Young Writers Society

I've looked it up, and basically it's a takeover. It says that you can take over the government by using a small force of people, and it's virtually quick and can be sort of painless.

However, it doesn't seem realistic. I know it is, I know coups have happened. But how does a small group of people accomplish that? What do they have to do to make it work? What does it all entail? Taking over the head in command? Wouldn't it take more than that?

Sorry, I'm rambling. Just, I'm doing a prewrite and I need a way for my characters to take down their government. But I can't write about a coup if I don't understand how it works...

Thanks!

-Cassie

You know, I'm not entirely sure myself, but I'll do my best.

I think it would involve things like a person close to whoever was in charge- a traitorous friend, an opponent, etc, but probably a traitorous friend. Then it would involve a lot of espionage and intelligence, not to mention counterintelligence. Of course, it would help if the government was unstable already, and people hoping for change.

After the small force has all the information they need, they would plan something simple- assassinating the leader of the government, all who were 'on the other side', so to speak, and then casually inserting themselves as the new leaders.

Here's an example, and I did repeat things on purpose:

Act as a best friend to the leader, gradually getting your own people into the house where the leader lives, and then, quickly and quietly, murder everyone in the building who isn't sympathetic to the small group. In ancient Japan, when a coup happened, everyone was killed, even the servants. Then, threaten and bribe the other officials (if there are any), tell the civilians a lot of catchphrases and buzzwords, and bingo, you're home free.

Sorry if that doesn't help, but like I said, I wasn't entirely sure about the subtleties of a coup.

-Wordsmith

Thanks so much. That clarifies a lot of things and helps with the story!

-Cassie

You're welcome!

One of the ore famous coups include the Coup D'etat. Look it up, its great.

Read about Fiji. They've had a crapload of Coups in the past. I'm pretty sure that Haiti has too, they've certainly been in the news enough.

If you really want to know about how to bring down the gummint, though, you ought to read the Special Forces Handbook.

Within the hallowed pages of this Bible of Destruction are contained everything you need to know to bring a government to its knees.

Actually, that's a bit of an overstatement.

There are several things you want to consider if you're plotting a coup. I'm going to phrase this as if you actually want to stage a coup d'etat, not the people in your book, so don't think I'm egging you to go take out Luxembourg or Fiji, just because they're vulnerable.

Alright. First, you need to consider. Do you really want to bring down the government, or just replace the people in charge?

Ideally, you would want someone up high in the ranks to be on your side. A general is always nice, because in third world countries the military usually answers to the generals before the actual dictators themselves. So having a general in charge means all you really have to do is assassinate the ruler and put the general into his new position of dictator-tyrant-leader.

That is the basics of a simple coup. Disenchantment, assassination, replacement, and voila, you have overthrown a government.

Now if you're trying to bring down the entire system and start from scratch (A la, what the US has done in Iraq) you need to do three things.

One: Take down municipalities. In otherwords, bomb the power station, the waterworks, and the radio/tv station. This isn't so important any more, because of the internet, but no newscasters on TV worries the crap out of the people at home.

Two: Take down the local police/military force. I don't know what kind of country you're overrunning. The police/military might be good or bad, so if they're good, you're going to have to be sneakier about all your rampant destruction and try to bribe the leader of the police over to your side. Whatever works. Get the police/military on your side and you've already won.

Three: Lay down the law. Let the people of your new country know who's boss. Publically execute your rivals, whatever. The people of Poopistan need to know that you are the biggest, baddest fool around and you don't take crap from nobody.


Now I know that this is kind of a butthole thing to do, but taking over countries is just not a nice thing no matter how you look at it. People die.

So you might not want to go with the total coup and just take out the leader and replace him with someone you like.


And now you know how to overthrow the government. Remember, knowledge is power.

Thank you to everyone who has responded! It's all very helpful and enlightening...ha. Thanks again!

-Cassie

No problem, I love to volunteer information.

No, really, if you need to know anything about military-ish stuff, don't hesitate to ask.

coup d'etat, is when a small force takes over the government.

This does not work if you do not have a person who will be the next leader, after the death of the killed one.

we could say that a group of revolutionaries kill the king, they must have a person who will take the thrown or be themselves powerful enough to take it. For this though you need an ready army that will keep the other revolutionaries down, or the popular support.