The Somali Democratic Republic (Somali: Jamhuuriyadda Dimuqraadiya Soomaaliyeed, Arabic: الجمهورية الديمقراطية الصومالية‎ al-Jumhūrīyah ad-Dīmuqrāṭīyah aṣ-Ṣūmālīyah, Italian: Repubblica Democratica Somala) was the name that the Marxist–Leninist military government gave to Somalia under President Major General Mohamed Siad Barre, after seizing power in a coup d'état on 21 October 1969.[6][7][8] The coup came a few days after a bodyguard assassinated Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, the nation's second President.[8] Barre's administration ruled Somalia for the next 21 years until Somalia collapsed into anarchy in 1991.