1986-1990

1986

1986 Soviets free Scharansky The Soviet released Anotoly Scharansky, a leading Jewish dissedent. Scharansky was being held in Soviet jails, accused of espionage. The release, which took place on February 11, marked another event in the easing of East- West tension that had begun with Gorbachev's assumption of leadership.

President Reagan and Gorbachev had met in November 1985 at a summit in Geneva. Although no major agreements were reached, the Geneva summit marked the first in a series of meetings in which substanative agreements were reached. The release of Scharansky was soon followed by the granting of permission to emigrate for most of the leading Soviet Jewish "refuseniks" (those refused permission to emigrate).
1986 Soviets Nuclear Disaster At Chernobyl A Soviet nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in the Ukraine, not far from Kiev, exploded, releasing fatal radiation to the surrounding areas. The disaster at Chernobyl was important, not just to the over 100,000 that would eventually be affected by the radiation, but for its overall impact on Soviet citizens. The initial explosion was ignored both locally and in Moscow. Only when Scandinavian monitors noticed the high level of radiation did Soviet officials admit what had happened and begin evacuating residents from the affected areas.

The disaster and the belated reaction of the government further undermined the already diminished confidence the people of the Soviet Union had in their government.
1986 Summit at Reykjavik A two-day summit was held in Reykjavik, Iceland between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. At the summit, the Soviets made major concession in negotiations on Strategic Arms. An outline for an agreement on the elimination of intermediate missiles from Europe, as well as a framework for START (Strategic Arms Reduction Talks), was reached.

Unfortunately, Soviet demands that the US S.D.I. (Strategic Defense Initiative) program be haulted resulted in a last minute impasse in the talks. That impasse and the tired looks on the faces of the conferees at the end of the meetings resulted in the world's press labeling the sessions as a failure. However, a great deal of progress was made at the summit, progress upon which later meetings built.
1986 Portugal and Spain enter the Common Market Portugal and Spain joined the European Common Market, thus expanding the market.
1986 Marcos Flees the Phillippines On February 7, President Ferdinand Marcos, ruler of the Philippines for 20 years, ran for re-election against Corazon Aquino, widow of slain opposition leader Benigno Aquino. Marcos had Parliament declare him the winner, even though Aquino had actually won. Mass demonstrations ensued, and Marcos was forced to flee when the army refused to put down the demonstrations.
1986 US plans attack on Tripoli After a terrorist attack in Germany, during which an American serviceman was killed, the United States launched an air attack on Libya. Targets were hit in Tripoli and Benghazi. Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi's headquarters were also hit.
1986 Shuttle Challenger Explodes Seventy–three seconds after blast-off, the shuttle Challenger exploded and killed all seven astronauts on board. The explosion was the greatest loss ever for the American Space Program. The tragedy was later blamed on faulty o-rings in the booster rocket.

The crew members were: Gregory B. Jarvis, Christa McAuliffe, Dr. Ronald E. McNair, Dr. Judith Resnick, Col. Ellison S. Onizuka, Commander Francis "Dick" Scobee and Commander Michael J. Smith.

MAY THEIR COURAGE AND QUEST FOR KNOWLEDGE BE AN INSPIRATION FOR GENERATIONS.
1986 Iran Contra Deal The Reagan Administration confirmed that it had been selling arms to Iran, which was fighting a war with Iraq, in an effort to obtain the release of American hostages in Lebanon. Money from the sales was used to help the Contras fighting the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua.
1986 US Responds to Libyan Terror On April 15, in response to a Libyan-sponsored terrorist attack against Americans in West Germany, American planes attacked various targets in Libya. As a result, the Libyans scaled back their support for terrorist activities against Western targets.

1987

1987 Gorbechav cmapaigns for Glasnonst and Perosroika Mikhail Go rbachev called for multi-party representation in local elections within the Soviet Union. The multi-party elections brought the first taste of democracy to the Soviets.
1987 Reagan and Gorbechav meet in Washington The signing of the I.N.F. (Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces) treaty in 1987 marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War. I.N.F. was the first treaty to eliminate a complete class of weapons. It was also the first treaty to include an in-depth verification program.

The treaty was concieved as a result of the United States' decision to deploy Pershing intermediate missiles in Europe, against strong Soviet opposition. At the same time, the Soviet Union, under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev, had undertaken a new course of external openness and internal reform. Thus, after failing to convince America to stop deploying the Pershing missile, Gorbachev agreed to negotiate the elimination of the Pershing. In return, the Soviets agreed to destroy all of their intermediate missiles. The Soviets had nearly three times as many intermediate missiles as the US Pershing inventory.

The I.N.F. treaty convinced many that it was possible to achieve a new set of agreements with the Soviets. As a result, Soviets were able to quicken the pace of what was known as "glasnost" (openess and reform). Glasnost would ultimately cause the end of the Soviet empire.

