The August 1991 putsch and its consequences for the country

Today in the textbooks of modern history, an extraordinary event takes place without fail, such as the August putsch in Moscow, which took place from 19 to 21. 08 of 1991. Despite the fact that the conspirators failed to achieve their goals, the very fact of such an event caused dissatisfaction with both the supporters of the new policy pursued by Gorbachev and Yeltsin and his opponents. The situation in the country was so tense that any spark could lead to serious events, right up to the civil war.

So, in order to objectively evaluate all that happened then, we should carefully consider the social and economic situation that developed in the late 80s in the USSR. With the coming to power of Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985, the government began to enforce a policy that later became known as "perestroika." It was aimed at radical transformation of the planned system of the economy and the introduction of market-based economic management in it. In addition, in the ideological system, there was also a weakening, as citizens had the opportunity to have views different from the official authority on certain events.

The August putsch became the apotheosis of a tense situation when, as a result of these extraordinary events, the country shared two camps - supporters of the new policy and its opponents. At the head of the mutiny were G. Ya. Yanaev, V. A. Kryuchkov and DT Yazov. The situation in the late 1980s was further complicated by the fact that as a result of the policy, as well as some inconsistencies in the actions of the authorities and executive bodies in the country, a food and commodity crisis arose in the country. This prompted many citizens to try to restore the socialist system, but there was no way back ...

On August 19, 1991, it was announced in Moscow that the president of the USSR, M. Gorbachev, had been temporarily suspended from the government for health reasons, and all power passed to the state committee on state of emergency (State Emergency Committee). This was the August putsch, which clearly showed the severity of the situation prevailing at that time in the country. Fortunately, thanks to a quick and precise response from the State Security Committee, the military leaders, and B. Yeltsin managed to avoid bloodshed, and as a result of the whole incident, only a few people were injured.

The putschists aimed at removing Gorbachev, preventing Yeltsin from coming to power, returning to the old socialist system, as well as preventing the collapse of the USSR.

Most of our citizens at that time negatively reacted to the putsch, since it really was a return to the old totalitarian regime, with strict censorship, a clear distribution of means of production, and a lack of opportunity to engage in entrepreneurial activities. However, from the standpoint of today's days, the August 1991 putsch can be assessed more soberly, since the future events of 1992-1995 showed that in some moments the rebels were right, because at that time our country was really simply plundered, many enterprises were stopped, competent specialists were left without Work, the country was swept by a wave of banditry and hyperinflation. Fortunately, this time was overcome, but the August putsch must be remembered, since it was a kind of warning of the possibility of such deployment of events that occurred in the future.

Of course, no one justifies the conspirators, since a coup d'état must not take place in any country. Everything should happen exclusively in a peaceful democratic way, however, history shows that peaceful revolutions almost never happen, because in most cases they are accompanied by mass casualties.

Putch in Moscow caused a great social response, which for several years affected the society, as well as the views of both ordinary citizens and government officials. History must always be remembered, since it has the property of repeating itself ...