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Coups

We give you a coup leader and a date. You name the country in which the coup occurred.
Answer must correspond to the highlighted box
Includes self-coups and failed coups
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: January 8, 2018
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First submittedFebruary 6, 2013
Times taken24,449
Average score68.4%
Rating4.35
4:00
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 / 19 guessed
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Year
Leader
Country
1992
Hugo Chavez
Venezuela
49 BC
Julius Caesar
Rome
1799
Napoleon Bonaparte 
France
1688
William of Orange
England
1923
Adolf Hitler
Germany
1922
Benito Mussolini
Italy
1933
Fulgencio Batista
Cuba
1936
Francisco Franco
Spain
1944
Claus von Stauffenberg
Germany
1958
Ayub Khan
Pakistan
Year
Leader
Country
1961
Park Chung Hee
South Korea
1969
Muammar al-Gaddafi
Libya
1971
Idi Amin
Uganda
1973
Augusto Pinochet
Chile
1953
Mohammad Reza Shah
Iran
1992
Alberto Fujimori
Peru
1999
Pervez Musharraf
Pakistan
2005
King Gyanendra
Nepal
1960
Mobutu Sese Seko
Congo
+1
Level 84
Apr 8, 2013
Very good quiz!
+1
Level 20
Dec 30, 2019
how it is very good quiz
+1
Level 20
Dec 30, 2019
in no2 rome is a country
+1
Level 81
Apr 10, 2013
Good quiz!
+6
Level 62
Apr 10, 2013
Rome as a country?
+2
Level 79
Feb 25, 2021
It was
+1
Level 53
Apr 10, 2013
love the stauffenberg reference
+1
Level 74
Apr 10, 2013
sorry, but what exactly is a coup?
+4
Level 51
Apr 10, 2013
Basically, a group tries to take over the country/government, usually through force.
+9
Level 73
Oct 25, 2015
in the days of Google, you really asked that question? You could have had the answer long before anyone ever replied to your comment
+15
Level 74
Jan 19, 2016
They wanted a custom-built Jetpunk answer. No shame in that.
+2
Level 75
Aug 27, 2018
Biggie - you of all people should know that words have the power to hypnotize, which is not an appropriate for the development of conscious political actors.
+1
Level 50
Jul 27, 2022
@BiggieSmalls, I have a faster way to get a answer, or just hear it right here from this quote, “The best way to get the right answer on the Internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer.”

-Cunningham’s Law

+3
Level 72
Aug 27, 2018
It is the current American English (maybe other forms of English) idiom for coup d'etat. Once upon a time, you had to say the full term, because coup de grace was more used. In the Cold War period, US and Soviet activity made coup d'etats (not the correct French plural, I believe, but the correct English idiomatic one) so common that coup came to mean coup d'etat.
+3
Level 59
Aug 27, 2018
I can remember a time when a trip to South America wasn't complete if you weren't caught up in one coup or another.
+1
Level 89
Dec 17, 2019
It's the current American idiot idiom for a legal matter put to a vote as provided in the United States Constitution. Then when the vote goes strictly along party lines and the issue is defeated, instead of claiming partisan trickery as they did when the process was started they call it democracy. According to many fools there are attempted coups (by vote) every day in the U.S.
+1
Level 55
Apr 10, 2013
Rome is not a country.
+21
Level 42
Feb 5, 2015
Close enough. It was an empire, so it still is a government that is coupable
+18
Level 86
Aug 27, 2018
+1 for "coupable"
+2
Level 77
Aug 27, 2018
It was a republic back then.
+1
Level 93
Sep 1, 2018
question is does coupable have a psilent p?
+3
Level 53
Oct 26, 2015
It was the Roman empire, not the Italian empire, which is something else.
+2
Level 89
Jun 22, 2018
"Is" does not apply to 49 B.C.
+1
Level 85
Dec 18, 2022
And once again, we are discussing what the meaning of "is" is.
+3
Level 33
Apr 11, 2013
Not all of them were backed by the US. :)
+21
Level 75
Aug 27, 2018
Yes, we took a hands-off policy in the coups against Julius Caesar and William of Orange.
+6
Level 41
Apr 17, 2013
Gaaaaaaaah

Got William III muddled with William of Orange in spanish netherlands 1500's and couldn't work out for the life of me what I was getting wrong!

+4
Level 69
Oct 25, 2015
almost tripped me up too
+1
Level 54
Aug 3, 2013
Can't believe I missed Idi Amin...
+1
Level 65
Aug 31, 2018
How could you forget Idi, Idi, Idi Amin, most amazin' man, there's ever been.He's the general, the president, the king of the scene,

Idi, Idi, Idi Amin!

