1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt
The treaty decentralized much of the central government's power to the 15 republics. The hard-liners were very poorly organized. They met defeat by a short but effective campaign of civil resistance, mainly in Moscow, led by Russian president Boris Yeltsin, who had been both an ally and critic of Gorbachev. The coup collapsed in only two days and Gorbachev returned to office, while all the plotters lost office. Yeltsin became the dominant leader and Gorbachev lost much of his influence. The failed coup led to both the immediate collapse of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the dissolution of the USSR four months later.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt
Following the capitulation of the GKChP, popularly referred to as the "Gang of Eight", both the Supreme Court of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) and the President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev described their actions as a coup attempt.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Background
Since assuming power as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1985, Gorbachev had embarked on an ambitious program of reform, embodied in the twin concepts of perestroika and glasnost, meaning economic/political restructuring and openness, respectively. These moves prompted resistance and suspicion on the part of hardline members of the nomenklatura. The reforms also unleashed some forces and movements that Gorbachev did not expect. Specifically, nationalist agitation on the part of the Soviet Union's non-Russian minorities grew, and there were fears that some or all of the union republics might secede.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Background
In 1991, the Soviet Union was in a severe economic and political crisis. Scarcity of food, medicine, and other consumables was widespread, people had to stand in long lines to buy even essential goods, fuel stocks were up to 50% less than the estimated need for the approaching winter, and inflation was over 300% per year, with factories lacking in cash needed to pay salaries. In 1990, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Armenia had already declared the restoration of their independence from the Soviet Union. In January 1991, there was an attempt to return Lithuania to the Soviet Union by force. About a week later, there was a similar attempt by local pro-Soviet forces to overthrow the Latvian authorities. There were continuing armed ethnic conflicts in Nagorno Karabakh and South Ossetia.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Background
Russia declared its sovereignty on 12 June 1990 and thereafter limited the application of Soviet laws, in particular the laws concerning finance and the economy, on Russian territory. The Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR adopted laws that contradicted Soviet laws (the so-called War of Laws).


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Background
In the unionwide referendum on 17 March 1991, boycotted by the Baltic states, Armenia, Georgia, and Moldova, the supermajority of the residents of the rest of the republics expressed the desire to retain the renewed Soviet Union, with 77.85% voting in favor. Following negotiations, eight of the nine republics (except Ukraine) approved the New Union Treaty with some conditions. The treaty would make the Soviet Union a federation of independent republics called the Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics with a common president, foreign policy, and military. Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan were to sign the Treaty in Moscow on 20 August 1991.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Background
The coup was the last gasp of those who were astonished at and felt betrayed by the precipitous collapse of the Soviet Union's empire in Eastern Europe and the swift destruction of the Warsaw Pact and Comecon that followed. Many feared the consequences of Gorbachev's German policies above all, not just for leaving officers unemployed but for sacrificing gains achieved in the Great Patriotic War to German revanchism and irredentism - after all this had been the Kremlin's greatest fear since the end of the war.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Preparation
The KGB began to consider attempting a coup in September 1990, while Alexander Yakovlev began warning Gorbachev about the possibility of one after the 28th Party Congress in June 1990. On 11 December 1990, KGB Chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov, made a "call for order" over the Moscow Programme. That day, he asked two KGB officers to prepare a plan of measures that could be taken in case a state of emergency was declared in the USSR. Later, Kryuchkov brought Soviet Defense Minister Dmitry Yazov, Internal Affairs Minister Boris Pugo, Premier Valentin Pavlov, Vice-President Gennady Yanayev, Soviet Defense Council deputy chief Oleg Baklanov, Gorbachev secretariat head Valery Boldin, and CPSU Central Committee Secretary Oleg Shenin into the conspiracy.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Preparation
Beginning with the January Events in Lithuania, members of Gorbachev's Cabinet hoped that he could be persuaded to declare the state of emergency and to "restore order," and formed the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP).


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Preparation
On 17 June 1991, Pavlov requested extraordinary powers from the Supreme Soviet, although Gorbachev condemned the move. Several days later, Moscow Mayor Gavriil Popov informed U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union Jack F. Matlock Jr. that a coup against Gorbachev was being planned. When Matlock tried to warn him, Gorbachev falsely assumed that his own Cabinet was not involved and underestimated the risk of a coup.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Preparation
On 23 July 1991, many party functionaries and literati published in the hardline newspaper Sovetskaya Rossiya a piece entitled "A Word to the People" which called for decisive action to prevent calamity.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Preparation
Six days later, on July 29, Gorbachev, Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev discussed the possibility of replacing such hardliners as Pavlov, Yazov, Kryuchkov and Pugo with more liberal figures, with Nazarbayev as Prime Minister (In Pavlov's place). Kryuchkov, who had placed Gorbachev under close surveillance as Subject 110 several months earlier, eventually got wind of the conversation from an electronic bug planted by Gorbachev's bodyguard Vladimir Medvedev. Yeltsin also prepared for a coup by establishing a secret defense committee ordering military and KGB commands to side with RSFSR authorities and by establishing a "reserve government" in Sverdlovsk under Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Lobov.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Preparation
On 4 August, Gorbachev went on holiday to his dacha in Foros, Crimea. He planned to return to Moscow in time for the New Union Treaty signing on 20 August. On August 15, the text of the draft Union Treaty was published.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Preparation
On 17 August, the members of the GKChP met at a KGB guesthouse in Moscow and studied the treaty document. Decisions are made to introduce a state of emergency from August 19, to form a State Emergency Committee, to require Gorbachev to sign the relevant decrees or to resign and transfer powers to Vice President Gennady Yanayev. They believed the pact would pave the way to the Soviet Union's breakup, and decided that it was time to act. The next day, Baklanov, Boldin, Shenin, and USSR Deputy Defense Minister General Valentin Varennikov flew to Crimea for a meeting with Gorbachev. Yazov ordered General Pavel Grachev, the commander of the Soviet Airborne Forces, to begin coordinating with KGB Deputy Chairmen Viktor Grushko and Genii Ageev to implement martial law.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Preparation
At 4:32 pm on 18 August, the GKChP cut communications to Gorbachev's dacha, including telephone landlines and the nuclear command and control system. Eight minutes later, Lieutenant General Yuri Plekhanov of the Ninth Chief Directorate allowed them into Gorbachev's dacha. Gorbachev realized what was happening after discovering the telephone outages. They demanded that Gorbachev either declare a state of emergency or resign and name Yanayev as acting president to allow the members of the GKChP "to restore order" in the country.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Preparation
Gorbachev has always claimed that he refused point-blank to accept the ultimatum. Varennikov has insisted that Gorbachev said: "Damn you. Do what you want. But report my opinion!" However, those present at the dacha at the time testified that Baklanov, Boldin, Shenin, and Varennikov had been clearly disappointed and nervous after the meeting with Gorbachev. Gorbachev is also said to have insulted Varennikov by pretending to forget his name, and told his former trusted advisor Boldin "Shut up, you prick! How dare you give me lectures about the situation in the country!" With Gorbachev's refusal, the conspirators ordered that he remain confined to the Foros dacha; at the same time, the dacha's communication lines (which were controlled by the KGB) were shut down. Additional KGB security guards were placed at the dacha gates with orders to stop anybody from leaving.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Preparation
19.30: Baklanov, Shenin, Boldin and Varennikov fly to Moscow, accompanied by the head of the KGB Security Service, Yuri Plekhanov. His deputy Vyacheslav Generalov remains "on the farm" in Foros.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Preparation
20:00: Yanaev, Pavlov, Kryuchkov, Yazov, Pugo, Lukyanov gather in the Kremlin cabinet of the Prime Minister, discuss and edit the documents of the State Emergency Committee.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Preparation
22.15: They are joined by Baklanov, Shenin, Boldin, Varennikov, Plekhanov. It was decided to declare Gorbachev ill. Yanayev hesitates, the others convince him that leadership and responsibility will be collective.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Preparation
23.25: Yanaev signs a decree on entrusting himself with presidential powers.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Preparation
The members of the GKChP ordered 250,000 pairs of handcuffs from a factory in Pskov to be sent to Moscow and 300,000 arrest forms. Kryuchkov doubled the pay of all KGB personnel, called them back from holiday, and placed them on alert. The Lefortovo Prison was emptied to receive prisoners.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology
The members of the GKChP met in the Kremlin after Baklanov, Boldin, Shenin and Varennikov returned from Crimea. Yanayev (who had only just been persuaded to join the plot), Pavlov and Baklanov signed the so-called "Declaration of the Soviet Leadership" in which they declared the state of emergency in all of the USSR and announced that the State Committee on the State of Emergency (Государственный Комитет по Чрезвычайному Положению, ГКЧП, or Gosudarstvenniy Komitet po Chrezvichaynomu Polozheniyu, GKChP) had been created "to manage the country and to effectively maintain the regime of the state of emergency". The GKChP included the following members:


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology
Yanayev signed the decree naming himself as acting USSR president on the pretext of Gorbachev's inability to perform presidential duties due to "illness". However, Russian investigators later identified Kryuchkov as the key planner of the coup. These eight collectively became known as the "Gang of Eight".


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology
The GKChP banned all newspapers in Moscow, except for nine Party-controlled newspapers. The GKChP also issued a populist declaration which stated that "the honour and dignity of the Soviet man must be restored."


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 19 August
01:00: Yanayev signs documents on the formation of the State Committee for the State of Emergency, consisting of himself, Pavlov, Kryuchkov, Yazov, Pugo, Baklanov, Tizyakov and Starodubtsev (including these documents "Appeal to the Soviet people").


