Coup Atlas Research Database
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48311191965ConspiracyDissident coup

Chad, 1965 — dissident coup conspiracy

Chad (TCD)Central Africa, AfricaNovember 19, 1965

Event Summary

This entry is coded 19 November 1965, during the outbreak of rebellion against President Francois Tombalbaye of Chad. Tombalbaye, from the southern Sara ethnic group, had banned all parties except his Chadian Progressive Party in 1962, filled the prisons with political prisoners, and pursued an Africanization program and heavy taxation that alienated the Muslim populations of the north and center. The crisis climaxed on 1 November 1965 when tax riots in Mangalme, Guera Prefecture, left over 500 people dead, including a National Assembly representative and other officials; these tax riots are usually considered the beginning of the Chadian Civil War.

Spontaneous peasant revolts then spread through Guera and across northern and central Chad through November 1965. The November coding sits in this initial, still uncoordinated phase of insurgency, before the June 1966 formation in Sudan of the National Liberation Front of Chad, FROLINAT, which became the most significant rebel movement.

Researched Details

Researched

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

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Tombalbaye's government survived this initial rebellion; he ruled until his assassination in a 1975 coup
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Francois Tombalbaye (president, target)
Chadian Progressive Party (PPT, sole legal party)
Northern and central rebels (later coalescing into FROLINAT in 1966)

Sources

The situation climaxed on 1 November 1965 when intense riots broke out in Mangalme, Guera prefecture, leaving over 500 people dead; the tax riots are usually considered the beginning of the civil war.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia: Chadian Civil War (1965 to 1979) open source ↗
By 1 November 1965 Muslim and non-Muslim tribes engaged in rebellion against the government, primarily in the northern and eastern provinces.
SOURCE REVIEWED Study of Internal Conflict case study on Chad (U.S. Army War College) open source ↗
By January 1962 Tombalbaye had banned all political parties except his own PPT and filled the prisons with thousands of political prisoners.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia: Chadian Civil War (1965 to 1979) open source ↗
The National Liberation Front of Chad (FROLINAT) was formed in June 1966 in Nyala in southwestern Sudan to militarily oust Tombalbaye and Southern dominance.
SOURCE REVIEWED onwar.com: Rebellion in Chad 1965-1990 open source ↗

Editorial Note

No discrete plot is precisely dated 19 Nov 1965 in the sources located this session; the coding sits in the November 1965 outbreak of rebellion (Mangalme tax riots of 1 Nov 1965) that began the Chadian Civil War against Tombalbaye. Context with strong framing. First Chad record in the run.

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
48311191965

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

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Tombalbaye's government survived this initial rebellion; he ruled until his assassination in a 1975 coup.

Baseline coding: Plot discovered and disrupted before execution. 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

CSP

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

The Guardian

“Ministers’ ‘plot to kill President’,” November 22, 1965

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“5 CHAD OFFICIALS ARRESTED IN PLOT TO SEIZE POWER,” November 21, 1965

Other

http://carlsons perspective.tumblr.com/post/49412581425/coup-a-crisis-in-chad

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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