In 1991, since the spring, Vladimir Kryuchkov, the chief of the KGB, had been fomenting a plot to force Mikhail Gorbachev to declare a state of emergency and relinquish much of his power to a junta of hard-liners. In August, the conspirators placed Gorbachev and his family under house arrest at their vacation home on the Black Sea.
The coup was a fiasco. The conspirators were incompetent and in at least one case drunk; another committed suicide. But it was nonetheless a serious setback for Gorbachev, and one for which he was also at fault. Gorbachev had ignored warnings, including from George H W Bush, that a coup was coming. One of Gorbachev's closest and most loyal aides lamented his boss' overconfidence. Gorbachev 'couldn't believe' that the conspirators would betray him. Why? Because he thought they 'were incapable of doing anything without their leader'.
The citizens of Moscow saved Gorbachev, pouring into the streets in peaceful demonstrations. However, their goal was less to return him to power than to defend their newborn democracy, which Gorbachev had made possible and Boris Yeltsin now championed.
Yeltsin climbed on to a tank, rallied the crowds, and showed the world that he was the man of the future. For Gorbachev, the coup was a personal as well as a political tragedy. Raisa Gorbacheva had a stroke amid the stress of humiliation and danger of their house arrest in Crimea. She never fully recovered.
From 'The Man Who Lost an Empire', The Brookings Institution
The coup was a fiasco. The conspirators were incompetent and in at least one case drunk; another committed suicide. But it was nonetheless a serious setback for Gorbachev, and one for which he was also at fault. Gorbachev had ignored warnings, including from George H W Bush, that a coup was coming. One of Gorbachev's closest and most loyal aides lamented his boss' overconfidence. Gorbachev 'couldn't believe' that the conspirators would betray him. Why? Because he thought they 'were incapable of doing anything without their leader'.
The citizens of Moscow saved Gorbachev, pouring into the streets in peaceful demonstrations. However, their goal was less to return him to power than to defend their newborn democracy, which Gorbachev had made possible and Boris Yeltsin now championed.
Yeltsin climbed on to a tank, rallied the crowds, and showed the world that he was the man of the future. For Gorbachev, the coup was a personal as well as a political tragedy. Raisa Gorbacheva had a stroke amid the stress of humiliation and danger of their house arrest in Crimea. She never fully recovered.
From 'The Man Who Lost an Empire', The Brookings Institution
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of www.economictimes.com.)
Experience Your Economic Times Newspaper, The Digital Way!
