Hey! We’re back after (probably?) the longest hiatus in the channel’s history. Good news: it was only a publishing delay for scheduling reasons so we’ll be releasing the videos we’ve been working on in rapid succession in the next few weeks. Enjoy and remember to check out Storyblocks if you make videos or do any sort of creative work: www.storyblocks.com/polymatter
The US did it best: getting the Military Industrial Complex/corporations/oligarchs together to silence and assassinate JFK, and essentially controlling all arms of the government and media (through oligarchs who own them with no democratic oversight). Elections have since been manipulated through the media to give the illusion of choice. That is the real reason why the US can't figure out exactly the details of why JFK was assassinated, and yet have the ability to figure out it was OBL who brought down the twin towers half a globe away
There are also self-coups, when the leader of the nation having come to power legally, illegally increases his power. The penultimate coup here in Sweden took place in 1772, when King Gustav III dissolved Parliament and became dictator for 20 years until he was assassinated. When the mandate of French President Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte ended in 1851, he declared himself Emperor and ruled for 19 years until he tried to follow in the footsteps of his famous uncle and attacked Germany, but was captured.
The ultimate example is Adolf Hitler. He was legally appointed Chancellor by President Paul von Hindenburg, and used a false flag arson attack on the Reichstag to get legislation passed that helped him become an absolute dictator.
A big element you're missing here, especially in the coup belt. Is the frequency of these types of events. Not coups necessarily but power outages, telecommunications failures, government infighting, armed presences etc. All manner of disorienting information losses are not simply an occurrence but a normalized facet of life. A coup under these conditions is substantially easier to pull off. In stable countries we rarely see these kinds of events, in some developing countries they often even have defined schedules.
This is so true. As a burmese still trapped under the Myanmar military regime, there's an unreasonable amount of power outages and lots of ethnic guerilla forces fighting with the military which has increased since the coup.
@@binder946 Because the people of Turkey are citizens of the Turkish Republic and believe in its’ institutions. Also the military is absolutely hated in the country for pass coups, crackdowns, and wars with non-Turks of the country.
In the case of Myanmar, a majority of the government was always controlled by the military, even during the democratic government. (The military still held important positions, making it a you do what i say or your not doing it deal still.) Then they just decided to take control of the power they already had.
Indonesia used to do this back when Soeharto is still president. We had a thing called military dualfunction (translated), where military member would be appointed to a civilian position. Luckily we got rid of those when soeharto stepped down, but sadly there has been news that one of our minister (who also ex-military) wants to reinstitute it again 😮💨
@@Saksitsaelow I really hope we don't see this cycle again in Thailand these days. Actually, Myanmar people took three-finger salute from our Thai brothers who did about a decade ago.
True, we are currently resisting military coup in Myanmar taking up arms. One have to note that covid really messed things up and some citizens were afraid of going out and protest during the early days and a week later everyone was like we would rather die than not tell the world we are accepting this coup.
I wish you the best in your fight for democracy. It isn’t much, but despite our media having been “distracted” by other topics, there are still people aware of what is going on in your country and hoping for you to achieve your noble goals. Best of luck to you and your friends.
@@fluffybunny5518 Myanmar democratic NLD govt is same as Myanmar Army Both are bàd for ethnic mìńórìtìèś Look at 14:05 again they say partly free elections
Myanmar's Coup was flawless, everything was over by morning. Not a single shot, and no bloodshed. But they didn't anticipate the power of Facebook & Media. A week later protests started, 3 weeks later protests became violent and the soldiers started shooting.
Now the dictator regime is struggling to maintain power and it become so desperate to the point they have to burn down and bomb villages,carry out airstrike on most battles
At @12:48 it says 242 were successful and 244 were failures. But then it shows that 50.2% were successful and 49.8% were failures. Either the percentages or the number of coups should be the opposite. Other than this, great video as always!
Thanks, polymatter! Now, having watched this video, I'm ready to start my own coup! When i finally become dictator, i will donate a golden mine to you!
South Asia is a really interesting case in this regard since most of the countries got their independence around the same time but the history shows a stark contrast. Coups by country are, Bangladesh: 8 Pakistan: 6 Sri Lanka: 4 Myanmar: 6 Nepal: 2 India despite being the largest, one of the poorest(at the time) and most diverse had zero thanks to the quick reforms to the military. Generals were taken out of decision making of the general council, the head of the army was made powerless by himself as he didn't have direct command of any troops but rather lieutenant Generals who then commanded troops. Also, multiple intelligence agencies that recruited from civil government controlled paramilitary were set up instead of having militaristic spy agencies.
