Basically title, because I saw an article from BBC that a few people tried to seize power in Germany. Do they get the power just by occupying the building? Do other states recognise this? What happens to the constitution and the law? Is is a lawless state while they create a new constitution?
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The simple explanation is whoever has the guns makes the rules.
In counties with a weak central government, sometimes the army is loyal to their commander rather than the government. If enough generals decide to seize power, who will stop them? Again in places with weak central government, the military is often seen as the only effective part of the government, so when they seize power and say they are in charge, it makes little difference to the average person so they go on with their lives.
In countries with strong central governments, it is much harder. In the US for instance, the military swears to protect the constitution of the US against enemies both domestic and foreign. A lot of soldiers and officers I know take that pledge seriously, so if one general tried to lead a coup, they would have trouble finding like-minded soldiers and other commanders ls to follow them. Look at the coup attempt in Turkey, it failed because more people were loyal to the country and the government than whatever commander tried to seize power
As to it being lawless, no in general it usually isn’t. The military declares marshal law then runs the country by force under military rules until an interim constitution or government is formed, with the leaders of tbe coup often taking key positions.
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