1991

In July 1991, India abandoned its policies of dirigism, license raj and autarky and began extensive liberalisation to its economy.

The conflict would be called the Gulf War and would mark the beginning of a since-constant American military presence in the Middle East.

[2] The year 1991 saw the rise of a ten-year-long boost of the US domestic economy with the Dow Jones Industrial Average remarkably closing in April at above 3,000 for the first time.

This step was a key factor that led to the mid-1990s public breakthrough of the internet, which would eventually accelerate the already ongoing globalization around the globe.

[5] Electronic music derivative forms were also starting to gain momentum and would define, along with the previous scenes, the sound for most of the decade.

Clockwise, from top left: A destroyed Serbian T-55 tank during the Croatian War of Independence , the beginning of the Yugoslav Wars ; the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines , the second-most powerful eruption of the 20th century; Lauda Air Flight 004 crashes, killing all 223 on board; Boris Yeltsin waves the new Russian flag after the 1991 Soviet coup d'etat attempt ; the United States and soon-to-be dissolved Soviet Union sign the START I treaty; a flooded village in Bangladesh after a cyclone killed 138,866 people ; the MV Moby Prince , which collides with an oil tanker in Italy , causing a disastrous fire and 140 deaths; USAF aircraft fly over burned-out Kuwaiti oil fields towards the end of the Gulf War .
Mount Pinatubo
The Warsaw radio mast after its collapse on August 8
August 19 : The coup attempt in Moscow
Restored flag of Russia
Map of the three Baltic states, in their flag colours.
A severely damaged brick and concrete tower, pierced with numerous shell holes
Symbol of Vukovar ; Croatian War of Independence
December 8 : The signing of the agreement effectively ending the Soviet regime's existence and the founding of the Commonwealth of Independent States.