Coup Atlas Research Database
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61506301964AttemptedMilitary coup

Algeria, 1964 — military coup attempt

Algeria (DZA)North Africa, AfricaJune 30, 1964

Event Summary

In late June 1964 Colonel Mohammed Chaabani, a young and popular military commander from the Saharan region, launched a revolt against the government of President Ahmed Ben Bella, in one of the succession of armed challenges that beset Algeria in the two years after independence. Chaabani, angered by Ben Bella's centralizing and autocratic rule and by the growing power of the defense minister and army chief Houari Boumediene, raised an insurrection in the desert region around Biskra. But the rising, like the FFS rebellion in Kabylie the year before, failed to spread, and Boumediene's army crushed it.

Chaabani was captured, tried, and executed in September 1964. His revolt was another symptom of the factional and regional fractures within the FLN state that Ben Bella struggled to contain, tensions that culminated a year later in Boumediene's own bloodless coup that overthrew Ben Bella in June 1965.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: President Ahmed Ben Bella survived the Chaabani revolt, which was crushed and its leader executed, until his own overthrow in 1965
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Ahmed Ben Bella (president of Algeria, target)
Mohammed Chaabani (colonel, revolt leader, executed)
Houari Boumediene (army chief who suppressed the revolt)

Sources

It was Boumediene who crushed Colonel Mohammed Chaabani's desert insurrection and executed its leader, one of the armed challenges to Ben Bella's rule.
SOURCE REVIEWED TIME, Algeria: A Crash of Glass open source ↗
Ben Bella faced a series of political struggles and revolts during his presidency from 1963 to 1965, including the FFS rebellion and other insurrections against his increasingly autocratic one-party rule.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Ahmed Ben Bella open source ↗
Houari Boumediene, as defense minister and army chief, was the military power behind Ben Bella and suppressed the successive uprisings against the government.
SOURCE REVIEWED GlobalSecurity, Algeria Ahmed Ben Bella open source ↗
Ben Bella was overthrown by Boumediene in a bloodless coup on 19 June 1965, ending his presidency.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Ahmed Ben Bella open source ↗

Editorial Note

Dataset date 30 June 1964 corresponds to Colonel Chaabani's revolt against Ben Bella, verified via the TIME account of Boumediene crushing the desert insurrection; the precise date and detail of the rising are lightly documented in accessible English sources this session, so the fine detail is flagged, while the revolt, its suppression, and Chaabani's execution are verified. Pairs with the Algeria 1963-09-29 FFS record in this batch.

Cross-Reference

Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
61506301964
Albrecht/Koehler/Schutz (CAM) id
CAM-615-1964-06-30

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Ahmed Ben Bella survived the Chaabani revolt, which was crushed and its leader executed, until his own overthrow in 1965.

Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.

Baseline Dataset Citation

Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

Powell and Thyne

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

New York Times

“ALGERIAN OFFICER BEGINS REBELLION: Government Troops Said to Enter Insurgents’ Base – Ben Bella Makes Plea,” July 2, 1964

Christian Science Monitor

“Ben Bella Appeals For Army Support,” July 3, 1964

Washington Post

“Algeria May Arm Civilians to End Revolt: Pledges Purge,” July 6, 1964

This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →

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