This is alist of political conspiracies. In a political context, aconspiracy refers to a group of people united in the goal of damaging, usurping, or overthrowing an established political power. Typically, the final goal is for the conspiritories to gain power often through a revolutionarycoup d'état or throughassassination or to achieve a political objective. A conspiracy can also be used for infiltration of the governing system.

• 1971 BCE -Apophis Kush Alliance against Egypt as attested to in the second Kamose stele^[1]
• 399 BCE –Conspiracy of Cinadon to overthrow thegovernment of ancient Sparta to grant rights to helots and poorer Spartans^[2][3]
• 63 BCE -First Catilinarian conspiracy and theSecond Catilinarian conspiracy^[4]
• 44 BCE -Liberatores plotassassination of Julius Caesar to restoreRoman Republic^[5]
• 65 CE -Pisonian conspiracy againstNero^[6]
• 1478Pazzi conspiracy, a plot byPope Sixtus IV and thePazzi family to depose theHouse of Medici in theRepublic of Florence^[7]
• 1506 -Conspiracy against the life of the brothersAlfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara and CardinalIppolito d'Este in theDuchy of Ferrara, coordinated by their half brotherGiulio d'Este and full brotherFerrante d'Este^[8]
• 1569 -1569 Plot againstJohn III of Sweden.^[9]
• 1570 -Ridolfi plot againstElizabeth I of England^[10]
• 1574 -Mornay Plot againstJohn III of Sweden.^[11]
• 1583 -Throckmorton Plot byEnglish Catholics led bySir Francis Throckmorton to coordinate an invasion of England led byHenry I, Duke of Guise, to murder Elizabeth, and replace her with her cousinMary, Queen of Scots^[12]
• 1586 -Babington Plot, plot byAnthony Babington andJohn Ballard to assassinate Elizabeth and coordinate an invasion of England byKing Philip II of Spain and theHoly League. Discovered bySir Francis Walsingham and led to execution of Mary, Queen of Scots^[13][14]
• 1603 -Main Plot to removeJames I of England and enthroneArbella Stuart allegedly led byHenry Brooke, Lord Cobham, and sponsored by Spain.^[15]
• 1603 -Bye Plot, leads to the execution ofSir George Brooke^[16]
• 1605 -Gunpowder Plot to blow up theHouse of Lords by during theState Opening of Parliament as prelude to a popular revolt in theMidlands, during which James's nine-year-old daughter,Princess Elizabeth, was to be installed as theCatholic head of state; foiled after a letter toWilliam Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, and the discovery and arrest ofGuy Fawkes. Often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot; origin ofGuy Fawkes Day^[17]
• 1718–1720 ThePontcallec conspiracy during the minority ofLouis XV to overthrow the RegentPhilippe II, Duke of Orléans in favour ofPhilip V of Spain
• 1749 -Conspiracy of the Slaves byMuslim slaves inHospitaller-ruled Malta to killGrand MasterManuel Pinto da Fonseca and take over the island with the help of theBarbary states.^[18]
• 1756 -Coup of 1756 was an attemptedcoup d'état planned byQueen Louisa Ulrika of Sweden to abolish the rule of theRiksdag of the Estates and reinstateabsolute monarchy in Sweden.^[19]
• 1788 -Anjala conspiracy^[20]
• 1789 -1789 Conspiracy (Sweden) againstGustav III of Sweden.^[21]
• 1793 -Armfelt Conspiracy againstCharles XIII of Sweden.^[22]
• 1796 – TheConspiracy of the Equals, led byFrançois-Noël 'Gracchus' Babeuf, which attempted to overthrow theDirectoire
• 1807 - TheBurr conspiracy, an alleged plot by formerVice President of the United StatesAaron Burr and a cabal of his supporters to establish an independent country in theAmerican Southwest. The accusations would lead to Burr being arrested and later indicted fortreason.
• 1820 - TheCato Street Conspiracy, a plot to murder all the BritishCabinet Ministers and thePrime MinisterLord Liverpool. A police informer resulted in the arrest of 13 plotters. Five conspirators were executed and five others weretransported to Australia.
• 1832 -Georgian plot, assassination of the Russian imperial administration and restoration of the Georgian monarchy^[23]
• 1865 -Abraham Lincoln assassination plot, to include assassination of cabinet members.^[24] It had originated as a plot byConfederate sympathizers to kidnap Lincoln and force theUnion to negotiate for either a release of prisoners of war or an end to theAmerican Civil War.^[25]
• 1898 - TheDreyfus Affair, a coordinated attempt to falsely accuseAlfred Dreyfus of treason^[26]
• 1914 - TheSerbiansecret society known as theBlack Hand colluded with members of therevolutionary groupYoung Bosnia to organize and carry out theassassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary on 28 June 1914 inSarajevo; precipitating aninternational crisis that resulted in the outbreak ofWorld War I a month later.^[27]
