A sudden and decisive change of government illegally or by force; SYN. coup, putsch, takeover.
Or coup; Forcible takeover of the government of a country by elements from within that country, generally carried out by violent or illegal means. It differs from a revolution in typically being carried out by a small group (for example, of army officers or opposition politicians) to install its leader as head of government, rather than being a mass uprising by the people.
Early examples include the coup of 1799, in which Napoleon overthrew the Revolutionary Directory and declared himself first consul of France, and the coup of 1851 in which Louis Napoleon (then president) dissolved the French national assembly and a year later declared himself emperor. Coups of more recent times include the overthrow of the socialist government of Chile 1973 by a right-wing junta, the military seizure of power in Surinam Dec 1990, and the short-lived removal of Mikhail Gorbachev from power in the USSR by hard-line communists 19–22 Aug 1991.