile and Gregorio Honasan. This leads to events of February 22–25, 1986, better known as the People Power Revolution.

1987

• Failed military coup attempt in Argentina against President Raúl Alfonsín: in April several barracks led by the Carapintada movement of Aldo Rico uprose
• Failed coup attempt, known as the August 1987 Coup, in the Philippines led by Col. Gregorio Honasan.
• Bloodless military coup in Fiji led by Lt. Col. Sitiveni Rabuka overthrows the government of Prime Minister Timoci Bavadra. After temporarily handing power to a council of ministers, in September that year, Rabuka seized control of the country again and deposed Queen Elizabeth II as head of state, and declared Fiji a republic.
• On October 15 in Burkina Faso, President Thomas Sankara was assassinated in a coup.
• Bloodless Palace coup in Tunisia led by Prime Minister General Zine El Abidine Ben Ali overthrow President Habib Bourguiba.

1988

• Military coup in Burma crushing the 'Four Eights' uprising.
• Failed military coup attempt in Argentina against President Raúl Alfonsín: in January at Monte Caseros led by the Carapintada movement of Aldo Rico.
• Failed military coup attempt in Argentina against President Raúl Alfonsín: in December at Villa Martelli led by the Carapintada movement of Mohamed Alí Seineldín.
• June 1988 Haitian coup d'état (Henri Namphy overthrowing Leslie Manigat).
• September 1988 Haitian coup d'état (Prosper Avril overthrowing Henri Namphy).
• Failed coup attempt in Panama on 16 March against Manuel Noriega.
• Failed 1988 Maldives coup d'état in the Maldives to take over the Maldivian government.

1989

• Failed coup attempt in the Philippines, by Col. Gregorio Honasan. This coup is sometimes called the December 1989 Coup.
• Alleged coup attempt by senior members of Burkina Faso's military junta against President Blaise Compaoré.
• Failed coup attempt in Ethiopia by senior army officers against the regime of Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam.
• Successful coup in Paraguay against Alfredo Stroessner led by Andrés Rodríguez.
• Successful coup in Sudan against elected Sadiq al-Mahdi led by Col. Omar al-Bashir.
• Failed coup attempt in Panama against Manuel Noriega led by Moises Giroldi.

1990–1999

1990

• Failed coup attempt in Nigeria led by Major Gideon Orkar.
• Failed coup attempt in the Republic of Afghanistan led by General Shahnawaz Tanai (March 6).
• Failed coup attempt in Trinidad and Tobago led by Jamaat al Muslimeen leader Yasin Abu Bakr (July 27).
• Failed coup attempt in Argentina against President Carlos Saúl Menem led by the Carapintada movement of Mohamed Alí Seineldín (December 3).
• Failed coup attempt in Panama against President Guillermo Endara.
• Failed coup attempt in Sudan against President Col. Omar al-Bashir. Led by 28 military officers who were all executed two days after the failed coup.
• Military coup in Chad. Hissène Habré is deposed by rebel leader Idriss Deby.
• President of Suriname Ramsewak Shankar is dismissed by telephone by the country's military on December 24.

1991

• Failed coup attempt (the so-called August Putsch) in the Soviet Union.
• In Haiti the armed group FRAPH oust democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in a military coup d'état in September 1991. Aristide is replaced with a military junta led by Raoul Cédras until U.S. President Clinton orders Aristide's return to resume his mandate as president.
• Military coup in Thailand. Results in infamous incident Black May.
• Military coup in Georgia removes President Zviad Gamsakhurdia from office.
• Military coup in Mali removes Moussa Traoré from office.
• Guerrilla forces perform successful coup against the Siad Barre government in Somalia. The guerrilla forces included the Somali Salvation Democratic Front in the northeast, the Somali National Movement in the northwest, and the United Somali Congress in the south. Mohamed Farah Aideed (USC), the general most responsible for the coup, declared himself the ruling president. In 1992 there was US led UN peacekeeping force to capture Aideed but was unsuccessful.

