Saur Revolution
On 27 and 28 April 1978 the communist Peoples Democratic Party of Afghanistan seized power in a military coup, overthrowing President Mohammed Daoud Khan.
Overview
After the murder of a prominent party member and the arrest of its leaders, sympathetic army officers of the Peoples Democratic Party of Afghanistan attacked the presidential palace in Kabul. President Daoud Khan, who had himself overthrown the monarchy in 1973, was killed along with most of his family. Nur Muhammad Taraki became head of the new Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. Radical reforms of land, marriage, and education, combined with harsh repression, provoked armed rebellion across the country. Infighting led to the killing of Taraki by his rival Hafizullah Amin in 1979, and the Soviet Union invaded in December 1979, beginning a long and devastating war.
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