The history of Thailand from 1973 to 2001 saw an unstable period of democracy, with military rule being reimposed after a bloody coup in 1976. (The previous military rulers had been removed, as a result of the revolution of 14 October 1973.) For most of the 1980s, Thailand was ruled by Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanonda, a democratically inclined strongman who restored parliamentary politics. Thereafter the country remained a democracy apart from a brief period of military rule from 1991 to 1992.