History of the United States II / Unit 16 USH2 2288 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The August Coup
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The idea
In August nineteen ninety-one conservative Communists tried to oust Gorbachev in a coup, Digital History records, before a new union treaty could be signed.
In practice
The Baltic republics of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia having declared independence the year before.
Where people slip
Other Soviet republics, Digital History adds, had begun to demand greater sovereignty.
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