1960 Laotian coups

1960 Laotian coups
	Part of Laotian Civil War, Vietnam War, and the Cold War in Indochina
Date	December 25, 1959—December 16, 1960
Location	Kingdom of Laos
Result	Series of coups; Phoumi Nosavan seizes power and is then temporarily ousted by his former ally Kong Le; Three-way conflict between Royalists in support of Phoumi, Neutralists in support of Kong Le, and the Pathet Lao; Attempt by Kouprasith Abhay to seize power from Kong Le fails; Battle of Vientiane, Phoumi Nosavan regains power; Kong Le retreats to the Plain of Jars;

The 1960 Laotian coups brought about a pivotal change of government in the Kingdom of Laos. General Phoumi Nosavan established himself as the strongman running Laos in a bloodless coup on 25 December 1959. He would be himself overthrown on 10 August 1960 by the young paratrooper captain who had backed him in the 1959 coup. When Captain Kong Le impressed the American officials underwriting Laos as a potential communist, they backed Phoumi's return to power in November and December 1960. In turn, the Soviets backed Kong Le as their proxy in this Cold War standoff. After the Battle of Vientiane ended in his defeat, Kong Le withdrew northward to the strategic Plain of Jars on 16 December 1960.

Having taken an independent stance in the Laotian Civil War, Kong Le and his Forces Armee Neutraliste would remain an unpredictable influence upon the war until 1974.