The REBELLION that Destroyed Soviet Russia

the Russian Mutiny that quickly killed the USSR unlike the mercenary Mutiny of June 2023 the coup of August 1991 was led by a few high-ranking Russian Inner Circle politicians and was resisted by a far greater number of civilians over a hundred and sixty thousand primarily in Moscow and Leningrad the policies and political ideology of the leader of the ossr in 1991 Mikhail Gorbachev directly opposed the ussr's Traditional Values leading to the coup that was the beginning of the end for the entirety of the Soviet Union although Gorbachev himself was a staunch communist once taking control of the USSR in 1985 the political reforms he implemented also referred to as perestroika had Democratic leanings that cause deep discontent within his own party Gorbachev genuinely believed he was consolidating the strength of the USSR while responding to both a need to compete with the U.S and the changing tide of Communism across Western Europe that's why despite his own leanings he genuinely believed in perestroika and the need for some democratization something which can also be seen through the New Freedom he provided workers in starting their own private Enterprises amidst all this Eastern European states of the USSR were vying for more Independence and in his 1988 speech made clear Gorbachev had no plans to prevent this particularly given his intentions to reduce the Soviet Union's Armed Forces by half a million men and remove a significant chunk of Arsenal from Eastern Europe perhaps unsurprisingly Gorbachev found his own party split down the middle with some favoring him and others his more conservative rival Igor legacyv the head of the KGB Vladimir kuchkov and members of his own party were unsettled by his plans and descent grew Deeper by 1989 all of Gorbachev's political reform intentions had come back to bite him there was a widespread defection from the forced abolition of the Communist party's own leading role mandate Eastern European states began to push for full Independence and sovereignty and by the summer of 1989 there was outcry against the USSR and an unexpected populist hero emerged Gorbachev's own former Ally Boris Yeltsin after having been ousted from the Communist Party the 1987 in 1990 he became the chairman of the Russian Soviet federative Socialist Republic also known as the rsfsr Yeltsin quickly established his position allying with Russian workers and forming a de facto alliance with pro-democratic left-wing Russian intelligence and soliciting religious Believers to his side laying the groundwork for what came later standing in direct opposition to Gorbachev he played an interesting role in the 1991 August Coup hey it's Chris Kane you're probably used to hearing me during one of our advertising spots but today I want to talk about something a little bit different every video that we create is more than just content it's a blend of research of creativity of passion for history we do it because we believe in the power of History because it's lessons it's stories and its ability to connect everybody is what we're all about sometimes the reality of operating a YouTube channel presents challenges uh in the form of demonetization occasionally which impacts the ability to produce content that we're passionate about now we're looking at you our amazing audience to ask for your support in keeping the channel our shared passion alive and thriving we're inviting you to join us on patreon and contribute to the ongoing creation of our content by joining us on patreon you're doing more than just supporting our content you're becoming an integral part of the community and we're dedicated to preserving and promoting history remember every bit of support makes a real difference if you'd like to learn more about how you can help please visit the link in the description below thank you as always for your interest and your hunger for history information on the August Coup is somewhat fragmented and inconclusive historians struggle to piece together the accuracy of information provided due to it being distorted or in some cases key events omitted from its narration some historians argue that Gorbachev was aware of the coup and even on board with it believing that he could come out on the other side stronger politically but June of 1991 President George Bush of the United States was sending Gorbachev warnings of a potential coup and politicians at home allegedly also warned him saw one of the prevailing questions has been why didn't Gorbachev act on those warnings although the coup was certainly decided before the main reason for the day choice of August was Gorbachev's own intention to sign a union treaty on August 20th that would have effectively granted a significant degree of Independence to nine out of the 15 republics of the USSR they would be acknowledged as autonomous and had the authority to suspend laws of the central Soviet government a further consequence of the treaty would have been potential weakening and destabilization of the KGB military defense industry and Central bureaucracy strangely enough the KGB were not fans of this proposal nor the growing anti-sentiment towards the organization as a whole further emphasized by heads of the republics and Boris Yeltsin demanding the removal of both the minister of defense and kuchkov head of the KGB but even before this it's clear the