Mikhail Gorbachev's Attempted Coup in the Crimea

It was very clear, almost from the beginning, that these people of the state committee on the state of emergency or the gang of eight as they quickly became nicknamed. These are hardliners who didn't want any kind of reforms any opening up. In the course of the three days, they essentially bottled it. They should have arrested Yeltsin. Once he was out in the open, they couldn't really do it quietly because he was surrounded and protected by a crowd. Basically, by the end of the third day, the whole thing had effectively completely fallen apart.