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 19 August
The GKChP members present sign the GKChP Resolution No. 1, which says about the introduction of a state of emergency for six months "in certain areas of the USSR" for a period of six months from 04:00 Moscow time on August 19, about the prohibition of rallies, demonstrations and strikes, about the suspension of the activities of political parties, public organizations and mass movements that impede the normalization of the situation, as well as the allocation of 6 hectares (15 acres) of land to all interested city residents for personal use.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 19 August
04:00: The Sevastopol regiment of the border troops of the KGB of the USSR blocks the presidential dacha in Foros. By order of the Chief of Staff of the USSR Air Defense Forces, Colonel-General Maltsev, two tractors blocked the runway on which the President's flight facilities are located - the Tu-134 aircraft and the Mi-8 helicopter.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 19 August
All of the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP) documents were broadcast over the state radio and television starting from 6 a.m. The KGB immediately issued an arrest list including Russians SFSR President Boris Yeltsin, his allies, and the leaders of the umbrella activist group Democratic Russia. The Russian SFSR-controlled Radio Rossii and Televidenie Rossii, plus "Ekho Moskvy", the only independent political radio station, were cut off the air.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 19 August
However, the station later resumed transmitting and became a source of information during the coup, and the BBC World Service and Voice of America were also able to provide continuous coverage. Gorbachev and his family heard the news from a BBC bulletin on a small Sony transistor radio that had not been taken away. For the next several days he refused to take food from outside his dacha to avoid being poisoned and took long outdoor strolls to dispute reports of his ill health.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 19 August
Armour units of the Tamanskaya Division and the Kantemirovskaya tank division rolled into Moscow along with paratroops. Around 4000 soldiers, 350 tanks, 300 armoured personnel carriers and 420 trucks were mobilised to Moscow. Four Russian SFSR people's deputies (who were considered the most "dangerous") were detained by the KGB at an army base near Moscow. However, almost no other arrests were made by the KGB during the coup.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 19 August
Ulysse Gosset and Vladimir Federovski later alleged that the KGB was planning to carry out a much larger wave of arrests two weeks after the coup, after which it would have abolished almost all legislative and local administrative structures under a highly centralized Council of Ministers. Yanayev instructed Foreign Minister Alexander Bessmertnykh to make a statement requesting formal diplomatic recognition from foreign governments and the United Nations.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 19 August
The conspirators considered detaining Yeltsin upon his arrival from a visit to Kazakhstan on 17 August but failed when Yeltsin redirected his flight from Chkalovsky Air Base to Moscow Vnukovo Airport. After that, they considered catching him when he was at his dacha near Moscow. The KGB Alpha Group surrounded Yeltsin's dacha with Spetsnaz, but for an undisclosed reason did not apprehend him. The commanding officer Viktor Karpukhin later alleged that he had received an order from Kryuchkov to arrest Yeltsin but disobeyed it, although his account has been questioned. The failure to arrest Yeltsin proved fatal to their plans. After the announcement of the coup at 06.30 Yeltsin began inviting prominent Russian officials to his dacha, including Leningrad Mayor Anatoly Sobchak, Moscow Deputy Mayor Yury Luzhkov, Colonel-General Konstantin Kobets, RSFSR Prime Minister Ivan Silayev, Vice President Alexander Rutskoy, and RSFSR Supreme Soviet Chairman Ruslan Khasbulatov.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 19 August
Yeltsin initially wanted to remain at the dacha and organize a rival government, but Kobets advised them to travel to the White House, Russia's parliament building, in order to maintain communications with opponents of the coup. They arrived and occupied the White House at 9 am. Together with Silayev and Khasbulatov, Yeltsin issued a declaration "To the Citizens of Russia" that condemned the GkChP's actions as a reactionary anti-constitutional coup.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 19 August
The military was urged not to take part in the coup, and local authorities were asked to follow laws from the RSFSR President rather than the GKChP. Although he initially avoided this step to avoid beginning a civil war, Yeltsin also took command of all Soviet military and security forces in the RSFSR. The declaration called for a general strike with the demand to let Gorbachev address the people. This declaration was distributed around Moscow in the form of flyers, and was disseminated nationwide through medium wave radio and on Usenet newsgroups via the RELCOM computer network. Workers at Izvestia threatened to go on strike unless Yeltsin's proclamation was printed in the newspaper.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 19 August
The GKChP relied on regional and local soviets, which were still mostly dominated by the Communist Party, to support the coup by forming emergency committees to repress dissidence. The CPSU Secretariat under Boldin sent coded telegrams to local party committees to assist the coup. Yeltsin's authorities later discovered that nearly 70 percent of them either backed it or attempted to remain neutral.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 19 August
Within the RSFSR the oblasts of Samara, Lipetsk, Tambov, Saratov, Orenburg, Irkutsk, and Tomsk and the krai of Altai and Krasnodar all supported the coup and pressured raikom to do so as well, while only three oblasts aside from Moscow and Leningrad opposed it. However, some of the soviets faced internal resistance against emergency rule. The Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics of Tatarstan, Kabardino-Balkaria, Checheno-Ingushetia, Buryatiya, and North Ossetia all sided with the GKChP.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 19 August
The Soviet public was divided on the coup. A poll in the RSFSR by Mnenie on the morning of 19 April showed that 23.6 percent of Russians believed the GKChP could improve living standards, while 41.9 percent had no opinion. However separate polls by Interfax showed that many Russians, including 71 percent of residents of Leningrad, feared the return of mass repressions. The GKChP also enjoyed strong support in the Russian-majority regions of Estonia and Transnistria, while Yeltsin enjoyed strong support in Sverdlovsk and Nizhny Novgorod.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 19 August
At 10 am Rutskoy, Silayev, and Khasbulatov delivered a letter to Soviet Supreme Soviet Chairman Anatoly Lukyanov demanding a medical exam of Gorbachev by the World Health Organization and a meeting between themselves, Yeltsin, Gorbachev, and Yanayev within 24 hours. Rutskoy later visited Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow, the spiritual leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, and convinced him to declare support for Yeltsin. Meanwhile, in Leningrad, Military District Commander Viktor Samsonov ordered the formation of an emergency committee for the city chaired by Leningrad First Secretary Boris Gidaspov to circumvent Sobchak's democratically elected municipal government.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 19 August
Samsonov's troops were ultimately blocked by hundreds of thousands of demonstrators supported by the police, which forced Leningrad Television to broadcast a statement by Sobchak. Workers at the Kirov Plant went on strike in support of Yeltsin. Moscow First Secretary Yuri Prokofev attempted to do the same but was rebuffed when Boris Nikolskii refused to accept the office of Mayor of Moscow. At 11 am, RSFSR Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev held a press conference for foreign journalists and diplomats and gained the support of most of the West for Yeltsin.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 19 August
In the afternoon, the citizens of Moscow began to gather around the White House and erect barricades around it. In response, Gennady Yanayev declared the state of emergency in Moscow at 16:00. Yanayev declared at the press conference at 17:00 that Gorbachev was "resting". He said: "Over these years he has got very tired and needs some time to get his health back." Yanayev's shaking hands led some people to think he was drunk, and his trembling voice and weak posture made his words unconvincing.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 19 August
Victoria E. Bonnell and Gregory Frieden noted that the press conference had allowed spontaneous questioning from journalists who openly accused the GKChP of carrying out a coup and a news crew that did not censor Yanayev's erratic motions in the same way it had with past leaders such as Leonid Brezhnev, making them appear even more incompetent to Soviet audiences. Gorbachev's security detail managed to create a makeshift television antenna so he and his family could watch the press conference. After viewing the conference Gorbachev expressed confidence that Yeltsin would be able to stop the coup. That night his family smuggled out a videotape of Gorbachev condemning the coup.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 19 August
Yanayev and the rest of the State Committee ordered the Cabinet of Ministers to alter the then-current five-year plan to relieve the housing shortage. All city dwellers were given 1,000 square metres (1⁄3 acre) each to combat winter shortages by growing fruit and vegetables. In connection with the illness of Valentin Pavlov, the duties of the head of the government of the USSR were entrusted to First Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Doguzhiyev.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 19 August
Meanwhile, Major Evdokimov, chief of staff of a tank battalion of the Tamanskaya Division guarding the White House, declared his loyalty to the leadership of the Russian SFSR. Yeltsin climbed one of the tanks and addressed the crowd. Unexpectedly, this episode was included in the state media's evening news.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 20 August
At 8 am, the Soviet General Staff ordered the Cheget controlling Soviet nuclear weapons to be returned to Moscow. Although he discovered that the GKChP's actions had cut off communications with the nuclear duty officers, the Cheget was returned to Moscow by 2 pm. However, Soviet Air Force Commander-in-Chief Yevgeny Shaposhnikov opposed the coup and claimed in his memoirs that he and the commanders of the Soviet Navy and the Strategic Rocket Forces told Yazov that they would not follow orders for a nuclear launch. After the coup, Gorbachev refused to admit that he had lost control of the nuclear weapons.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 20 August
At noon, Moscow military district commander General Nikolai Kalinin, whom Yanayev appointed as military commandant of Moscow, declared a curfew in Moscow from 23:00 to 5:00, effective from 20 August. This was understood as the sign that the attack on the White House was imminent.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 20 August
The defenders of the White House prepared themselves, most of them being unarmed. Evdokimov's tanks were moved from the White House in the evening. The makeshift White House defense headquarters was headed by General Kobets, a Russian SFSR people's deputy. Outside Eduard Shevardnadze, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Yelena Bonner delivered speeches in support of Yeltsin.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 20 August
In the afternoon, Kryuchkov, Yazov and Pugo finally decided to attack the White House. This decision was supported by other GKChP members (minus Pavlov, who had been sent to his dacha and his wife due to drunkenness). Kryuchkov and Yazov's deputies, KGB general Ageyev and Army general Vladislav Achalov, respectively, planned the assault, codenamed "Operation Grom" (Thunder), which would gather elements of the Alpha Group and Vympel elite special forces units, with the support of paratroopers, Moscow OMON, the Internal Troops of the ODON, three tank companies and a helicopter squadron.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 20 August
Alpha Group commander General Viktor Karpukhin and other senior officers of the unit together with Airborne Troops deputy commander Gen. Alexander Lebed mingled with the crowds near the White House and assessed the possibility of such an operation. After that, Karpukhin and Vympel commander Colonel Beskov tried to convince Ageyev that the operation would result in bloodshed and should be cancelled. Lebed, with the consent his superior Grachev, returned to the White House and secretly informed the defense headquarters that the attack would begin at 2:00.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 20 August
While the events were unfolding in the capital, Estonia's Supreme Council declared at 23:03 the full reinstatement of the independent status of the Republic of Estonia after 51 years.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 20 August
State-controlled TASS dispatches from this day emphasize a hardline approach against crime, especially economic crimes and the Russian mafia, which the GKChP blamed on increasing trade with the West. Draft decrees were later discovered which would have allowed military and police patrols to shoot "hooligans," including pro-democracy demonstrators.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 21 August
At about 1:00, not far from the White House, trolleybuses and street cleaning machines were used to barricade a tunnel against oncoming Taman Guards infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs). Three men were killed in the incident, Dmitry Komar, Vladimir Usov, and Ilya Krichevsky, while several others were wounded. Komar, a 22-year-old Soviet-Afghan War veteran, was shot and crushed trying to cover a moving IFV's observation slit. Usov, a 37-year-old economist, was killed by a stray bullet whilst coming to Komar's aid. The crowd set fire to an IFV and Krichevsky, a 28-year-old architect, was shot dead as the troops escaped.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 21 August
According to Sergey Parkhomenko, a journalist and democracy campaigner who was in the crowd defending the White House, "Those deaths played a crucial role: Both sides were so horrified that it brought a halt to everything." Alpha Group and Vympel did not move to the White House as had been planned and Yazov ordered the troops to pull out from Moscow. Reports also surfaced that Gorbachev had been placed under house arrest in Crimea. During the final day of her family's exile Raisa Gorbacheva suffered a minor stroke.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 21 August
Between 8am and 9am, the GKChP members met in the Defence Ministry and, not knowing what to do, decided to send Kryuchkov, Yazov, Baklanov, Tizyakov, Anatoly Lukyanov, and Deputy CPSU General Secretary Vladimir Ivashko to Crimea to meet Gorbachev, who refused to meet them when they arrived.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 21 August
At 10 am, the session of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR opens in the White House, at which President Yeltsin speaks.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 21 August
At 1 pm, Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR circulates a statement about its non-involvement in the putsch. Then at 1.20 pm Kryuchkov, Yazov, Baklanov, Tizyakov, Lukyanov and Deputy General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Vladimir Ivashko leave for the airport, on the way get stuck in a traffic jam created by the armored vehicles of the Taman division returning to the base.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 21 August
At 14.00 the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the CPSU issues a statement, demanding that the GKChP clarify the fate of the head of the Communist Party, Mikhail Gorbachev.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 21 August
By 15.30, Minister of Internal Affairs USSR Boris Pugo signs the last GKChP order - a cypher telegram to the regional departments of internal affairs with a demand to strengthen the security of television and radio organizations and report on all violations of the GKChP Resolution on information control.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 21 August
At 16.08 that afternoon the plane with a delegation from the GKChP lands in Crimea. Around 16:00, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, chaired by the heads of the chambers of the union parliament, adopted a resolution in which it declared illegal the actual removal of the President of the USSR from his duties and the transfer of them to the vice-president of the country, and in this connection demanded that Vice-President Yanaev cancel the decrees and the emergency orders based on them as legally invalid from the moment they were signed.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 21 August
By 16.52, a group of Russian deputies and public figures led by vice-president of the RSFSR Alexander Rutskoi, as well as members of the Security Council USSR Yevgeny Primakov and Vadim Bakatin, fly to Foros. They are accompanied by 36 officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia armed with machine guns under the command of the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the republic Andrei Dunaev.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 21 August
Eight minutes later at 5pm, a delegation of the GKChP arrived at the presidential dacha in Crimea. President Gorbachev refused to accept it and demanded to restore communication with the outside world. At the same time Yanaev signed a decree in which the State Emergency Committee was declared dissolved, and all his decisions were invalid.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 21 August
Later, at 7.16, the plane of the Russian delegation led by Rutskoi landed in Crimea.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 21 August
By 20.00, the General Prosecutor's Office USSR initiates a criminal case into the attempted coup.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 21 August
At 20.10: Rutskoy and his delegation went to see Gorbachev. According to eyewitnesses, the meeting was cordial and joyful, forcing them to forget for a while about the contradictions between the Soviet and Russian authorities.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 21 August
From 21.40 to 22.10, Gorbachev received Lukyanov and Ivashko in the presence of Rutskoy and Primakov, accuses the speaker of the Supreme Soviet USSR of treason, and the deputy for the party of inaction during the days of the putsch.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 21 August
Around 10 pm, the Prosecutor General of the RSFSR Valentin Stepankov signed a resolution on the arrest of members of the Emergency Committee.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 21 August
During that period, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia declared its sovereignty officially completed with a law passed by its deputies, confirming the independence restoration act of 4 May as an official act. In Tallinn, just a day after the restitution of independence, the Tallinn TV Tower was taken over by the Airborne Troops, while the television broadcast was cut off for a while, the radio signal was strong as a handful of Estonian Defence League (the unified paramilitary armed forces of Estonia) members barricaded the entry into signal rooms. In the evening, as news of the failure of the coup reached the republic, the paratroopers departed from the tower and left the capital.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 22 August
At one minute past midnight Gorbachev, his family and assistants flew to Moscow on Rutskoi's plane. The GKChP members were sent on a different plane, only Kryuchkov flies through the second cabin of the presidential plane under police protection (according to Rutskoi, "they will definitely not be shot down with him on board"). Upon arrival, Kryuchkov, Yazov and Tizyakov were arrested on the airfield.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 22 August
At 2 am, Gorbachev returns to Moscow (Vnukovo International Airport). Television shows the president in a knitted sweater walking down the gangplank live. Later, Gorbachev would be reproached for the fact that he did not go to the White House, but went to rest at his dacha.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 22 August
At 6 am Vice-President of the USSR Gennady Yanayev was arrested in his office.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, The coup chronology, 23 August
Pugo committed suicide along with his wife the next day. Pavlov, Vasily Starodubtsev, Baklanov, Boldin, and Shenin were taken into custody within the next 48 hours.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Aftermath
Since several heads of the regional executive committees supported the GKChP, on 21 August the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR adopted Decision No. 1626-1, which authorized Russian President Boris Yeltsin to appoint heads of regional administrations, although the Constitution of the Russian SFSR did not empower the president with such authority. It passed another decision the next day which declared the old imperial colors as Russia's national flag. It eventually replaced the Russian SFSR flag two months later.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Aftermath
On the night of 24 August, the Felix Dzerzhinsky statue in front of the KGB building at Dzerzhinskiy Square (Lubianka) was dismantled, while thousands of Moscow citizens took part in the funeral of Dmitry Komar, Vladimir Usov and Ilya Krichevsky, the three citizens who died in the tunnel incident. Gorbachev posthumously awarded them with the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Yeltsin asked their relatives to forgive him for not being able to prevent their deaths.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, End of the CPSU
Gorbachev initially tried to defend the CPSU, proclaiming at a 22 August press conference that it still represented a "progressive force" despite its leaders' participation in the coup. Gorbachev resigned as CPSU General Secretary on 24 August. Vladimir Ivashko replaced him as acting General Secretary but resigned on 29 August when the Supreme Soviet of the USSR suspended the activities of the party throughout the country.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, End of the CPSU
Yeltsin decreed the transfer of the CPSU archives to the state archive authorities, as well as nationalizing all CPSU assets in the Russian SFSR (which included not only the headquarters of party committees but also educational institutions, hotels, etc.). The Central Committee headquarters were handed over to the Government of Moscow. On 6 November, Yeltsin issued a decree banning the party in Russia.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Dissolution of the Soviet Union
On 24 August, Mikhail Gorbachev created the so-called "Committee for the Operational Management of the Soviet Economy" (Комитет по оперативному управлению народным хозяйством СССР), to replace the USSR Cabinet of Ministers headed by Valentin Pavlov, a GKChP member. Russian Prime Minister Ivan Silayev headed this committee. On the same day the Verkhovna Rada adopted the Act of Independence of Ukraine and called for a referendum on support of the Act of Independence.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Dissolution of the Soviet Union
On August 25, the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR announced the Declaration of Sovereignty as a constitutional law.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Dissolution of the Soviet Union
On August 28, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dismissed Prime Minister Valentin Pavlov and entrusted the functions of the government of the USSR to Committee for the Operational Management of the Soviet Economy. The next day, Supreme Soviet Chairman Anatoly Lukyanov was arrested.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Dissolution of the Soviet Union
On 5 September, the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union adopted Soviet Law No. 2392-1 "On the Authorities of the Soviet Union in the Transitional Period" under which the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union had replaced Congress of People's Deputies and was reformed. Two new legislative chambers—the Soviet of the Union (Совет Союза) and the Soviet of Republics (Совет Республик)—replaced the Soviet of the Union and the Soviet of Nationalities (both elected by the USSR Congress of Peoples Deputies).


