coup d'état in your country???

[Rodgers]

I'm middle class and apolitical and any military coup here would be by right-wing oficers if anyone (unlikely). Therefore, I couldnt care less if there was one - I'm right in the demographic that those boys will be kissing ass with

 

[aneeshm]

India came very close to something like this for eighteen months , during the declaration of Emergency by Indira Gandhi . Jayprakash Narayan (he was a political , not military leader) , revolted by the corruption prevalent in the state of Bihar , gave a statement to the effect that the troops and police not follow any unconstitutional orders . Seeing an opportunity , Mrs. Gandhi declared a state of national emergency . All the opposition were rounded up during the night , and any dissenters were arrested . Totally bloodless , not a single atrocity , absolutely nothing .

Funnily enough , the entire thing was done within the legal framework of the Constitution , even if the grounds for the declaration were flimsy and utter nonsense .

 

[MadScot]

Originally posted by PresidentMike
I don't think anyone is giving American generals much credit. A coup against the lawfully elected government goes against the culture and history of the U.S. military. No general has ever tried it, and I don't see it happening anytime in the forseeable future. Not simply because they couldn't get away with it, but because they are personally revolted by the very idea.

The officers and men of the armed forces are raised to cherish our freedoms and the constitution, just like you and me. They swear an oath to obey the officers legally appointed over them and to preserve, protect and defend the constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and that's exactly what they've always done. To do otherwise would violate what they've been taught and trained their entire lives to do.

Almost every coup ever launched has been with the stated intention of 'restoring the consititution', 'protecting the state', 'national honour' or similar. In many cases the men undertaking the coup may well genuinely believe that they are acting in the national interest.

An it's certainly not the sort of thing that has never been planned for. Ignoring the near revolt of the officers over pay near the end of the Revolution, consider this:

Between the two World Wars, the US armed services used a country colour code for planning military operations, hence the 'Plan Orange' for war against Japan.
Interestingly there were two colours used for the United States itself - blue, as a belligerent, and white, for 'domestic disorders'.
Therefore plans certainly did exist for the use of the military to intervene in domestic events. Scenarios included overturning communistic or fascist political takeovers.

 

[Cimbri]

A coup in Denmark would be the most unlikely thing to happen… ever…

Edit:
On the other hand, the opposition (unity party and other leftist) might depose the Liberal-Conservative government after all this ‘yak-yak’ about Iraq’s missing nukes.

 

[scotland_no1]

Not here in scotland, a coup would destroy our country and it would be to difficult, as many have seen in the past (when the english invaded for example), the loyalists to the old government could easily fight geurila(sp) warfare from the highlands.

 

[JonathanValjean]

I never say never, but I seriously doubt a coup d'etat will ever occur here in the USA.

 

[CurtSibling]

In the UK?

Not bloody likely!

Unless I chose to lead one, of course.

 

[CurtSibling]

Originally posted by scotland_no1
could easily fight geurila(sp) warfare from the highlands.

Not in an age of ballistic missiles and nukes they couldn't.

Tora Bora, anyone?

 

[D' Artagnan]

It could hardly happen but no one knows.

 

[yaroslav]

My country, Spain, has changed a lot since the Franco dictatorship so I think it is no posible anymore. Howver, in the XX century there were two attemps of coup d'etat: one in 1936, that lead to the Civil War and the dictatorship., and other in 1981, in order to destroy the re-installed democracy (fortunately, it failed)

 

[yaroslav]

double post, sorry

 

[Ohwell]

Originally posted by D' Artagnan
It could hardly happen but no one knows.

Considering the term is French, I think France is the most likely out of all western countries to have a military coup.

 

[PresidentMike]

Originally posted by MadScot


Almost every coup ever launched has been with the stated intention of 'restoring the consititution', 'protecting the state', 'national honour' or similar. In many cases the men undertaking the coup may well genuinely believe that they are acting in the national interest.

An it's certainly not the sort of thing that has never been planned for. Ignoring the near revolt of the officers over pay near the end of the Revolution, consider this:

Between the two World Wars, the US armed services used a country colour code for planning military operations, hence the 'Plan Orange' for war against Japan.
Interestingly there were two colours used for the United States itself - blue, as a belligerent, and white, for 'domestic disorders'.
Therefore plans certainly did exist for the use of the military to intervene in domestic events. Scenarios included overturning communistic or fascist political takeovers.

