Leaders who took power by coup

founding leader of the Soviet Union (1870–1924)

Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was Emperor of the French from 18 May 1804 until his first abdication in 1814, with a brief restoration during the Hundred Days in 1815. He rose to prominence as a general during the French Revolution and led a series of military campaigns across Europe and North Africa during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. As a statesman, he implemented numerous legal and administrative reforms in France and Europe.

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as prime minister from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 2008. Ideologically a Marxist–Leninist and Cuban nationalist, he also served as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from 1965 until 2011. Under his administration, Cuba became a one-party communist state; industry and business were nationalized, and socialist reforms were implemented throughout society.

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician, journalist, and dictator who led Italy as Il Duce from 1922 until his overthrow in 1943. He founded the fascist movement in 1919, with the creation of the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento, which became the National Fascist Party (PNF) in 1921. Mussolini was appointed Prime Minister of Italy after the March on Rome in 1922, establishing a totalitarian dictatorship. He oversaw Italy's participation in World War II as a prominent member of the Axis Powers, and was summarily executed near the end of the war in 1945.

Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi was a Libyan military officer, revolutionary, politician, and political theorist who ruled Libya from 1969 until his overthrow by Libyan rebel forces in 2011 during the First Libyan Civil War. He came to power through a bloodless military coup, first becoming Revolutionary Chairman of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977, Secretary General of the General People's Congress from 1977 to 1979, and then the Brotherly Leader of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1979 to 2011. Initially ideologically committed to Arab nationalism and Arab socialism, Gaddafi later ruled according to his own Third International Theory.

The eighth and greatest Emperor of Russia (r. 1762–1796)

Spanish general and dictator (1892-1975)

former General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (1925–1998)

President of Egypt from 1956 to 1970

dictator of Chile from 1973 to 1990

Suharto (8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian military officer and politician who served as the second and longest-serving president of Indonesia from 1967 to 1998. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto led Indonesia as an authoritarian regime from 1967 until his resignation in 1998 following nationwide unrest. His 31-year dictatorship is considered one of the most brutal and corrupt of the 20th century: he was central to the perpetration of mass killings against alleged communists and subsequent persecution of ethnic Chinese, Islamists, irrelig

Pakistani soldier and politician (1943-2023)

Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier-emperor who presided over one of the greatest military expansions in Roman history, during which, by the time of his death, the Roman Empire reached its maximum territorial extent. He was given the title of optimus princeps ('the best ruler') by the Roman Senate.

President of Uganda (1971-1979)

President of the Republic of Egypt

Georgian politician and diplomat (1928–2014)

Polish politician, First Marshall, and Prime Minister (1867–1935)

3rd President of the Republic of Korea

President of Syria from 1971 to 2000

President of Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987

President of Sudan from 1989 to 2019

former President of Nigeria from 1983 to 1985 and 2015 to 2025 (born 1942–2025)

Galba ( ; born Servius Sulpicius Galba; 24 December 3 BC – 15 January AD 69) was Roman emperor, ruling for 7 months from 8 June AD 68 to 15 January 69. He was the first emperor in the Year of the Four Emperors and assumed the throne following Emperor Nero's suicide.

sultan of Oman from 1970 to 2020 (1940–2020)

3rd President of the Republic of Azerbaijan (1923–2003)

9th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520

President of Uganda since 1986

Congolese politician and military officer, the first and only president of Zaire from 1971 to 1997 (1930 – 1997)

Heraclius (, ; 11 February 641) was Byzantine emperor from 610 to 641. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the Exarch of Africa, led a revolt against the unpopular emperor Phocas.

President of Cuba, 1940–1944; dictator, 1952-1959 (1901-1973)

Otho (; born Marcus Salvius Otho; 28 April 32 – 16 April 69) was Roman emperor, ruling for three months from 15 January to 16 April 69. He was the second emperor of the Year of the Four Emperors.

Tunisian politician

The sixth Emperor of Russia (1741–1762)

King of England from 1327 to 1377

Chadian former president (1952–2021)

2nd president (1966–76) and emperor (r. 1976–79) of the Central African Republic

Reza Shah Pahlavi was Shah of Iran from 1925 to 1941 and founder of the Pahlavi dynasty. Originally an army officer, he became a politician, serving as minister of war and prime minister of Iran, and was elected shah following the deposition of Ahmad Shah, the last monarch of the Qajar dynasty.

30th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1808–1839)

Equatoguinean politician, President of Equatorial Guinea since 1979

President of the Republic of Zimbabwe

Argentine dictator (1925–2013)

Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (, ; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman of the late Roman Republic. Coming to fame for his military exploits, he was the first general during the late republic to march on Rome and win a civil war. After purging his opponents, he assumed the dictatorship, sought to strengthen the republican system by means of reforms to the constitution, and resigned his plenary powers after their enactment.

4th President of the Republic of Turkey (1895–1966)

Supreme Leader of Afghanistan since 2021

Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (12 August 192417 August 1988) was a Pakistani military officer and politician who served as the sixth president of Pakistan from 1978 until his death in an airplane crash in 1988. He also served as the second chief of the army staff of the Pakistan Army from 1976 until his death. The country's longest-serving de facto head of state and chief of the army staff, Zia's political ideology is known as Ziaism.

President of Turkey (1917–2015)

former General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Ethiopia

2nd President of the Gambia

military dictator of Paraguay from 1954 to 1989

President of the Philippines from 1899 to 1902

Prime Minister of Cambodia (1985–1993; 1998–2023)

Afghan cleric who founded the Taliban (1960–2013)

President of Burkina Faso from 1987 to 2014

President of Pakistan from 1958 to 1969

Greek politician, former Prime Minister of Greece (1864-1936)

29th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1807–1808)

11th and 12th President of the Republic of Korea (1931~2021)

Head of State of Algeria from 1965 to 1978

leader of Suriname (1980–1987, 2010–2020)

Malian soldier and politician