Benin, 1964 — dissident coup attempt
Event Summary
The dataset records an event coded as an attempted dissident coup in Benin, then the Republic of Dahomey, on 13 March 1964, during the unstable government of President Sourou Migan Apithy and Vice President Justin Ahomadegbe, who had taken office in January 1964 after the military, led by Colonel Christophe Soglo, oversaw a transition following the October 1963 overthrow of the first president Hubert Maga. Dahomey in this period was riven by intense regional and personal rivalries among its three dominant politicians, Maga, Apithy, and Ahomadegbe, each with a regional base, which produced chronic instability and repeated military interventions. No widely documented distinct coup attempt in Dahomey precisely on this date appears in accessible English sources.
The fragile Apithy Ahomadegbe partnership itself broke down and was ended by a further Soglo intervention in November 1965, part of the run of coups that made Dahomey a byword for political instability until Mathieu Kerekou seized power in 1972.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
Cross-Reference
Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
- Cline Center id
43403131964
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: The Apithy Ahomadegbe government held office in early 1964 amid chronic instability; Dahomey saw repeated coups through the 1960s.
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
Baseline Source-Document Entries
New York Times
South China Morning Post
Washington Post and Times Herald
Wikipedia
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 →