welcome to watchmojo.com and today we're
counting down our picks for the top 5
most explosive facts about coup d'etat
for this list we're defining a coup as
the overthrow of a government by a rival
political faction through illegal and
typically violent means
coups are carried out by one group of
elites against another group of elites
so they're distinct from revolutions
invasions
civil wars and uprisings even though
these all can overlap
and sometimes life for the common people
just goes on as normal
that said there are always exceptions
number five kudeta are as old as ancient
greece and rome
they didn't call them coups then but
overthrowing governments is as old as
governments themselves
in ancient times most countries either
had kings or were a republic
but sometimes would-be rulers would
usurp their own governments with a
private army
in athens the city was cooed by a group
of 400 aristocrats who were fed up with
democracy they were replaced in another
coup seven years later by a smaller
scarier group called the 30 tyrants
ancient rome had its fair share of coups
too julius caesar came to power in a
coup
and then was killed in one coups
continued happening through the roman
empire
china byzantium mongolia and they didn't
stop
famous modern coup leaders like napoleon
franco and mussolini
are part of a venerable heritage of
blood-soaked ambition
number four coups are most common in
latin america and africa
if latin america is an apartment spain
was the worst roommate ever
even if they left 200 years ago spanish
forces left a huge mess
dirty dishes dust bunnies and unpaid
bills in the form of weak economies
and a legacy of racism and overpowered
militaries
after spain lost control of its
mismanaged colonies in the 1820s
the only powerful institution left was
the army
and they used that power most countries
in latin america have hadaku
and when you've done it once it can
apparently be hard to kick the habit
case in point argentina which between
1930 and 1976
had a coup every nine years or so on
average
still for all latin america's historical
clout it's the continent of africa
that's the modern pace setter for coups
with over 200 occurring since the 1960s
number three thailand is very cooperate
even today there are a handful of world
leaders who took power by force
but many of them have stabilized and
steered towards democracy
and then there's thailand it's had 19
coups since 1932
yet only 25 democratic elections
the time military chronically tries to
clean up government
but is just as incompetent at running
the country civilian politics is made up
of the red and yellow factions
and the poor in the populists versus the
middle class and the aristocracy
the two political camps have nothing in
common and the only peacemakers have
been the army in the monarchy
thailand's last coup was in 2014 in 2019
the coup's leader prayud shanocha was
elected prime minister in what was
widely seen
as an unfair race number two most
coups fail if all this has been
pessimistic
here's some relief coups are decreasing
in frequency
and most coups fail to make history of
course there are some famous failed
coups like the gunpowder plot
guy fox dastardly planned to blow up
protestant king james the first
and replace him with a catholic and then
there's adolf hitler's 1923 beer hall
put in munich
hitler's innovation was to announce to
the crowd that the revolution had
already begun
and they should join in although he was
able to lead his revolt to some success
the nazi militias were soon defeated by
police thus stopping hitler once and for
all
well until he ran for election 10 years
later and seized control of germany
but that's another video all together
number one
the u.s backed seven coups during the
cold war
that we know of sometimes coups are
backed by foreign governments
and when you need help overthrowing a
government no one does it better than
the cia
from 1953 to 1973 the us overthrew the
governments of iran guatemala
congo the dominican republic south
vietnam
brazil and chile and that's just what
they've admitted to
some of the governments overthrown were
democratic but all of them were
vulnerable to being influenced by the
us's rival
the soviet union in southeast asia u.s
puppets didn't last long
the new south vietnamese government
would lose to the north
and u.s backed general law nol of
cambodia would rule for only five years
but in latin america u.s coup
governments established brutal
dictatorships
setting back democracy for a generation
do you agree with our picks
check out this other recent clip from
watchmojo and be sure to subscribe and
ring the bell to be notified about our
latest videos