Thailand, 1948 — military coup conspiracy
Event Summary
At the end of September and beginning of October 1948, the Army General Staff Plot, an attempt by members of the Thai army general staff to overthrow the government of Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram, was uncovered and suppressed by the Coup Group that had returned Phibun to power. Phibun had resumed the premiership in April 1948 through the pressure of the powerful Coup Group, and his second government was almost immediately beset by rival factions, including officers connected to the ousted statesman Pridi Banomyong and to disaffected elements of the general staff who resented the dominance of Phibun's clique. When the plot was discovered around 1 October 1948, more than fifty army and reserve officers and several prominent supporters of Pridi were arrested.
The failed conspiracy was the first of a string of coup attempts against Phibun's second premiership, followed by the Palace Rebellion of February 1949 and the Manhattan Rebellion of 1951, all of which he survived until his own overthrow by Sarit Thanarat in 1957.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
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:
- Cline Center id
80009301948
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Field Marshal Phibunsongkhram survived the Army General Staff Plot; more than fifty officers were arrested.
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 Christian Science Monitor
South China Morning Post
New York Herald Tribune
The Irish Times
The Times of India
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 →