ABSTRACT
On 19 August 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev was being held captive in a Crimean dacha as the coup against him unfolded, his communication lines cut. He recalls how he managed on that day, unnoticed by his captors, to tune in on a small transistor radio to the BBC World Service to learn the truth about the dramatic events unfolding in Moscow (BBC 2007). These events marked the closing chapter of a Cold War which had been on the wane since Gorbachev launched his perestroika reforms. By a quirk of history, on 6 August 1991 the very first posting to the World Wide Web took place, ushering in the online age.
