Twenty-Five Years After the Failed Soviet Coup

In August, 1991, a small group of hard-liners in the Soviet government staged a coup aimed at halting the popular anti-Communist, pro-freedom tide stirred by Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika. On their orders, tanks surrounded the “White House,” the seat of the government of Russia (then a constituent part of the Soviet Union), which was led by Boris Yeltsin, the newly elected President. Tens of thousands of Muscovites rushed to the White House, to rally around Yeltsin and defend Russian freedom against the Communist putsch. Three days later, the putschists suffered a spectacular defeat.

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com

Related:
Daily Cartoon: Tuesday, August 16th
Donald Trump Is the Gift to Hillary Clinton That Keeps On Giving
The Very Strange Writings of Putin’s New Chief of Staff