Czechoslovakia, 1950 — dissident coup conspiracy
Event Summary
The dataset records an event coded as a dissident coup conspiracy in Czechoslovakia on 18 March 1950, during the wave of political trials by which the Communist government of Klement Gottwald consolidated its rule after the February 1948 coup. The most prominent of the 1950 trials was that of the non-communist democratic politician Milada Horakova and twelve co-defendants, accused of leading a subversive conspiracy against the republic; the trial was held in mid-1950 and Horakova was executed on 27 June 1950. The coded March 1950 date falls in the run-up to that trial, amid the broader prosecution of alleged anti-state conspiratorial centers as the regime crushed the remnants of non-communist opposition.
This period preceded the later intra-party Slansky purge, in which the party turned on its own leaders. No discrete documentation of a distinct plot precisely on 18 March 1950 appears in accessible English sources, but it fits the pattern of fabricated conspiracy prosecutions of that year.
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
31503181950
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: The Gottwald regime crushed the non-communist opposition through the 1950 political trials.
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
Baseline Source-Document Entries
CSP
New York Times
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 →