“August” Coup Attempt and the Dissolution of the Soviet Union

After Gorbachev became the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he proposed “new thought”, advocated “democratization”, “openness” and humanism, pushed for constitutional changes, abolished the legal leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, pushed for a multi-party system, a presidential system and changes in the federal system, which led the Soviet Union’s reforms on the wrong track. “The August Coup Attempt” was staged on August by politicians who were trying to preserve the Soviet Union’s federal system and avert its collapse at a time when the Soviet Union was on the verge of dissolution.

At 6:00 a.m. on August 19, 1991, Soviet Vice President G. Yanayev suddenly issued an order announcing that, since Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev was no longer able to perform the duties of the presidency due to his health condition, he himself would assume the presidency with immediate effect in accordance with the Soviet Constitution. Yanayev also announced the establishment of the USS.R. General Committee on the State Emergency, which imposed a six-month state of emergency in parts of the USS.R.. During this period, all state powers were transferred to the General Committee on the State Emergency of the USS.R.. At this time, Gorbachev, who was recuperating on the Crimean Peninsula on the Black Sea coast, was under house arrest in his dacha, and his contact with Moscow was completely broken. After the “August Coup Attempt”, then President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin jumped on a tank in front of the parliament building and made a speech accusing the General Committee on the State Emergency of intending to restore the Soviet Union’s political iron curtain and called for a general strike of the workers. With Yeltsin’s encouragement, the situation was reversed. On the evening of the 20th, tens of thousands of demonstrators had gathered in front of the parliament building, and even some had constructed barricades to defend the parliament with their lives. In the afternoon of the 21st, the Soviet Ministry of Defense ordered the troops to withdraw to their own posts. At 8 p.m. on the 21st, Gorbachev issued a statement stressing that he had full control of the situation and had restored contacts with the nation that had been interrupted.

In fact, the “August Coup Attempt” was intended to preserve the Soviet Union, but it became a catalyst for its accelerated collapse of the Soviet state. By the end of September, the number of republics that have declared independence from the USSR reached 12 nations.

On December 1, 1991, Ukraine, the second-largest constituent republic, also declared independence. On December 8, 1991, Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine declared the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States. It was also declared that the USS.R. no longer existed. On December 21, 1991, the leaders of 11 independent states, including Russia, met in Alma-Ata, the capital of Kazakhstan, for a summit of independent states. The conference adopted “The Alma-Ata Declaration” and “The Protocol on the Armed Forces”, which formally proclaimed the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). It also meant that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, founded on December 30, 1922, ceased to exist. On December 19, Gorbachev announced his resignation as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and suggested that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union dissolve itself. The end of the life of the C.P.S.U. obviously displayed that the dissolution of the Soviet Union was irreversible.