History Main / MilitaryCoup

* It's implied that this trope occurred in the beginning of ''Film/SuperMarioBros.'', when Koopa, wearing what was evidentially a top General's uniform, demands to know the meteorite shard's location from Daisy's (soon to be dead) mom when ambushing her in the tunnel leading to the dimensional portal. [[spoiler:Not to mention that his former boss and Daisy's father, [[NamesTheSame King Bowser]], was de-evolved into Fungus.]]

* ''Manga/{{Akira}}''. When he learns that the civilian government plans to arrest him, Colonel Shikishima orders the military to overthrow the government.

* ''[[Series/BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'' has a heroic example, with General Hague leading an attempted coup against the increasingly oppressive [[PresidentEvil President Clark]]. [[spoiler:General Hague [[DroppedABridgeOnHim catches a bridge]] a few episode later, and Captain Sheridan eventually takes charge of the rebelling forces.]]
** It is mentioned by several officers who refused to support the coup later on that it wasn't because they thought Clark was a good guy or anything, but rather because they felt it was [[MyCountryRightOrWrong wrong for the military to oppose the government, nothing less than treason.]] These officers at least made a point to try and avoid situations where they'd have to fire on civilians or do any of the nastier things that Clark ordered. This didn't mean that many of them were unwilling to fight the rebel forces, however.
* And in ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'', we have Starfleet Admiral Leyton convincing the government to enact Martial Law on Earth, secretly in preparation for him to launch a coup and put in a government that will be able to protect Earth from the [[BigBad Dominion]]. [[spoiler:Amusingly enough, both Admiral Leyton and [[BabylonFive General Hague]] were played by the same actor. The reason General Hague had a bridge dropped on him in B5 was because the actor was unavailable for a key episode... he was filming this episode of Deep Space Nine.]]

* An early episode of ''{{Noir}}'' had the title characters targeting key members of a 'security firm' that specialized in helping military units set these up.

* This actually happens in story midway through the second game of SuperRobotTaisenOriginalGeneration when the Jerkass Kenneth Garret leads a Coup to toss out the main squadrons former boss Laker, and impose a harsher military rule, and unlike many examples you are basically forced to accept this and allow Kenneth to become your new boss while Laker is "on vacation". Fortunately almost immediately afterwards things spiral out of control to force Kenneth to give you free reign to do as you please and save the Earth, but at the end of the story Kenneth's faction is still in control. In the next game they are still in control but once again an unexpected diaster forces Kenneth to allow the heroes to do as they please without him micromanaging to save the earth, however in the ending Kenneth is STILL in control and getting fed up with having to rely on the "soft" heroes is making plans for a new task force to protect the earth. They debut in the next game, and soon after your team is forced into a position where you accdentally kill an important politican and are declared terrorists, allowing you to finally actively resist them. In a twist however, it turns out Kenneth was just the pawn of another character all along.

-----

!!AnimeAndManga
* Episode 38 of ''EurekaSeven''. Colonel Dewey Novak of the U.F. Forces leads a coup to overthrow the U.F. Sage Council.

!!Comics
* In an arc of one of the ''StarWars'' comic books, several Imperial military soldiers attempt to stage a military coup against Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine, due to their desire to overthrow the Sith-controlled government, being evidently unhappy with the fact that the Empire was essentially led by a two-man cult. [[CurbStompBattle Palpatine and Vader basically wiped the floor with them.]]

!!Film

!!Literature

!!LiveActionTV
* ''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'' has a heroic example, with General Hague leading an attempted coup against the increasingly oppressive [[PresidentEvil President Clark]]. [[spoiler:General Hague [[DroppedABridgeOnHim catches a bridge]] a few episode later, and Captain Sheridan eventually takes charge of the rebelling forces.]]

!!VideoGames

* The South American Rebels in ''MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' were strongly implied to be undergoing a MilitaryCoup against the new regime.
* The War Minister from {{Varicella}} is trying to do this.