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Dissolution of the Soviet Union
The Soviet of the Union was to be formed by the popularly elected USSR people's deputies and would consider only issues concerning civil rights and freedoms and other issues which didn't fall under the jurisdiction of the Soviet of Republics. Its decisions would have to be reviewed by the Soviet of Republics. The Soviet of Republics was to include 20 deputies from each union republic plus one deputy to represent each autonomous region of each union republic (both USSR people's deputies and republican people's deputies) delegated by the legislatures of the union republic. Russia was an exception with 52 deputies.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Dissolution of the Soviet Union
However, the delegation of each union republic was to have only one vote in the Soviet of Republics. The laws were to be first adopted by the Soviet of the Union and then by the Soviet of Republics, which would set procedures for the central government, approve the appointment of central ministers and consider inter-republican agreements.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Dissolution of the Soviet Union
Also created was the Soviet State Council (Государственный совет СССР), which included the Soviet President and the presidents of union republics. The "Committee for the Operational Management of the Soviet Economy" was replaced by the USSR Inter-republican Economic Committee (Межреспубликанский экономический комитет СССР), also headed by Ivan Silayev.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Dissolution of the Soviet Union
On 27 August, Supreme Soviet of Moldova declared the independence of Moldova from the Soviet Union. The Supreme Soviets of Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan did the same on 30 and 31 August, respectively. Afterwards, on 6 September the newly created Soviet State Council recognized the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Estonia had declared re-independence on 20 August, Latvia on the following day, while Lithuania had done so already on 11 March 1990. Three days later, on 9 September the Supreme Soviet of Tajikistan declared the independence of Tajikistan from the Soviet Union.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Dissolution of the Soviet Union
Furthermore, in September over 99% percent of voters in Armenia voted for a referendum approving the Republic's commitment to independence. The immediate aftermath of that vote was the Armenian Supreme Soviet's declaration of independence, issued on 21 September. By 27 October the Supreme Soviet of Turkmenistan declared the independence of Turkmenistan from the Soviet Union. On 1 December Ukraine held a referendum, in which more than 90% of residents supported the Act of Independence of Ukraine.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Dissolution of the Soviet Union
By November, the only Soviet Republics that had not declared independence were Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. That same month, seven republics (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan) agreed to a new union treaty that would form a confederation called the Union of Sovereign States. However, this confederation never materialized.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Dissolution of the Soviet Union
On 8 December Boris Yeltsin, Leonid Kravchuk and Stanislav Shushkevich—respectively, leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus (which adopted that name in August 1991)—as well as the prime ministers of the republics met in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where they signed the Belovezha Accords. This document declared that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist "as a subject of international law and geopolitical reality." It repudiated the 1922 union treaty that established the Soviet Union and established the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in the Union's place.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Dissolution of the Soviet Union
On 12 December, the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR ratified the accords and recalled the Russian deputies from the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Although this has been interpreted as the moment that Russia seceded from the Union, in fact, Russia took the line that it was not possible to secede from a state that no longer existed. The lower chamber of the Supreme Soviet, the Council of the Union, was forced to halt its operations, as the departure of the Russian deputies left it without a quorum.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Dissolution of the Soviet Union
Doubts remained about the legitimacy of the signing that took place on 8 December, since only three republics took part. Thus, on 21 December in Alma-Ata, the Alma-Ata Protocol expanded the CIS to include Armenia, Azerbaijan and the five republics of Central Asia. They also pre-emptively accepted Gorbachev's resignation.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Dissolution of the Soviet Union
With 11 of the 12 remaining republics (all except Georgia) having agreed that the Union no longer existed, Gorbachev bowed to the inevitable and said he would resign as soon as the CIS became a reality (Georgia joined the CIS in 1993, only to withdraw in 2008 after conflict between Georgia and Russia; the three Baltic states never joined, instead going on to join the European Union and NATO in 2004.)


