Seizing the state: The curious history of the military coup

The 20th century was the golden age of the military coup. Although largely unknown in the stable countries of the Anglosphere, military takeovers were for some time a more common way of changing governments than elections across Latin America and the newly independent states of Africa and Asia. The coup-makers were encouraged by the Cold War, with both the USA and the USSR plotting to put their ideological supporters in power in crucial countries via military interventions. Sympathetic regimes thus installed could act as proxies, backing either the capitalist West or the communist East. Notable examples of American-backed right-wing coups were the overthrow of leftist governme