The Soviet Coup: Day One, August 19th 1991

On August 19th 1991, the Soviet people woke to news of an attempt to overthrow President Mikhail Gorbachev, the architect of “glasnost“ and “perestroika“. The coup, led by the so-called “Gang of Eight“, brought Red Army tanks onto the streets of Moscow. Russian leader Boris Yeltsin led attempts to rebuff the coup plotters, and would go on to become the dominant force in Moscow as the Soviet Union crumbled and a restored Gorbachev lost his grip on power. Here you can watch Simon’s Emmy-nominated coverage from Moscow on Day One of the coup for “World Monitor“, the nightly newscast then produced for The Discovery Channel by The Christian Science Monitor newspaper.