1965 Laotian coups

The 1965 Laotian coups were two separate coups that struck the Kingdom of Laos at the same time, on 31 January 1965. General Phoumi Nosavan, a participant in four prior coups, had been deprived of troop command as a result; nevertheless, he managed to come up with troops for another try at overthrowing the Royal Lao Government. Simultaneously, Colonel Bounleut Saycocie independently mounted his own coup; after a short term takeover of Vientiane's radio station and infrastructure, he and his coup troops would rejoin the government forces sent to attack them. General Kouprasith Abhay, the military region commander, suppressed both coups. After re-acquiring Bounleut's troops, Kouprasith turned on the national police force and its commander, Siho Lamphouthacoul, as he felt they were untrustworthy and likely to join Phoumi's coup. The police force was defeated and disbanded. The troops Phoumi counted on never reached Vientiane; they were defeated and dispersed. By 4 February 1965, both coups were defeated. A purge of suspected dissident officers from the Lao officer corps followed.

An insurrection was threatened in Thakhek on 26 March 1965, but was quelled bloodlessly. The mutinous units' officers' ranks were purged of insurgents, who exiled themselves to nearby Thailand. Three weeks later, Phoumi's defeated coup troops once again threatened to stage a coup. Kouprasith sent a regiment to overcome this battalion. About two-thirds of its troops deserted; its commanding officer was executed. Both Phoumi and Siho ended their careers in exile in Thailand.

French colonial policy in their Protectorate of Laos was based on a minimal French administration imposed upon the local culture. The French apparat in Laos was the smallest in French Indochina. In 1907, the French decided that two or three years education would suffice for the average Laotian citizen. Only a scanty lowland Lao urban elite received a better education, usually at Vientiane's Pavie Lycee by French instructors. By the time the Kingdom of Laos became independent, there were too few Lao with civil administrative training to run the government.

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