One more reason to celebrate Field Marshal Manekshaw. Also, the various Iranian people groups (Parsis, Yazdis, Iranis) which have over time migrated here are the best argument for keeping an open mind and a somewhat open gate for immigration.
This is how you write believable coup in your fiction works. Leave those Star Wars level of villainy political strategy to Star Wars. When you need to add political drama in your world, at least take this video into consideration because Coups are never simple.
It might not have been very clear but Palpatine did this, didn't he? He did have a power map. The senate, divided into the enemy (Volorian, Padme etc), the opportunist (the large majority) and the allies (the banking clans, some of the senate), and the Jedi who were the enemy. First he eliminated Volorian then he used the turmoil against the loyalists to buy time so that he can erode trust from the people, with the war, and so that he can turn Anakin, who he needs because of the prophecy. The exact moment he turned Anakin, he used the military to remove the opposition in form of the jedi and the separatist leadership. I think his coup is even better, even if normally not achievable, as he used this war to strengthen the trust people have in his government, as they ended the war and killed those wretched jedi who were the real enemy all along.
At 2:30 the list of “successful” Thai coup is slightly unaccurate as the Palace Revolt of 1912 and 1949, the Boworadet rebellion, the Songsuradet rebellion and the manhattan rebellion all failed still very insightful video
If someone asked me to name a country with lots of coups, I'd never have thought of Thailand. I've never been, but it seems like a moderately prosperous country compared to its neighbours (apart from Malaysia) and it had a king who was on the throne for 50-60 years I think. Normally western tourists would avoid unstable countries, so despite the coups, Thailand must be doing something right!
@@rogink The amount of coups would make you think it’s some kind of failed country but somehow it’s the second or third richest in South East Asia depending on the metric you use.
@@rogink the question is should we have not had that many coups, then would we have been a more prosperous or poorer country. No one will know. We are where we are in the world as a result of these many coups. Would we want to be richer and more civilized, you bet. But there is no standardized formula of how one country should be governed to do well. Look at China for example, the wests despise them because of their totalitarian system but the country strives so fast and will over take the US soon, in my opinion.
@@rogink We were on a brink of becoming "fifth tiger of asia" then everything went stagnant as resources went into the pocket of the elites instead of the people. Still pretty safe for tourists and people are helpful but we could've rival or even surpass Singapore if there's no coup.
What is crucial for Coups is a lack of trust. When you can't trust your fellow soldier or your officers to do the right thing, self-preservation takes priority. And in these political climates, self-preservation tells the soldier - don't do anything. Watch and see who is the "winner" and back them. You might want to do the right thing but you have no faith that enough people will agree, so you could be committing a form of suicide by opposing a coup. If no one knows who is on board, and no one knows where loyalties lie, then no one will act. This is why it is critical to keep people, soldier and civilians, engaged in politics and aware of what processes should occur and when. It is also why precedent and political norms are so vital to democracy - a lot of democracy is built on norms and the people accepting new leaders if they conform to those norms. Democracy is only possible when people care enough about it and are informed enough about checks and balances. Democracy is, sadly, always a few generations away from failing, no matter how strong it seems today. Continuous education and civil participation is extremely important. Be aware - be VERY aware - of those who seek to undermine participation, restrict or discourage voting, or encourage apathy.
I once heard it said that to pull off a successful coup- 1. You must be fast 2. You must be ready to employ violence 3. You must be willing to break the law
Another reason why coups beget more coups is because other groups see the instability from another coup attempt as the opportunity to launch their own before power is consolidated by the group that beat them to the punch
Ghana had it's last coup d'etat in 1981... 31 years ago!!! Since 1992 there has been 8 successful democratic elections every 4 years without delay (1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) with peaceful transition power between the 2 main political parties. The way you presented it sounds like as if the country is a failed state, even using stock footage of the current military leadership as if they had any agenda to do another coup. Ghana, by no means is perfect and has a long road ahead in terms of economic prosperity, but it is an undisputed beacon of peace and democracy in the world based on it's democratic trackrecord! I really love your channel, your videos are super informative and I will keep watching them even on Nebula but this is quite misleading about the state of my country!
