On August 17, Gorbachev, the head of the map, was placed under house arrest in the Crimean Foros dacha, and Yanayev, Pavlov, and Bakranov signed the "Declaration of the Soviet Leaders", declaring a state of emergency in the Soviet Union, and setting up a state emergency committee composed of Yanayev, Pavlov, Kryuchkov, Yazov, Pugo, Bakranov, and Vasily? Starodubtsev (Chairman of the Union of Civilians of the USSR), Alexander? Tijakov (President of the Association of State Enterprises and Industry, Transport and Communications Groups) and others.

After placing Gorbachev under house arrest, the State Emergency Committee took a series of actions to control the situation and seize power. They immediately sent the KGB men to take control of all but nine newspapers in Moscow under communist control, and even issued a plain, even populist, manifesto to enlist the support of ordinary people, saying that "the honor and dignity of Soviet men must be restored", assuring that the new alliance treaty would be discussed by everyone, that "there would be no more crime in the city streets," that the committee would focus on solving food shortages, and that the committee would reassure citizens that it supported a "genuine democratic process" and reforms.

Such a coup d'état could not have been done without the presence of the military, and the 2nd Guards Motorized Rifle Division of Tamanskaya and the 4th Guards Panzer Division of Kantemir, as well as a part of the paratroopers, marched through the streets in tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and armored personnel carriers. There are high-ranking military figures in the emergency committee, and Yazov is also the minister of defense, so it is naturally very easy to mobilize the armed forces, but the bigwigs of these emergency committees have somewhat underestimated the impact of the situation on the army.

The Emergency Committee's handling of many issues can be described as sloppy and even confusing, and they put Goltsin under house arrest from the very beginning, but did little to deal with Yeltsin's party, which was completely opposite to them. Yeltsin and Prime Minister of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Ivan? Silayev and the acting chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Russia, Ruslan? Khasbulatov arrived at the White House in Moscow (the building of the Russian parliament) and at 9 a.m. on August 19, issued a statement claiming that a reactionary and unconstitutional coup had taken place, urging the military not to participate in the coup, and calling on the masses to launch a general strike to put pressure on the putschists to allow Gorbachev to address the people, which was then circulated in Moscow in the form of leaflets. And managed to get the support of a number of Moscow citizens.

Many Muscovites, either spontaneously or organically, began to gather around the White House in Moscow, erecting barricades and acting as representatives of the Russian people who were walled to defend them.

The emergency committee declared a state of emergency in Moscow, and Yanayev, who had become the de facto leader, hesitated, but he dispatched troops to prepare for greater pressure on the delegates in the White House in Moscow and Yeltsin and others. It's just that he didn't expect that a tank battalion in the Taman Division of the Second Guards Division, which had been entrusted with heavy tasks, actually defected to Yeltsin's side, which made Yeltsin's momentum soar, and Yeltsin even climbed on top of the tank to give a speech, and this picture was captured by reporters and became an important witness to this incident.

Fifteen minutes later, Yeltsin signed the famous Presidential Decree No. 59 at the White House in Moscow: all resolutions promulgated in the name of the so-called "State Emergency Committee" are illegal and null and void in the Russian Federation. Ironically, the Russian president's speech on a tank was broadcast on the most popular news program of the Soviet Central Television, and most of the country's audience saw it. The immediate consequence of this was that yes Yeltsin became a positive figure, and the group of conservatives in the Emergency Committee became rebels.

After watching this program, many cities throughout the Soviet Union launched a campaign in support of Yeltsin, and even the mayor of St. Petersburg specifically condemned the actions of the "State Emergency Committee".

The reality is that in this coup d'état, no one is ready to shoot, not even the emergency committee, not to mention the preparation for shooting, any organizational plan is hasty and passive. As a result, more and more troops marching into Moscow, including the Taman Division, the Airborne Forces, and other units similar to the internal affairs department and even the intelligence units, have more or less defected. But this does not change the fact that the Emergency Committee still has a quantitative and qualitative advantage on the one hand, and that even the most vigorous physique will lose to a resolute child without brains and courage.

On the morning of August 20, no fewer than 50,000 people had gathered around the White House in Moscow, where they had erected makeshift barricades and barricades. Under the command of General Kobets, an armed contingent of more than a thousand people was organized. They naturally faced ten times more "enemies" than them, but the Soviet troops who were ordered to besiege the White House did not have clear orders, they were very confused, they did not want to shoot at their compatriots, and the commanders did not want to bear the consequences of causing a lot of bloody casualties.

