A coup d'état (; ; plural: coups d'état ), also known as a coup, a putsch, or an overthrow, is the sudden and illegal seizure of a government,[http://books.google.ca/books?id=R-A8AQAAIAAJ&q=But+even+if+the+most+laudatory+of+motivations+be+assumed,+the+fact+remains+that+the+coup+d'etat+is+a+deliberately+illegal+act+of+the+gravest+kind+and+strikes+at+the+highest+level+of+law+and+order+in+society&dq=But+even+if+the+most+laudatory+of+motivations+be+assumed,+the+fact+remains+that+the+coup+d'etat+is+a+deliberately+illegal+act+of+the+gravest+kind+and+strikes+at+the+highest+level+of+law+and+or...