Madagascar, 1974 — military coup attempt
Event Summary
The dataset records an attempted military coup in Madagascar on 31 December 1974, during the unstable early period of the military government of General Gabriel Ramanantsoa, who had taken power in 1972 as the old regime of Philibert Tsiranana collapsed, and amid the factional struggle within the armed forces that would soon reshape Malagasy politics. At the close of 1974 the government was riven by rivalries among competing officers and by ethnic and regional tensions, especially between coastal cotier and highland Merina factions. A coup attempt at the end of December 1974 came within that turbulence.
Within weeks, in early 1975, the crisis deepened dramatically: Ramanantsoa handed power to Colonel Richard Ratsimandrava, who was assassinated just six days into his rule in February 1975, plunging the country into a brief further crisis before Didier Ratsiraka emerged as leader, going on to establish a long Marxist oriented rule over Madagascar.
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
58012311974- Albrecht/Koehler/Schutz (CAM) id
CAM-580-1974-12-31
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: The Ramanantsoa military government survived the December 1974 plotting amid a factional crisis that soon transformed Malagasy politics.
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
Wikipedia
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 →