Iraq, 1968 — military coup attempt
Event Summary
The dataset records an attempted military coup in Iraq on 6 October 1968, during the consolidation of power by the Baath Party after its 17 July 1968 coup that overthrew President Abd al-Rahman Arif. Within two weeks of taking power, the Baathist officers around Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr had turned on their non-Baathist coup partners, arresting Prime Minister Abd al-Razzaq al-Nayif on 30 July and expelling him, and over the following weeks they forced 2,000 to 3,000 army and air force officers, mostly Nasser sympathizers, into retirement as security risks. This purge provoked resentment and plotting among the sidelined officers.
Any coup attempt in October 1968 came within that turbulent consolidation and did not dislodge the Baath, which tightened its grip, staged show trials and public hangings in early 1969, and entrenched the one-party dictatorship that would eventually be dominated by Saddam Hussein.
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
64510061968
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: The Baath government under Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr survived and consolidated its dictatorship.
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
CSP
The Guardian
LA 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 →