Gorbachev Project Help ?

Question

Whenever Gorbachev does something, the text always talks about "the coup." What is "the coup?"

Answer 1

In August 1991 Soviet Hardliners attempted to stage a coup d'etat against the government because they viewed Gorbachev and his reforms as destroying the Soviet Union and turning too far away from communism. Coup d'etat is French for "blow" or hit the state, which translates more accurately into overthrowing a government.

The Soviet Hardliners ultimately were not successful in overthrowing Gorbachev, but the coup greatly damaged the Soviet Union and any hopes that it would be able to survive. It disintegrated shortly thereafter.

Answer 2

In August of 1991, President Mikael Sergevich Gorbachev was placed under house arrest and deposed from power by a group of other Communist leaders in the Soviet Union, including the Vice-President of that nation. Within three days the Soviet Politburo declared the coup to be invalid under Soviet law. While Gorbachev was being held under house arrest at his dacha on the Black Sea, other forces in several Soviet Socialist Republics within the Soviet Union decided to declare their independence from the Soviet Union. Among them were the Ukraine and the Russian Federation. That latter federation also removed the Communist Party's sole right to rule, which their President, Boris Yeltsin, forced Gorbachev to sign. On December 24th of that same year the Hammer and Sickle flag was lowered from the flag post at the Kremlin in Moscow and was replaced by the Tricolor flag of the Russian Federation. The Soviet Union ceased to exist.