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Dissolution of the Soviet Union
On 24 December 1991, the Russian SFSR—now renamed the Russian Federation—with the concurrence of the other republics of the Commonwealth of Independent States, informed the United Nations that it would inherit the Soviet Union's membership in the UN—including the Soviet Union's permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. No member state of the UN formally objected to this step. The legitimacy of this act has been questioned by some legal scholars as the Soviet Union itself was not constitutionally succeeded by the Russian Federation, but merely dissolved. Others argued that the international community had already established the precedent of recognizing the Soviet Union as the legal successor of the Russian Empire, and so recognizing the Russian Federation as the Soviet Union's successor state was valid.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Dissolution of the Soviet Union
On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev announced his resignation as President of the Soviet Union. The red hammer and sickle flag of the Soviet Union was lowered from the Senate building in the Kremlin and replaced with the tricolour flag of Russia. The next day, 26 December 1991, the Council of Republics, the upper chamber of the Supreme Soviet, formally voted the Soviet Union out of existence (the lower chamber, the Council of the Union, had been left without a quorum after the Russian deputies withdrew), thus ending the life of the world's first and oldest socialist state. All former Soviet embassies became Russian embassies while Russia received nuclear weapons from the other former republics by 1996. A constitutional crisis occurred in 1993 had been escalated into violence and the new constitution finally abolished the last vestiges of the Soviet political system.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Beginning of radical economic reforms in Russia
On 1 November 1991, the RSFSR Congress of People's Deputies issued Decision No. 1831-1 On the Legal Support of the Economic Reform whereby the Russian president (Boris Yeltsin) was granted the right to issue decrees required for the economic reform even if they contravened the laws. Such decrees entered into force if they were not repealed within 7 days by the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR or its Presidium. Five days later, Boris Yeltsin, in addition to the duties of the President, assumed the duties of the prime minister.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Beginning of radical economic reforms in Russia
Yegor Gaidar became deputy prime minister and simultaneously economic and finance minister. On 15 November 1991, Boris Yeltsin issued Decree No. 213 On the Liberalization of Foreign Economic Activity on the Territory of the RSFSR whereby all Russian companies were allowed to import and to export goods and to acquire foreign currency (previously all foreign trade had been tightly controlled by the state). Following the issuing of Decree No. 213, on 3 December 1991 Boris Yeltsin issued Decree No. 297 On the Measures to Liberalize Prices whereby from 2 January 1992 most previously existing price controls were abolished.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Trial of the members of the GKChP
The GKChP members and their accomplices were charged with treason in the form of a conspiracy aimed at capturing power. However, by January 1993, they had all been released from custody pending trial. The trial in the Military Chamber of the Russian Supreme Court began on 14 April 1993. On 23 February 1994, the State Duma declared amnesty for all GKChP members and their accomplices, along with the participants of the October 1993 crisis. They all accepted the amnesty, except for General Varennikov, who demanded the continuation of the trial and was finally acquitted on 11 August 1994. The Russian Procuracy also wanted to charge former Deputy Defense Minister Vladislav Achalov, but the Russian Supreme Soviet refused to lift his immunity. Additionally, the Procuracy refrained from charging numerous other individuals alleged of complicity in the coup, including Army Chief of Staff.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Commemoration of the civilians killed
Thousands of people attended the funeral of Dmitry Komar, Ilya Krichevsky, and Vladimir Usov on 24 August 1991. Gorbachev made the three men posthumous Heroes of the Soviet Union, for their bravery "blocking the way to those who wanted to strangle democracy. ".


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Parliamentary commission
In 1991, the Parliamentary Commission for Investigating Causes and Reasons of the coup attempt was established under Lev Ponomaryov, but in 1992, it was dissolved at Ruslan Khasbulatov's insistence.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, International reactions, United States
During his vacation in Walker's Point Estate in Kennebunkport, Maine, the President of the United States, George H. W. Bush made a blunt demand for Gorbachev's restoration to power and said the United States did not accept the legitimacy of the self-proclaimed new Soviet Government. He returned to the White House after rushing from his vacation home, receiving a letter from Kozyrev aboard Air Force One. Bush then issued a strongly-worded statement that followed a day of consultations with other leaders of the Western alliance and a concerted effort to squeeze the new Soviet leadership by freezing economic aid programs. He decried the coup as a "misguided and illegitimate effort" that "bypasses both Soviet law and the will of the Soviet peoples." President Bush called the overthrow "very disturbing," and he put a hold on U.S. aid to the Soviet Union until the coup was ended.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, International reactions, United States
The Bush statement, drafted after a series of meetings with top aides at the White House, was much more forceful than the President's initial reaction that morning in Maine. It was in keeping with a unified Western effort to apply both diplomatic and economic pressure to the group of Soviet officials seeking to gain control of the country.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, International reactions, United States
"I can't believe that the Soviet people will allow a reversal in the progress that they have recently made toward economic and political freedom. Based on my extensive meetings and conversations with him, I am convinced that President Gorbachev had the best interest of the Soviet people in mind. I have always felt that his opposition came from the communist bureaucracy, and I can only hope that enough progress was made that a movement toward democracy will be unstoppable."


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, International reactions, United States
On 2 September 1991, the United States re-recognized the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania when Bush delivered the press conference in Kennebunkport. The coup also led several members of Congress such as Sam Nunn, Les Aspin, and Richard Lugar to become concerned about the security of Soviet weapons of mass destruction and the potential for nuclear proliferation in the unstable conditions. Despite public opposition to further aid to the Soviet Union and ambivalence from the Bush administration, they oversaw the ratification of the Soviet Nuclear Threat Reduction Act of 1991 authorizing the Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program providing funding to post-Soviet states for the decommissioning of WMD stockpiles.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, International reactions, United Kingdom
The British Prime Minister John Major had expressed feelings in a 1991 interview on behalf of the UK about the coup and said "I think there are many reasons why it failed and a great deal of time and trouble will be spent on analysing that later. There were, I think, a number of things that were significant. I don't think it was terribly well-handled from the point of view of those organising the coup.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, International reactions, United Kingdom
I think the enormous and unanimous condemnation of the rest of the world publicly of the coup was of immense encouragement to the people resisting it. That is not just my view; that is the view that has been expressed to me by Mr. Shevardnadze, Mr. Yakovlev, President Yeltsin and many others as well to whom I have spoken to the last 48 hours. The moral pressure from the West and the fact that we were prepared to state unequivocally that the coup was illegal and that we wanted the legal government restored, was of immense help in the Soviet Union. I think that did play a part."


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, International reactions, United Kingdom
Major met with his cabinet that same day on 19 August to deal with the crisis. He added, "There seems little doubt that President Gorbachev has been removed from power by an unconstitutional seizure of power. There are constitutional ways of removing the president of the Soviet Union; they have not been used. I believe that the whole world has a very serious stake in the events currently taking place in the Soviet Union.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, International reactions, United Kingdom
The reform process there is of vital importance to the world and of most vital importance of course to the Soviet people themselves and I hope that is fully clear. There is a great deal of information we don't yet have, but I would like to make clear above all that we would expect the Soviet Union to respect and honor all the commitments that President Gorbachev has made on its behalf", he said, echoing sentiments from a litany of other Western leaders.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, International reactions, United Kingdom
However, the British Government had frozen $80 million in economic aid to Moscow, and the European Community scheduled an emergency meeting in which it was expected to suspend a $1.5 billion aid program.


1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, In popular media
Yeltsin: Three Days in August (Ельцин. Три дня в августе) is a 2011 Russian film that dramatized the coup.


1991 Sovran Bank Classic
The 1991 Sovran Bank Classic was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center in Washington, D.C. in the United States that was part of the Championship Series of the 1991 ATP Tour. It was the 23rd edition of the tournament was held from July 15 through July 21, 1991. First-seeded Andre Agassi won his second consecutive singles title at the event.


