1991 : Soviet hard-liners launch coup against Gorbachev
On this day in 1991, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is placed
under house arrest during a coup by high-ranking members of his own
government, military and police forces.
Since becoming secretary of the Communist Party in 1985 and president
of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1988, Gorbachev
had pursued comprehensive reforms of the Soviet system. Combining
perestroika ("restructuring") of the economy--including a greater
emphasis on free-market policies--and glasnost ("openness") in
diplomacy, he greatly improved Soviet relations with Western
democracies, particularly the United States. Meanwhile, though, within
the USSR, Gorbachev faced powerful critics, including conservative,
hard-line politicians and military officials who thought he was
driving the Soviet Union toward its downfall and making it a
second-rate power. On the other side were even more radical
reformers--particularly Boris Yeltsin, president of the most powerful
socialist republic, Russia--who complained that Gorbachev was just not
working fast enough.
The August 1991 coup was carried out by the hard-line elements within
Gorbachev's own administration, as well as the heads of the Soviet
army and the KGB, or secret police. Detained at his vacation villa in
the Crimea, he was placed under house arrest and pressured to give his
resignation, which he refused to do. Claiming Gorbachev was ill, the
coup leaders, headed by former vice president Gennady Yanayev,
declared a state of emergency and attempted to take control of the
government.
Yeltsin and his backers from the Russian parliament then stepped in,
calling on the Russian people to strike and protest the coup. When
soldiers tried to arrest Yeltsin, they found the way to the
parliamentary building blocked by armed and unarmed civilians. Yeltsin
himself climbed aboard a tank and spoke through a megaphone, urging
the troops not to turn against the people and condemning the coup as a
"new reign of terror." The soldiers backed off, some of them choosing
to join the resistance. After thousands took the streets to
demonstrate, the coup collapsed after only three days.
Gorbachev was released and flown to Moscow, but his regime had been
dealt a deadly blow. Over the next few months, he dissolved the
Communist Party, granted independence to the Baltic states, and
proposed a looser, more economics-based federation among the remaining
republics. In December 1991, Gorbachev resigned. Yeltsin capitalized
on his defeat of the coup, emerging from the rubble of the former
Soviet Union as the most powerful figure in Moscow and the leader of
the newly formed Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
history.com/tdih.do
1227 : Genghis Khan dies
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=6993
1590 : Roanoke Colony deserted
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5270
1920 : Woman suffrage amendment ratified
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5271
1963 : Meredith graduates from Ole Miss
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5272
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On this day in 1991, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is placed
under house arrest during a coup by high-ranking members of his own
government, military and police forces.
Since becoming secretary of the Communist Party in 1985 and president
of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1988, Gorbachev
had pursued comprehensive reforms of the Soviet system. Combining
perestroika ("restructuring") of the economy--including a greater
emphasis on free-market policies--and glasnost ("openness") in
diplomacy, he greatly improved Soviet relations with Western
democracies, particularly the United States. Meanwhile, though, within
the USSR, Gorbachev faced powerful critics, including conservative,
hard-line politicians and military officials who thought he was
driving the Soviet Union toward its downfall and making it a
second-rate power. On the other side were even more radical
reformers--particularly Boris Yeltsin, president of the most powerful
socialist republic, Russia--who complained that Gorbachev was just not
working fast enough.
The August 1991 coup was carried out by the hard-line elements within
Gorbachev's own administration, as well as the heads of the Soviet
army and the KGB, or secret police. Detained at his vacation villa in
the Crimea, he was placed under house arrest and pressured to give his
resignation, which he refused to do. Claiming Gorbachev was ill, the
coup leaders, headed by former vice president Gennady Yanayev,
declared a state of emergency and attempted to take control of the
government.
Yeltsin and his backers from the Russian parliament then stepped in,
calling on the Russian people to strike and protest the coup. When
soldiers tried to arrest Yeltsin, they found the way to the
parliamentary building blocked by armed and unarmed civilians. Yeltsin
himself climbed aboard a tank and spoke through a megaphone, urging
the troops not to turn against the people and condemning the coup as a
"new reign of terror." The soldiers backed off, some of them choosing
to join the resistance. After thousands took the streets to
demonstrate, the coup collapsed after only three days.
Gorbachev was released and flown to Moscow, but his regime had been
dealt a deadly blow. Over the next few months, he dissolved the
Communist Party, granted independence to the Baltic states, and
proposed a looser, more economics-based federation among the remaining
republics. In December 1991, Gorbachev resigned. Yeltsin capitalized
on his defeat of the coup, emerging from the rubble of the former
Soviet Union as the most powerful figure in Moscow and the leader of
the newly formed Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
history.com/tdih.do
1227 : Genghis Khan dies
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=6993
1590 : Roanoke Colony deserted
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5270
1920 : Woman suffrage amendment ratified
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5271
1963 : Meredith graduates from Ole Miss
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5272
#########################################
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