1991 Soviet coup attempt

A failed coup in August 1991 by Soviet hardliners who sought to remove Mikhail Gorbachev and halt his reforms. Its defeat accelerated the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Connect

State Committee on the State of Emergency: A group of senior Soviet officials that declared emergency rule and attempted to seize power in August 1991. Its members organized the coup and announced Gorbachev’s removal from power.
Perestroika: Mikhail Gorbachev’s program of economic restructuring in the Soviet Union during the 1980s. Hardliners blamed restructuring for weakening central control and destabilizing the state.
Gennady Yanayev: A Soviet politician who served as vice president of the Soviet Union from 1990 to 1991. He publicly assumed presidential authority while the coup leaders claimed Gorbachev could not govern.
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic: The largest constituent republic of the Soviet Union, which became the Russian Federation in 1991. Its government, led by Yeltsin, gained authority as Soviet institutions lost control.
Kornilov affair: A failed 1917 attempt by Russian general Lavr Kornilov to impose military authority during the Provisional Government. Like the 1991 coup, it exposed divisions among Russia’s political and military leaders.
Boris Yeltsin: A Russian political leader who became president of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1991. He denounced the coup and rallied resistance from the Russian parliament building.
Glasnost: A policy of greater openness and public discussion introduced under Mikhail Gorbachev. The policy loosened censorship and helped expose opposition to the Soviet system.
Vladimir Kryuchkov: A Soviet intelligence official who headed the KGB from 1988 to 1991. He was a central organizer of the plot and used state security resources to support it.
Communist Party of the Soviet Union: The ruling political party of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. After the coup, Yeltsin suspended the party’s activities in Russia, hastening its collapse.
October Revolution: The Bolshevik seizure of power in Petrograd in October 1917, which established Soviet rule. Unlike the 1991 plot, it succeeded in replacing the government and founding a new regime.