Overthrowing governments is no easy feat. You don't have a good plan? You better stay home. Or read our guide. You will learn why the hardliners who tried to stop the decay of the Soviet Union through a military coup failed fortune. And why YOU will be more fortunate on the road to dictatorship.
End of July 1991. The head of the KGB, Boris Kriuczkov, receives a transcript of the conversation overheard by his subordinates. Its content immediately raises his pressure. It turns out that the President of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, intends to deprive him of his position along with Prime Minister Valentin Pavlov, Minister of Internal Affairs Boris Pugo and Vice-President Gennady Janajew.
Borys Yeltsin celebrates the victory over the putschists on August 22, 1991 (photo:kremlin.ru, CC BY 3.0).
It was too much for a hardheaded Kagieby. He did not like the plans to transform the Soviet Union into a confederation of autonomous republics, but he was going to take the bitter pill. Now, however, he was personally in danger, and he had no desire to humbly walk away. He has started preparations for the state's interception.
First:arrest… everyone
When carrying out a coup d'état, you obviously need to get rid of the people in power - after all, you want to take their place. If you are in control of powerful secret services, it shouldn't be difficult. And yet Kriuczkow and his associates were unable to take advantage of this asset.
Borys Yeltsin and Mikhail Gorbachev (right) fiercely competed with each other, but in August 1991 they became allies for a while (photo:East News).
On August 18, Mikhail Gorbachev was imprisoned at his dacha in the Crimea and deprived of communication with the world. The conspirators did not understand, however, that the same should be done with other prominent and potential oppositionists.
The marshals started arrests only on August 19, and to a very limited extent, although Valentin Pavlov wanted to intern up to 1,000 people.
Russian President Boris Yeltsin learned about the coup from television, then contacted his associates without any problems, and then made his way to Moscow and the parliament building known as the White House.
By the time he barricaded himself there with his followers, it was too late to simply stop and take him out of the game . And it was enough to listen to Pavlov in advance and arrest whoever could ...
Second:control the media
On August 19, at six in the morning, tanks surrounded the Ostankino TV tower in Moscow. The media reported the introduction of a state of emergency and removal from power of Mikhail Gorbachev, allegedly due to ill health.
Following this announcement, radio and television began broadcasting classical music concerts and ballet performances. Ordered the closure of independent newspapers. And good. But that was where the putschists' right decisions ended.
Tanks on a street in Moscow in August 1991 (photo:Almog, public domain).
The independent radio station, Echo of Moscow, broadcast unhindered and called on the inhabitants of the capital to resist. In the evening, the TV news service "Vremia" showed not only the press conference of the formal leader of the conspirators, Gennady Janayev, but also ... erecting barricades around the "White House" . The people of Moscow found out where to join the fight against usurpers.
Third:sniff your nose
As if that were not enough, the aforementioned press conference turned out to be a complete flop. Not only state journalists were admitted, but also foreign journalists who showered Janajew with uncomfortable questions for Gorbachev's health and the unconstitutionality of the attack. As Serhii Plokhy writes in the recently published book "The Last Empire":
Television cameras showed the public a tired apparatchik with a gray, unhealthy face and strangely combed hair masking his baldness; Janajew spoke in a trembling voice, his nose was running, and he did not know what to do with his hands. (...) The press conference made people across the country realize that not only can you discuss with the government, but you can even ridicule it.
Fourth:choose good associates
The vice-president of the USSR himself joined the bombers only on August 19 in the evening, after Gorbachev's internment. He was drunk when he found out he was to sign the seizure decree at the hands of his superior severed in Crimea.
The White House in Moscow, formerly the building of the Parliament of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, today the seat of the government of the Russian Federation (photo:Sergey Korovkin 84, CC BY-SA 3.0).
Janajew quickly sobered up, but was not at all thrilled to be dragged into the plot. Not only was he unfit for the media coup, he was also fearful and avoided responsibility at all costs. It was the lack of energy and determination that was to turn out to be the main reason for the defeat of the putschists.
