On August 4, 1983 Captain Blaise Compaore led a coup that overthrew President Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo of Upper Volta and brought Captain Thomas Sankara to power, launching the radical revolution that would rename the country Burkina Faso. Ouedraogo had taken power in the November 1982 coup and appointed the charismatic young radical Sankara as prime minister in January 1983, but the two soon clashed, and in May 1983 Ouedraogo had Sankara arrested and purged the pro-Sankara faction. Compaore, Sankara's close ally, evaded capture, regrouped forces at the garrison at Po, and on August 4, 1983 marched paratroopers on the capital Ouagadougou, seizing the city and capturing Ouedraogo.
Sankara became president and established the National Council of the Revolution. The coup was supported by Libya. Ouedraogo was placed under house arrest.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Target identified in Coup Atlas research: President Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo, overthrown on August 4, 1983 by Compaore's forces, who installed Sankara; Ouedraogo was captured and held.
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo (president overthrown)
Blaise Compaore (captain who led the coup)
Thomas Sankara (installed as president)
Sources
On 4 August 1983 a coup was launched in the Republic of Upper Volta, carried out by radical elements of the army led by Thomas Sankara and Blaise Compaore against the regime of Major Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo, who had been brought to power in a 1982 coup and had on 16 May disbanded the CSP and had Sankara and several other important officials arrested.
On 4 August Compaore launched a coup, leading 250 paratroopers in a march on the capital Ouagadougou, and Compaore's troops seized the city and captured Ouedraogo, after which Sankara became the new President of Upper Volta and created the Conseil National de la Revolution.
On 4 August 1983 Compaore organized a coup d'etat which deposed Major Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo, and the coup was supported by Libya, which was at the time on the verge of war with France in Chad.
A coup d'etat organized by Blaise Compaore made Sankara President on 4 August 1983 at the age of 33, and on the first anniversary of his accession, on 4 August 1984, he renamed the country Burkina Faso, meaning the land of upright people.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWikipedia, Thomas Sankaraopen source ↗
Editorial Note
Fate coding: the deposed president Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo was captured when Compaore's paratroopers took Ouagadougou; the dataset codes his fate as placed under house arrest, consistent with his capture and detention, and he was not killed. Coding note: the dataset labels this a military coup, accurately, led by Captain Blaise Compaore, who installed his close ally Captain Thomas Sankara as head of state. Arc link: this connects directly to the November 7, 1982 coup by which Ouedraogo took power (enriched in batch 35); the immediate trigger was Ouedraogo's May 1983 arrest of Sankara, then his prime minister, and the purge of the radical faction, after which Compaore regrouped at Po and struck. Historical weight recorded: this began the Sankara revolution; on the first anniversary Sankara renamed Upper Volta to Burkina Faso. Country-name note: the country was still Upper Volta at the time of this 1983 coup, renamed Burkina Faso in 1984, so the dataset's Burkina Faso label is anachronistic for the date but refers to the same country. Context recorded: Libyan support for the coup is noted. Arc forward: Compaore himself overthrew and killed Sankara in October 1987, a separate later event.
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:
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo, overthrown on August 4, 1983 by Compaore's forces, who installed Sankara; Ouedraogo was captured and held..
Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; placed under house arrest. 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
“13 Killed in Coup in Upper Volta,” August 6, 1983
“REBELS REPORTED TO GAIN IN CHAD; U.S. SAYS THE SITUATION IS SERIOUS,” August 6, 1983
“Burkina Faso Leader Ousted in Coup Led by Chief Advisor,” October 16, 1987
“A friendship Dies in a Bloody Coup,” by James Brooke, October 26, 1987
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 →