@@B3Band yeah, maybe because people dont want to vote republican because their policies are shit and hurt everybody besides a small minority of oligarchs ? thats why republicans always attempt to destroy democracy and disenfranchise voters because if everyone gets a voice as it should be then republicans couldnt win shit. republicans losing is the system working correctly lol
@@B3Band and why we should care about the popular vote? Last time I checked the Electoral College elects the President in the US and it has been in place for the past 250 years and it worked just fine. Because the Founding Fathers knew that democracy is bulls**t meant to give the sheep a "choice" between a wolf or a fox.
As wealthy westerners living in free democratic countries it's pretty easy for us to say "wow if these countries suck so much why don't they just overthrow their government lololol" but I doubt many of us would be eager to be the first frontline freedom fighters, were we in their shoes.
Answer: They don't meet the right conditions. Coups can quickly devolve into a civil war which is something that nobody wants, especially if the population is highly involved in the politics. If for example, the US had a coup, a 2nd Civil War would be an absolute guarantee.
great video! slight correction: during the early segment on coups in Africa you showed a video of the South African Union Buildings - South Africa is far from the Sahel region and has never experienced a coup
@@CodeSwag south Africa has 3 capitals... Bloemfontein (Judicial), Pretoria (Adminstrative) and Cape Town (Legislative) - it's one of the few countries in Africa which truly doesn't have a concentration of power.
South Africa hasn't had a coup yes, but we have had political party coups, remember the big krockodill? He refused to leave office so his party told him retire or well throw you out, remember Zuma, he went on and on about how he's the leader of the party, then Cyril showed up and said he's in charge now and he was quickly made president after that. We've also had 2 rebellions (ww1 - Maritz rebellion) and the (Rand Rebellion)
Africa does have a means to stop them by using the African Union as a solidarity measure to assemble all available armies and remove or intervene in the Coup d'etat, but it will depend on the African Union's willingness to be engaged in such. The people have very little sympathy for their government as they more identify with their tribe, so they don't really care and until African governments tackle this issue, they won't be able to change the people to prevent a coup d'etat. So you have to be proactive rather than preactive with this isssue.
I've heard criticism (and I'm not sure how true it is) that the African Union is a "dictator's club" of sorts. If a clear majority of nations on the continent have successful democracies and the populace of each of those countries is dedicated to protecting democracy continent-wide, then that plan should work. However, if the governments making up the Union have more sympathy with the juntas than the governments they replaced, then it can't happen. (The memberships of the countries where a successful coup took place in 2021 have been suspended, though, so that's an encouraging sign).
If the AU asserted itself in a way that was positively reinforcing democracy within Africa, it would find its constituent countries couped by Western backed factions.
@@MrTaxiRob They kicked the dictator of The Gambia out. They can be useful, white person. They just only care about the elite, which isn't much different from the European Union.
@@sagittariusa7662 or the USA. Also, are you a brown person? I don't see where assuming a person's skin tone matters here. I support the autonomy of African nations from outside influence, even if it means I pay more for my Starbuck's.
fantastic video, but you discredit yourself a bit when you include the January 6th riot as an example of a coup. It has virtually nothing in common with the actual coups you detailed.
it was at least attempted coup - strict definitions are hard to apply, one mans coup is another mans revolution. the nut jobs tried to *illegally* nullify the democratic process, which is a common theme with the coups he detailed.
@@username2630 an attempted coup where very few people were armed and none of those people used there weapons? how did they try to overturn the government? by sitting in nancy pelosi's chair? it was a riot pure and simple. people didn't like the outcome of the election so they vented their frustration on some windows. sounds like a mostly peaceful protest by the standards of the time.
@@cerberusloyalist5038 dont act like if the mob got their hands on some people they wouldnt have lynched them. this kind of gaslightining is the exact reason why america is in decline, a significant percentage of people never own up to their mistakes and keeps blaming everything on others without taking any responsibility whatsoever. Also, arms arent necessary for a coup, nor are they sufficient, regime change can happen without a single bullet fired. They tried to overturn the govt by stopping the electoral process based on lies.
Coup/Insurrection: A one day event where an unarmed group of people protest and a minority of which are let into the capitol building and kill nobody. Peaceful Protest: A months long series of riots that actually kill a ton of people and damage far more property than Jan 6th including government property, lead to occupations of land by newly formed governments lasting months, lead to policy changes that spark a nationwide crimewave, all of which is supported by a cabal of politicians who have never apologized or retracted their views.
I found this quite an informative look into coups and how they are performed! For instance, I've heard of how coup participants may take control of radio or television stations, but I didn't know _why_ until 8:48! Thanks for the video!
