1989

1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin Wall in November, the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia and the overthrow of the communist dictatorship in Romania in December; the movement ended in December 1991 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Revolutions against communist governments in Eastern Europe mainly succeeded, but the year also saw the suppression by the Chinese government of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing.

F. W. de Klerk was elected as State President of South Africa, and his regime gradually dismantled the apartheid system over the next five years, culminating with the 1994 election that brought jailed African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela to power.

The first commercial Internet service providers surfaced in this year,[1][2] as well as the first written proposal for the World Wide Web and New Zealand, Japan and Australia's first Internet connections.

The first babies born after preimplantation genetic diagnosis were conceived in late 1989.

From left, clockwise: an earthquake strikes the San Francisco Bay Area , killing 63 people; the proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; the Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs aground in Prince William Sound , Alaska , causing a large oil spill ; the fall of the Berlin Wall begins the downfall of Communism in Eastern Europe , and heralds German reunification ; the United States invades Panama to depose Manuel Noriega ; the Baltic Way led to the independence of the Baltic states of Estonia , Latvia , and Lithuania from the Soviet Union ; the stands of Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield , Yorkshire , where the Hillsborough disaster occurred; students demonstrate in Tiananmen Square , Beijing ; many are killed by forces of the Chinese Communist Party .
Soviet unit pictured prior to their withdrawal from Afghanistan
Mass demonstration at the Hungarian state television headquarters
The Exxon Valdez
Polish Round Table Agreement
Voyager 2 at Neptune
Baltic Way in Estonia
The Phillips disaster
Germans standing on top of the Berlin Wall
A peaceful demonstration in Prague during the Velvet Revolution
Flames engulf a building following the United States invasion of Panama