Laos, 1966 — military coup attempt
Event Summary
The dataset records an attempted military coup in Laos on 21 October 1966, during the neutralist coalition government of Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma amid the widening Laotian Civil War. This event is generally identified as the abortive coup or mutiny led by General Thao Ma, the commander of the Royal Lao Air Force, who was in bitter conflict with the army high command under General Kouprasith Abhay over control and corruption. Thao Ma used his T-28 aircraft to bomb army headquarters at Chinaimo near Vientiane before his revolt collapsed and he fled with a group of pilots across the Mekong into Thailand.
The rising did not unseat Souvanna Phouma, whose government continued. Thao Ma remained in Thai exile until 1973, when he returned to lead one last failed coup attempt and was captured and executed. The 1966 episode was one more of the internal military feuds that recurrently shook the rightist and neutralist camp in Laos.
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
81210211966- Albrecht/Koehler/Schutz (CAM) id
CAM-812-1966-10-21
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma's government survived; General Thao Ma fled to Thailand.
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
Luttwak
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 →