The August Coup
The\xa01991 Soviet coup d'\xe9tat attempt, also known as the\xa0August Coup,[a]\xa0was a failed attempt by\xa0hardliners\xa0of the\xa0Soviet Union's\xa0Communist Party\xa0to\xa0forcibly seize control\xa0of the country from\xa0Mikhail Gorbachev, who was\xa0Soviet President\xa0and\xa0General Secretary\xa0of the\xa0Communist Party\xa0at the time. The coup leaders consisted of top military and civilian officials, including\xa0Vice President\xa0Gennady Yanayev, who together formed the\xa0State Committee on the State of Emergency\xa0(GKChP). They opposed Gorbachev's\xa0reform program, were angry at the\xa0loss of control\xa0over Eastern European states and fearful of the USSR's\xa0New Union Treaty\xa0which was on the verge of being signed. The treaty was to decentralize much of the\xa0central Soviet government's power and distribute it among its\xa0fifteen republics.