1991 Sovran Bank Classic, Finals, Doubles
Scott Davis /  David Pate defeated  Ken Flach /  Robert Seguso 6–4, 6–2


1991 Sovran Bank Classic – Doubles
Grant Connell and Glenn Michibata were the defending champions, but lost in the semifinals to tournament runners-up Ken Flach and Robert Seguso.


1991 Sovran Bank Classic – Doubles
Scott Davis and David Pate won the title by defeating Ken Flach and Robert Seguso 6–4, 6–2 in the final.


1991 Sovran Bank Classic – Doubles, Seeds
The first four seeds received a bye to the second round.


1991 Sovran Bank Classic – Singles
Andre Agassi was the defending champion and successfully defended his title, by defeating Petr Korda 6–3, 6–4 in the final.


1991 Sovran Bank Classic – Singles, Seeds
The first eight seeds received a bye to the second round.


1991 Spanish Grand Prix
The 1991 Spanish Grand Prix (formally the XXXIII Gran Premio Tío Pepe de España) was a Formula One motor race held on 29 September 1991 at the Circuit de Catalunya. It was the fourteenth race of the 1991 FIA Formula One World Championship, and the first Spanish Grand Prix to be held at Catalunya.


1991 Spanish Grand Prix
The 65-lap race was won by Nigel Mansell, driving a Williams-Renault, after he started from second position. Alain Prost finished second in a Ferrari, with Mansell's teammate Riccardo Patrese third. Mansell's Drivers' Championship rival, Ayrton Senna, finished fifth in his McLaren-Honda, meaning that he led Mansell by 16 points with two races remaining.


1991 Spanish Grand Prix, Pre-race
There was a lot of action in the backrooms in the week separating the Portuguese and Spanish Grands Prix with the big news being that Max Mosley was elected president of the FISA, replacing Jean-Marie Balestre. There were also changes in the driver line-ups as Michael Bartels returned to Lotus replacing Johnny Herbert who had obligations in the Japanese Formula 3000. Jordan had replaced Roberto Moreno with young Italian rookie Alessandro Zanardi, and Fondmetal had sacked Olivier Grouillard and replaced him with Gabriele Tarquini of AGS, Grouillard promptly taking Tarquini's old seat. Championship challenger Nigel Mansell was limping all weekend, the Williams driver having injured his ankle in a football match.


1991 Spanish Grand Prix, Qualifying, Pre-qualifying report
The pre-qualifying pool in Spain was reduced to seven entrants when Coloni driver Pedro Chaves refused to drive the car, frustrated at the lack of testing and the non-payment of his retainer. The team were unable to find another driver to attempt to pre-qualify the C4, so it stayed in the garage. Chaves had failed to pre-qualify on all 13 of his attempts this season, and did not drive for the team again.


1991 Spanish Grand Prix, Qualifying, Pre-qualifying report
Brabham secured their fifth consecutive 1–2 in the pre-qualifying session, with Martin Brundle a couple of tenths of a second faster than Mark Blundell. The third placed pre-qualifier, Michele Alboreto in the Footwork, was over two seconds behind Blundell. On his first outing for Fondmetal after the sacking of Olivier Grouillard, Gabriele Tarquini took the last pre-qualifying spot in the Fomet-1, 0.25 seconds behind Alboreto.


1991 Spanish Grand Prix, Qualifying, Pre-qualifying report
Alex Caffi missed out again in fifth place in the other Footwork, just 0.062 seconds slower than Tarquini. It was his fifth failure to pre-qualify in six attempts. Sixth was Fabrizio Barbazza in the AGS, just over half a second faster than his new team-mate Grouillard. It was to be their last appearances for the team as AGS withdrew from Formula One before the next event, having spent six seasons at the top level.


1991 Spanish Grand Prix, Qualifying, Qualifying report
In Qualifying Gerhard Berger did a favour to teammate Ayrton Senna by taking pole position from Mansell, Senna, Riccardo Patrese, Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost, Jean Alesi, Ivan Capelli, Emanuele Pirro and Nelson Piquet.


1991 Spanish Grand Prix, Race, Race report
On race morning it was raining, but by start time it had stopped, although the track was still wet. At the start Senna got away well and challenged Berger, while Mansell was right on his tail. Toward the end of lap one Schumacher surprised Mansell to take third place. At the back Éric Bernard and Érik Comas collided, both men being out on the spot. The track was incredibly slippery and there was a lot of action at the front with Senna, Schumacher, Mansell, and Alesi all fighting over third place, while Berger started to scamper away in the lead.


1991 Spanish Grand Prix, Race, Race report
Mansell tried to chase the leader and forced his way past Schumacher before setting off after Senna. Eventually he pounced on the main straight, the two great rivals going wheel to wheel, just millimetres apart, with Mansell taking the position and setting off after Berger. Prost was the first front-runner to stop for dry tyres, followed shortly by leader Berger, who had a very bad stop. Mansell and Senna both stopped on the same lap and it was the McLaren team who won the confrontation, getting Senna out ahead and into the lead from Berger, Mansell, and Schumacher.


1991 Spanish Grand Prix, Race, Race report
On the following lap Senna let Berger through as Mansell was closing in. The rain returned and Senna had a dramatic spin at the last corner, dropping from second to fifth while Schumacher passed Prost for third. Mansell closed on Berger, and on lap 20 he made his way up the inside to take the lead and proceeded to pull away, while Berger came under pressure from the charging Schumacher.


1991 Spanish Grand Prix, Race, Race report
A close battle ended when Schumacher spun while trying to pass, he would stay in the race, but down in sixth place, which would become fifth when Berger retired with yet another electronic failure. The action continued for the major placings as Patrese passed Senna for third then Alesi blew past Senna for fourth after Schumacher pitted. Mansell duly took victory from Prost, Patrese, Alesi, Senna, and Schumacher, while the Minardi drivers ended the race red faced due to a last lap collision between Gianni Morbidelli and Pierluigi Martini. Mansell's win with Senna fifth meant that the title race was back on, but Senna still led by sixteen points as the teams headed on to Japan.


1991 Spanish local elections
The 1991 Spanish local elections were held on Sunday, 26 May 1991, to elect all 66,308 councillors in the 8,060 municipalities of Spain and all 1,032 seats in 38 provincial deputations. The elections were held simultaneously with regional elections in thirteen autonomous communities, as well as local elections in the three foral deputations of the Basque Country and the ten island councils in the Balearic and Canary Islands.


1991 Spanish local elections, Electoral system
Municipalities in Spain were local corporations with independent legal personality. They had a governing body, the municipal council or corporation, composed of a mayor, deputy mayors and a plenary assembly of councillors. Voting for the local assemblies was on the basis of universal suffrage, with all nationals over eighteen, registered in the corresponding municipality and in full enjoyment of all political rights entitled to vote. The mayor was in turn elected by the plenary assembly, with a legal clause providing for the candidate of the most-voted party to be automatically elected to the post in the event no other candidate was to gather an absolute majority of votes.


1991 Spanish local elections, Electoral system
Local councillors were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with an electoral threshold of five percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each local council. Councillors were allocated to municipal councils based on the following scale:


1991 Spanish local elections, Electoral system
Councillors of municipalities with populations between 100 and 250 inhabitants were elected under an open list partial block voting, with electors voting for individual candidates instead of parties and for up to four candidates. Additionally, municipalities below 100 inhabitants, as well as those whose geographical location or the best management of municipal interests or other circumstances made it advisable, were to be organized through the open council system (Spanish: régimen de concejo abierto), in which voters would directly elect the local major.


1991 Spanish local elections, Electoral system
The electoral law provided that parties, federations, coalitions and groupings of electors were allowed to present lists of candidates. However, groupings of electors were required to secure the signature of a determined amount of the electors registered in the municipality for which they sought election:


1991 Spanish local elections, Electoral system
Electors were barred from signing for more than one list of candidates. Concurrently, parties and federations intending to enter in coalition to take part jointly at an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten days of the election being called.


1991 Spanish local elections, Electoral system
Provincial deputations were the governing bodies of provinces in Spain, having an administration role of municipal activities and composed of a provincial president, an administrative body, and a plenary. Basque provinces had foral deputations instead—called Juntas Generales—, whereas deputations for single-province autonomous communities were abolished: their functions transferred to the corresponding regional parliaments. For insular provinces, such as the Balearic and Canary Islands, deputations were replaced by island councils in each of the islands or group of islands. For Majorca, Menorca and Ibiza–Formentera this figure was referred to in Spanish as consejo insular (Catalan: consell insular), whereas for Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Fuerteventura, La Gomera, El Hierro, Lanzarote and La Palma its name was cabildo insular.


1991 Spanish local elections, Electoral system
Most deputations were indirectly elected by local councillors from municipalities in each judicial district. Seats were allocated to provincial deputations based on the following scale:


1991 Spanish local elections, Electoral system
Island councils and foral deputations were elected directly by electors under their own, specific electoral regulations.


1991 Spanish local elections, Municipal elections, City control
The following table lists party control in provincial capitals, as well as in municipalities above or around 75,000. Gains for a party are highlighted in that party's colour.


1991 Spanish local elections, Provincial deputations, Deputation control
The following table lists party control in provincial deputations. Gains for a party are highlighted in that party's colour.


1991 Spanish motorcycle Grand Prix
The 1991 Spanish motorcycle Grand Prix was the fourth round of the 1991 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 10–12 May 1991 at the Jerez circuit.


1991 Spanish motorcycle Grand Prix, 500 cc race report
Wayne Rainey’s 3rd pole in 4 races; takes turn 1 from Mick Doohan, John Kocinski, Eddie Lawson and Kevin Schwantz.


1991 Spanish motorcycle Grand Prix, 500 cc race report
Rainey and Doohan get a little gap to Kocinski, then it's a large gap to 4th. Doohan starts to open a gap from Rainey, who starts to get pressure from his teammate Kocinski.


1991 Spanish motorcycle Grand Prix, 500 cc race report
Kocinski passes Rainey without much finesse. Doohan wins with a large gap and Kocinski’s 2nd place takes 2 points from Rainey’s standing, so he's now 4 points behind Doohan.