1987 Tamil Guerrilla Ambush Convey Tamil guerrillas, opposed to the government of the Sinhalese majority in Sri Lanka, attacked a convoy about 100 miles north of Colombo. The guerrillas killed 127 people and wounded 60. With the agreement of the Sri Lankan government, India sent peacekeeping forces to Northern Sri Lanka in July. That force grew to 40,000 men. By the time India withdrew its forces at the end of 1989, 1,000 had been killed and 3,000 wounded.
1987 Libyan Troops Driven Out of Chad Chad took the offensive in its civil war. The Army of Chad attacked Libyan forces in the northern village of Aozou and routed them. They then raided a Libyan air base that was being used to support the Libyan war effort in Chad. The Chadian Army claimed to have destroyed 26 Libyan planes. A cease-fire was soon negotiated.
1987 USS Stark Hit by Exocet Missiles The USS Stark, a US frigate, was attacked by an Iraqi air-to-sea missile and severely damaged. Thirty sailors were killed in the attack, which was apparently accidental.
1987 Intifada Begins When an Israeli truck in the Gaza Strip hit and killed four people, Palestinians responded by violent protests. The violent protests led by the youth became known and the "Intifada." The Israelis found it very difficult to put down the uprising.
1987 Rioting Brakes Out in Haj On the eve of the annual Haj, Shi'ite Muslims mostly from Iran started a riot with Saudi Arabian police. Four hundred and two were killed in the fighting.

1988

1988 Gorbechav Announces Unilateral Troop Cuts Soviet Premier Gorbachev announced at the UN that the Soviet Union was unilaterally cutting back its conventional forces in Eastern Europe by 500,000 troops. The cutback was greeted with joy in the West, but was, in fact, forced on the Soviets by their inability to maintain the forces. It soon became academic, as Eastern Europe became independent of Moscow.
1988 Soviets Pull Out of Afghanistan The Soviets agreed to remove their troops from Afghanistan. There was a total of 120,000 troops in Afghanistan at the time. The Soviet losses were estimated at 16,000 soldiers killed during the war in Afghanistan.
1988 Ten Day Siege of Golden Temple Thirty-six were killed during the siege of the Sikh Golden Temple by the Indian Army. During the first part of the year, 750 people were killed in fighting between Hindus and Sikhs.
1988 Iranian Passenger Jet Downed By US In a case of mistaken identity, the USS Vincennes shot down an Iranian passenger plane. The Airbus was carrying nearly 300 passengers, and all were killed.
1988 Longest Underseas Tunnel Opens A railroad tunnel opened between Aomori on the Honshu Island and Hakidate in Hokkaido, Japan. The tunnel, called "Seikan," was 33.44 miles long and was as deep as 787 feet below water at one point.
1988 Free Elections held for Soviet Congress of Deputies Free elections were held in the Soviet Union for the first time in its history. The formation of the new Soviet Congress of Deputies brought many leading dissidents to elected postions in the Congress, including Andrei Sakharov. Boris Yeltsin was also elected. Yeltsin had been ousted from the Central Committee a year earlier.

Despite the fact that the majority of the seats in the Congress were held by members of the Communist Party, the sessions of the Congress held after the election were televised live on Soviet TV, and were free and open. The resulting debates brought home to the Soviet people, for the first time, the potential meaning of democracy. The debates also brought forth many of the secrets held by the Communist regime to the public eye for the first time.

