Idi Amin seized power from Ugandan president Milton Obote in a coup d'état, beginning eight years of military rule.

Idi Amin Dada Oumee was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 until his overthrow in 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern world history.

Apollo Milton Obote was a Ugandan politician who served as the second prime minister of Uganda from 1962 to 1966 and the second president of Uganda from 1966 to 1971 and later from 1980 to 1985.

The 1971 Ugandan coup d'état was a military coup d'état that overthrew the then president of Uganda Milton Obote. The coup occurred on January 25, 1971, while Obote was attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Singapore, and was staged by Idi Amin, the commander of the Uganda Army at the time. For various reasons, relations between Obote and Amin—his army commander—had become insidiously strained. Amin's plot was primarily driven by a concern to retain power over the military, hence guaranteeing his own personal survival. After the coup's success, Amin installed himself as president; ruling—until 1979—by decree over an impoverished nation. He is often referred to as one of the most brutal dictators in modern political history.

The Second Republic of Uganda existed from 1971 to 1979, when Uganda was ruled by Idi Amin's military dictatorship. Amin's rule formally came to an end with the Uganda-Tanzania War, which ended with Tanzania occupying Uganda and Amin fleeing into exile.