Jordan, 1972 — military coup conspiracy
Event Summary
This entry is coded 25 November 1972, corresponding to a 1972 conspiracy against King Hussein of Jordan in which Palestinian militants bribed the acting commander of an armored car unit to stage a coup, leading to the arrest of some 300 army and civilian personnel. The plot came in the aftermath of the Black September conflict of September 1970, when Hussein's army had crushed and expelled the Palestine Liberation Organization and the fedayeen from Jordan, a campaign completed by July 1971. In response, militants founded the Black September Organization to take revenge on the Jordanian monarchy, assassinating Prime Minister Wasfi al-Tal in Cairo in November 1971.
The armored-unit plot fit this pattern of Palestinian-backed subversion aimed at the throne. Jordanian sources describe it as the last known conspiracy to involve military personnel, and Hussein, who survived numerous plots across his reign, defeated it and tightened security in the armed forces.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
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
66311251972- Albrecht/Koehler/Schutz (CAM) id
CAM-663-1972-11-27
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: King Hussein survived the plot; the conspirators were arrested and the monarchy tightened military security.
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
The Jerusalem Post
Los Angeles Times
New York Times
South China Morning Post
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 →