1989

1989 Solidarity Wins Election in Poland On June 5, the Solidarity movement won, by an overwhelming majority, in the first free election in Poland. The elections came after an agreement was reached in April between the government and Solidarity, which called for free elections. Soldarity won 96 out of 100 seats in the new Senate. The overwhelming voice of the people forced Poland's Communists to concede defeat and resign. When the Soviets did nothing to forestall these actions, Communist regimes in the rest of Europe were doomed.
1989 Berlin Wall Comes Down On October 18, the regime of Erich Hoenecker, the Communist leader of East Germany, fell. It succumbed to increasing riots, as well as a flood of East Germans leaving via the open borders of Hungary. On November 10, the new government announced the end of all travel restrictions, and soon thousands of Berliners took part in taking down the Berlin Wall that had divided the city for 27 years.
1989 Havel becomes President of Czechoslavakia The Communist regime of Czechoslovakia yielded to popular demands and allowed free elections. In the election, Vaclev Havel, one of the leading Czech dissidents, was elected President, ending Communist rule in the country.
1989 Ceausecu Ousted in Romania In the only bloody revolt in Eastern Europe, Romanian strongman Nicole Ceausecu was deposed. The Romanian secret service fired on demonstrators, but before long, regular army troops turned on member of the Securiat, resulting in a brief civil war and the ouster of the regime. Ceausecu was tried and executed within days. He was the only former Communist leader of Eastern Europe to meet such a fate.
1989 Japanese Emperor Hirohito dies Japanese Emperor Hirohito died at the age of 87.
1989 Pro- Democracy Rallies in Tiananmen Square In April, students in Peking began a series of demonstrations demanding democratization of China. These demonstrations culminated in the occupation of Tiananmen Square, the central square in Peking. As the student rally continued, a power struggle ensued inside the Chinese government. The hard-liners won, and the order went out to clear the square. This was done with considerable loss of life. Mass arrests of the protesters followed. These events were broadcast live on television throughout the world.
1989 Angola Civil War Halted by Cease Fire Angola declared its independence from Portugal. Two separate governments were proclaimed: the Soviet-backed Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the National Union for Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). A civil war ensued, during which the MPLA accepted Cuban troops to support its cause. UNITA received aid from South Africa, which hurt its cause in the West.
1989 Exxon Valdez Runs Aground The worst oil spill in US history occurred when the super-tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince Willliam Sound, Alaska. About 730 miles of coastline were affected by the oil spill, and Exxon spent over $1 billion in trying to clean up the damage.
1989 Earthquake Hits San Francisco An earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale hit the San Francisco area. The quake killed 57 people but caused nearly $10 billion in damages.
1989 The first Liver Transplant The first liver transplant, using a live donor, took place at the Chicago Medical Center.
1989 Chilean Voters Vote To End Military Rule Elections held in December brought Patricio Aylwin to power as President of Chile. Chileans held their breaths, but Chilean military dictator, Augusto Pinochet, stepped aside at the beginning of 1990 in favor of the newly-elected President.
1989 US Troops invade Panama When Panamanian strongman, General Manuel Noriega, clamped down on the limited democracy existing in Panama, the US intervened and ousted the Noriega–led government. Noriega was arrested and brought to the United States to face charges of drug trafficking.


1990

1990 Lithuania Independent On March 11, the Lithuanian Parliament declared its independence from the Soviet Union. The parliament elected Vitautas Landsbergis the new leader. The Soviet Central Government took no significant action against the new Lithuanian regime, and soon the other Baltic States Latvia and Estonia declared their independence as well.

Minor clashes developed between Soviet troops and local demonstrators, but as the Soviet Union crumbled, there was little that it could do.

1990 Yeltsin President Of Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin was elected President of the Russian Federation. The election made Yeltsin the highest official directly elected by the Russian people and, thus, placed him on an equal status with Gorbachev, who had never been elected.
1990 Germany United On October 3, East and West Germany formally reunited. The newly-reunited Germany ended the division of Germany created with the end of World War II.
1990 Yugoslavia Brakes Up The Yugoslavian Communist Party voted to give up its monopoly on power and declared the country a "multi-party democracy." In Slovenia, a center right coalition favoring independence was elected. They then held a referendum, in which independence was approved for Slovenia. In Croatia, the population also voted for independence; while in Serbia, a party dedicated to a strong central government won the election.
1990 Walesa, Polish President Lech Walesa became the first freely-elected President of Poland. He received 74% of the vote.
1990 Elections in Myanmar In the first free elections in 30 years, the voters of Myanmar (formerly Burma) repudiated the military government. The military ignored the election and maintained their rule.
1990 Nelson mandela Freed Nelson Mandela, leader of the African National Congress, was released after spending 27 years behind prison walls. Mandela was released by President F.W. DeKlerk, as the first step in the creation of a multi-racial democracy.
1990 Nambia Free After being occupied by South Africa for nearly 70 years, Namibia became independent.
1990 Iraq Attacks Kurds in Northern Iraq Iraqi troops began an all-out assault on Kurdish forces revolting against Saddam Hussein in northern Iraq. After pressure from the US, Iraq withdrew from the northern border area, and the United States set up a security zone for the Kurds in northern Iraq.
1990 Gulf War Begins On August 2, Iraq attacked Kuwait. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had a number of claims against Kuwait, but most important among them was Iraq's longstanding assertion that Kuwait was actually part of Iraq. The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution demanding Iraqi withdrawal, and the US rushed troops to Saudi Arabia to defend it against an expected Iraqi attack. US President Bush put together an international coalition that massed in Saudi Arabia to force Iraq out of Kuwait.

On January 15, 1991 the US-led coalition struck with a massive air attack against Iraqi targets. Hussein responded with a missile attack against Israel, which did not retaliate due to US pressure.

On February 24, a land offensive was begun; it met little resistance as Iraqi forces collapsed. Coalition forces liberated Kuwait and occupied parts of Southern Iraq. A cease-fire was accepted before complete destruction of the Iraqi army occurred. When the war ended, Saddam Hussein remained in power. He successfully suppressed a Shi'ite revolt in the South and a Kurdish revolt in the North.

1990 Free elections were held in Nicaragua Violetta Chamorro, owner of the opposition newspaper La Prensa, led a broad spectrum of opposition to the Sandinistas. She won the election.