A coup d’état is an illegal, unconstitutional seizure of power by a political faction, the military, or a dictator. Many scholars consider a coup successful when the usurpers seize and hold power for at least seven days. The phrase coup d’état comes from French coup d’État, literally meaning a ‘state stroke’ or ‘blow against the state’
About Coup d’état in brief
A coup d’état is an illegal, unconstitutional seizure of power by a political faction, the military, or a dictator. Many scholars consider a coup successful when the usurpers seize and hold power for at least seven days. A coup attempt may refer to a coup in the works or an unsuccessful coup. The phrase coup d’état comes from French coup d’État, literally meaning a ‘state stroke’ or ‘blow against the state’ In post-Revolutionary France, the phrase came to be used to describe the various murders by Napoleon’s hated secret police, the Gens d’Armes d’Elite. The term Putsch was used as disinformation by Hitler and other Nazi party members to falsely claim that he had to suppress a reactionary coup during the Night of the Long Knives. The word Putsch is also a term for a military revolt, also known as a coup de la guerre or a military coup de Estados Unidos. In Mexico, the term coup de estado is used to refer to the military revolt that deposed the government and installed a new government. In Spain, the word coup d’amiento is more common in Central America and South America, while the pronouncing of the Spanish word is “coup’d’amient’’. The French word État is capitalized when it denotes a sovereign political entity, such as the government of France.
The English word coup is of relatively recent coinage; the Oxford English Dictionary identifies it as a French expression meaning “stroke of state”. In looser usage, as in “boardroom coup” or “intelligence coup,” the term simply refers to gaining a sudden advantage on a rival. Pronounced “p-t-t”, the Swiss-German word for a putsch denotes the politico-military actions of an unsuccessful minority reactionary coup. In Germany, the Nazis still use the term “Röhm-Putsch” to describe their murders, despite its unproven implication that the murders were necessary to prevent a coup. A special type of type of coup is called a sogenannter Röm-P-t, which means “to depose the government with the golpe de estados” (“to install the new government”) or � “a coup de gesto’, which is the formal explanation for deposing the government, justifying the installation of the new regime. The Spanish term ‘coup de garrisons’ means ‘a military revolt against the government’ (‘to oust the government by the military’). The word ‘cuartado’ is also used to mean ‘to overthrow the government through the use of force,’ which is more commonly used in South America and Central America.
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