1992

• Military coup in Algeria cancels elections and forces President Chadli Bendjedid to resign.
• President Alberto Fujimori launches a self-coup in Peru.
• Unsuccessful military coup in Peru, of General Jaime Salinas Sedó against Alberto Fujimori.
• Two unsuccessful coup d'état attempts in Venezuela against Carlos Andrés Pérez, in February and November; the first led by Hugo Chávez.
• Valentine Strasser takes power following a coup in Sierra Leone.

1993

• Russian President Boris Yeltsin successfully launches a self-coup, illegally dissolving the Russian parliament.
• Guatemalan President Jorge Serrano Elías unsuccessfully launches a self-coup (1993 Guatemalan constitutional crisis), illegally dissolving the Guatemalan Parliament and Supreme Court, but the Guatemalan Constitutional Court in an official statement immediately removes Elias from office for violating the Guatemalan constitutional order.
• On 1 September 1993 was a coup in Azerbaijan by Surat Huseynov against president Abulfaz Elchibey.

1994

• Coup in Bophuthatswana. Lucas Mangope is overthrown by mutinying security forces.
• Lieutenant Yahya Jammeh seized power in a bloodless Coup d'état in the Gambia, ousting Dawda Jawara.

1995

• Failed coup attempt in Azerbaijan.
• Tokyo subway sarin attack was a prelude to a full-fledged coup plot by Aum Shinri Kyo sect.
• Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani of Qatar seized power in a bloodless palace coup d'etat.

1996

• Attempted coup d'etat in Qatar.
• Military coup in Burundi; Pierre Buyoya deposes Sylvestre Ntibantunganya.
• Failed coup against Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

1997

• Military-backed indirect coup in Turkey. It was named a "postmodern coup" by one of the top-ranking generals. Although the parliament was not dissolved, the military pressure resulted in the Prime Minister's resignation.
• 1997 coup in Cambodia

1998

• In Albania, the funeral of Azem Hajdari turns violent as the Prime Minister's Office is attacked, obliging Fatos Nano to hastily flee and step down shortly after. His party remains in power.

1999

• Military coup in Pakistan. The Army refuses to obey Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government. General Pervez Musharraf becomes president (with the title "Chief Executive") and exiles Sharif to Saudi Arabia allegedly on a self-exile ten-year contract of not participating in politics, after he was convicted of hijacking and sentenced to life imprisonment.
• 1999 Ivorian coup d'état, the first since the independence of Côte d'Ivoire.

2000–2009

2000

• 2000 Ecuadorean coup d'état. On January 21, indigenous Ecuadorians protested the economic policies of President Jamil Mahuad. Colonel Lucio Gutiérrez allowed the protesters to take over the National Congress. A junta brieftly took power, but within hours Vice President Gustavo Noboa regained control, with support of the protestors. Gutiérrez was elected president in 2002 as a member of the January 21 Patriotic Society Party.
• George Speight attempted a coup against the prime minister of Fiji, Mahendra Chaudhry.
• Coup in the Solomon Islands against Prime Minister Bartholomew Ulufa'alu, led by rebel Malaita Eagle Forces. Ulufa'alua is forced to resign and replaced by Manasseh Sogavare.

2002

• Coup attempt in Côte d'Ivoire on September 19, 2002
• Venezuelan coup attempt of 2002 was a failed coup d'état that lasted 47 hours. President Hugo Chávez was detained, the National Assembly and the Supreme Court dissolved, and the country's Constitution declared void. Pedro Carmona was installed as interim president.

2003

• Military coup in Central African Republic against Ange-Félix Patassé.
• Attempted coup in Mauritania.
• Military coup in São Tomé and Príncipe against Fradique de Menezes.
• Military coup in Guinea-Bissau against Kumba Ialá.
• Failed mutiny and coup attempt in the Philippines led by right-wing junior officers known as the Magdalo (mutineers).

