The Coup

Just two months before that day, I had been a first class petty officer in the United states Navy. A proud submariner, I had spent the previous ten years with my finger on the button, ready to fight the Russians at the moment of command.

Two months after I was discharged, I was standing in front of a television watching the dissolution of my lifelong enemy. I still don’t know what I was supposed to feel that day. Joy? Relief? Sad? I still don’t know. Subsequent events have convinced me that it was NOT a good day in history.

I wanted to keep watching. Surely there would be some explanation, some resolution that would make sense.  But the bell rang and I was compelled to leave for my next class.

I am still not sure what I feel about the whole day…

The 20th century saw the rise and fall of empires, ideological battles, and epic geopolitical shifts. Yet, one of its most defining moments came towards its close with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. While the entire unraveling of the USSR spanned several years, August 20, 1991, marks a particularly significant day in this dramatic episode. Let’s explore what led to this moment and its implications.

The 1980s were a turbulent period for the USSR. Economic stagnation, coupled with increasing nationalistic sentiments among various Soviet republics, put the state under immense pressure. The Afghan War drained resources and morale. The Chernobyl disaster in 1986 further eroded faith in the government.

In response, General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev initiated reforms like ‘glasnost’ (openness) and ‘perestroika’ (restructuring) aimed at liberalizing the economy and giving more freedoms to the people. But these measures, while groundbreaking, opened the floodgates for demands for even greater reforms and freedoms.

By 1991, it became clear that the Soviet Union’s structure was under an existential threat. Numerous republics, including the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, were demanding independence. Gorbachev, sensing the changing tide, was in the process of drafting a new treaty that would devolve significant power to the republics, essentially transforming the USSR into a loose federation.

However, not everyone was in favor of such radical change. On August 18, hardline Communists, uneasy with the rapid reforms and the prospect of a weakened central authority, staged a coup. They placed Gorbachev under house arrest while he was on vacation in Crimea.

By August 20, the coup leaders, forming the so-called “State Committee on the State of Emergency,” tried consolidating their control. Tanks rolled into Moscow, and a state of emergency was declared. However, the coup was far from seamless.

One of the most iconic moments from this period was the defense of the Russian White House, the seat of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and its president, Boris Yeltsin. On this day, thousands of Russians came out to defend the building. Yeltsin, standing atop a tank, called for mass resistance against the coup plotters. It was a moment that showcased not just a defense of democracy, but also the waning power of the central Soviet apparatus.

The coup, lacking both public support and decisive leadership, faltered. By August 21, it became clear that the hardliners had failed. Tanks withdrew from Moscow, and the coup plotters were arrested.

While Gorbachev was released and reinstated, his power was irreparably diminished. The botched coup accelerated the push for independence among various Soviet republics. By December 1991, the Soviet Union was officially dissolved, replaced by the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a loose confederation of former Soviet republics.

The events around August 20, 1991, changed the trajectory of world history. The dissolution of the Soviet Union marked the end of the Cold War, reshaped geopolitical alliances, and heralded the dominance of the United States as the world’s sole superpower.

However, the dissolution’s legacy is complex. While many former Soviet republics embraced democracy and market reforms, others grappled with economic hardships and political instability. Russia itself, under Yeltsin and later Putin, has had a tumultuous journey, navigating the challenges of post-Soviet governance, economic shocks, and a quest for a new identity on the global stage.

Nonetheless, August 20 reminds us of the indomitable spirit of people, the unpredictability of history, and the inevitable end of even the mightiest of empires when faced with the winds of change.