Coup Atlas Research Database
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45202241966SuccessfulMilitary coup

Ghana, 1966 — military coup

Ghana (GHA)West Africa, AfricaFebruary 24, 1966

Event Summary

Kwame Nkrumah headed Ghana from independence in 1957 until he was overthrown by a coup in 1966. (The Cline dataset records the date as 24 February 1966; accessed sources this session confirmed the year and that he was overthrown by a coup, but did not independently establish the coup's exact date or the identity of the National Liberation Council leaders.)

Films & Footage

Kwame Nkrumah, the president deposed in the 1966 coup, during a state visit to Washington, 1961.
Kwame Nkrumah, the president deposed in the 1966 coup, during a state visit to Washington, 1961. Photo: Abbie Rowe / JFK Library

Archival media is credited to its holding collection and license. Media sourcing policy →

Researched Details

Partially researched

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

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Kwame Nkrumah, President of Ghana (overthrown)
RESEARCHED NAME

Sources

Nkrumah headed Ghana from independence in 1957 until he was overthrown by a coup in 1966.
SOURCE REVIEWED Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Kwame Nkrumah" open source ↗

How It Unfolded

Hand-coded by Coup Atlas from the sources on this page, using a fixed list of tactics. Only events we have read through carry this coding, so most records do not have it yet.

Led by
Military
How long it took
Under a day — resolved within 24 hours
  • Troop movements in the capital or key cities
  • Seizure of broadcasters / coup declaration on state media
  • Seizure of the presidential palace / seat of government

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
45202241966
Albrecht/Koehler/Schutz (CAM) id
CAM-452-1966-02-24

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

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Kwame Nkrumah, President of Ghana (overthrown).

Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; 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
Open dataset DOI ↗
⚑ 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.

Luttwak

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

Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwame_Nkrumah

New York Times

“Nkrumah is Reported Out after Ghana Army Coup,” February 24, 1966
“News Summary And Index The Major Events Of The Day International National Metropolitan,”February 25, 1966

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 →

Know something about this event?
Tips are reviewed against sources before anything is added.

Related Records

Ghana — Military coup, 19721972-01-13SuccessfulWest AfricaGhana — Military coup, 19781978-07-05SuccessfulWest AfricaGhana — Military coup, 19791979-06-04SuccessfulWest Africa