2004

• Attempted coup in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
• The 2004 Haitian coup d'état ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide during his second term, in which he left Haiti on an American plane accompanied by U.S. military/security personnel. Controversy remains regarding the involvement of the U.S. in his departure and whether or not the departure was voluntary. Aristide described his departure as a kidnapping. An interim government led by Prime Minister Gérard Latortue and President Boniface Alexandre was installed.
• Failed coup d'état in Chad against President Idriss Déby.
• Second attempted coup in the Democratic Republic of Congo (June).
• Attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea.

2005

• Ecuadorian coup of 2005. It resulted in the premature end of President Lucio Edwin Gutiérrez Borbúa
• Coup in Togo legalized by parliamentary vote but unrecognized by international community.
• King Gyanendra of Nepal overthrows the government in a self-coup, making him the head of government. The government is reestablished April 24, 2006 after a massive democracy movement.
• A military coup in Mauritania overthrows President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya. A new government is set up by a group of military officers headed by Ely Ould Mohamed Vall. The group formed the Military Council for Justice and Democracy to act as the governing council of the country.

2006

Tanks in Bangkok's street in 2006

• The Armed Forces of the Philippines allegedly attempted a military coup in the Philippines targeting President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, which led to a state of emergency in the country.
• The United Front for Democratic Change allegedly attempts to instigate a military coup in Chad to overthrow President Idriss Déby.
• The Royal Thai Army orchestrates a coup in Thailand that overthrows Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra while he is out of the country.
• The Malagasy Popular Armed Forces allegedly attempt a military coup in Madagascar against President Marc Ravalomanana.
• The military of Fiji overthrows President Josefa Iloilo and Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase in a bloodless coup.
• The military of Côte d'Ivoire claims to foil a coup attempt targeting President Laurent Gbagbo.
• A Military attempt Coup in Madagascar on 18 November 2006 led by General Andrianafidisoa against President Marc Ravalomanana

2007

• An alleged coup attempt by General Vang Pao and others in the United States to overthrow the Laotian government is foiled.
• Philippines rebel forces led by opposition politician Sen. Antonio Trillanes from the Magdalo Group, storm the Peninsula hotel in an attempted coup.

2008

• East Timorese president José Ramos-Horta is shot and injured in what Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão describes as an attempted coup.
• A military coup in Mauritania involving the seizure of the President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, Prime Minister Yahya Ould Ahmed El Waghef, and Interior Minister after the sacking of several military officials and a political crisis in which 48 MPs walked off the job and a vote of no confidence in cabinet.
• A military coup occurs in Guinea after the death of President Lansana Conté.

2009

• In an attempted coup in Madagascar the army seized one of the presidential palaces on March 16, 2009, at which president Marc Ravalomanana was not present. The proposal offered by the president for a referendum to solve the crisis was rejected. On March 17, 2009, Marc Ravalomanana resigned under pressure from the military.
• In Honduras, the army seized one of the presidential palaces on June 28, 2009, kidnapped president Manuel Zelaya Rosales due to his endeavor for an unconstitutional reelection and extradited him from the country. The 23-nation Rio Group & the United Nations General Assembly condemned the coup d'état.
• On 24 April 2009, the Ethiopian government claimed, through the Ethiopian News Agency, that it had foiled a coup attempt led by members of Ginbot 7 to overthrow the government. Ginbot 7 described the allegation that it had attempted a coup as a "baseless accusation" that fitted a pattern of distraction and scapegoating by the government.

2010-2019

2010

• On 18 February an Nigerien coup by Salou Djibo against President Mamadou Tandja.