Good point on the revolution: I had forgotten about that. But even then, all it took was Washington's moral authority to restore order: he shamed them into coming back to their senses. I think that tells you something about just how serious their planning was.

Intervening domestically is *not* the same as a coup. For example, the military stepped in during the Harper's Ferry incident, and its been used to restore order during riots. I'm not familiar with Plan White, but it sounds like military overplanning to me. Neither the far left nor the far right ever came close to pulling off a coup (the Butler conspiracy was a pathetic joke that died in the earliest planning stages; not exactly a serious fascist movement).

A little more on the U.S. color-coded war plans:

Originally from straightdope.com

Except for "Orange" (war with Japan), the plans were primarily academic exercises, lacking detail and offering only broad outlines of strategy. The plans were an outgrowth of military reorganizations that had led to the creation of the U.S. Army War College (1903) and the U.S. Army War Plans Division (1921). Planning capability having been established, the military figured its planners had better get in some practice. The result was a dramatic increase in formal planning for various military contingencies, most of them unlikely.

The idea of systematically developing contingency plans was borrowed from the Prussian-dominated German military, which had been doing similar work since the previous century. Generally the plans weren't requested by civilian authorities (which would indicate an expectation of putting them into practice) but were prepared by the military on its own. However, the plans would be on hand in case the civilian authorities wanted them.

Other color plans included "White" (domestic uprising), "Green" (war with Mexico), "Gray" (war with any one of the Caribbean republics), and "Purple" (war in Central America). One scenario pitted the U.S. against the combined forces of France (Gold), Canada, and Britain. Another (Red-Orange) pitted the U.S. against a combination of Japan and Britain. This last had more military justification before 1924, when the Anglo-Japanese Treaty was still in force.

 

[MadScot]

Originally posted by PresidentMike
Good point on the revolution: I had forgotten about that. But even then, all it took was Washington's moral authority to restore order: he shamed them into coming back to their senses. I think that tells you something about just how serious their planning was.

But what if there is no national hero such as Washington to counsel caution?

What if the ranking general, or the moral leader of the army (McClellan in 1862, say; Grant in '65; Marshall in '45, or Eisenhower; even Powell today) sides with the rebels? I'm not suggesting that there were potential coups in those times, but that there is often a 'natural army leader' and nothing guarantees they will be loyal in the sense you suggest.

If Lincoln had lost to McClellan in 1864, and given the South everything it wanted. (Unlikely) What would Grant's reaction have been? He's just presided over the deaths of tens of thousands of men, to preserve the Union he's sworn to uphold. Now this upstart president will throw it all away? If the election were marred by irregularities too? It's easy to get into the position where the loyalty of the general to the constitution as an abstract conflicts with his duty to the CinC.

A sufficiently cunning group of plotters could easily use the consitution to their advantage. One peculiarity of the US system is that the President need never have been elected to ANY office. Consider how Gerald Ford became president.

If one were to manipulate events such that the president and VP were both nominated rather than elected, then engineered a crisis where they appeared to be acting unconstitutionally themselves, how easy it would be to sell a coup in the name of removing a usurper president and restoring power to a newly elected president; of course, it might take some time to arrange the elections, but they would, of course, be the 'National Security Council' (to pick a name at random ) #1 priority.


edit: by the way, I'm not arguing that a US coup is likely by any means, simply that it could happen, there's nothing about the US that makes it any more or less prone to a coup than, say, France

 

[John-LP]

I`m plotting one right now!

MUAHAAHAHAHHHHAHAHAHA!

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

Before my country could have a coup, they would have to have a military (Altough, for our population size, our military isn't small.) But it still isn't very likely. The only militant uprising to ever exist in Canada was the FLQ in 1970.

 

[SoCalian]

In the US? Never! Not while I'm Dictator for Life anyway.

 

[Kentonio]

Damn it Curt, wheres your ambition gone man!?! You gather the Tigers, I'll grab the SAS lads and i'll meet you on the steps of Downing Street! Can we try and avoid making this one bloodless however, it gets boring after a while.

 

[SoCalian]

Then while England is still reeling from Curt and Kontonio's coup I shall swoop in with my massive army of flying monkeys and take England as my own!!!!!
MWWHAHA MWWHAHA MWWHAHA
ehem... I mean shame on you for planing a revolution!

 

[Kentonio]

Nah its not a revolution, Her Majesty is our head of state and will remain so, we will of course reinstate her powers to imprison and execute traitors, enemies and the Welsh as she see's fit.