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The August Coup
€ 37.50
ISBN: 9781529065787
'A must-read for those fascinated by the decline and fall of the USSR and the emergence of a new Russia' - Mark Galeotti, author of Forged in War
'Immensely well-researched and compellingly written . . . grips the reader from page one' - Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny
From the acclaimed author of Kremlin Winter and Blood on the Snow, a dramatic and expertly researched account of an extraordinary moment in Russia's recent history: the August Coup.
In the summer of 1991, a group of eight plotters came together to overthrow Mikhail Gorbachev, then the president of the USSR. These ruthless conspirators, who occupied positions of high office, declared a state of emergency to restore stability through authoritarian rule. The reality turned out to be a shambolic failure which hastened the fall of the USSR and a pivotal shift from communism to capitalism.
Beginning with a minute-by-minute re-enactment of Gorbachev's capture in his holiday home in Crimea, Robert Service follows the plot from its inception to its humiliating collapse. The troubling side effects of Gorbachev's well-meant reforms in the Soviet Union - business fraud, government corruption, organized crime and interethnic conflict - increased exponentially, and a New Russia was born. Fathered by Boris Yeltsin, it brought lamentably less benefit to the Russian economy or its people than he had promised.
Linking the years from the coup itself to today's Russia under Vladimir Putin, The August Coup is a thoroughly compelling and original chronicle of a moment that changed Russian and global politics forever.
432 pages.
Not Yet Published.
Printed on or after 11/06/26. Please note dispatch may take 5-10 days after publication date.
A separate order should be placed for this item. If you order this along with other items, your entire order will be held and despatched when complete.
Date of Publication: 11/06/2026
Hardback
