Chilean coup against Salvador Allende
- Date
- 11 September 1973
- Category
- Military & conflict
- Region
- Latin America (Chile)
- Era
- Contemporary
- Significance
On 11 September 1973 the Chilean armed forces, led by army commander General Augusto Pinochet, overthrew the democratically elected socialist president Salvador Allende and his Popular Unity coalition.
As warplanes bombed the La Moneda presidential palace, Allende delivered a final radio address and died inside the palace, generally accepted as a suicide. A military junta dissolved Congress, banned parties, and imposed a dictatorship that lasted seventeen years. The regime conducted systematic repression—more than 3,000 people were killed or 'disappeared' and tens of thousands were detained and tortured—while implementing sweeping free-market economic reforms advised by US-trained economists. Declassified records confirm that the United States had covertly worked to destabilise Allende's government and welcomed his fall. Chile's intelligence service became a central node in Operation Condor, the coordinated campaign of repression among Southern Cone dictatorships. The coup became a defining symbol of Cold War intervention in Latin America. Pinochet relinquished power after losing a 1988 plebiscite, and Chile returned to civilian democratic rule in 1990.
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Empires active in 11 September 1973
- Soviet Union1922 CE – 1991 CE
- British Empire1583 CE – 1997 CE
- Spanish Empire1492 CE – 1976 CE
- Portuguese Empire1415 CE – 1999 CE
- Solomonic dynasty1270 CE – 1974 CE
- Dutch Empire1581 CE – 1975 CE
Related military & conflict events
- Fall of Saigon and reunification of Vietnam30 April 1975 (reunified 1976)
- Khmer Rouge Seize Cambodia and Declare Year Zero1975
- Cuban Missile Crisis16–28 October 1962
- The Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi7 April – 19 July 1994
- Korean War25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953
- Creation of Israel and the 1948 Arab–Israeli War14 May 1948 (war May 1948 – July 1949)
Also relevant
- Bangladesh Liberation War and independence26 March – 16 December 1971
- Turkey Invades Cyprus and Partitions the Island1974
Further reading
The wider story
The Americas: A Hemispheric History
Brisk single-volume history of the whole hemisphere since European contact.
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