The 819 Incident in the Soviet Union in 1991.

Senior Soviet officials.

Yanayev, Azov.

The men were arrested.

what is going on?

According to limited information, the Soviet Union was already in chaos as early as Gorbachev's reform period.

The initial reforms were actually in the right direction, but Gorbachev himself believed that there was something wrong with the Soviet system, so he started to carry out institutional reforms, but the results became more and more chaotic.

Coupled with the influence of the Western policy of peaceful evolution, Gorbachev became more inclined to the Western system, which led to dissatisfaction among hard-liners in the Soviet Union.

Gorbachev's political reforms became more and more radical, and he attempted to replace the socialist system with a capitalist system, which divided the top leaders of the Soviet Union.

Among them, the radical faction headed by Yeltsin, the traditional faction represented by Ligachev and the mainstream faction headed by Gorbachev mainly formed.

At the same time, more than 500 political parties appeared in Soviet society, and there was great social turmoil.

With the joint efforts of radicals and mainstream factions, the traditionalists were gradually squeezed out of the center of power in the Soviet Union, and their influence plummeted.

Afterwards, Gorbachev carried out structural reforms in 1990. He established a new top national institution, also abolished the leadership position of the Soviet Union, and personally acted as the gravedigger of the Soviet Union.

At Gorbachev's suggestion, the Soviet Union implemented the separation of powers and established a presidential system. Gorbachev became the first and last president of the Soviet Union.

Later, a vice president was established, with Yanayev, the main promoter of the August 19th coup, as the vice president.

These reforms made the political situation in the Soviet Union increasingly turbulent. Not only were the radicals dissatisfied, but some hard-liners in the Soviet Union were also full of gunpowder.

In early 1991, Soviet traditionalists warned Gorbachev about his reforms, but he remained unmoved and continued to play political tricks.

This forced the traditionalists to take countermeasures, and the August 19th Incident began.

On August 19, 1991, a coup broke out suddenly.

Traditionalist leaders took advantage of Gorbachev's vacation to establish an emergency committee.

This hastily established emergency committee mainly consisted of Vice Chairman of the National Defense Council Baklanov, KGB Chairman Kryuchkov, Defense Minister Yazov, Prime Minister Pavlov, Vice President Yanayev, Interior Minister Pugo,

It consists of 8 people including Staro Dubtsev, Chairman of the Soviet Peasants' Union, and Didyakov, Chairman of the Soviet Union of State-owned Enterprises and Industrial and Electrical Facilities.

These people are all the backbone of the traditionalists. Among them, Yazov even took control of the Soviet army. It can be said that the traditionalists quickly took control of the situation.

After the coup began, the traditionalists ordered Yazov and others to go to Gorbachev's residence and ask Gorbachev to give up his power to govern. However, Gorbachev refused, and he was immediately placed under house arrest.

In the early morning of the next day, Vice President Yanayev announced that Gorbachev's reforms had failed and that he would serve as interim president. People suddenly discovered that the country had changed.

Afterwards, the traditionalists issued a series of documents, hoping to make the people understand that the reform had reached a dead end. However, the Soviet people at that time had been numbed by long-term hunger and distress and had no intention of paying attention to these things, which led to the coup and the

Not getting effective support.

In addition, Russian leader Yeltsin established a resistance command, believed that the coup was illegal, and refused to recognize the validity of the coup, so the coup fell into an embarrassing situation.

At that time, the traditionalists relied too much on the role of the Constitution and hoped to gain power in a legal way. However, they did not know that they had already lost the best opportunity to deal with Yeltsin and others.

Under the call of Yeltsin and others, a large number of troops heading to Moscow defected, and centrifugalism also appeared in the army.

In addition, Yanayev and others did not cut off Yeltsin's communication channels, which resulted in Yeltsin gaining support from Western countries.

With the mediation of all parties, Yeltsin and others won widespread public support.

Afterwards, Yeltsin integrated the armed forces in Russia and contacted Gorbachev at the same time. Therefore, the August 19th coup had actually failed.

Gorbachev returned to Moscow on August 22, which became the last straw for the traditionalists.

In the end, the leaders of the traditionalists were arrested and committed suicide. From then on, the disintegration of the Soviet Union became inevitable.

No one made any efforts to reform this country, so on December 25, 1991, the huge Soviet Union officially stopped functioning.

Although this coup was unsuccessful, it was a last-ditch effort by a group of idealists to retain the existence of the Soviet Union; although it ended in failure, history will eventually remember that moment.