Finnish coup d'état

The Finnish coup d'état was a bloodless coup which took place in 1958 soon after the general election of that year in Finland. It resulted in the toppling of the newly elected Social Democratic Party (SDP) government in coalition with the Swedish People's Party (RKP). The aftermath of the coup saw Finland become a fascist dictatorship under the Patriotic People's Movement.
The right-wing National Coalition Party (NCP) had been in government consistently since 1948, as had the far-right Patriotic People's Movement (IKL) who was its primary coalition partner. The NCP had been pushed to go further to the right by its coalition partner, giving IKL members more positions of power within the civil service and military, while using the economic boom of post-war Europe to sustain its popularity.
After the last election in 1951 which the NCP-IKL coalition barely won, the economic collapse of 1952 occurred. This in turn led to the West Russian War beginning which heavily involved Finland as the West Russian Revolutionary Front sought to regain lost lands from Finland. This caused the next elections to be postponed, and when elections were meant to be held in 1955 the Murmansk Rebellion began which caused further delays.
In the eventual 1958 elections, with the unpopular wars having come to an end and the economy still struggling to recover, the IKL prepared for the worst - that a left-wing government would be elected. In the end this did indeed happen, and the IKL and its supporters reacted with speed, the army quickly secured army bases and IKL paramilitary groups moved to seize government buildings including the Presidential Palace where President Matti Virkkunen resided.
Category:Conflicts
Category:Coup d'état