1990

Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen,[1] the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South Africa, and the Baltic states declaring independence from the Soviet Union during Perestroika.

Yugoslavia's communist regime collapses amidst increasing internal tensions and multiparty elections held within its constituent republics result in separatist governments being elected in most of the republics marking the beginning of the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Also in this year began the crisis that would lead to the Gulf War in 1991 following the Iraq invasion and the largely internationally unrecognized annexation of Kuwait.

This led to Operation Desert Shield being enacted with an international coalition of military forces being built up on the Kuwaiti-Saudi border with demands for Iraq to peacefully withdraw from Kuwait.

[2] 1990 also saw the official decommissioning of the ARPANET, a forerunner of the Internet system and the introduction of the first content web search engine, Archie, on September 10.

From top-left, clockwise: the 1990 FIFA World Cup is held in Italy and is won by West Germany ; the Human Genome Project is launched; The Pale Blue Dot image is taken by Voyager 1 ; West Germany and East Germany reunify ; British police stand on-guard during the poll tax riots ; Iraq under Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait , beginning the Gulf War ; an earthquake kills 35,000-50,000 people in northern Iran ; the Hubble Space Telescope is launched from the Space Shuttle Discovery .