!!RealLife

-----

* An early episode of ''{{Noir}}'' had the title characters targeting key members of a 'security firm' that specialized in helping military units prepare for these.

* In an arc of one of the ''StarWars'' comic books, several Imperial military soldiers attempt to stage a military coup against Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine, due to their desire to overthrow the Sith-controlled government, being evidentially unhappy with the fact that the Empire was essentially led by a two-man cult. [[CurbStompBattle Palpatine and Vader basically wiped the floor with them.]]

* In an arc of one of the StarWars comic books, several Imperial military soldiers attempt to stage a military coup against Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine, due to their desire to overthrow the Sith-controlled government, being evidentially unhappy with the fact that the Empire was essentially led by a two-man cult. [[CurbStompBattle Palpatine and Vader basically wiped the floor with them.]]

* It is mentioned by several officers who refused to support the coup later on that it wasn't because they thought Clark was a good guy or anything, but rather because they felt it was [[MyCountryRightOrWrong wrong for the military to oppose the government, nothing less than treason.]] These officers at least made a point to try and avoid situations where they'd have to fire on civilians or do any of the nastier things that Clark ordered. This didn't mean that many of them were unwilling to fight the rebel forces, however.

* ''CallOfDutyModernWarfare'' begins with one.

* Episode 38 of EurekaSeven. Colonel Dewey Novak of the U.F. Forces leads a coup to overthrow the U.F. Sage Council.

* The villain in WesternAnimation/{{Antz}} is the leader of the ant army attempting to do away with the queen's power, kill off all the workers, and create a soldier run colony. Knowing ant society, [[YouFailBiologyForever this is incredibly ill advised]], but he is fairly crazy.

* Power Play. Army officers perform a coup to overthrow the President and restore civilian government, but one of the plotters assumes power instead.
* {{Patlabor}}: The Movie 2. A series of terrorist attacks give the appearance of a military coup.
* RevengeOfTheSith, as set up by the first two prequels; the original trilogy showed how this order was defeated. Technically a subversion, as it's the political leader who orchestrates the military coup against the Jedi.

* Attempted in the U.S. in SevenDaysInMay, both the original novel and the FilmOfTheBook.
* U.S.S.A.. A military coup overthrows the U.S. government. The country's name is changed to the "United Secure States of America".
* Settling Accounts: In at the Death. Attempted in an AlternateHistory universe Confederate States of America in 1944.
* Happens in Sinclair Lewis's It Can't Happen Here.

* [[BabylonFive Babylon 5]] has a heroic example, with General Hague leading an attempted coup against the increasingly oppressive [[PresidentEvil President Clark]]. [[spoiler:General Hague [[DroppedABridgeOnHim catches a bridge]] a few episode later, and Captain Sheridan eventually takes charge of the rebelling forces.]]

* MiniSeries Kung Mawawala Ka (If You're Gone). The Philippine military overthrows the regime of President Leandro Montemayor.

* The military in {{Tropico}} will be annoyed if you don't constantly build new military buildings and increase your military power, and your soldiers will grumble if you don't constantly increase their wages. Eventually they'll get tired of it and take over. You basically have to spend tons of money to keep them happy, rule the island with an iron fist, [[TakeAThirdOption or just fire all your soldiers at the beginning of the game and ignore the thus powerless militarists altogether]], saving yourself a lot of grief.
* {{Mercenaries}} 2: World In Flames. Technocrat Ramon Solano leads a military coup to take over Venezuela.
* This is one of the three endings in RepublicTheRevolution, if you choose Force as your primary policy.
* CallOfDutyModernWarfare begins with one.

* Operation Valkyrie involved several Nazi officers trying to assassinate AdolfHitler because they realized that his leadership was actually detrimental to their nation. This attempt failed.

* BattlestarGalactica (2000's). After President Laura Roslin interferes with Commander Adama's authority over his own people, Adama stages a military coup and assumes total authority.

* Film/{{Akira}}. When he learns that the civilian government plans to arrest him, Colonel Shikishima orders the military to overthrow the government.