1991 Spanish motorcycle Grand Prix, 500 cc race report
Rainey says that his tire blistered and had to nurse it on the right-handers. Schwantz' Suzuki holed a piston while he was battling for 4th place.


1991 Spanish regional elections
The 1991 Spanish regional elections were held on Sunday, 26 May 1991, to elect the regional parliaments of thirteen of the seventeen autonomous communities—Aragon, Asturias, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Cantabria, Castile and León, Castilla–La Mancha, Extremadura, La Rioja, Madrid, Murcia, Navarre and the Valencian Community—, not including Andalusia, the Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia, which had separate electoral cycles. 784 of 1,178 seats in the regional parliaments were up for election. The elections were held simultaneously with local elections all throughout Spain.


1991 Spanish regional elections, Election date
Determination of election day varied depending on the autonomous community, with each one having competency to establish its own regulations. Typically, thirteen out of the seventeen autonomous communities—all but Andalusia, the Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia—had their elections fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years, to be held together with nationwide local elections.


1991 Spanish regional elections, Regional governments
The following table lists party control in autonomous communities. Gains for a party are highlighted in that party's colour.


1991 Special Honours (New Zealand)
The 1991 Special Honours in New Zealand was a Special Honours Lists, dated 14 November 1991, recognising service by New Zealand military personnel in the Gulf Region and members of New Zealand expeditions to the Antarctic.


1991 Speedway World Pairs Championship
The 1991 Speedway World Pairs Championship was the twenty-second FIM Speedway World Pairs Championship. The final took place in Poznań, Poland. The championship was won by Denmark (28 points) who beat Sweden (24 points) and Norway (19 points).


1991 Speedway World Team Cup
The 1991 Speedway World Team Cup was the 32nd edition of the FIM Speedway World Team Cup to determine the team world champions.


1991 Speedway World Team Cup
The final was staged at Vojens Speedway Center, Denmark and the host nation Denmark won a ninth title, once again drawing level with England's record. It was also Hans Nielsen's ninth gold medal having taken part in all of Denmark's title wins from 1978 until 1991.


1991 Speedway World Team Cup, Qualification, Group B
M - exclusion for exceeding two-minute time allowance • T - exclusion for touching the tapes • X - other exclusion • E - retired or mechanical failure • F - fell


1991 Speedway World Team Cup, Qualification, Group A
M - exclusion for exceeding two-minute time allowance • T - exclusion for touching the tapes • X - other exclusion • E - retired or mechanical failure • F - fell


1991 Speedway World Team Cup, World Final
M - exclusion for exceeding two-minute time allowance • T - exclusion for touching the tapes • X - other exclusion • E - retired or mechanical failure • F - fell


1991 Spengler Cup
The 1991 Spengler Cup was held in Davos, Switzerland between December 26, 1991, and December 31, 1991. All matches were played at HC Davos's home arena, Eisstadion Davos. The final was won 5-2 by CSKA Moscow over HC Lugano.


1991 St. Louis Cardinals season
The St. Louis Cardinals 1991 season was the team's 110th season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 100th season in the National League. The Cardinals rebounded from a rare last-place finish a year earlier to register a record of 84-78 during the season and finished 2nd to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League East division by fourteen games.


1991 St. Louis Cardinals season
Ozzie Smith set the National League record for fewest errors in a season by a shortstop with 8 errors. Gold Gloves were awarded to catcher Tom Pagnozzi and shortstop Ozzie Smith this year.


1991 St. Louis Cardinals season, Regular season, Transactions
June 3, 1991: John Mabry was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 6th round of the 1991 amateur draft. Player signed June 11, 1991.


1991 St. Louis Cardinals season, Player stats, Batting
Note: G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting Average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In


1991 St. Louis Cardinals season, Player stats, Batting, Other batters
Note; G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; Avg.= Batting Average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In


1991 St. Louis Cardinals season, Player stats, Starting pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings Pitched: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned Run Average; SO = Strikeouts


1991 St. Louis Cardinals season, Player stats, Starting pitchers, Other pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings Pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned Run Average; SO = Strikeouts


1991 St. Louis Cardinals season, Player stats, Starting pitchers, Other pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned Run Average; SO = Strikeouts


1991 St. Petersburg Open
The 1991 St. Petersburg Open was a women's tennis tournament played from September 21 through 29, 1991, on indoor carpet courts at the St. Petersburg Sports and Concert Complex in Saint Petersburg, Soviet Union, that was part of Tier V of the 1991 Kraft General Foods World Tour (1991 WTA Tour). It was the third edition of the WTA tournament inaugurated under the title of Virginia Slims of Moscow in 1989 and later known as the Moscow Ladies Open.


1991 St. Petersburg Open, Champions, Doubles
Elena Brioukhovets /  Natalia Medvedeva defeated  Isabelle Demongeot /  Jo Durie 7–5, 6–3


1991 Stanford Cardinal football team
The 1991 Stanford Cardinal football team represented Stanford University in the 1991 NCAA Division I-A football season. It would be Dennis Green's final season as the head coach.


1991 Stanford Cardinal football team, Regular season
Tommy Vardell rushed for 1,843 yards with 37 touchdowns in his college career. He never fumbled once for Stanford, and ranks second in Stanford football history for most touchdowns and third for most rushing yards. Vardell set the record for most rushing yards in a season by a Cardinal running back, with his 1084 yards in 1991.


1991 Stanford Cardinal football team, Regular season
Stanford’s win over USC in October - its first over the Trojans since 1975, and only its fourth since 1957 - signaled a remarkable change in that rivalry’s competitiveness, as the two teams have shared wins roughly evenly in the succeeding years.


1991 Stanley Cup Finals
The 1991 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1990–91 season, and the culmination of the 1991 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested by the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Minnesota North Stars. It was the Penguins' first Final series appearance and their first Stanley Cup victory. This is the first and only (through 2019) Stanley Cup Final to feature two teams from the expansion group of 1967. It was Minnesota's second Final series appearance, and their last before the franchise's relocation to Dallas two years later. It was also the first time since 1983 that an American franchise would win the Stanley Cup. This was the first all-American finals since 1981, which also featured the North Stars in their first appearance.


1991 Stanley Cup Finals
This was also the first final since 1982 not to feature either of the two Alberta-based teams, the Calgary Flames or the Edmonton Oilers, and the first since 1981 not contested by a team from Western Canada.


1991 Stanley Cup Finals
The Finals and the NHL season ended on May 25, marking the last time to date that the Stanley Cup playoffs have not extended into the month of June.


1991 Stanley Cup Finals, Paths to the Finals
Minnesota defeated the first-place overall Chicago Blackhawks 4–2, the second-place overall St. Louis Blues 4–2, and the defending Cup champion Edmonton Oilers 4–1 to advance to the Finals. The North Stars became the first American team and first Norris Division team to win the Campbell Conference since the league re-aligned the divisions and adopted a divisional-based playoff format in 1981.


1991 Stanley Cup Finals, Paths to the Finals
Pittsburgh defeated the New Jersey Devils 4–3, the Washington Capitals 4–1 and the Boston Bruins 4–2.


1991 Stanley Cup Finals, Game summaries
Pittsburgh centre Mario Lemieux, despite missing a game due to a back injury, recorded 12 points in 5 games to lead all scorers and won the Conn Smythe Trophy.


1991 Stanley Cup Finals, Game summaries
Lemieux scored one of the most famous goals in NHL history during the second period of game two. Receiving the puck in the Penguins' end of the ice, Lemieux skated solo into the North Stars' zone facing two defensemen (Shawn Chambers and Neil Wilkinson) as well as goaltender Jon Casey. Lemieux skirted the puck through the legs of Chambers, skated around him, baited goaltender Casey to commit left (Lemieux's right), then switched the puck to his backhand side and slid the puck into the net (before crashing into the net himself). A brief video of the goal has since been featured on Stanley Cup promotional advertisements by the NHL.


1991 Stanley Cup Finals, Team rosters
Years indicated in boldface under the "Finals appearance" column signify that the player won the Stanley Cup in the given year.


1991 Stanley Cup Finals, Team rosters, Minnesota North Stars
Note: Neal Broten served as the North Stars acting team captain during the 1991 Stanley Cup playoffs. Curt Giles, who was injured late in the season and did not play in the playoffs, is listed as the official team captain.


1991 Stanley Cup Finals, Stanley Cup engraving
The 1991 Stanley Cup was presented to Penguins captain Mario Lemieux by NHL President John Ziegler following the Penguins 8–0 win over the North Stars in game six.


1991 Stanley Cup Finals, Stanley Cup engraving
The following Penguins players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup


1991 Stanley Cup Finals, Stanley Cup engraving, Stanley Cup engraving
Included on the team picture, but left off the Stanley Cup


1991 Stanley Cup Finals, Broadcasting
In Canada, the series was televised in English on the CBC and in French on SRC.


1991 Stanley Cup Finals, Broadcasting
In the United States, the series aired nationally on SportsChannel America. However, SportsChannel America's national coverage was blacked out in the Minnesota and Pittsburgh areas due to the local rights to North Stars and Penguins games in those respective TV markets. In Minnesota, KMSP-TV aired games one, two and five while the Midwest Sports Channel had games three, four, and six. In Pittsburgh, KBL televised games one, two and five while KDKA aired games three, four, and six. Had there been a game seven, it would have aired on KMSP-TV in Minnesota and KBL in Pittsburgh respectively.


1991 Stanley Cup playoffs
The 1991 Stanley Cup Playoffs for the National Hockey League (NHL) championship began on April 3, 1991, following the 1990–91 regular season. The 16 teams that qualified, from the top four teams of the four divisions, played best-of-seven series with re-seeding after the division finals. The Conference Champions played a best-of-seven series for the Stanley Cup.


1991 Stanley Cup playoffs
This was the first of the 25 consecutive years in which the Detroit Red Wings qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs until their streak finally ended in 2017. Their streak is tied for the third longest in NHL history, and while it was running, it was the longest active playoff appearance streak in the four major American professional sports.


