List of successful coups d'?tat throughout history

A coup d'?tat (pronounced /ku de'ta/), or simply coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government, often through illegal means by a part of the state establishment ? mostly replacing just the high-level figures.

It is also an example of political engineering. It can be (although not necessarily) violent, but it is different from a revolution, which is staged by a larger group and radically changes the political system through unconstitutional means.

Coups d'?tat are listed by country in alphabetical order. 

Afghanistan in 1973 by Mohammed Daoud Khan against Mohammad Zahir Shah

Afghanistan in 1978 by Nur Muhammad Taraki against Mohammed Daoud Khan

Algeria in 1965 by Houari Boumedienne against Ahmed Ben Bella

Algeria in 1992 by Khaled Nezzar against Chadli Bendjedid

Argentina on September 6, 1930 by Jos? F?lix Uriburu against Hip?lito Yrigoyen

Argentina in 1943 by Arturo Rawson against Ram?n Castillo

Argentina in 1955 by Eduardo Lonardi against Juan Per?n

Argentina in March 1962 against Arturo Frondizi

Argentina in 1966 by Juan Carlos Ongan?a against Roberto M. Levingston

Argentina in 1976 by Jorge Rafael Videla against Isabel Mart?nez de Per?n

Azerbaijan in 1993 by Suret Huseynov against Ab?lfaz El?ibay

Bangladesh on August 15, 1975 by army officers against Mujibur Rahman

Bangladesh on March 24, 1982 by Hossain Mohammad Ershad against A. F. M. Ahsanuddin Chowdhury

Bolivia in 1964 by Ren? Barrientos against V?ctor Paz Estenssoro

Bolivia in 1971 by Hugo Banzer against Juan Jos? Torres

Bolivia in 1980 by Luis Garc?a Meza Tejada

Brazil in 1964 by Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco against Jo?o Goulart

Bulgaria in 1944 by Kimon Georgiev against Konstantin Muraviev

Burkina Faso in 1983 by Blaise Compaor? against Jean-Baptiste Ou?draogo

Burkina Faso in 1987 by Blaise Compaor? against Thomas Sankara

Burma on March 1, 1962 by Ne Win against U Nu

Burma on September 18, 1988 by Saw Maung against Maung Maung Kha

Burundi in November 1966 by Michel Micombero against Ntare V of Burundi

Burundi on July 25, 1996 by Pierre Buyoya against Jean-Baptiste Bagaza

Cambodia in 1970 by Lon Nol against Norodom Sihanouk

Central African Republic in 1966 by Jean-B?del Bokassa against David Dacko

Central African Republic in 1979 by David Dacko against Jean-B?del Bokassa

Central African Republic in 1981 by Andr? Kolingba against David Dacko

Central African Republic in 2003 by Fran?ois Boziz? against Andr? Kolingba

Chad in 1975 by No?l Milarew Odingar against Fran?ois Tombalbaye

Chile on January 23, 1925 by Carlos Ib??ez del Campo and Marmaduke Grove Vallejo against Luis Altamirano Talavera

Chile on September 11, 1973 by Augusto Pinochet against Salvador Allende

Ciskei in 1990 by Oupa Gqozo against Lennox Sebe

Colombia in June 1953 by Gustavo Rojas Pinilla against Laureano G?mez

Comoros in 1999 by Azali Assoumani

Congo-Brazzaville in 1968 by Marien Ngouabi

Congo-L?opoldville in 1960 by Joseph Mobutu

Costa Rica in 1870 by Bruno Carranza Ram?rez

Costa Rica in 1876 by Vicente Herrera Zeled?n

Costa Rica in 1917 by Federico Tinoco Granados

C?te d'Ivoire in 1999 by Robert Gu?i

Cuba in 1952 by Fulgencio Batista

Cyprus in 1974 by Nikos Sampson

Dahomey in 1963 by Christophe Soglo

Dahomey in 1972 by Mathieu K?r?kou

Dominican Republic in 1963 under Emilio de los Santos

Ecuador in 1925 by Luis Telmo Paz y Mi?o

Ecuador in 1935 by Federico P?ez

Ecuador in 1963 by Ram?n Castro Jij?n

Ecuador in 1972 by Guillermo Rodr?guez

Ecuador in 2000 by Lucio Guti?rrez

Egypt in 1952 by Gamal Abdel Nasser

El Salvador in 1931 by Maximiliano Hern?ndez Mart?nez

El Salvador in 1948 by Manuel de Jes?s C?rdova

El Salvador in 1960

El Salvador in 1979

Equatorial Guinea in 1979 by Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo

Estonia in 1934 by Konstantin P?ts

Fiji in 1987 by Sitiveni Rabuka

Fiji in 2000 by George Speight

Fiji in 2006 by Frank Bainimarama

France in 1799 by Napoleon I

France in 1851 under Napoleon III

Ethiopia in 1974 under the Derg

Gambia in 1994 under Yahya Jammeh

Georgia in 1992 under Eduard Shevardnadze

Ghana in 1966 under Joseph Arthur Ankrah

Ghana in 1972 under Ignatius Kutu Acheampong

Ghana in 1981 under Jerry John Rawlings

Greece in 1967 under Georgios Papadopoulos

Grenada in 1979 under Maurice Bishop

Grenada in 1983 under Bernard Coard

Guatemala in 1963 under Enrique Peralta Azurdia

Guatemala in 1982 under Efra?n R?os Montt

Guinea in 1984 under Lansana Cont?

