1989
Berners-Lee proposes the Web
Tim Berners-Lee, a thirty-three-year-old British physicist at CERN, circulated a quiet proposal for a system of hypertext documents linked over the internet. His boss wrote vague but exciting in the margin. Within five years the World Wide Web would be open to the public and starting to swallow every other form of media.
Tiananmen Square massacre
After weeks of student-led democracy protests on the square, People's Liberation Army tanks and troops cleared Tiananmen overnight with live ammunition. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, died in the surrounding streets. A man with shopping bags stood in front of a column of tanks. The Chinese Communist Party had chosen: economic reform, yes; political reform, no.
Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan
The last Soviet armored column rolled north across the Friendship Bridge at Termez, ending a nine-year war that had killed fifteen thousand Soviet soldiers and a million Afghans. General Boris Gromov was the last man over the bridge. It was a defeat, though nobody quite said so. Within three years the USSR itself would be gone.
Berlin Wall falls
At an East Berlin press conference, a flustered official misread a note and said travel restrictions were lifted, effective immediately. Crowds poured toward the checkpoints. Guards, bewildered, raised the barriers. Young Germans climbed atop the wall in the floodlights, chipping and dancing. The Cold War was ending before everyone's eyes.
Beginning of Tiananmen protests
The death of reformist Communist Party leader Hu Yaobang brought students to Tiananmen Square to mourn. The mourning turned into demands for democracy and press freedom. Over seven weeks the protests swelled to a million people. The square became a kind of open-air university. On June fourth the tanks would come, and the hope would be crushed in a night.
Velvet Revolution begins in Prague
A student march in Prague was beaten by riot police, and Czechoslovakia erupted. Within ten days the Communist Party had given up its monopoly on power. A dissident playwright named Vaclav Havel, who had been in prison in the spring, was president by the end of December. The revolution earned its nickname for its bloodlessness.
Ceausescu executed
After a week of revolution in Romania, dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena were tried in an army barracks and shot by firing squad on Christmas Day. Television viewers around the world saw the bullet-riddled bodies. The last violent act of the East European revolutions of 1989 had taken place, and the year's work was done.
Hillsborough disaster
Game Boy released
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Frequently asked
What happened in the year 1989?
Saeculum lists 9 curated events from 1989. The most significant is Berners-Lee proposes the Web: Tim Berners-Lee, a thirty-three-year-old British physicist at CERN, circulated a quiet proposal for a system of hypertext documents linked over the internet.
What era was 1989 part of?
1989 falls within the Modern Era (1901-2000). World wars, cold war, and the splitting of the atom.
Which regions saw notable events in 1989?
The curated events from 1989 span Europe, East Asia and Central Asia.