1991 Stanley Cup playoffs
The finals concluded on May 25 with the Pittsburgh Penguins winning the Stanley Cup, defeating the Minnesota North Stars in the final series four games to two. Pittsburgh forward Mario Lemieux was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as Most Valuable Player of the playoffs.


1991 Stanley Cup playoffs
This was the first NHL playoffs without any series sweeps since the 1973 playoffs. In addition, this season set the record for most playoff games played with 92, which stood until 2014.


1991 Stanley Cup playoffs, Playoff seeds
In the 1990–91 season, teams qualified based on their division standing at the end of the regular season. Playoffs then proceeded among the top four teams in each division, providing a division winner. The two division winners of each conference then played off to provide a conference winner. The two conference winners then played in the Finals to produce a Stanley Cup champion.


1991 Stanley Cup playoffs, Division Semifinals, Prince of Wales Conference, (A1) Boston Bruins vs. (A4) Hartford Whalers
This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams. This was a rematch of last year's Adams Division Semifinals in which Boston won in seven games.


1991 Stanley Cup playoffs, Division Semifinals, Prince of Wales Conference, (A2) Montreal Canadiens vs. (A3) Buffalo Sabres
This was fifth playoff series between these two teams, and were meeting for the second straight year. Both teams split their previous four playoff meetings. Montreal won last year's Adams Division Semifinals in six games.


1991 Stanley Cup playoffs, Division Semifinals, Prince of Wales Conference, (P1) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (P4) New Jersey Devils
This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.


1991 Stanley Cup playoffs, Division Semifinals, Prince of Wales Conference, (P2) New York Rangers vs. (P3) Washington Capitals
This was the third playoff series meeting between these two teams, and were meeting for the second straight year. Both teams split the previous two meetings. Washington won last year's Patrick Division Finals in five games.


1991 Stanley Cup playoffs, Division Semifinals, Clarence Campbell Conference, (N1) Chicago Blackhawks vs. (N4) Minnesota North Stars
This was the sixth playoff meeting between these two teams, and were meeting for the second straight year. Chicago won four of the previous five playoff meetings, including last year's Norris Division Semifinals in seven games.


1991 Stanley Cup playoffs, Division Semifinals, Clarence Campbell Conference, (N2) St. Louis Blues vs. (N3) Detroit Red Wings
This was the third playoff meeting between these two teams. Both teams split the previous two meetings. Detroit won their most recent meeting in five games in the 1988 Norris Division Finals.


1991 Stanley Cup playoffs, Division Semifinals, Clarence Campbell Conference, (S1) Los Angeles Kings vs. (S4) Vancouver Canucks
This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams. Vancouver won the only prior meeting in five games in the 1982 Smythe Division Finals.


1991 Stanley Cup playoffs, Division Semifinals, Clarence Campbell Conference, (S2) Calgary Flames vs. (S3) Edmonton Oilers
This was the fifth playoff meeting between these two teams. Edmonton won three of the previous four meetings, including their most recent in a four-game sweep in the 1988 Smythe Division Finals.


1991 Stanley Cup playoffs, Division Finals, Prince of Wales Conference, (A1) Boston Bruins vs. (A2) Montreal Canadiens
This was the eighth straight and 26th overall playoff meeting between these two teams. Montreal lead the all-time meetings 21–4. Boston won last year's Adams Division Finals in five games.


1991 Stanley Cup playoffs, Division Finals, Prince of Wales Conference, (P1) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (P3) Washington Capitals
This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.


1991 Stanley Cup playoffs, Division Finals, Clarence Campbell Conference, (N2) St. Louis Blues vs. (N4) Minnesota North Stars
This was the ninth playoff series between these two teams, and the last one before the North Stars relocated to Dallas. St. Louis won five of the previous eight playoff series, including the most recent one in five games in the 1989 Norris Division Semifinals.


1991 Stanley Cup playoffs, Division Finals, Clarence Campbell Conference, (S1) Los Angeles Kings vs. (S3) Edmonton Oilers
This was the third straight and sixth overall playoff meeting between these two teams. Edmonton won three of the previous five meetings, including last year's Smythe Division Finals in a four-game sweep.


1991 Stanley Cup playoffs, Conference Finals, Prince of Wales Conference Final, (A1) Boston Bruins vs. (P1) Pittsburgh Penguins
This was the third playoff series between these two teams. Boston won both previous series in consecutive years, with Boston winning the most recent series 3–2 in the 1980 Preliminary Round. Boston made their second consecutive and fourth overall Conference Finals appearance; they defeated the Washington Capitals the previous year in a four-game sweep. This was the first conference final for Pittsburgh since the playoffs went to a conference format starting in 1982. Pittsburgh last played a semifinal series in 1970 where they lost to the St. Louis Blues in six games. These teams split their three-game regular season series.


1991 Stanley Cup playoffs, Conference Finals, Clarence Campbell Conference Final, (S3) Edmonton Oilers vs. (N4) Minnesota North Stars
This was the second playoff series between these two teams. Edmonton won the only previous meeting in a four-game sweep in the 1984 Clarence Campbell Conference Final. Edmonton made their second consecutive and seventh appearance in the Conference Finals; they defeated the Chicago Blackhawks the previous year in six games. Minnesota made their second Conference Finals appearance; they last made it to the Conference Finals in 1984, when they were swept by the Oilers in four straight. Minnesota won this year's three-game regular season series earning five of six points. Minnesota's series victory was the first time since realignment in 1981 that the Clarence Campbell Conference was not represented by a Canadian or Smythe Division team in the Stanley Cup Finals, and the first time since 1982 it was not represented by an Albertan team.


1991 Stanley Cup playoffs, Stanley Cup Finals
This was the first playoff series between these two teams.


1991 Stanley Cup playoffs, Playoff statistics, Goaltenders
This is a combined table of the top five goaltenders based on goals against average and the top five goaltenders based on save percentage, with at least 420 minutes played. The table is sorted by GAA, and the criteria for inclusion are bolded.


1991 State of Origin series
The 1991 State of Origin series saw the tenth time the annual three-match State of Origin series between the New South Wales and Queensland representative rugby league teams was played entirely under 'state of origin' selection rules. It was notable as Wally Lewis' farewell from Origin football and featured his half-time stoush with Mark Geyer in Game II which match culminated in Michael O'Connor's sensational match-winning sideline conversion in teeming rain.


1991 State of Origin series
For the first time since State of Origin became a three-game series in 1982, Queensland named the same starting XIII for each game of the series. The Maroons only made two changes during the series, with Origin veterans Dale Shearer coming onto the bench for Game 2 in Sydney to replace Steve Renouf, and Bob Lindner, the player of the 1990 Kangaroo tour, named on the bench for Game 3 in Brisbane (replacing Gavin Allen) after recovering from a broken leg. This saw Queensland only use 19 players for the series. In contrast, NSW only had seven players there for the entire series (five of whom started each game) and used a total of 24 players.


1991 State of Origin series, Game I
Controversy preceded the start of the series when Maroon's coach and Queensland Origin figurehead Arthur Beetson was deposed in favour of Manly-Warringah coach and former New Zealand test coach Graham Lowe, the first and (as of 2017) only non-Queenslander to have coached the Maroons. Two time Canberra Raiders premiership winning coach Tim Sheens got the job as New South Wales coach, replacing Supercoach Jack Gibson who had retired from coaching. 1990 Kangaroo tour vice-captain Ben Elias was retained as captain of the Blues, while Wally Lewis retained the captaincy of Queensland despite Mal Meninga being the incumbent Australian test captain.


1991 State of Origin series, Game I
Queensland lost their Australian fullback Gary Belcher to a knee injury only two days before the game and he was replaced by giant (197 cm) 20-year-old Brisbane Broncos fullback Paul Hauff. The Maroons also lost test hooker Kerrod Walters who had been suspended for 2 games. He was replaced by his older brother, Canberra Raiders premiership hooker Steve Walters. NSW coach Tim Sheens gave the Blues goal kicking duties to veteran Michael O'Connor over regular Penrith club kicker Greg Alexander despite O'Connor not having been Manly's first choice kicker since early in 1990 and having only kicked 2 goals to that point of the 1991 season.


1991 State of Origin series, Game I
It took sixty-four minutes for the first try to be scored in a nailbiting series opener at Lang Park. The try featured the two veterans of the Queensland side -  Wally Lewis ran wide and powered halfway through an opening and then found Mal Meninga in support who bulldozed through Greg Alexander and Andrew Ettingshausen's attempted tackle to score. Laurie Daley scored his team's only try late in the second half after grubber-kicking behind Michael Hancock into the corner and winning the race to the ball.


1991 State of Origin series, Game I
Meninga landed only one of his four shots at goal but it proved decisive as both Michael O'Connor and Alexander missed their only attempts. O'Connor's conversion attempt of Daley's try went wide leaving Qld with a 6-4 lead. Alexander had a chance to level the scores after NSW received a penalty when Meninga's restart from the Daley try was kicked over the dead ball line on the full, but his kick from half way was wide and short and fell safely into the arms of Wally Lewis who took the tackle to end the game.


1991 State of Origin series, Game I
After only being a late callup into the Queensland team, replacement fullback Paul Hauff (who at 6'6" (197 cm) was the tallest recorded fullback in premiership history) put in a near man of the match performance in his Origin and representative debut, with most judges believing he would have won the award had he not been forced off midway through the second half with a dislocated shoulder.


1991 State of Origin series, Game I
Early in the first half he twice saved certain NSW tries when he first tackled a flying Greg Alexander into touch, and only minutes later he managed to scramble back and prevent Ettingshausen from picking up the ball and scoring next to the posts after ET put in a grubber kick behind Hauff.


1991 State of Origin series, Game II
Game II of 1991 is remembered for a number of dramatic incidents. Played in drenching rain, the game exploded into violence before half-time when volatile New South Wales forward Mark Geyer chopped down on Queensland hooker Steve Walters in a tackle. Prop Andrew Gee ran in to assist his teammate, sparking a brawl which involved most players from both teams.