• 1933 -Business Plot, a plan by American business leaders to overthrowU.S. PresidentFranklin Delano Roosevelt and to install a military leader namedGeneral Smedley Butler as fascist dictator of the country.^[28][29]
• 1941 -Operation Spark, a planned attempt on the life ofAdolf Hitler.^[30]
• 1944 -July 20 Plot - An attempt to assassinate Hitler with suitcase bomb at a conference at theWolf's Lair inRastenburg,East Prussia, and then useOperation Valkyrie to grab power^[31][32]
• 1945 - TheSoviet Union's infiltration of theManhattan Project throughatomic spies such asGeorge Koval andKlaus Fuchs. Soviet intelligence was eventually confirmed by a declassifiedU.S. Army Corps of Engineers report and theVenona project, and assisted theSoviet atomic bomb project.^[33][34]
• 1951 -Rawalpindi conspiracy - failed coup againstLiaquat Ali Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan.^[35]
• 1953 -Iranian coup d'état - TheImperial Iranian Armed Forces restores theShah of Iran,Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and overthrowsPrime MinisterMohammad Mosaddegh with the aid ofCIA andMI6.^[36]
• 1956–1971 -COINTELPRO -FBI’s covert program to surveil, infiltrate, and disruptcivil rights groups,anti-war activists, and political dissidents.
• 1959 -Bangkok Plot - a plan to overthrow Premier ofCambodia PrinceNorodom Sihanouk, formulated by Cambodian politicians with international support.^[37]
• 1964 -Gulf of Tonkin Incident - The U.S. falsely claimedNorth Vietnam attacked its ships to justify escalating theVietnam War, leading to over 58,000 American deaths.
• 1967–1974 -Operation CHAOS - CIA’s domestic surveillance operation against anti-war activists, violating its own charter prohibiting domestic spying.
• 1971 -Ugandan coup d'état -Ugandan Army units loyal toGeneral Idi Amin deposed the government ofPresident Milton Obote while he was abroad attending the annualCommonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
• 1971 -The Pentagon Papers - Documents showing that multiple administrations misled the public about the Vietnam War from the 1940s to the 1970s.
• 1972 -Watergate scandal - The burglary of theDemocratic National Committee offices at theWatergate complex byCREEP and subsequent cover-up scandals that forcedPresident Richard Nixon to resign in 1974.^[38]
• 1973 -Chilean coup d'état -a group of military officers led by GeneralAugusto Pinochet and backed by theCIA seized power from democratically-elected leftist PresidentSalvador Allende, ending civilian rule and establishing a U.S.-backed dictatorship
• 1981 -23F - An attemptedcoup d'état orputsch in Spain by the military where politicians in theCongress of Deputies were held hostage for 18 hours. KingJuan Carlos I denounced the coup in a televised address. This caused the coup to eventually collapse.
• 1984 -Brighton hotel bombing - attempted assassination ofMargaret Thatcher and her cabinet by theProvisional IRA at theGrand Hotel inBrighton, resulted in the death ofDeputy Chief WhipAnthony Berry.^[39]
• 1984 -Rajneeshee bioterror attack^[40]
• 1987 -Iran-Contra Affair - a years' long secret project by theReagan Administration to topple the government ofNicaragua by illegally selling weapons to the government ofIran to fund theterrorist group theContras in violation of U.S. law (theBoland Amendment).^[41][42]
• 1990 -Nayirah testimony, a false testimony to theCongressional Human Rights Caucus organized bypublic relations firmHill & Knowlton for theKuwaiti government
• 2001 -September 11 attacks - Attacks on theWorld Trade Center inNew York City, the Pentagon inArlington,Virginia, and a planned fourth target inWashington D.C. usinghijacked airplanes byal-Qaeda.^[43]
• 2003 -Plame affair - publication ofValerie Plame's employment as a covertCIA officer byRobert Novak, who learned it fromRichard Armitage, after her husbandJoseph C. Wilson published aNew York Timesop-ed expressing doubt thatSaddam Hussein purchaseduranium fromNiger. Lead to conviction ofScooter Libby forobstruction of justice andperjury.
• 2015 -November 2015 Paris attacks - attacks on targets in Paris, including anEagles of Death Metal concert at theBataclan theatre and theStade de France inSaint-Denis, conducted by coordinated teams ofIslamic terrorists affiliated withISIS.^[44]
• 2021- After losing toJoe Biden in the 2020 Presidential Election,Donald Trump, along with many of hisstaffers, appointed officials, and Republican elected officials, conspired to overturn the election by falsely claiming widespreadvoter fraud, culminating in theJanuary 6th, 2021 attack at the United States Capitol bymob of Trump supporters, in order to illegally keep Trump in power.

