Moscow’s “August 19th” coup: When the optimistic atmosphere of the Cold War came to an abrupt end

I was working for a local TV station in Düsseldorf and was preparing a TV report on the evacuation of British troops in Germany. August 19 is a Monday, and the British Army in Germany will hold a press conference to introduce the closure plan of more than 60 British military bases in Germany.

At that time, the Cold War had just ended, and the entire Europe was enveloped in an atmosphere of disarmament. The closing of military camps was happening almost every day. The Germans are also immersed in the joy of peace. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, there was an atmosphere of optimism everywhere. The Soviet Union, the former enemy, had become a friend. The entire Western Europe firmly believes that under the leadership of Gorbachev, the relationship between the East and the West will only get better and better, and "Gabi" (the German nickname for Gorbachev) will bring an end to the confrontation between the East and West camps after World War II.

"Everything has been stopped"

After the end of World War II, British troops began to be stationed in West Germany, with bases in Dortmund, Helford and Bielefeld. They initially served as occupying forces and later became Germany's NATO allies. During the most tense period of the Cold War, the number of British troops stationed in Germany once reached as high as 100,000. Together with the family members accompanying the troops, the number was quite large.

Now that the two major camps of the East and West are no longer enemies, the withdrawal of the British garrison from Germany has become a matter of course. However, on the morning of August 19, the press officer of the British Army in Germany suddenly called my editorial office: "Everything has been stopped. Our withdrawal plan has been stopped. There has been a coup in Moscow. There is even news that Gorbachev has been killed." The press officer said that the UK was convening an emergency cabinet meeting.

Later, the news agency issued news that German Chancellor Kohl had interrupted his summer vacation and was on his way back to Bonn urgently.

“Not entirely unexpected”

Many years later, former Prime Minister Kohl recalled that the coup itself was "not entirely unexpected," but the timing of the coup was something he did not expect. That evening, the "Daily News" column of Germany Radio's prime-time news program reported that Prime Minister Kohl and the heads of major German parties held consultations on the situation in Moscow. This kind of consultation is equivalent to an emergency cabinet meeting in Germany, because whenever a major crisis occurs, the German government will also convene opposition leaders to discuss countermeasures.

Of course, the outside world had no way of knowing how serious the situation in Moscow was at the time. But I still clearly remember that many people were worried about Gorbachev's personal safety. Because of this, everyone felt a sense of relief when the Soviet leader showed up at the Moscow airport three days later.

accelerated the disintegration of the Soviet Union

The coup ended with the failure of the coup soldiers, but it led to a shift in Moscow's power structure and triggered a series of chain reactions. Days after the coup was thwarted, the foreign ministers of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia arrived in Bonn, the capital of the then Federal Republic of Germany. Genscher, then German Foreign Minister, met with the foreign ministers of the three Baltic Sea countries and discussed the possibility of restoring diplomatic relations.

Prime Minister Kohl wrote in his memoirs that the Soviet people "have achieved a major victory in their struggle for democracy, freedom and rights." But the German government is also very clear that this coup will accelerate the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and it is likely to be irreversible disintegration, and its political consequences are unpredictable. Foreign Minister Genscher recalled many years later that both he and Prime Minister Kohl were very worried about the possible political, military and economic consequences of the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Therefore, both of them were very sympathetic to Gorbachev's initiative to re-sign the Alliance Agreement to rebuild the Soviet Union.

Yeltsin takes over power

But as we all know, the alliance agreement proposed by Gorbachev ultimately came to nothing, and the Germans had the opportunity to get to know another Russian politician besides Gorbachev—Yeltsin. The image of Yeltsin charging into tanks on the streets of Moscow and scolding the coup makers made people in Germany's Rhineland realize that a new chapter in Moscow's history had opened.

The attempted coup in Moscow was like a magnifying glass, giving us the opportunity to see the fierce infighting among the top leaders of the Soviet Union at that time. Conservative elites tried to preserve the old Soviet model through violent means. However, they wanted to avoid the disintegration of the Soviet Union at all costs, but instead accelerated the disintegration process.

By the way, after several weeks of delay, the British Army in Germany officially announced its withdrawal plan to the German public society.