coup was inevitable John Dunlop argues its roots can be traced back to 1989 when the KGB established surveillance over Boris Yeltsin and other leading political figures tapping their phones and infiltrating organizations the first real movements however began at the start of August the principal Engineers were almost all high-ranking officials in the USSR calling themselves the state committee on the state of emergency or the GK CHP they consisted of the vice president the prime minister of the USSR the USSR Minister for defense and minister of internal affairs the first Deputy chairman of the USSR defense Council president of the association of the USSR State Industries and the chairman of the USSR Union of peasants with the chairman of the KGB Vladimir khrushkov arguably playing the most significant role their aim was to re-centralize Soviet power and re-establish the authority of the Communist Party on August 4th the KGB drafted a state of emergency document and by August 7th the eight coup leaders were having regular meetings in a secret KGB Mansion Gorbachev would be at his summer home with his family during the coup having had intense Summit talks in London the previous month what exactly happened during those three days of the coup is unclear officially at 4 AM August 19th the cool leaders blockaded Gorbachev at his summer house and demanded he declare a state of emergency which Gorbachev refused his communication channels were subsequently closed and his suitcase with the nuclear codes taken the historian John Dunlop highlights the evidence of travel logs showing that the heads of the coup inaev shenyin Pavlov and krushkov all met with Gorbachev at his house earlier on August 18th something the former president doesn't acknowledge at all in his own account Matty further highlights the strangeness of those involved the fact that all these higher ups had previously been seen as part of Gorbachev's immediate inner circle with some of them having Gorbachev himself to thank for their own positions of political power or Gorbachev simply miscalculated his ability to control the centralist forces in his government whether Gorbachev was truly cut off knew about the coup or was taken by surprise is something that's still unclear and although it only lasted three days its historical significance is huge in world history the first step of the emergency committee was to appeal the economic self-interest promising to reaffirm the ussr's place on the world stage and establish a war on crime they immediately stationed Military Officers in City Halls and other areas of authority throughout the USSR and flooded Moscow with tanks and troops Banning protest meetings suspending independent Publications and infamously replacing all broadcasts with Swan Lake the second intended step was for the committee to arrest 70 people on a list prepared by the KGB that included most of those in power and notably Yeltsin but for all their efforts only five of the 70 were successfully arrested during the coup instead Yeltsin used the unrest as an opportunity to affirm his political influence and power he condemned the coup and assumed full command of military and police forces in Russia simultaneously appealing to both the USSR and rsfsr he launched himself into The Fray cheering muscovites in front of the Russian Parliament encouraging a general strike and issuing orders in defiance of the coup and its decrees a unlike the later 1993 crisis when Yeltsin fired at the White House there was full popular support against the new committee with his power and influence in Russia Yeltsin successfully established an alternative source of Civilian control and soon orders from the committee like adherence to military curfews were being ignored the coup leaders soon realized that they had lost the power of public opinion and that despite the growing discontent and anti-gorbachev sentiment the public had found a new leader to Rally around and one that didn't grab power in a way that was unlawful as the emergency committee had done by August 21st rsfsr officials and politicians for both Russia and the USSR were rescuing a strangely reluctant Gorbachev from his summer house and flying him and his family to Moscow chairman krushkov who happened to be there at the time was also convinced to join Gorbachev immediately being arrested when the plane landed just a few days later Gorbachev resigned but in his last political moments he shifted the USSR forever some of his final acts as president were to ban the Communist Party from any role in the Soviet government and to end all communist activities in the military KGB and interior Ministry when Gorbachev went down he took communism and the KGB with him effectively ending its hold on Eastern Europe

Channel: Simple History

Views: 217,830

Keywords: simple history, animated history, educational, education, russia, russian, 1991, soviet coup, group, macron, moscow, mikhail gorbachev, ukrainian, leadership, information, soviet union, boris yeltsin, international, info, putin, video, attack, mutiny, weapon, yeltsin, serguei, gorbachev, rebellion, union of soviet socialist republics, documentary, cnn newsroom, war in ukraine, war, news, ussr, kyiv, infos, cnn tv, shoigu, wagner, footage, leaders, defence, blinken, ukraine, minister

Id: U8FEQrgSggs

Length: 10min 58sec (658 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 16 2023