The Battle of Vientiane, fought December 13 to 16, 1960, was the decisive action of the 1960 Laotian coups. General Phoumi Nosavan's forces, backed by the Royal Thai Government and the CIA, assaulted the capital held by Captain Kong Le's Neutralists. On December 11 forty National Assembly deputies gathered at Savannakhet voted no confidence in Souvanna Phouma's government; King Sisavang Vatthana signed Royal Ordinance No.
282 dismissing the government on December 12 and Royal Ordinance No. 283 on December 14 approving a provisional government under Prince Boun Oum, who acted as front man for Phoumi. The fighting devastated the capital, killing about 600 civilians and leaving some 7,000 homeless.
Kong Le withdrew in order to the Plain of Jars, where a Soviet airlift resupplied his forces, and the Laotian civil war deepened with the country split between rival governments.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Target identified in Coup Atlas research: The remaining Neutralist government of Prince Souvanna Phouma, formally dismissed by royal ordinance, with Prince Boun Oum installed as prime minister. Kong Le withdrew unharmed to the Plain of Jars and Souvanna Phouma remained in exile in Cambodia.
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Phoumi Nosavan (rightist general, victor of the battle)
Boun Oum (prince installed as prime minister)
Kong Le (Neutralist commander, withdrew to the Plain of Jars)
Souvanna Phouma (dismissed prime minister, in exile in Cambodia)
Sisavang Vatthana (king who signed the dismissal ordinances)
Sources
The Battle of Vientiane was fought between 13 and 16 December 1960 and ended with General Phoumi Nosavan regaining control of the Kingdom of Laos with the aid of the Royal Thai Government and the CIA; about 600 civilians died, a similar number of homes were destroyed, 7,000 were left homeless, and Kong Le's forces retreated onto the Plain of Jars.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWikipedia, Battle of Vientianeopen source ↗
On December 11 Phoumi led forty National Assembly deputies gathered in Savannakhet to vote no confidence in Souvanna Phouma's government; the king accepted the vote as legal the next day by signing Royal Ordinance No. 282, and Royal Ordinance No. 283, approving a provisional government formed by Prince Boun Oum acting as front man for Phoumi, was signed on December 14.
SOURCE REVIEWEDLaos country study text (Library of Congress Federal Research Division), reproduced at Facts and Detailsopen source ↗
Contemporary reporting described Kong Le reinforcing his garrison with about 2,000 Pathet Lao guerrillas and receiving Soviet-supplied howitzers and mortars; after the battle his remaining forces fled and Premier Boun Oum drove into Vientiane and appealed for US aid, with roughly 200 dead counted at the time.
In December 1960 General Phoumi Nosavan mounted a successful counterattack in the capital and installed Prince Boun Oum as Prime Minister; Souvanna Phouma and Kong Le withdrew to the Plain of Jars, and while the United States and Thailand recognized Boun Oum's government, China and the Soviet Union supported Souvanna's.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWilson Center Digital Archive, Laos Crisis, 1960-1963open source ↗
Editorial Note
Casualty counts differ: TIME's contemporary count was about 200 dead while later accounts place civilian deaths near 600. This record is the sequel to the December 8 collapse of the Neutralist government (id 81212081960) within the same December 1960 Battle of Vientiane arc, and both are distinct from Kong Le's August 9, 1960 coup enriched in batch 10. Dataset fate deposed; not physically harmed matches Kong Le's orderly withdrawal and Souvanna Phouma's continued safe exile.
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:
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: The remaining Neutralist government of Prince Souvanna Phouma, formally dismissed by royal ordinance, with Prince Boun Oum installed as prime minister. Kong Le withdrew unharmed to the Plain of Jars and Souvanna Phouma remained in exile in Cambodia..
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
“Laotian princes Meeting Today to renew Efforts for Coalition,” by Jacques Nevari, June 7, 1962
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 →