August 19
Hardliners Launch Coup Against Gorbachev
Summary
As Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev pursued perestroika and glasnost reforms amid economic decline and nationalist movements, conservative communists grew alarmed. On August 19, 1991, while Gorbachev vacationed in Crimea, a group of hardline officials including Vice President Gennady Yanayev announced they had assumed power due to his 'illness.' They deployed tanks in Moscow and placed Gorbachev under house arrest. Boris Yeltsin rallied resistance from the Russian parliament building, and public protests along with military defections caused the coup to collapse within days. The failed attempt accelerated the Soviet Union's dissolution by December.
Why It Matters
The coup's failure discredited remaining communist hardliners and empowered reformers like Yeltsin, hastening the end of the Soviet Union and the emergence of independent republics. It marked a decisive shift in global geopolitics, ending the Cold War bipolar order and enabling NATO expansion and democratic transitions in Eastern Europe.
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Sources
- August 19 - Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation. Accessed 2026-07-02.