Mikhail Gorbachev
Isolated at Foros, then returned too late to save a union presidency.
Foros
3
After
3
End of USSR
3
Darker cells mean a higher score for this topic on that metric.
Scale55
Intensity28
Duration12
Tech shift18
Political impact90
Cultural memory65
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Last reviewed Sources & creditsMedia creditsMethodology
Quick answers
Are the scores a ranking of nations or armies?
No. Scores are browsing aids inside an era-bounded atlas — not live league tables of countries.
How many died?
Three civilians in Moscow on 21 August are the named dead of the street events. The systemic "death" was the union, not a battlefield.
Who was in the GKChP?
Gennady Yanayev (vice-president), Dmitry Yazov (defence), Vladimir Kryuchkov (KGB), Boris Pugo (interior) and others -- a committee of the centre's last cadres.
What did Yeltsin do?
As RSFSR president he denounced the committee, used the White House as a platform, and became the televised face of resistance. That did not make him the sole cause of failure.
Why did it fail?
Hesitation to use decisive force, elite splits, republic resistance, a public that would not treat the committee as legitimate, and plotters who looked unsure on television. This is analysis of a past failure, not a manual.
Did it end the USSR?
It accelerated an end already underway. Formal dissolution was 26 December 1991.
Yeltsin on the tank is the global still. Yanayev's hands are the anti-still.
The lowered Soviet flag in December is the sequel icon.
People
Boris Yeltsin
The tank photograph; later the 1990s Russian president -- a longer, harder file than August.
Photo
3
Office
3
Later
3
Gennady Yanayev
The shaking-hands vice-president of the television ruin.
Role
3
TV
3
After
3
Dmitry Yazov
The army name on the committee; units did not finish a seizure.
Role
3
After
3
Fact
3
Vladimir Kryuchkov
The intelligence name on the committee -- a last KGB political throw.
Service
3
Role
3
After
3
Boris Pugo
Died by suicide as the committee collapsed -- a named death of the plotters' side.
Role
3
Death
3
Side
3
Nursultan Nazarbayev
A republic leader in the union's last bargaining -- the end was not only Slavic.
Role
3
Alma-Ata
3
Point
3
Stanislav Shushkevich
A Belovezha signatory -- December's legal face beside Yeltsin and Kravchuk.
Accord
3
Role
3
Point
3
Debate
Was failure inevitable?
Counterfactuals about a storm of the White House remain; they are not a playbook. Most accounts stress splits and legitimacy, not a missing tactic.
Did August cause December?
Accelerant, not sole cause. The union was already cracking.
Do not freeze 1991 as a simple good-coup-failure story without the 1990s.
Korean comparison: a short shock versus 12.12's long shadow.