List of political conspiracies

In a political sense, conspiracy refers to a group of people united in the goal of usurping, altering or overthrowing an established political power. Typically, the final goal is to gain power through a revolutionary coup d'état or through assassination. A conspiracy can also be used for infiltration of the governing system.

A conspiracy is to be contrasted with a cabal. The two are similar but have quite different connotations; in contrast to a cabal, a conspiracy usually looks to overthrow a fixed power instead of usurping it from within.

A "conspiracy theory" is a belief that a conspiracy has actually been decisive in producing a political event which the theorists strongly disapprove of.^[1]

Notable political conspiracies

• 1552 BCE - Apophis Kush Alliance against Egypt as attested to in the second Kamose stele^[2]
• 1st century BCE - Catiline conspiracies^[3]
• 44 BCE - Liberatores plot assassination of Julius Caesar to restore Roman Republic^[4]
• 65 CE - Pisonian conspiracy^[5]
• Late 15th century (1478) Pazzi conspiracy, which included the Pope^[6]
• 1506 - Conspiracy against the life of the brothers Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara and Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, coordinated by their half brother Giulio d'Este and full brother Ferrante d'Este^[7]
• 1570 - Ridolfi plot against Elizabeth I of England^[8]
• 1583 - Throckmorton Plot to murder Elizabeth and replace her with her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots^[9]
• 1586 - Babington Plot, second major plot against Elizabeth, that led most directly to execution of Mary, Queen of Scots^[10][11]
• 1603 - Main Plot to remove James I of England and enthrone Arbella Stuart

— Bye Plot, leads to the execution of Sir George Brooke^[12]

• 1605 - Gunpowder Plot to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament as prelude to a popular revolt in the Midlands, during which James's nine-year-old daughter, Princess Elizabeth, was to be installed as the Catholic head of state; often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot; origin of Guy Fawkes Day^[13]
• 1718-1720 The Pontcallec conspiracy during the minority of Louis XV to overthrow the Regent Philippe II, Duke of Orléans in favour of Philip V of Spain
• 1749 - Conspiracy of the Slaves by Muslim slaves to kill Grand Master Manuel Pinto da Fonseca and take over Malta with the help of the Barbary states.^[14]
• 1788 - Anjala conspiracy^[15]
• 1832 - Georgian plot, assassination of the Russian imperial administration and restoration of the Georgian monarchy
• 1865 - Abraham Lincoln assassination plot, to include assassination of cabinet members^[16]
• 1898 - The Dreyfus Affair, a coordinated attempt to falsely accuse Alfred Dreyfus of treason^[17]
• 1903 - The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, presented as authentic text by the Tsar's secret police efforts to foment anti-Semitism^[18]
• 1914 - The Black Hand helps Young Bosnia assassinate Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, thus launching the July Crisis that ended with World War I.^[19]
• 1924 - The Zinoviev letter, published in London before the 1924 general election, is a forgery that impacted the vote. It was signed with the name of Grigory Zinoviev and called on violent action by the Communist Party of Great Britain. It was devised by anti-Communist Russians in Paris and ther Labour Party nlamed it for its defeat. ^[20]
• 1938 - Presumed Hitler Youth Conspiracy, NKVD case in Moscow involving some 70 arrests and 40 executions of teenagers and adults, later found to be baseless^[21]
• 1939 - Operation Himmler and its Gleiwitz incident, "False Flag" terrorism by Nazi Germany as pretext for invasion of Poland

— Shelling of Mainila, "False Flag" terrorism by USSR as pretext for Winter War

• 1943 - Bomb on Hitler's aircraft, an attempt on Adolf Hitler^[22]
• 1944 - July 20 Plot, attempt to assassinate Hitler with suitcase bomb, and then use Operation Valkyrie to grab power^[23][24]
• 1953 - Iranian coup d'état, Iranian military restores the Shah with approval of US and Britain.^[25]
• 1954 - Lavon affair Operation Susannah, "False Flag" terrorism by Mossad^[26]
• 1972 - Watergate scandal, burglary and cover-up scandals that forced President Richard Nixon to resign in 1974.^[27]
• 1982 - Fighting Solidarity^[28]
• 1984 - Brighton hotel bombing - attempted assassination of Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet by the Provisional IRA^[29]
• 1984 - Rajneeshee bioterror attack^[30]
• 1987 - Iran-Contra Affair^[31][32]
• 2001 - September 11 attacks. Attacks on New York City and Washington using hijacked airplanes by al-Qaeda.^[33]
• 2015 - three simultaneous terrorist attacks in Paris conducted by coordinated teams of terrorists.^[34]

See also

• List of conspiracy theories
• Conspiracy theory
• Secrecy
• Seditious conspiracy

References

Further reading

• Burnett, Thom. Conspiracy Encyclopedia: The Encyclopedia of Conspiracy Theories (2006)
• Knight, Peter, ed. Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia (2003)
• Newton, Michael, ed. Famous Assassinations in World History: An Encyclopedia (2 vol ABC-CLIO, 2014), covers 266 assassinations and attempted assassinations of world political leaders from 465 BCE to 2012.
• Newton, Michael, ed. The Encyclopedia of Conspiracies and Conspiracy Theories (2005)
• Sifakis, Carl. Encyclopedia of Assassinations (Facts on File 2001),

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