1991 State of Origin series, Game II
When the dust settled, referee David Manson issued a handful of cautions, but as players left the field for half-time, Queensland captain Wally Lewis continued to goad Geyer, clearly expecting the New South Wales forward to be antagonised into a violent response right in front of Manson that would have him sent off. This became a lasting image in Australian sporting folklore.


1991 State of Origin series, Game II
Soon after the break Geyer missed with a forearm directed towards Queensland fullback Paul Hauff, sparking another brawl when Peter Jackson and Gary Coyne ran in to target Geyer, while Wally Lewis was trying to calm his players by yelling that Geyer would be gone. However referee David Manson, himself a Queenslander, only cautioned the Blues second-rower. Geyer was later suspended for five matches for his questionable elbow to Hauff. The Maroons looked to have the series wrapped up when an Allan Langer break and Lewis pass led to a try to Dale Shearer 12 minutes from full-time.


1991 State of Origin series, Game II
But with six minutes remaining, a cut-out pass by Blues halfback Ricky Stuart led to a try to centre Mark McGaw out wide, levelling the scores at 12-all. As the rain continued to belt down, O'Connor, who wasn't in great form with the boot but was surprisingly given the kicking duties despite Illawarra Steelers goal kicking winger Rod Wishart in the team, lined up the conversion attempt and sensationally landed the goal to give the Blues a 14-12 victory just before full-time.


1991 State of Origin series, Game III
The Game III decider back in Brisbane was fast-paced and desperately fought with never more than four points separating the sides. Queensland led 8-4 at half-time but two New South Wales tries, both unconverted by O'Connor who also missed a long-range penalty goal from near half-way, took the Blues to a 12-8 lead. Strangely coach Sheens had stuck with Game 2 hero O'Connor as goal kicker despite him not being the regular kicker for Manly and the presence in the side of regular club kickers Greg Alexander (Penrith) and Rod Wishart (Illawarra).


1991 State of Origin series, Game III
Late in the second-half a superb dash by Maroons' hooker Steve Walters paved the way for a try to replacement back Dale Shearer, levelling the match. Repeating O'Connor's deed in Sydney, Maroon centre Mal Meninga landed the sideline conversion (the only goal kicked in the game), lifting Queensland to a 14-12 victory.


1991 State of Origin series, Game III
Ten minutes before the end of the game the Lang Park ground announcer advised the 33,226 strong crowd that Wally Lewis was playing his last game for Queensland. Lewis had decided to retire from Origin football after receiving news on the day of the game that his daughter Jaime-Lee was deaf, with only his family and the Qld team knowing about his decision.


1991 State of Origin series, Game III
The Maroons supporters roared as they never had before to lift their weary gladiators to the line and Lewis to his ultimate victory and slow farewell lap around his home ground, hand-in-hand with his two young sons Mitchell and Lincoln. Queensland manager Dick "Tosser" Turner later admitted that Lewis had given an instruction and plotted the perfect timing for the announcement to be made.


1991 State of the Union Address
The 1991 State of the Union Address was given by the 41st president of the United States, George H. W. Bush, on Tuesday, January 29, 1991, at 9 p.m. EST, in the chamber of the United States House of Representatives to the 102nd United States Congress. It was Bush's second State of the Union Address and his third speech to a joint session of the United States Congress. Presiding over this joint session was the House speaker, Tom Foley, accompanied by Dan Quayle, the vice president, in his capacity as the president of the Senate.


1991 State of the Union Address
The speech lasted approximately 48 minutes. and contained 3823 words.


1991 State of the Union Address
The Democratic Party response was delivered by Senator George Mitchell (ME).


1991 State of the Union Address
Manuel Lujan, the Secretary of the Interior, served as the designated survivor.


1991 Stella Artois Championships
The 1991 Stella Artois Championships was a men's tennis tournament played on grass courts at the Queen's Club in London in the United Kingdom and was part of the World Series of the 1991 ATP Tour. It was the 89th edition of the tournament and was held from 10 June through 17 June 1991. Stefan Edberg won the singles event and Todd Woodbridge / Mark Woodforde won the doubles title.


1991 Stella Artois Championships, Finals, Doubles
Todd Woodbridge /  Mark Woodforde defeated  Grant Connell /  Glenn Michibata 6–4, 7–6


1991 Stella Artois Championships – Doubles
Jeremy Bates and Kevin Curren were the defending champions but they competed with different partners that year, Bates with Nick Brown and Curren with Neil Broad.


1991 Stella Artois Championships – Doubles
Broad and Curren lost in the second round to Bates and Brown.


1991 Stella Artois Championships – Doubles
Bates and Brown lost in the quarterfinals to Piet Norval and Brad Pearce.


1991 Stella Artois Championships – Doubles
Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde won in the final 6–4, 7–6 against Grant Connell and Glenn Michibata.


1991 Stella Artois Championships – Doubles, Seeds
The top four seeded teams received byes into the second round.


1991 Stella Artois Championships – Singles
Ivan Lendl was the defending champion but lost in the second round to Grant Connell.


1991 Stella Artois Championships – Singles
Stefan Edberg won in the final 6–2, 6–3 against David Wheaton.


1991 Stella Artois Championships – Singles, Seeds
The top eight seeds received a bye to the second round.


1991 Stevenage Borough Council election
The 1991 Stevenage Borough Council election took place on 2 May 1991. This was on the same day as other local elections. One third of the council was up for election; the seats which were last contested in 1987. The Labour Party retained control of the council, which it had held continuously since its creation in 1973.


1991 Stevenage Borough Council election, Overall results
All comparisons in seats and vote share are to the corresponding 1987 election.


1991 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards
The 14th Stinkers Bad Movie Awards were released by the Hastings Bad Cinema Society in 1992 to honour the worst films the film industry had to offer in 1991. Founders Mike Lancaster and Ray Wright listed Nothing but Trouble among their personal picks for the five worst movies of the 1990s.


1991 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards
As follows, there was only a Worst Picture category with excerpts of provided commentary for each nominee, as well as a list of films that were also considered for the final list but ultimately failed to make the cut (24 total).


1991 Stockholm Open
The 1991 Stockholm Open was a men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the 23rd edition of the Stockholm Open and was part of the ATP Championship Series of the 1991 ATP Tour. It took place at the Stockholm Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden, from 21 October through 28 October 1991. Second-seed Boris Becker won the singles title.


1991 Stockholm Open
The singles draw was headlined by Stefan Edberg. Other top seeds were Boris Becker, Jim Courier and Michael Stich.


1991 Stockholm Open, Finals, Singles
Boris Becker defeated  Stefan Edberg, 3–6, 6–4, 1–6, 6–2, 6–2


1991 Stockholm Open, Finals, Doubles
John Fitzgerald /  Anders Järryd defeated  Tom Nijssen /  Cyril Suk, 7–5, 6–2


1991 Stockholm Open – Doubles
Guy Forget and Jakob Hlasek were the defending champions, but Forget did not participate this year. Hlasek partnered Patrick McEnroe, losing in the quarterfinals.


1991 Stockholm Open – Doubles
John Fitzgerald and Anders Järryd won the title, defeating Tom Nijssen and Cyril Suk 7–5, 6–2 in the final.


1991 Stockholm Open – Singles
Boris Becker was the defending champion and successfully defended his title, defeating Stefan Edberg in the final, 3–6, 6–4, 1–6, 6–2, 6–2.


1991 Stockholm municipal election
The Stockholm municipal election of 1991 was held on 15 September 1991 concurrently with the 1991 Swedish parliamentary election. This election used a party-list proportional representation system to allocate the 101 seats of the Stockholm City Council (Stockholms stadsfullmäktige) amongst the various Swedish political parties. Voter turnout was 81.6%.


1991 Stockholm municipal election
Three political parties gained seats on the Stockholm City Council for the first time as a result of this election. The oldest was the Christian Democratic Social Party, which was founded in 1964, and also won a parliamentary mandate for the first time in this election. Another new addition was the Swedish Green Party, which had been participating in elections since 1982 but first won seats on the city council in this election; though they were already represented in the national Swedish Riksdag since the elections of 1988. The last new party on the city council was New Democracy, a new right-wing party which also entered the Riksdag for the first time in this year.


1991 Stockholm municipal election
As a result, a total of nine political parties were represented on the Stockholm City Council after this election, the most at any point as of the 2006 elections.


1991 Stockholm municipal election
The Social Democrats were allocated 33 seats as a result of this election, which at the time was their lowest mandate since the introduction of universal male suffrage in 1911.


1991 Sudirman Cup
The 1991 Sudirman Cup was the second tournament of the World Mixed Team Badminton Championships. It was held from April 30 to May 4, 1991 in Copenhagen, Denmark.


1991 Sudirman Cup, Results
Nigeria and Pakistan also entered, but ultimately did not participate.


1991 Sugar Bowl
The 1991 Sugar Bowl was the 57th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Tuesday, January 1. Part of the 1990–91 bowl game season, it matched the unranked Virginia Cavaliers of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the #10 Tennessee Volunteers of the Southeastern Conference (SEC).


1991 Sugar Bowl
Favored Tennessee rallied with three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to win by a point, 23–22.


1991 Sugar Bowl, Teams, Virginia
The Cavaliers opened with seven straight wins and were ranked #1 in the AP Poll for the first time in school history, but a loss to Georgia Tech dropped them to eleventh; consecutive losses to Maryland and at rival Virginia Tech dropped them out of the poll completely, as Virginia finished third in the Atlantic Coast Conference and had lost three of four entering their first (and only) Sugar Bowl appearance.


1991 Sugar Bowl, Teams, Tennessee
Tennessee was appearing in its seventh Sugar Bowl, but the first in five years. The Vols were champion of the Southeastern Conference for the second straight year due to Florida being on probation, and were as ranked as high as third until a loss to Alabama. They had started 4–0–2 before falling to Notre Dame and Alabama, with a win in between. The Volunteers ended the regular season with three wins and were ranked in the AP Top 10 for the second straight year.


1991 Sugar Bowl, Game summary
The game kicked off shortly after 7:30 p.m. CST, following the Rose Bowl on ABC, and shortly after the start of the Orange Bowl on NBC, which matched top-ranked Colorado and #5 Notre Dame.