Coup d'etat

A coup, coup, coup d'état or putsch is the sudden, illegal deposition of a government, usually by a small group of an institution of the State - usually by the army - to replace the ousted government by another institution; whether civilian or military. A coup succeeds when the usurpers establish their dominance when the incumbent government's failure to prevent or strengthen their power to resist successfully. If the coup fails either not complete or not booked at all successful, the attempted coup will likely lead to a civil war .

Usually a coup uses the power of the current government to seize political power. In Coup d'Etat: A Practical Handbook says Edward Luttwak, "A coup consists of the infiltration of a small but critical part of the state apparatus, which is then used to displace the government from its control over the rest," so armed violence (whether military or paramilitary) is not a typical feature of a coup.

Contents

 * 1 Definition
 * Examples 2
 * 3 Coup in Suriname
 * 4 Coups in Netherlands
 * 5. The technique of the coup
 * 6 Manuals for a coup
 * 7 See also

[Definition edit ]

 * A foreign invasion has never been a coup, although it can prevent coup supported by a foreign power. Something similar happened in Guatemala in 1954, when in operation PBSUCCESS a group of dissident officers with logistical and financial support from the United States and Honduras president Jacobo Arbenz stumbled out of the saddle. The invasion of Tanzania in Uganda in 1979, where the dictator Idi Amin was deposed and Milton Obote came back into the saddle, does not qualify as a coup.
 * Also, when a group of political outsiders take power, as in a revolution, one does not speak of a coup. Examples include the Russian Revolution, the March on Rome and the Cuban Revolution .

Examples

 * One of the most famous and oldest coups in history took place when Julius Caesar the Rubicon overlaid and took Rome ( 49 BC. )
 * Napoleon Bonaparte staged his coup d'etat on November 9, 1799 by resolving the "Meeting of Five Hundred" and the Directoire to send home.
 * On April 21, 1967 a group of colonels in Greece staged a coup that led to deposition of the king and suppression of democracy.
 * Operation Valkyrie : in 1944 the German colonel killed Claus von Stauffenberg bombing of Adolf Hitler, followed by a coup that failed and Stauffenberg and whether accomplices were hanged or shot.
 * An act whereby an incumbent ruler extending his power in a way that goes against the constitution or the political use of a country is also a coup. Contrary to popular belief a coup does not necessarily mean a regime change. Examples of such coups perpetrated by incumbent rulers are:
 * the decommissioning of the Constitution by the French Minister Prince Charles Napoleon Bonaparte on December 2 1851 .
 * the dissolution of the Mexican congress by Victoriano Huerta in October 1913 .
 * the machtergreifung and Gleichschaltung, where Adolf Hitler after in 1933 to be democratic come to power in the democratic system in Germany switched off so that he could remain permanently in power.
 * The car coup by Alberto Fujimori in 1992 .
 * The "royal dictatorship" in Balkans in the 30s, where the kings of Romania, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria political parties and leaders uitschakelden and all power to themselves skirts.

Coup in Suriname
The perpetrators of a coup obviously use the term almost never. Thus spake the soldiers passed without much bloodshed ' sergeant coup "led by Desi Bouterse on 25 February 1980 in Suriname initially an 'intervention', and later a "revolution." The coup in Suriname took place in an atmosphere of national malaise, political powerlessness and great dissatisfaction among the population and especially in the lower ranks of the army. The sergeants initially were also much popular support for their "interference." International politics stood waiting or moderate-positive. Only after some time, when the coup plotters with increasing violence wanted to keep their regime in power, the nature of the coup became clear. Clouding the issue is for coup plotters also a way to hide the intrinsically anti-democratic nature of a coup.

Coups in the Netherlands
In the Netherlands over the past several coups committed or planned. In Belgium has never committed a coup.
 * The arrest of Oldebarneveldt and his associates and the seizure of power by Prince Maurits and the Gomarists in 1619.
 * The deposition of Johan de Witt in 1672. The brothers Johan and Cornelis de Witt were murdered and the Prince of Orange took power.
 * The coups in the Batavian Republic . Internal political instability in the new unified state led to several coups in 1798 when revolutionary commanders who Herman Willem Daendels were irritated by the slow pace of democratic reform. A coup in January 1798 led to the necessary one and indivisible. The federalists had thereby defeated by the French Government, supported by the Unitarians .
 * The coup Troelstra in 1918 had previously announced a revolution. Troelstra expected the Dutch government would resign as soon as it became clear that the workers' movement which demanded. The government did not give in and Troelstra saw them off using violence.
 * At the time of the cabinet Den Uyl was rumored as the military and conservative forces would consider a coup. A men's club, whose members, among others, Mr. Leonard van Heyningen and Prosper Ego, thenoenmaalgezelschap was named in 1974 in the Dutch press as a reactionary group that would discuss a coup. These rumors were never confirmed.

The technique of the coup
There are at least three "guides" for committing a coup published. All the connoisseurs of the matter stress the joints, controlling telephone, television, telex and telegraph, and isolating those in power are essential.Coup Perpetrators occupied in the past, usually the first post office and telephone exchange.

There are three military units are important: The difference between a coup and a civil war that the troops outside the capital by both parties will be polled by telephone to determine how strong the government and the coup standing armies. The coup perpetrator attempts to isolate the ruler and he himself seeks contact with the army units in the province. The commanders of the military and paramilitary forces in the garrison will not initially respond. Only when it is clear how the balance of power, they will one party or another show their support.
 * The guard or guard of the ruler (s)
 * The troops of the coup perpetrators
 * The troops that are too far from the center of power camped and therefore neutralized.

Thus, in 1981, the Spanish king's coup Antonio Tejero defeat by appearing on television.

Because the units of the army themselves do not like to come to blows, a coup is largely perpetrated by telephone. When the ruler is clear that he does not have enough support, he will flee. The same goes for the coup plotters.

The August Coup in Moscow against the Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachov failed was made ​​by US intelligence from the unanswered calls from the Kremlin, the nerve center of the coup, to military commanders outside Moscow. They did not respond.

Manuals for a coup

 * Curzio Malaparte - Technique du coup d'Etat (1re édition française and 1931), Paris, Ed. 10/18, 1964
 * Donald J. Goodspeed - Six coups d'Etat, Paris, Ed. Arthaud, 1963
 * Edward Luttwak - Coup d'Etat: manuel pratique, Paris, Ed. Robert Laffont, 1969
 * Michel Debré and Jean-Louis Debré - Le Pouvoir politique, Seghers, Paris, 1976