There are more ways than ever to listen to History Daily ad free.

Listen with Wundry Plus in the Wundry app.

As a member of Noiser Plus at Noiser.com or in Apple Podcasts,

or you can get all of History Daily plus other fantastic history podcasts at into History.com.

It's the morning of August 19th, 1991, inside an apartment building in Moscow.

Andre Milov, a university student, is jolted awake by the sound of his alarm clock.

Andre heaves himself out of bed and stumbles bleary-eyed across his apartment towards the kitchen. Andre pours himself a mug of instant coffee and takes a restorative gulp.

Through his open window, Andre can hear the sounds of a city awakening

and the distant rumble of a garbage truck. But he frowns. Today's Monday. The

trash isn't usually picked up until Wednesday. Andre Shrubs. Maybe they changed it, he thinks,

as he flops onto the sofa.

He reaches for the remote and turns on the television.

Andre is expecting the morning news,

so he's surprised to see that the transmission has been interrupted by Soviet State TV,

which is currently broadcasting a performance of Swan Lake, the ballet by Chikovsky.

Andre sits up suddenly wide awake. The first time Swan Lake replaced ordinary programming was in

1982 when former Soviet leader Brezhnev died after nearly two decades in power. Swan Lake has been aired twice since then on

both occasions marking the death of a Soviet premiere. For Russians like Andre,

seeing Swan Lake on television can mean only one thing, political upheaval.

Andre notices that the roar of the garbage trucks outside is getting louder,

rising to an almost deafening pitch.

With a creeping sense of dread, Andre stands and walks slowly to the window.

...