This video should be part of the school curriculum in every democratic country to fight the "my vote doesn't matter" attitude and the growing disregard for the "rule of law". Every vote no matter how silly the topic or hopeless the policy is active political engagement and thus a vote against coups and autocracies.
I wish people would understand this. That and the fact that voting "none of the above" or voiding your ballot can also have an effect, because your dissatisfaction ends up showing up in the results, as opposed to not going to the polls, which can easily be explained away by politicians.
Your naiveté is cute. Let's talk after your vote against fascism (one definition of which is the government working with private companies against its citizens). Oh wait it's already here. Governments all over advertised for vaccine manufacturers, despite known risks of side-effects.
I mean if you only vote twice a decade outside of union activity like in a certain country that left the EU it does feel a bit more difficult to believe my vote matters, especially when the right have a huge majority in my area, so no my vote doesn't matter
Man, I've live in Thailand and witness 2 fooking coup in my life time already, it's suck so much my father went out protest during 2010 and government just open fire then armed protesters strike back by launching grenade at command tent blowing that commander leg off, later one of the protestor key member got assassination. I've never afriad for my dad life more then that event for my entire life.
Everyone who knows Legends of the Galactic Heroes knows that Admiral Yang Wenli descibes it perfectly: The military has to be controlled by the civillians. It never has to assume/strive/seizes power, nor does it has to interfere with government or politics. The best military is a military which just collects pay checks and works untill the days dismissal. The anime Imo shows perfectly how it is done/prevented.
Hey PolyMatter! I recommend you to make a video about the structure of the Communist Party of China. Who gets chosen how? Who's next? Balance of power? Etc. I think it would be a good video.
Spoiler alert: they’re capitalist in every single way other than name. Vanguardists are just rebranded right wingers appealing to popular ideas. Most governments do this.
the chassis of a coup is that an individual attempts to overthrow the current government with some form of use of force outside of the typical method of election. so the basis of Jan 6th being a coup is whether or not the individuals tried to overthrow the government through some force or intimidate the government into submission through some kind of force.
Interesting, found a lot of the steps similar to the coup seen in the movie Valkyrie. Especially the part about giving the appearance of holding power.
I am sudanese and I can say that sadly this is really so accurate and it is exactly what has happened in my country , most people have lost hope and they don't really care that much , young graduates are leaving the country in droves , economy is falling and we all are paying the cost for the benefit of a group of corrupt military elites
Jan 6th coup? I'd love to see the analysis comparing other coups. I'm going to guess that Jan 6th event will not get anywhere close to the usual definition. We can change the definition of coup like we changed the definition of inflation if there are any issues.
It's amazing how people like this dude can do in depth research on topics but are clueless when it comes to basic stuff.... They just go with the flow and never stop to think...
Well having the doors opened isnt really a coup. Its more like the nazis starting the Reichstags fire in order to legitimize their authoritarian rule... please do not draw similarities with the former vice presidents rule. Or do. Whatever. The US is still a free country. Maybe.
Americans are so weird lol. A bunch of fat people protesting in front of a government building is not a coup LMAO. Must be easy living in the first world
Poly uses mainstream sources like Wikipedia and the White House press. He hasn't realized that coup can literally mean going up to a mayor's office and kicking the door then leaving. It is whatever you want it to be.
No, no. It's just like the children's game of King of the Hill. Occupy a single federal building for a few hours and somehow you control the entire nation; its military, its institutions, its people. You totally don't need those people to side with you and apply that force nationwide. 🤦♂🤦♂🤦♂ This use of "coup" on this video is analogous to the recent use of the term "Nazi". Some words carry such historical weight, that they're misused for the effect of shocking a listener. The result is an inadvertent form of exposure therapy which makes listeners no longer care about the now weightless term. The proponents of this convenient remeaning of language seem to share a particular political leaning.
@@gidi3250 No, it certainly doesn't sound like it. A Violent mob attempting to overthrow a political institution to prolong their leader's reign does, however. Fruitless as that may be.
the chassis of a coup is that an individual attempts to overthrow the current government with some form of use of force outside of the typical method of election. so the basis of Jan 6th being a coup is whether or not the individuals tried to overthrow the government through some force or intimidate the government into submission through some kind of force.
As a channel that have made so many videos on coups, I find this video so much interesting and very accurate, especially as you explained how to get allies. I have made videos on all the coups that happened in Nigeria and gradually getting to coups in Africa. Thank you for this great job. By the way, I hv just discovered this channel now!