** A MilitaryCoup was also part of the plotline of the arc "Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison," as several graduates of the Imperial Academy, led by Headmaster Gentis, attempted to overthrow Palpatine and Vader, although they were somewhat successful in poisoning Palpatine with the biological weapon Aorth-6. Ironically, one of the people involved in putting down the coup was Grand Moff Trachta, who was the instigator of the military coup listed above.

* And in DeepSpaceNine, we have Starfleet Admiral Leyton convincing the government to enact Martial Law on Earth, secretly in preparation for him to launch a coup and put in a government that will be able to protect Earth from the [[BigBad Dominion]]. [[spoiler:Amusingly enough, both Admiral Leyton and [[BabylonFive General Hague]] were played by the same actor. The reason General Hague had a bridge dropped on him in B5 was because the actor was unavailable for a key episode... he was filming this episode of Deep Space Nine.]]

* During the times of the RomanEmpire, if their Emperor was showing signs of Caligula-like behavior, the Praetorian Guard's duty was to orchestrate a MilitaryCoup against him and then kill him and his family off in order to prevent the chance of any of his descendants from potentially becoming another Caligula, and then installing someone into the position who is a bit more stable and controllable.

* MilitaryCoup: The South American Rebels in ''MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' were strongly implied to be undergoing a MilitaryCoup against the new regime.

* As noted above, this is a TruthInTelevision.

* Film/{{Patlabor}}: The Movie 2. A series of terrorist attacks give the appearance of a military coup.

Want to know how unpopular a leader of a country is? Usually, it goes no further than if even the leader's own military forces can't stand him and proceed to attempt to overthrow the ruler. At worst, expect the country to become a MilitaryJunta afterwards. which is when the military plans to take over the existing government, ushering a new empire under their martial law.

* The military in Tropico will be annoyed if you don't constantly build new military buildings and increase your military power, and your soldiers will grumble if you don't constantly increase their wages. Eventually they'll get tired of it and take over. You basically have to spend tons of money to keep them happy, rule the island with an iron fist, or just fire all your soldiers at the beginning of the game and ignore the thus powerless militarists altogether, saving yourself a lot of grief.

* It's implied that this trope occurred in the beginning of ''Film/SuperMarioBros.'', when Koopa, wearing what was evidentially a top General's uniform, demands to know the meteorite shard's location from Daisy's (soon to be dead) mom when ambushing her in the tunnel leading to the dimensional portal.
* The villain in Film/{{Antz}} is the leader of the ant army attempting to do away with the queen's power, kill off all the workers, and create a soldier run colony. Knowing ant society, [[YouFailBiologyForever this is incredibly ill advised]], but he is fairly crazy.

* The plotline of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' dealt with GRU trying to dispose of Khrushchev, with Volgin masterminding the entire coup against Khrushchev. Sokolov also implies that the coup was occurring quite a while before, but Khrushchev managed to put down any resistance until Kennedy's assassination. Naked Snake was called in to stop Volgin and The Boss from continuing with the coup.

* And in DeepSpaceNine, we have Starfleet Admiral Leyton convincing the government to enact Martial Law on Earth, secretly in preparation for him to launch a coup and put in a government that will be able to protect Earth from the [[BigBad Dominion]]. [[spoiler:Amusingly enough, both Admiral Leyton and [[BabylonFiveGeneral Hague were played by the same actor. The reason General Hague had a bridge dropped on him in B5 was because the actor was unavailable for a key episode... he was filming this episode of Deep Space Nine.]]

Want to know how unpopular a leader of a country is? Usually, it goes no further than if even the leader's own military forces can't stand him and proceed to attempt to overthrow the ruler. At worst, expect the country to become a MilitaryJunta afterwards.

** A MilitaryCoup was also part of the plotline of the arc "Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison," as several graduates of the Imperial Academy, led by Headmaster Gentis, attempted to overthrow Palpatine and Vader, although they were somewhat successful in poisoning Palpatine with the biological weapon Aorth-6.