1991 Soviet coup attempt

On this day in 1991, Soviet Communist hardliners attempted a coup to seize power from president Mikhail Gorbachev.

As the Soviet Union faced economic challenges and growing nationalist movements within its republics, Gorbachev proposed a new treaty that would grant more autonomy to the republics.

Opposed to Gorbachev\'s reforms and fearing the dissolution of the USSR, hard-line Communist Party members and high-ranking officials, including the Soviet Union\'s Vice President, PM and the head of the KGB, formed the State Emergency Committee. They placed Gorbachev under house arrest at his vacation home in Crimea and declared a state of emergency.

Large protests erupted, most notably in Moscow, and Boris Yeltsin, then President of the Russian SFSR, stood atop a tank outside the Russian White House, denouncing the coup. The image became iconic of the resistance.

The coup attempt collapsed after three days due to widespread public opposition and lack of support from military units in Moscow. Participants were arrested, and some, facing treason charges, committed suicide.

The failed coup accelerated the collapse of the USSR. Gorbachev returned to Moscow but had lost much of his influence. By December 1991, the Soviet Union was officially dissolved, and Boris Yeltsin emerged as a predominant political figure in post-Soviet Russia.

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