@@MCArt25 Except that it is common to use foreign plurals for loan words even if they don't really make sense in English. The dictionary gives both as acceptable.
As a Nigerian with some knowledge of the country's history, I can say two things are constant in every coup over time: 1. Apathy is a form of consent when it comes to coups. We've seen the populace increasingly demand iron-handed treatment. It does carry a semblance of legitimacy when it's time for coup plotters to strike. 2. The end of one coup is the beginning of another.
Jan. 6 was not an attempted coup. It was a mostly peaceful protest in which some police officers allowed protesters into the Capitol Building and then some people began rioting. If this is what you think a coup is, I see no point in finishing the video.
@@frankchan4272 First of all that's not very nice. We can have a disagreement without name-calling. Second, that's not a very good comparison - I certainly would not call it a coup. Edit: Also, I never said I condone what happened. I think all who rioted should go to jail. However, it just is not a coup.
When a coup toppled the monarchy proclaimed a republic in Brazil a journalist said : "And the people watched it all astonished (literally like beasts)".
It was a failed coup. It failed due to two factors. 1) The US is actually a pretty lousy country to stage a coup in 2) Trump and his gang were cowardly and incompetent, while his mob were ill-led losers.
Yes. According to academic definitions, it was an attempt at an "autogolpe". Anyone who tells you that it wasn't organised or didn't have support from the top either doesn't know what they're talking about or is straight-up lying.
@@WhenInDarknessSeekTheLight it is not a coup unless they’re seizing centers for command, control, or communication. Rioting at a singular symbolic building is not a coup.
@@Poffean Beating up police to illegally storm a government building to overthrow the results of the last election because a politician was salty he lost and stealing laptops that contained confidential information on politicial rivals is an attempted coup and more than just taking selfies.
January 6 is easily the most dangerous coup. I was sitting at home watching a Mavrel movie (captain marvel) rubbing my neovag when I heard the news. I still have PTSD.
Holy shit. My mom came into my room to bring me a plate of chicken nuggets and I literally screamed at her and hit the plate of chicken nuggets out of her hand. She started yelling and swearing at me and I slammed the door on her. I'm so distressed right now I don't know what to do. I didn't mean to do that to my mom but I'm literally in shock from the maga coup tonight. I feel like I'm going to explode. Why the fucking fuck did trump do this? This can't be happening. I'm having a fucking breakdown. I don't want to believe the world is so corrupt. I want a future to believe in. I want Biden to be president and fix this broken country. I cannot fucking deal with this coup right now. It wasn't supposed to be like this, I thought trump was going to step down???? This is so fucked.
It was scary how close we came to losing Democracy. When the evil soldiers were let in by staff at walking speed to the WH I cried in my wife's boyfriend's arms.
5:40 @polymatter : dude the most underrated part of this video is that you used the "all but" saying in a way that makes sense. He is still a general, but he is all but retired meaning he isnt retired technically, but he is all of the qualities of retired and literally ALL but "Retired". Props my dude!
because not everything revolves around your hate towards the US and talking about spesific coups (and if that was the case you would have to include other countries like russia and iran etc ... which you are less biased against)
@@lucidwords5294 1. America coup’d Iran first installing the Shah after which the Islamic extremists carried out a coup in their own country supported by misguided though well-intentioned Iranians who were fed up with the Shah’s autocracy. 2. The number of coups carried out by Russia or any other nation on planet earth pales in comparison to the sheer number of coups carried out single-handedly by the US so… I’m not biased, these are facts. The CIA’s declassified documents admit it as such so that’s kinda irrefutable.
@@ssarora1000 You know about the US cause that is what is taked about in the media .. that is what american youtubers talk about etc. ... yes the US has more coups but it is not only them and its not about who couped who first .... iran is meddling in politics all over the world and supporting rebels etc including in yemen and iraq etc ... so is russia (and ussr before it) - this is general about how coups work not to start some blame game the fact you wanted too and complain why its not in this video alone shows your bias and agenda to talk about the US ... and i dont care if you talk about them couping and i dont deny they probably did it the most (though again you wont know how much the USSR and russia effected rebelions and movments (communist movments for example) all around the world and i would watch a video about the US actions (i actualy did watch many videos talking about it) but you blaming the creator of the video as if he should have mentioned it and his hiding something that is just very hypocritical of you