+1
Level 89
Dec 17, 2019
Good old YouTubeganda. So many great videos from their country.
+2
Level 77
Jan 21, 2014
Got a few of these (Park, Khan, and Shah) just based on how their names sounded.
+1
Level 86
Mar 16, 2014
What is a self-coup ? ^^
+4
Level 33
Oct 27, 2015
I'm guessing it refers to a leader already being in power legitimately but executing a coup in order to remove democratic opposition or consolidate power as a dictator. The example of the Reza Shah Pahlavi in 1953 comes to mind as an example. He already was the Shah -- but with help from the military (and the CIA), he got rid of the democratically elected prime minister, Mossadegh.
+2
Level 84
Jul 14, 2016
Hitler would be an example here as well.
+1
Level 74
Nov 27, 2020
no?
+1
Level 82
Jan 2, 2017
Fujimori above is also an example. Democratically elected president who decided to "temporary dissolve" congress at some point. Napoleon III - elected French president who later declared himself emperor. Alexander I of Yugoslavia became king as heir to his father in constitutional/parliamentary monarchy but in 1929 abolished the constitution. Possibly also his son, Peter II, who was already a king as a minor, though his uncle was ruling as a regent, then declared himself of age at 17.
+1
Level 84
Nov 19, 2014
Wouldn't Seko be Zaire technically? I guess it was Congo when he took it over.
+3
Level 88
Oct 25, 2015
It's Mobutu, not Seko. He changed the name of Congo to Zaire only in 1971. And his own name from Joseph-Desiré Mobutu to Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga in 1972. The man was genuinely crazy.
+1
Level 76
Feb 18, 2020
Actually it should be Democratic Congo or D. R. Congo - the correct name both then and now. It was called 'Zaire' for a time in between then and now.
+2
Level 54
Oct 25, 2015
i guessed italy for rome...it id the modern day country. there should be a note about that
+2
Level 64
Oct 25, 2015
Interesting quiz, but i thought William of Orange led the Netherlands against Spain. What did he have to do with England?
+1
Level 65
Oct 25, 2015
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=william+of+orange+england

:)

+1
Level 58
Oct 25, 2015
Different Wililam of Orange. This is the one that in the Netherlands is called prince William III
+1
Level 37
Sep 8, 2018
^ I believe he's called Prins Willem.
+1
Level 78
Oct 25, 2015
The term suggests succession by an exception to the rule of law, a difficult concept when and where no such thing was effectively in place. And as much as we hate to admit it, Hitler came to power in a free and fair election. (Of course, what happened thereafter is another story.)
+2
Level 78
Oct 25, 2015
10 years earlier though, he attempted a coup and failed.
+4
Level 33
Oct 27, 2015
Exactly! The date 1923 should give away that it was the attempted "Beer Hall Putsch." He was elected in 1933.
+1
Level 65
Oct 25, 2015
Hugo Chavez was democratically elected 4 times!
+4
Level 67
Oct 25, 2015
Right. But the reference is to the failed coup he attempted in 1992.
+1
Level 65
Oct 25, 2015
OK. I didn't know attempted coups counted.
+3
Level 54
Aug 30, 2018
4 times?... that is highly debatable, also as to the other reply, over 200 hundred people murdered definitely make it count.
+1
Level 53
Oct 26, 2015
Got William of Orange confused with William III :V

please though, please accept Zaire for Congo.

+2
Level 74
Nov 27, 2020
But... the guy on this quiz is William III.
+2
Level 33
Oct 27, 2015
Probably should mention that some of these refer to attempted coups that failed. Otherwise, great quiz!
+1
Level 82
Jan 2, 2017
A coup becomes a coup when it starts, not when it succeeds. Like you wouldn't call it a bank robbery only once the robbers get away with the money.
+2
Level 37
Sep 8, 2018
^ If they didn't get away with the money, it is referred to as an "attempted" bank robbery.
+1
Level 74
Jan 19, 2016
Good stuff. Thanks!
+1
Level 72
Aug 27, 2018
Thought the answer would be Zaire for Mobutu, although I realize it was Congo before and after him, but it seems like it should be an acceptable answer.
+1
Level 65
Aug 27, 2018
Hitler was elected democratically.
+3
Level 78
Aug 27, 2018
Again, he rose to power in 1933 democratically but in 1923, the date that is given here, he already attempted a coup.
+1
Level 74
Feb 9, 2019
And even in 1933 he wasn't elected Chancellor, but appointed by the president.
+2
Level 78
Sep 29, 2020
He wasn't directly elected but his appointment was legit under the Weimar constitution, and he assumed office as the leader of a parliamentary coalition.
+1
Level 68
Aug 27, 2018
It took me ages to get 'my own' William of Orange. For us Dutch William (Willem van Oranje) (1533-1584) is the Father of the Fatherland and responsible for the uprising against the evil king of Spain.

Is it not possible that the Quizmaster puts William III of Orange in the quiz?

+4
Level 67
Aug 27, 2018
One of the answers is wrong. Idi Amin was definitely the last king of Scotland.
+1
Level 76
Feb 18, 2020
not in that year
+2
Level 48
Aug 28, 2018
What about Brazil in 1823, 1840, 1889, 1891, 1930, 1937, 1945, 1955, 1964 and 2016? I'm probably forgetting some...
+1
Level 37
Sep 8, 2018
But didn't von Stauffenberg (and the others) fail? - It couldn't be a coup if it failed, can it?
+1
Level 66
Sep 20, 2018
Why do you include Chavez's attempted coup in 1992 but not the US-backed one in Venezuela in 2002
+3
Level 71
Sep 23, 2019
Good quiz, but why are Pakistan and Germany both listed twice? It might be fun to add more variety by replacing the second Germany and Pakistan ones with other countries
+1
Level 57
Sep 6, 2020
Congo was called Zaire back then, please change it to Zaire or at least accept Zaire for an an answer
+1
Level 46
Oct 10, 2020
Please accept DRC if you're going to accept Congo.
+1
Level 68
Nov 20, 2020
Can you accept Zaire for congo.
+1
Level 85
Jul 29, 2021
DRC and Zaire should both be type ins for Congo.
+1
Level ∞
Jul 29, 2021
Okay
+1
Level 52
Feb 22, 2023
surprised more didn't get Claus Von Stauffenburg since its the most stereotypical German name of all time.