19 August 1953 On 19 August 1953, British intelligence, helped by the CIA, staged a coup to oust Muhammad Mossadegh, the moderate nationalist prime minister of Iran, who had been a firm believer in liberal values, democracy and the rule of law. London’s angst was over Mossadegh’s determination that Iran should be able to run…
23 July 1970 On 23 July 1970, the British government backed a coup in Oman to install the Sultan’s son, Qaboos, after they became increasingly worried of ‘loosing’ the oil rich Dhofar province of Oman to a popular insurgency by leftist rebels. In the worst scenario, they feared a domino effect, with the virus of…
27 April 1962 On 27 April 1962, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan arrived in Washington for two days of talks. He was met by a sun tanned President Kennedy, who’s own plane, according to the New York Times, had brought him back from Palm Beach a few minutes earlier.1 The private discussion that followed might shock those…
MI6 AND THE PALACE IN COUP AGAINST AUSTRALIA’S LABOUR GOVERNMENT [ 11 November 1975 ] On 11 November 1975, Australia’s democratically elected prime minister, Gough Whitlam, felt deeply anxious when he received a summons from Governor-General Sir John Kerr, a man so deep in the CIA’s pocket that officials referred to him as ‘our man…
DROWNED BLACK SLAVES DUMPED IN A MASS GRAVE [ 9 October 1796 ] During the evening of 9 October 1796, the bodies of up to sixty drowned Africans, still bound with fetters and chains, were discovered at Rapparee Cove in North Devon. The locals dumped them in a mass grave as they were mere ‘heathen’…
Britain dispatches troops to Guiana to oust the newly elected government [ 6 October 1953 } On 6 October 1953, the Colonial Office announced that it was dispatching British troops to Guiana. 600 men of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers were already approaching Georgetown, the capital of the colony, on board the British cruiser Superb, while…
UNGRATEFUL SHEIKH SHAKHBUT DEPOSED BY BRITISH LED COUP [ 6 August 1966 ] On 6 August 1966, the British deposed Sheikh Shakhbut of Abu Dhabi by backing a coup. Shakbut had been failing to reward the UK’s military support by spending enough on British goods. The serious problem his prudence presented was more tactfully described…
VALLEY OF VILLAGES AND CROPS BURNED IN WAZIRISTAN [ 24 June 1917 ] On 24 June 1917, a punitive military expedition began to burn the villages and crops of the Mahsud people in the Khaisara Valley on the North West Frontier. THE BRITISH STAGE A COUP IN SHARJAH [ 24 June 1965 ] Today in…
BRITISH ARMY KILLS FIFTY EGYPTIAN POLICE OFFICERS [ 25 January 1952 ] By January 1952, the British Army, which was still stationed in Egypt’s Suez Canal Zone, was growing increasingly frustrated by attacks on its positions by small groups of Egyptian guerrilla fighters, who were determined to force their former colonial masters to evacuate. MI6…
