1991 Soviet coup attempt

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1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt
Part of the Cold War, the Revolutions of 1989, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union
(Clockwise from top left) Area where three citizens died defying the GKChP coup Russian president Yeltsin waving a newly adopted national flag Barricade on Smolenskaya Street that reads Ban, dissolve, prosecute the CPSU! Pro-Yeltsin forces' barricades near Moscow's White House GKChP tanks on the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge near Red Square
Date 19–22 August 1991 (4 days); 32 years ago Location Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union Result Coup fails Self-dissolution of the GKChP Failure of the proposed New Union Treaty Dissolution of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and seizure of its banks and buildings by the Russian SFSR Restoration of Estonian and Latvian independence Ukraine's declaration of independence Belarus' declaration of independence Chechen Revolution and Declaration of Sovereignty of the Chechen Republic Power shift continued towards republic elites, Soviet President left with effectively no authority Dissolution of the Soviet Union on 26 December 1991
Belligerents
State Committee on the State of Emergency Taman Guards Kantemir Division Communist Party KGB Alpha Group Vympel Group	Presidency of the Soviet Union  Russian SFSR Supreme Soviet Congress of People's Deputies Council of Ministers
Supporting republics:[1]  Abkhazia  Azerbaijan  Byelorussia Checheno-Ingushetia Gagauzia  Tajikistan Tatarstan Transnistria[2]  Turkmenistan  Uzbekistan	Supporting republics:[1]  Armenia  Estonia  Georgia  Kazakhstan  Kyrgyzstan  Latvia  Lithuania  Moldova  Nakhchivan Ukraine
Interfront: Intermovement IFWP Yedinstvo Unitate-Edinstvo International Movement of Donbass Communist Party of the RSFSR Communist Party of Estonia (CPSU) Communist Party of Latvia Communist Party of Lithuania Liberal Democratic Party[3]	Russian nationalists and monarchists Popular Front of Azerbaijan Belarusian Popular Front All-National Congress of the Chechen People[4] People's Movement of Ukraine UNA–UNSO
Diplomatic support: [5][6][7]  Afghanistan  China  Cuba Iraq  Laos  Libya  North Korea  Sudan PLO[8]  Syria  Vietnam  Yugoslavia  Serbia  Montenegro	Diplomatic support: [5][7][9]  Australia  Bulgaria  Canada Czechoslovakia  Denmark EEC  France  Germany  Holy See  Hungary  Israel  Italy  Japan  Mongolia  NATO  New Zealand  Poland  Romania  South Korea  Taiwan  Turkey  United Kingdom  United States  Yugoslavia Croatia Slovenia
Commanders and leaders
Gennady Yanayev  Dmitry Yazov  Vladimir Kryuchkov  Valentin Pavlov  Boris Pugo † Oleg Baklanov  Vasily Starodubtsev  Alexander Tizyakov	Mikhail Gorbachev[a] Boris Yeltsin Alexander Rutskoy Ruslan Khasbulatov Ivan Silayev Konstantin Kobets Gavriil Popov Pavel Grachev Anatoly Sobchak
Vladislav Ardzinba Hasan Hasanov Anatoly Malofeyev Nikolay Dementey Doku Zavgayev Stepan Topal Qahhor Mahkamov Mintimer Shaimiev Igor Smirnov Saparmurat Niyazov Islam Karimov	Levon Ter-Petrosyan Edgar Savisaar Zviad Gamsakhurdia Nursultan Nazarbayev Askar Akayev Ivars Godmanis Vytautas Landsbergis Gediminas Vagnorius Mircea Snegur Valeriu Muravschi Heydar Aliyev Leonid Kravchuk
Valentin Kuptsov Alfrēds Rubiks Mykolas Burokevičius	Abulfaz Elchibey Zianon Pazniak Dzhokhar Dudayev Viacheslav Chornovil Yuriy Shukhevych
Casualties and losses
3 committed suicide Minister of Interior Boris Pugo committed suicide Military advisor to Gorbachev Sergey Akhromeyev committed suicide Administrator of Affairs of the Central Committee Nikolay Kruchina committed suicide[10][11]	3 civilians killed on 21 August

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1982–1991: Decline and collapse Invasion of Grenada Glasnost Perestroika Chernobyl disaster Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan Singing Revolution Estonian Sovereignty Declaration Baltic Way Lithuanian independence Economic blockade Latvian independence Revolutions of 1989 Pan-European Picnic Peaceful Revolution Fall of the Berlin Wall Velvet Revolution End of communist rule in Hungary Romanian Revolution German reunification Dissolution of the Soviet Union Jeltoqsan First Nagorno-Karabakh War April 9 tragedy Black January Osh riots War of Laws Dushanbe riots January Events The Barricades Referendum Union of Sovereign States August Coup Ukrainian revolution independence declaration referendum Belovezha Accords Alma-Ata Protocol
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The 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, also known as the August Coup,^[b] was a failed attempt by hardliners of the Soviet Union's Communist Party to forcibly seize control of the country from Mikhail Gorbachev, who was Soviet President and General Secretary of the Communist Party at the time. The coup leaders consisted of top military and civilian officials, including Vice President Gennady Yanayev, who together formed the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP). They opposed Gorbachev's reform program, were angry at the loss of control over Eastern European states and fearful of the USSR's New Union Treaty which was on the verge of being signed. The treaty was to decentralize much of the central Soviet government's power and distribute it among its fifteen republics.

The GKChP hardliners dispatched KGB agents, who detained Gorbachev at his holiday estate but failed to detain the recently elected president of a newly reconstituted Russia, Boris Yeltsin, who had been both an ally and critic of Gorbachev. The GKChP was poorly organized and met with effective resistance by both Yeltsin and a civilian campaign of anti-authoritarian protesters, mainly in Moscow.^[12] The coup collapsed in two days, and Gorbachev returned to office while the plotters all lost their posts. Yeltsin subsequently became the dominant leader and Gorbachev lost much of his influence. The failed coup led to both the immediate collapse of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and the dissolution of the USSR four months later.

Following the capitulation of the GKChP, popularly referred to as the "Gang of Eight", both the Supreme Court of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) and President Gorbachev described its actions as a coup attempt.

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