An old woman stopped a young soldier, grabbed his arm, and asked, "Young man, who are you?" Where are you from? Did your mother know what to do with you? ”

The young soldier bowed his head in shame and said, "My mother doesn't know what to say. ”

Such scenes were constantly being played out, and the Soviet army, which was responsible for the siege and preparation for the attack, had completely decayed and lost any combat power. They are not facing enemies, but their own compatriots and people, although their minds have not yet risen to the level that they are all just pawns of the ********, but they are very simple and simple to understand a truth, they cannot harm people who are not a threat to them and are compatriots.

In this coup d'état, no masses lost their minds and stormed the army, except that on the 19th three youths were killed trying to stop an infantry fighting vehicle. No force with a conscience and a sense of honor will attack its own civilians without being provoked. (The biggest tragedy is that in some incidents, demonstrators often cause bloodshed if they take the initiative to provoke the army or injure the soldiers who tolerate it.)

At this time, the military and local military districts also began to take sides, and the Minister of Defense of the USSR and Commander of the Air Force, Shaposhnikov, openly made a statement that "no force against the people." Despite the fact that the units of the Navy did not take part in the operation in Moscow, the commander of the Soviet Navy also made a statement that he did not support the "State Emergency Committee". For his part, the commander of the Ural-Volga Military District, Makashev, chose to send a telegram to Yazov and Yanayev demanding immediate and severe measures against Yeltsin and a state of emergency in the cities of the Urals and the Volga Valley. General Valennikov sent a similar telegram from Kiev.

The Siberian Military Region and the Far Eastern Military District, which were actually under Qi Yiming's control, did not make any statement in the incident.

The Emergency Committee does not really realize how the coup should be carried out, they still think that they are still in control of the tempo, and even when discussing the question of how to win the support of the people by improving the lives of the people, they cannot fully see that even the army is not able to fully support them now, and their position is shaky and may collapse at any time.

Finally, the emergency committee made the decision to storm the White House in Moscow and capture Yeltsin alive, but by this time, their decree was completely invalidated. The military generals who were tasked with attacking the White House did not carry out the orders at all, and the commander of the Airborne Forces, Grachev, had a good relationship with Yeltsin, and Yeltsin also admired this "brave general" very much. The other main attack is the special forces, the main force is the Alpha group, if Alpha is out, there is no problem in capturing the White House, but Alpha has no intention of doing so, and its commander found General Karpukhin, who was in charge of commanding the mission of attacking the White House, and frankly admitted that Alpha refused to carry out the mission.

Karpukhin accepted Alpha's statement, after which he called the commander of the Airborne Forces, Grachev.

Grachev asked: "Where are you?" ”

Karpukhin replied: "Two kilometers from the White House, I have analyzed the situation and have already made a decision. After a pause in silence, he said, "I'm not going to take part in the action." ”

Grachev was shocked when he heard this, and said: "Thank you! My people don't go up either. I'm not going to take a step further. ”

The retreat of the military is related to the overdraft of the responsibility and trust of the military at the top level over the years, and the repeated participation in repressive activities but eventually being used as a scapegoat makes it difficult for the military to have much trust and follow-up for politicians.

In fact, even the people in the emergency committee were not ready to use force to storm and cause massive bloodshed and casualties, Defense Minister Yazov said: "I don't want to be Pinochet!" Pinochet was the grand dictator of Chile and was known for suppressing his country's revolt.

Not only Yazov, Yanayev and other members of the emergency committee actually refused to use weapons and unconditionally launched an offensive against the White House in Moscow. It can be said that as coup d'étatists, they are not qualified, and when they have the advantage in their hands, they do not completely solve the problem, but because of indecision and lack of persistence, they finally let the weaker side push back.

On August 22, the coup d'état was basically over, most of the members of the emergency committee were arrested, suicide was committed, and Yeltsin managed to grasp the situation smoothly. After returning from the Foros dacha, Gorbachev resigned from the post of general secretary of the CPSU on August 24, and Ivashko became acting general secretary until August 29 and resigned in the same way.

What is absurd is that the emergency committee, which Yeltsin considered to be despicable and shameless conspirators, did not use resolute force at a critical moment and retained basic integrity, but Yeltsin himself sent troops to storm the White House and bombard parliament with tanks during the constitutional crisis of 1993, when the people and the State Duma resisted, causing hundreds of casualties. However, because of this, Yeltsin was saved from impeachment and sat firmly on his presidency.

I can only lament that the ethics of politicians are really superfluous.