Not only Janajew should not be organizing a coup d'état. Kriuczkov was the brains behind the whole undertaking, and it was also led by Valentin Pavlov, Boris Pugo and Defense Minister Dmitry Yazov. The latter demanded a tough deal with the opposition and was probably right, but got drunk, had a high blood pressure attack and ended up in the hospital.
Jazow did not have the best opinion of his partners. His wife couldn't understand why he joined them: Dima , who are you hanging out with? You always laughed at them! - she said. Additionally, the Marshal of the USSR was in conflict with the head of the Interior Ministry, Boris Pugo. Like Janajew, neither of them was going to take responsibility.
Fifth:act decisively
On August 19, it seemed that the coup would be successful after all. There was no sign of major resistance in Moscow and the rest of the country. Yeltsin locked himself in the White House, but his appeal to start a general strike did not work. The conspirators controlled the special services, units of the Ministry of the Interior and the military, including the nuclear arsenal .
Thus, the marshals had all the means to implement their plans, but they were unable to use them. On August 19, the assault on the parliament building would have to be successful and the opposition leaders arrested. Meanwhile, Kriuczkow and Yazov ordered the plan of the attack to be prepared only on August 20 in the morning.
The inhabitants of Moscow also won over their soldiers with flowers (photo:Iwan Simoczkin, CC BY-SA 3.0).
In the meantime, Yeltsin was not idle. He sent Russia's foreign minister to Paris to start winning over Western leaders, and in the event of the bombers' success, he organized a government-in-exile. Though the KGB followed his every move, he was eventually allowed to fly to France on a regular cruise plane.
Sixth:Give the soldiers vodka yourself
Yeltsin's deputy, Aleksandr Ruckkoy, was organizing the defense of the White House all day, based on veterans from Afghanistan. The inhabitants of Moscow would go out to the soldiers standing in the street, bring them warm food, drinks and alcohol, and chat with them.
Men, older women and young girls thus bridged the distance between the military and civilians. The young conscripts were less and less willing to shoot.
Mścisław Roztropowicz in an interview with journalists, August 20, 1991 (photo:Dmitrij Donskoj / RIA Novosti archive, image # 20972 / CC-BY-SA 3.0).
Serhii Plokha cites the opinion of Richard Kerr of the CIA, who summed up the actions of the putschists as follows:
This doesn't look like a typical swing. These activities are not very professional. The conspirators try to take over the main centers of power one by one, and a coup cannot be done in stages.
Seventh:don't be afraid of bloodshed
On August 20, at noon, a crowd of nearly one hundred thousand people from Moscow gathered in front of the parliament building. During the long rally, not only Yeltsin spoke, but also former USSR Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Shevardnadze, poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko, cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and widow of the famous dissident, Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov.
In the evening, there were still approx. 15 thousand. people who created a cordon around the headquarters of the opposition. The civilians standing there were given gas masks.
Nevertheless, the putschists decided to launch the attack. The first clashes broke out around midnight, when Ruckoy volunteers attacked armored personnel carriers heading for positions with Molotov cocktails. Three opposition activists died.
And it was at this critical moment that Marshal Yazov could not stand the pressure. He decided that the other conspirators would make him a scapegoat, whom they would blame for the bloodshed, and ordered the military to stop the operation. When his subordinates withdrew, the KGB commandos also refused to storm. Kriuczkov's omnipotent espionage organization crashed into his head - sums up Serhii Plokhy.
The fall of the coup was a great victory for Boris Yeltsin, thanks to which he not only maintained the position of president of Russia, but also marginalized Mikhail Gorbachev (photo:Kemlin.ru, CC BY 3.0).
At eight o'clock in the morning on August 21, Yazov made a decision to move all units out of Moscow. His associates on the Emergency Committee called him cowards and traitors but gained nothing. The marshal insisted that shooting people would not solve anything.
In fact, it meant the defeat of the putschists. Later that day, they made the last attempt to win Mikhail Gorbachev to their side, and when he firmly refused, they restored his contact with the country and meekly allowed himself to be arrested.
One of the most inept coups in history has come to an end. It is enough, however, that YOU listen to our good advice, and in October Polish history will turn to the path you choose ...
Source:
- Serhii Plokhy, The last empire. Fall Story the Soviet Union , Znak Horyzont, Krakow 2015.