Question: Arab Spring was a revolutionary wave of what illegal and overt seizure of a state by the military?

Context articles: Coup d'état
Saving Hope (book)
2011 Omani protests
Arab Winter
Qatar–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict
Arab Spring
Social media and the Arab Spring
Revolutions of 1820
The Rough Guide to Arabic Revolution
Bahraini protests of 2011–13

A coup d'état (    ; ] ), also known simply as a coup ( ), a putsch ( ), golpe de estado, or an overthrow, is the illegal and overt seizure of a state by the military or other elites within the state apparatus.
Saving Hope: The Long Way to the Arab Spring (Arabic: إنقاذ الأمل: الطريق الطويل إلى الربيع العربي‎ ‎ ) is a 2013 non-fiction book by Bahraini cultural critic Nader Kadhim.
 Written in Arabic, it is the ninth book by Kadhim, who works as a Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Bahrain.
 Written in two stages, before and during the Arab Spring, the book discusses this wave of protests from two sides; the past and the future.
 The past is divided into three waves, each of them corresponding to an era of hope and aspiration.
 First is the enlightenment wave, followed by the revolutionary wave and finally the democratic wave.
 The author then tackles the Arab Spring and argues that it is not the time for celebration, but an important station in the long way towards democracy.
The 2011 Omani protests were a series of protests in the Persian Gulf country of Oman that occurred as part of the revolutionary wave popularly known as the "Arab Spring".
The Arab Winter is a term for the rise of authoritarianism and Islamic extremism evolving in the aftermath of the Arab Spring protests in Arab countries.
 According to scholars of the University of Warsaw, the Arab Spring fully devolved into the Arab Winter four years after its onset.
 The Arab Winter is characterized by the emergence of multiple regional civil wars, mounting regional instability, economic and demographic decline of Arab countries, and ethno-religious sectarian strife.
 According to a study by the American University of Beirut, as of the summer of 2014 the Arab Winter had resulted in nearly a quarter of a million deaths and millions of refugees.
The Qatar–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict (also known as the Second Arab Cold War) is the ongoing struggle for regional influence between the Gulf Cooperation Council monarchies of Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
 Qatar–Saudi Arabia relations have been especially strained since the beginning of the Arab Spring, which left a power vacuum both states sought to fill, with Qatar being supportive of the revolutionary wave and Saudi Arabia opposing it; since both states are allies of the United States, they avoid direct conflict with one another.
 Qatar has had differences with other Arab governments on a number of issues: it broadcasts Al Jazeera; it is accused of maintaining good relations with Iran; and it has supported the Muslim Brotherhood in the past.
The Arab Spring, (Arabic: الربيع العربي‎ ‎ "ar-Rabīʻ al-ʻArabī") also referred to as Arab revolutions (Arabic: الثورات العربية‎ ‎ "aṯ-'awrāt al-ʻarabiyyah"), was a revolutionary wave of both violent and non-violent demonstrations, protests, riots, coups and civil wars in North Africa and the Middle East that began on 17 December 2010 in Tunisia with the Tunisian Revolution.
Social media’s role in the revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests that came to be known as the Arab Spring remains a highly debated subject.
 Uprisings occurred both in states with very high levels of internet usage (such as Bahrain, with 88% of its population online in 2011) and in states with some of the lowest internet penetration (Yemen and Libya).
The Revolutions of 1820 were a revolutionary wave in Europe.
 It included revolutions in Spain, Portugal, Russia, and Italy for constitutional monarchies, and for independence from Ottoman rule in Greece.
 Unlike the revolutionary wave in the 1830s, these tended to take place in the peripheries of Europe.
The Rough Guide To Arabic Revolution is a world music compilation album originally released in 2013 featuring music relating to the contemporaneous Arab Spring revolutionary wave.
 Part of the World Music Network Rough Guides series, the album contains two discs: a compilation Disc One featuring protest songs ranging from traditional music to Arabic hip hop, and a "bonus" Disc Two highlighting Ramy Essam, whose song ""Irhal" (Leave)" is widely considered the anthem of the Egyptian Revolution.
The Bahraini protests were a series of anti-government protests from 2011 until 2013.
 The protests were inspired by the unrest of the 2011 Arab Spring and 2011–12 Iranian protests and escalated to daily clashes after the King Hamad government violently repressed a revolt with the help of foreign mercenary forces (mostly Pakistanis) and a coalition of neighbouring Sheikhdom armies under the name of Peninsula Shield Force, however Oman and Kuwait refrained from sending troops or supporting Saudi Arabia and UAE armies in Bahrain.
 Iran is alleged by United States and others to have a hand in the arming of Bahraini militants.
 The Bahraini protests were a series of demonstrations, amounting to a sustained campaign of civil and violent resistance in the Persian Gulf country of Bahrain.
 As part of the revolutionary wave of protests in the Middle East and North Africa following the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia, the Bahraini protests were initially aimed at achieving greater political freedom and equality for the majority Shia population, and expanded to a call to end the monarchy of Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa following a deadly night raid on 17 February 2011 against protesters at the Pearl Roundabout in Manama, known locally as Bloody Thursday.