The August Coup of 1991 failed to topple President Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union by hardline communists who sought to restore the control of the central government towards the USSR. The results of this event, however, turned out to be entirely different, as it even expedited the downfall of the Union.

Even though the coup attempt was partly because of the deep cracks in the Soviet leadership, it was also an indication of the central authority’s decline. At the same time, it united the society against the hardliners, who were challenged by the likes of Boris Yeltsin, who was the President of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.

In combination with earlier errors, This coup attempt was an egregious failure and dealt another blow to Gorbachev’s authority leading to even more rapid break up of the USSR. It encouraged the leadership of the various Soviet republics, such as Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, who proclaimed independence immediately after the coup.

The disintegration of the USSR marked the end of the Cold War and created a lot of new opportunities in international politics. The August Coup was one of those moments within that process where it was already clear that the Soviet superpower where held by the forces of democracy was on an inevitable decline.