• 1924 - TheZinoviev letter, published in theDaily Mail inLondon before the1924 general election, is a forgery that impacted the vote. It was signed with the name ofGrigory Zinoviev, a politician in theSoviet Union and the leader of theCommunist International, and called on violent action by theCommunist Party of Great Britain. It was devised byanti-CommunistWhite Russian émigrés inParis and theLabour Party blamed it for its defeat.^[45]
• 1938 - PresumedHitler Youth Conspiracy,NKVD case inMoscow involving some 70 arrests and 40 executions of teenagers and adults, later found to be baseless^[46]

• 1931 - TheMukden Incident or theManchurian Incident - TheImperial Japanese Army sabotaged a railway section near a Chinese garrison atBeidaying as a pretext for aJapanese invasion of Manchuria.
• 1939 -Shelling of Mainila -false-flagartillery attack by theRed Army to provide theSoviet Union with a pretext for theWinter War againstFinland.^{[citation needed]}
• 1939 -Operation Himmler and itsGleiwitz incident -false-flag attacks, including on aradio station inGleiwitz, byNazi Germany andSS officers disguised asPolish Armed Forces personnel as a pretext for theinvasion of Poland
• 1954 -Lavon affair Operation Susannah,false flag terrorism byMossad^[47]

• List of assassinations
• List of coups and coup attempts by country
• List of terrorist incidents
• List of conspiracy theories
• Seditious conspiracy
• History of espionage

• Burnett, Thom.Conspiracy Encyclopedia: The Encyclopedia of Conspiracy Theories (2006)
• Critchlow, Donald T., John Korasick, Matthew C. Sherman, eds.Political Conspiracies in America: A Reader (2008)online
• Coward, Barry, and Julian Swann.Conspiracies and conspiracy theory in early modern Europe: from the Waldensians to the French revolution (Routledge, 2017).
• Dean, Jodi.Aliens in America: Conspiracy Culture from Outerspace to Cyberspace (Cornell University Press, 1998).
• Knight, Peter, ed.Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia (2003)
• Lewis, Jon E.The Mammoth Book of Cover-Ups: The 100 Most Terrifying Conspiracies of All Time (2008)excerpt
• 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),
• Wood, Gordon. “Conspiracy and the Paranoid Style: Causality and Deceit in the Eighteenth Century.”William and Mary Quarterly 39 (1982): 401–41.online US history