Coup Atlas Research Database
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77509261958SuccessfulMilitary coup

Myanmar, 1958 — military coup

Myanmar (MMR)Southeast Asia, AsiaSeptember 26, 1958

Event Summary

In late September 1958, Prime Minister U Nu of Burma, under pressure from a fracturing ruling party and rumors of a military takeover, handed power to the army chief of staff, General Ne Win, who formed a caretaker government. The governing Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL) had split earlier that year into rival Clean and Stable factions, leaving U Nu governing only with the support of the opposition and raising fears among army officers of instability and communist influence. On September 26, senior officers visited U Nu, and the cabinet agreed that Ne Win would be nominated as prime minister; U Nu formally wrote to Ne Win asking him to form a caretaker government to restore order and hold elections.

Parliament elected Ne Win, using a constitutional provision, on September 28. The episode, sometimes called a constitutional coup, kept the forms of legality but marked the military's first entry into governing Burma. Ne Win held free elections in 1960, which U Nu won, and power returned to him, until Ne Win seized it outright in a 1962 coup.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: U Nu, Prime Minister of Burma (handed power to the military under pressure; not physically harmed, returned to office in 1960)
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
U Nu (prime minister who ceded power)
Ne Win (army chief who formed the caretaker government)

Sources

The caretaker government of Ne Win was formed in 1958 after Ne Win, then chief of staff, took over state power from U Nu; on the morning of 26 September 1958 senior officers visited U Nu's house, and the cabinet decided to nominate Ne Win as prime minister at a parliamentary session on 28 September, with U Nu writing to ask him to form a caretaker government.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, "Ne Win's First Cabinet" open source ↗
In 1958 a split within the AFPFL threatened to provoke a coup by field officers, and to settle the situation U Nu invited the military to form a caretaker government.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, "Military rule in Myanmar" open source ↗
Amid rumors of a military takeover, U Nu invited army chief of staff Ne Win to assume the premiership in a move sometimes called a constitutional coup; Ne Win stabilized the situation, held elections in February 1960 that returned U Nu to office, and then led an outright military coup in March 1962.
SOURCE REVIEWED Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Myanmar - Since independence" open source ↗
On this day in 1958, Prime Minister U Nu of the elected AFPFL government handed over power to the military led by General Ne Win and asked him to organize a free and fair election, marking the first time the military became involved in politics.
SOURCE REVIEWED The Irrawaddy, "The Day Myanmar's Elected Prime Minister Handed Over Power" open source ↗

Editorial Note

The Cline dataset codes 26 September 1958 with the leader not physically harmed, matching the handover to Ne Win's caretaker government (the cabinet decision was 26 September, the parliamentary vote 28 September). U Nu returned to power after winning the 1960 election, so the leader fate fits. Three Wikipedia-derived sources and The Irrawaddy were read directly. This is often called a constitutional coup and precedes the outright Ne Win coup of 1962.

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
77509261958
Albrecht/Koehler/Schutz (CAM) id
CAM-775-1958-09-26

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: U Nu, Prime Minister of Burma (handed power to the military under pressure; not physically harmed, returned to office in 1960).

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
Open dataset DOI ↗
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

Luttwak

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ba_Swe

New York Times

“ARMY TAKES OVER POWER IN BURMA TO THWART REDS: Commander Accepts Bid of Premier to Govern Nation – Elections Postponed,” September 27, 1958

Times of India

“BLOODLESS’COUP’INBURMA: Army Takes Over Capital, Major Towns Move To’PRESERVE DEMOCRACY’,” September 27, 1958

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 →

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Related Records

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