Historical eventAugust 211991

1991 Soviet coup attempt

Coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev collapses.

Everything on August 21Original source

In context

When
Wednesday, August 21 199135 years ago
Category
Historical eventA dated happening — a battle, treaty, launch, discovery, disaster or decision — recorded on this calendar day.
Era
20th century · 1990s
Recorded from
Wikipedia “On this day” feed

At a glance

Dates: 1991-08-19 – 1991-08-21.

What came before

Background Since assuming power as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1985, Gorbachev had embarked on an ambitious reform program embodied in the twin concepts of perestroika (economic and political restructuring) and glasnost (openness). [ 1 ] These moves prompted resistance and suspicion on the part of hard-line members of the nomenklatura . The reforms also caused nationalist agitation on the part of the Soviet Union 's non- Russian minorities to grow,

What happened

In August 1991, hardliners of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) attempted to forcibly seize control of the country from Mikhail Gorbachev, who was Soviet president and General Secretary of the CPSU at the time. The coup leaders consisted of top military and civilian officials, including Vice President Gennady Yanayev, who together formed the State Committee on the State of Emergency. Opposed to Gorbachev's reform program,

August 21 through the years

Other entries on the same calendar day, in order.

  1. 1991Latvia
  2. 19911991 Soviet coup attempt
  3. 1993NASA
  4. 1994Royal Air Maroc Flight 630
  5. 1995Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529
  6. 2000Tiger Woods
  7. 2007BioShock
  8. 2013Ghouta chemical attack
  9. 2013Syrian civil war
  10. 2015Thalys
  11. 2017Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017

Also in 1991

  • September 9TajikistanTajikistan declares independence from the Soviet Union.
  • September 11Continental Express Flight 2574Continental Express Flight 2574 crashes in Colorado County, Texas, near Eagle Lake, killing 11 passengers and three crew.
  • March 14EscondidaEscondida, one of the most productive copper mines in the world, was officially inaugurated.
  • September 12Space Shuttle DiscoveryNASA launches Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-48 to deploy the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite.
  • September 17EstoniaEstonia, North Korea, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia join the United Nations.
  • September 17LinuxThe first version of the Linux kernel (0.01) is released to the Internet.
  • September 5Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989The current international treaty defending indigenous peoples, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989, comes into force.
  • October 201991 Uttarkashi earthquakeAn earthquake struck the Indian state of Uttarakhand, killing at least 768 people and destroying thousands of homes.

Everything we record for 1991 →

Sources

Cite this page

“1991 Soviet coup attempt”, What's On This Date, https://whatsonthisdate.com/app/event/1991-soviet-coup-attempt-1991-august-21, accessed October 28, 2026.

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Questions about this entry

When did 1991 Soviet coup attempt happen?

August 21 1991 — 35 years ago, on a Wednesday.

Where does this text come from?

Wikipedia “On this day” feed. Summaries are short adaptations that link back to the source, not reprints.

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