2012

• On 21 March successful Malian Coup by Malian soldiers led by Captain Amadou Sanogo against President Amadou Toumani Touré.
• On 12 April a Guinea-Bissau Coup by Army Vice Chief of Staff General Mamadu Ture Kuruma against Acting President Raimundo Pereira and ex-Prime Minister and presidential candidate Carlos Gomes Júnior.
• On 30 April-1 May an attempt Malian counter-coup d'état by Amadou Toumani Touré's loyalists against Acting President Dioncounda Traoré and Acting Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra.

2013

• The Eritrean opposition claimed that there was an attempt coup on 21 January 2013.
• On 4 March an attempt coup in Benin led by Col. Pamphile Zomahoun against President Boni Yayi.
• On 17 April 2013 an attempt Libyan coup against Prime Minister Ali Zeidan by Muammar Gaddafi loyalists.
• On 20 April 2013 an attempt coup in the Comoros against President Ikililou Dhoinine.
• A failed Coup in Chad on 1 May 2013 against President Idriss Déby.
• In July 3, after millions took to the streets for 4 days calling for President Mohamed Morsi removal, the Egyptian army chief, Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi led the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état to remove him from power and suspend the constitution.
• On 10 October 2013 a second attempt Libyan coup led by Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh against Prime Minister Ali Zeidan.

2014

• Two attempted Libyan coups one in 14 February 2014 and second in May 2014 by Libyan Republican Alliance led by Maj. Gen.Khalifa Haftar against Prime Minister Ali Zeidan in first coup and Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani in second coup.
• An attempted coup in Lesotho against Prime Minister Tom Thabane by Lieutenant General Kennedy Tlai Kamoli and Deputy Prime Minister Mothetjoa Metsing.
• 2014 Thai coup d'état: The Royal Thai Armed Forces led by General Prayut Chan-o-cha overthrew the Yingluck cabinet, establishing a military junta on May 22, 2014.
• On 30 December 2014 an attempted Gambian Coup was launched against President Yahya Jammeh by former head of the presidential guards Lamin Sanneh.

2015

• In 13–15 May the unsuccessful 2015 Burundi Coup by General Godefroid Niyombare against President Pierre Nkurunziza.
• On 17 September an attempted coup in Burkina Faso against President Michel Kafando by General Gilbert Diendéré.

2016

• 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt: on 15–16 July 2016 an attempted coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
• 2016 Burkinabé coup d'état attempt: on 8 October 2016 Blaise Compaore loyalists and former presidential guards failed to overthrow President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré.
• 2016 Libyan coup d'état attempt: on 14 October 2016 an attempted coup against Prime Minister-designate Fayez al-Sarraj led by Khalifa al-Ghawil.
• Montenegrin coup plot: on 16 October 2016 a Montenegrin attempted coup by Main Intelligence Directorate agents and pro-Russian organisations from Serbia and Montenegro against the government of Milo Đukanović on the day of the parliamentary election.

2017

• 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état: Harare, Zimbabwe. In the early hours of 15 November 2017, an army spokesman announced the military takeover of government. This was after the army had seized control of the state run television broadcasting station. During the night before they had stormed the president's private residence and placed the head of state, President Robert Gabriel Mugabe under house arrest. The military police also captured and detained some cabinet ministers whom they labelled criminals around the president. It would succeed with the resignation of Mugabe on 21 November 2017.
• In December an attempted coup against the government in Equatorial Guinea.

2019

• 2019 Gabonese coup d'état attempt
• 2019 Sudanese coup d'état
• 2019 Amhara Region coup d'état attempt

See also

• Coup d'état
• List of coups d'état and coup attempts by country
• List of invasions
• List of revolutions and rebellions – chronological listing
• List of coups d'état and coup attempts since 2010

References

Further reading

• Szulc, Tad (1965). "Latin America", The New York Times Company, Library of Congress 65-27528

External links

• Coups in the World, 1950-Present - Database on coups and coup attempts 1950–present, by Jonathan Powell and Clayton Thyne.
• Coups d'État, 1946-2015 - List of coups and coup attempts 1946–2015, by the Center for Systemic peace.