1981 Spanish coup attempt

1981 Spanish coup d'état attempt
	Part of the Spanish transition to democracy
	; Antonio Tejero bursting into the Plenary Chamber of the Congress of Deputies, gun in hand
Date	23–24 February 1981
Location	Madrid and Valencia, Spain
Result	Coup failed Preservation of the constitutional order; Twelve members of the Spanish Armed Forces, seventeen Civil Guards, and one civilian sentenced to prison for military rebellion by the Superior Council of Military Justice; Successful investiture of Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo as Prime Minister of Spain; Consolidation of democratic rule in Spain;
Belligerents
Kingdom of Spain Civil Guard (main branch); Spanish Armed Forces; (all branches except the; Captaincy General of Valencia); National Police Corps; CESID; ; Supported by:; EEC	Francoist rebels Spanish Armed Forces; (Captaincy General of Valencia); Civil Guard (rebels); ;
Commanders and leaders
Juan Carlos I; Adolfo Suárez; Manuel Gutiérrez Mellado; Sabino Fernández Campo; Guillermo Quintana Lacaci; José Gabeiras; Landelino Lavilla; Francisco Laína;	Antonio Tejero; Jaime Milans del Bosch; Alfonso Armada;
Strength
All of the Spanish military and police corps except for the rebels	1,800 men (in Valencia); 200 Civil Guards (in Madrid); Dozens of tanks and other military vehicles
Casualties and losses
	None

A coup d'état was attempted in Spain in February 1981 by right-wing, Francoist elements of the Civil Guard and the Spanish military. The failure of the coup marked the last serious attempt to revert Spain to a Francoist state and served to consolidate Spain's democratization process. King Juan Carlos I played a major role in foiling the coup, and the monarchy emerged with renewed legitimacy as a result.

The coup, which became known in Spain as 23F, began on 23 February 1981 when Lieutenant-Colonel Antonio Tejero, along with 200 armed Civil Guard officers, stormed the Congress of Deputies chamber in Madrid during a vote to swear in Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo as President of the Government. The officers held the parliamentarians and ministers hostage for 18 hours, during which the King denounced the coup in a public television broadcast, calling for rule of law and the democratic government to continue. The royal address fatally undermined the coup, and the hostage-takers surrendered the next morning and all deputies were freed. A simultaneous coup attempt, executed by Captain General Jaime Milans del Bosch in Valencia, also failed. Tejero, Milans del Bosch and a third conspirator, General Alfonso Armada, were sentenced to thirty years in prison. In 1988 the Spanish Supreme Court suggested pardoning Alfonso Armada and Tejero; the government of Felipe González pardoned the former.

On 24th February 2026, following the 45th anniversary of the coup d’etat, the Spanish Government declassified confidential documents from this event