Guinea-Bissau in 1980 under Jo?o Bernardo Vieira

Guinea-Bissau in 1999 under Ansumane Man?

Guinea-Bissau in 2003 under Ver?ssimo Correia Seabra

Haiti in 1946 under Dumarsais Estim?

Haiti in 1956 under Paul Eug?ne Magloire

Haiti 1991 September 30 and 2004 February 29 democratically-elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide forced to flee.

Honduras in 1956

Honduras in 1963 under Oswaldo L?pez Arellano

Honduras in 1972 under Oswaldo L?pez Arellano

Honduras in 1975 under Juan Alberto Melgar Castro

Honduras in 1978 under Policarpo Paz Garc?a

Indonesia in 1966 under Haji Mohammad Suharto

Iran in 1921 under Reza Pahlavi

Iran in 1953 under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

Iraq in 1958 under Muhammad Najib ar-Ruba'i and Abdul Karim Qassim

Iraq in 1963 under Abdul Salam Arif

Iraq in 1968 under Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr

South Korea in 1961 under Park Chung Hee

South Korea in 1979 under Chun Doo-hwan

Laos in 1960 under Kong Le

Latvia in 1934 under Karlis Ulmanis

Lesotho in 1986 under Justin Metsing Lekhanya

Liberia in 1980 under Samuel K. Doe

Libya in 1969 under Muammar al-Qaddafi

Lithuania in 1926 under Antanas Smetona

Madagascar in 1972 under Gabriel Ramanantsoa

Mali in 1968 under Moussa Traor?

Mali in 1991 under Amadou Toumani Tour?

Mauritania in 1978 under Mustafa Ould Salek

Mauritania in 2005 under Ely Ould Mohamed Vall

Muscat and Oman in 1970 under Qaboos bin Said

Niger in 1974 by Seyni Kountch? against Hamani Diori

Niger in 1996 under Ibrahim Bar? Ma?nassara

Nigeria in 1966 under Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu

Nigeria in 1983 under Muhammadu Buhari

Nigeria in 1985 under Ibrahim Babangida

Panama in 1968 under Omar Torrijos

Pakistan in 1958 under Ayub Khan

Pakistan in 1977 under Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq

Pakistan in 1999 under Pervez Musharraf

Paraguay in 1989 under Andr?s Rodr?guez

Peru in 1914 under ?scar Benavides

Peru in 1919 under Augusto B. Legu?a y Salcedo

Peru in 1930 under Luis Miguel S?nchez Cerro

Peru in 1948 under Manuel A. Odr?a

Peru in 1962 under Ricardo P?rez Godoy

Peru in 1968 under Juan Velasco Alvarado

Peru in 1992 under Alberto Fujimori (dissolved Parliament)

Poland in 1926 under J?zef Pilsudski

Portugal in 1926 under Gomes da Costa

Portugal in 1974 under Ant?nio de Sp?nola

Romania in 1944

Russia in 1917 under Vladimir Lenin

Rwanda in 1973 under Juv?nal Habyarimana

S?o Tom? and Pr?ncipe in 1995 under Manuel Quintas de Almeida

S?o Tom? and Pr?ncipe in 2003 under Fernando Pereira

Seychelles in 1977 under France-Albert Ren?

Sierra Leone in 1967 under David Lansana

Sierra Leone in 1967 under Andrew Juxon-Smith

Sierra Leone in 1968 under John Amadu Bangura

Sierra Leone in 1992 under Valentine Strasser

Sierra Leone in 1996 under Julius Maada Bio

Sierra Leone in 1997 under Johnny Paul Koroma

Solomon Islands in 2000 by the Malaitan Eagle Force

Somalia in 1969 under Muhammad Siad Barre

Spain in 1936 under Francisco Franco

Sudan in 1958 under Ibrahim Abboud

Sudan in 1969 under Gaafar al-Nimeiry

Sudan in 1985 under Abdel Rahman Swar al-Dahab

Sudan in 1989 under Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir

Suriname in 1980 under D?si Bouterse

Suriname in 1990 under Ivan Graanoogst

Syria in 1966 under Salah Jadid

Syria in 1970 under Hafez al-Assad

Thailand in 2006 under Sonthi Boonyaratglin

Togo in 1963 under ?tienne Eyad?ma

Transkei in 1987 under Bantu Holomisa

Tunisia in 1987 under Zine El Abidine Ben Ali

Turkey in 1960 under the National Unity Committee headed by Cemal G?rsel

Turkey in 1971 under four Force Commanders of the Turkish Armed Forces

Turkey in 1980 under Kenan Evren

Uganda in 1966 under Milton Obote

Uganda in 1971 under Idi Amin

Upper Volta in 1966 under Sangoul? Lamizana

Upper Volta in 1980 under Saye Zerbo

Upper Volta in 1982 under Jean-Baptiste Ou?draogo

Upper Volta in 1983 under Thomas Sankara

Uruguay in 1933 under Gabriel Terra

Uruguay in 1973

Venda in 1990 under Gabriel Ramushwana

Venezuela in 1948 under Carlos Delgado Chalbaud

Venezuela in 2002 under Pedro Carmona (success often disputed; Carmona occupied the presidential office for roughly a day)

South Vietnam in 1963 under Duong Van Minh

Yemen in 1962 under Abdullah as-Sallal

Yemen Arab Republic in 1974 under Ibrahim al-Hamadi

Zanzibar in 1964 under John Okello