The August Coup & Gorbachev's Fall

• 18th August 1991= G is swamped by the KGB & placed under house arrest.
• Plotters declared a state of emergency renouncing Union Treaty & banning Glasnost newspapers.
• Yeltsin is called for resistance of the coup & announced president of Russia.
• Plotters accused of treason.
• Yeltsin overtook control of the army whist the Soviet parliament met- decrees were cancelled.

IMPACT:

• G seemed to have some strength as he refused to give in.
• Yeltsin was seen as heroic & a natural leader.
• Resistance of ordinary people heightened as they began to fight for what they wanted.

• Although he was seen as a strong leader for not giving into resistance and resigning Yeltsin was the main reason for his fall.
• Yeltsin's strength & saviour of the USSR in a crisis due to the August Coup essentally led to Gorbachev's overthrow as it was evident that G was doing nothing successful for the USSR.

• 23rd Aug= parliament held a telivised session that showed Y criticising G over allowing conservatives to remain in parliament after the August coup.
• 23rd Aug= Y suspends operations of the Communist Party & a few days later the Supreme Soviet declares the same of the USSR.
• 24th Aug= G willingly resigns after seeing the damage he has effectively done and witnessing opposition against him as a leader.
• 29th Aug= Supreme Soviet banned all activities by the Communist party.
• Succession of Ukraine in Dec 1991 fnally kills off any prospect of a loosely federated Soviet surviving.
• The new states began forming their armies.

IMPACT= Fall of communism, due to August Coup. It was the catalyst for the collapse but other factors such as Yeltsin, economic & political reforms and the system eled in favour of the collapse.