Today In History: Nail In The Coffin for the Cold War

Today, in 1991, the last attempt by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to retain control and unity of the USSR began.

"The August Coup" was a failed attempt to dispose of Mikhail Gorbachev from the presidency of the Soviet Union. The conspirators were led by Soviet Vice-President Gennady Yanayev and other hard-liners within the party, who felt that Gorbachev's reforms had led the half-broken state of the union. The conspirators detained Gorbachev in his dacha in the Crimera, and announced that he was ill, and that Yanayev was now in control of the Soviet Union. Independent media outlets were cut off the air.

Reformers, led by Russian President Boris Yeltsin, stood up to the coup and the attempts to increase the Party's control over the nation and put an end to the freedoms created by several years of glasnost and perestroika.

This was the final nail in the coffin for the Soviet Union, and the final end to Mikhail Gorbachev's political career in Russia as Boris Yeltsin became the predominant political figure in Russia after the failed coup.

Read the Wikipedia article on the failed coup of 1991.