Here is the most well-known event of the whole collapse of the USSR: the August Coup. The event is well known but details are often confused and misinterpreted. After the fact Gorbachev liked to play victim and claim leaders of the emergency committee arrested him in his vacation house. Leaders of the Emergency Committee insisted they did not start any coups at all and were acquitted in court on that one. Yeltsin and the crew insisted they defended the democracy no matter what Gorbachev and the committee were up to.
I ended last article of the series with the statement that Gorbachev took his time to think things through over the vacation in the same Crimea, that Putin later annexed in 2014. In that article I did make the case why Gorbachev would want coup to succeed and eliminate Yeltsin.
The initial announcement from the Emergency Committee, that Gorbachev is sick, often interpreted as a lie to cover his arrests, in reality likely merely covers his absence. That was done to avoid miring Gorbachev's hands in potential bloodshed and ruining his reputation in the West. After all they wanted more loans from Americans and there was zero chance, they would give any if Gorbachev would authorize use of force. However, if it was someone else then, Gorbi could later claim the massacre was done in his absence and he would not have allowed it if he was in Moscow at the time.
Another often repeated claim was that Emergency Committee refused to use force. That is misleading, the Emergency Committee wanted military to use force against the White House, but due to a technicality in soviet military law, they did not want to give them a direct order to do so. Emergency Committee, just like Gorbachev, did not want to take responsibility for what they wanted to happen, so they hoped military would be a scapegoat.
Vice President Yanaev, who in absence of President Gorbachev was acting President and a Commander in Chief of the military If Yanaev, would have given military a direct order to assault the White House, he will be liable for the death that occurred during the assault as well as for the nature of the order itself. Authorization to attack a legal and fully lawful governmental institution without legally sound reasons. All that would have likely saw him sentenced to a capital punishment.
Because of that Yanaev gave military a different order: to advance towards the White House and other government structures and guard them from any potential assault as well as to enforce a curfew, the Emergency Commitee have announced the day before. Yanaev calculation was that crowds, that gathered around White House, would not disperse. Then a provocation or an accidental rock thrown by a crowd, too jittery about potential military solution, would cause military to retaliate. The things will escalate into a massacre, possible Yeltsin himself as well as key people of his crew would get killed in it and problem would be solved. Later Gorbachev and Yanaev could even make officers commanding the troops take responsibility for the whole mess. In what way exactly would be up to courts.
Military did not want to be a scapegoat either, in a similar incident in Lithuania, Gorbi and his crew also disowned the military and claimed having no knowledge of the incident. After some deliberation over the orders, they received from the Yanayev and the Emergency Committee and consulting with Yeltsin's crew, military decided that the best course of action is to fulfill the orders in minimal way possible. Military coordinated with Yeltsin's crew to make sure the crowds would understand that soldiers are there not to fire at them and there will be no casualties. Somehow, they nearly managed that. Only three people have died.
Yanaev and Emergency Commitee were unhappy with the results and even called Joint Chiefs of Staff to a 3AM emergency meeting to discuss the issue. However Joint Chiefs of Staff managed to play it well by saying they fulfilled the orders as they were written. They further added that if Yanaev wishes to advise them as to how follow their orders then they would advise them on how to give them, for example he could order troops back to bases, that would be a good order to make.
By 5 AM Yanaev gave up and indeed ordered troops out. Then Emergency Committee flew to Gorbachev to discuss what to do next. After that Gorbachev returned, announced that he was arrested for several days by the Emergency Commitee, but now he is free and can resume his duties as President of the USSR.
However, after what have happened in these few days in Moscow, how could anyone trust him anymore. Nonetheless Gorbi would not just go, he would fight for his union and office for the next several months.
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