Thailand, 1949 — military coup attempt
Event Summary
On 26 February 1949 supporters of exiled civilian statesman Pridi Banomyong, backed by navy and marine elements, seized the Grand Palace in Bangkok and proclaimed a new government in the Palace Rebellion, an attempt to overthrow Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram. Pridi had slipped back into Thailand from China in early February to lead the countercoup, rebuffing Phibun's public overture of a government post, and the rebels named his associate Direk Jayanama as prime minister over the national radio. The army under loyalists including Sarit Thanarat counterattacked, and after roughly three days of urban fighting the rebellion was crushed, sending Pridi into permanent exile.
The failed rising was one of a chain of revolts against Phibun's second premiership, following the 1948 Army General Staff plot and preceding the navy's 1951 Manhattan Rebellion.
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
80002261949
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram survived the rebellion unharmed and remained in power until 1957.
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
The 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 →