In August 1991 Communist Party hardliners attempted to seize power in the Soviet Union, detaining President Mikhail Gorbachev at his Crimean holiday dacha and declaring a state of emergency, but the coup collapsed within about three days in the face of mass resistance, and Gorbachev returned to Moscow. The plotters, calling themselves the State Committee on the State of Emergency, opposed Gorbachev's reforms and above all the New Union Treaty due to be signed on August 20 that would have devolved power to the republics. On August 18 to 19 they isolated Gorbachev at Foros, declared him ill, named Vice President Yanayev acting president, and sent tanks into Moscow.
Boris Yeltsin, president of the Russian republic, led defiant resistance at the parliament building. The coup unraveled, the plotters gave up by August 21, and Gorbachev returned. The failed putsch fatally discredited the central government and accelerated the Soviet collapse.
Films & Footage
A T-72 tank in Moscow on the first day of the August coup attempt, August 19, 1991. Photo: Ivan Simochkin · CC BY-SA 3.0Red Army tanks near the Kremlin during the coup attempt, August 20, 1991. Photo: Tove Knutsen via Ole Husby / Flickr · CC BY-SA 2.0Boris Yeltsin rallies crowds in Moscow after the coup's collapse, August 22, 1991. Photo: ITAR-TASS / Kremlin.ru · CC BY 3.0
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Target identified in Coup Atlas research: President Mikhail Gorbachev, held under house arrest at his Foros dacha during the August 1991 coup attempt; the dataset codes this successful with a house-arrest fate, though the coup in fact failed within about three days and Gorbachev returned to Moscow, a discrepancy flagged prominently below.
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Mikhail Gorbachev (Soviet president held under house arrest)
Gennady Yanayev (vice president who fronted the GKChP)
Boris Yeltsin (Russian president who led the resistance)
Sources
In August 1991 hardliners of the Communist Party attempted to forcibly seize control from Mikhail Gorbachev, who was Soviet president and General Secretary, forming the State Committee on the State of Emergency, and they were opposed to Gorbachev's reform program and fearful of the New Union Treaty which was on the verge of being signed.
On August 19, 1991 Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev was put under house arrest while vacationing in Crimea during the attempted coup led by Vice President Gennady Yanayev and seven others, the coup collapsed in less than 72 hours and was protested by over 100,000 people outside the parliament building, and Gorbachev returned to Moscow three days later and arrested the coup leaders.
The coup initially succeeded and the eight-man GKChP committee came to power, however the committee collapsed after two days due to civil resistance led by President of the Russian SFSR Boris Yeltsin and Gorbachev returned to power, but the coup destabilized the USSR beyond repair, leading to Gorbachev's resignation in December and the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
SOURCE REVIEWEDHistorica Wiki, August Coupopen source ↗
The coup disintegrated with little bloodshed two days later on August 21st when the soldiers withdrew and communications between Gorbachev and Moscow were renewed, and by August 21 the leaders of the coup had given up, with an exhausted Gorbachev returning to Moscow to find it transformed and Yeltsin's demonstrative resistance having enhanced his popular support.
SOURCE REVIEWEDAssociation for Diplomatic Studies and Training / Seventeen Moments in Soviet Historyopen source ↗
Editorial Note
Coding discrepancy flagged prominently, per policy for events that conflict with the historical record: the dataset codes this event as Successful with Gorbachev placed under house arrest, but the August 1991 coup in fact FAILED. It is universally described as a failed coup attempt or putsch: the plotters detained Gorbachev at his Foros dacha in Crimea on August 18 to 19 and declared a state of emergency, but their State Committee collapsed within about three days (by August 21) in the face of mass civil resistance led by Russian President Boris Yeltsin, whereupon Gorbachev returned to Moscow and the plotters were arrested. This record enriches the event as the dataset codes it, matching the coded house-arrest fate (Gorbachev genuinely was held incommunicado at Foros during the attempt), while making the failure explicit and correcting the successful coding. Historical weight recorded: although it failed, the coup destabilized the union beyond repair, discredited the central government, empowered Yeltsin, accelerated the republics' independence declarations, and led directly to Gorbachev's resignation in December 1991 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 26, 1991. Nature recorded: the coup was triggered by the impending New Union Treaty; it was largely bloodless, with three protesters killed in a Moscow incident. Neutrality maintained on a contested subject.
How It Unfolded
Hand-coded by Coup Atlas from the sources on this page, using a fixed list of tactics. Only events we have read through carry this coding, so most records do not have it yet.
Led by
Palace / elite
How long it took
3 days from first move to resolution
Troop movements in the capital or key cities
Detention or expulsion of the incumbent leader
Seizure of broadcasters / coup declaration on state media
Mass mobilization of civilians (for or against)
Cross-Reference
Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Mikhail Gorbachev, held under house arrest at his Foros dacha during the August 1991 coup attempt; the dataset codes this successful with a house-arrest fate, though the coup in fact failed within about three days and Gorbachev returned to Moscow, a discrepancy flagged prominently below..
Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; placed under house arrest. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
“Text of Resolution Ousting Gorbachev as Soviet Leader,” August 20, 1991
“This Way Out; Yeltsin Leads A Bold Move To Replace The Soviet Union,” December 15 1991
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →
