1990 Snapshot
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The Vibe
Pop Culture
The Simpsons
Slang
"Talk to the hand"
Price Check
Gas: $1.15
Notable Deaths
Jim Henson, Sammy Davis Jr., Leonard Bernstein
Music & Style
Early Grunge
World Affairs
German Reunion
Gulf War Begins
Year's Summary
- Global Events: Nelson Mandela is released from prison after 27 years. East and West Germany are officially reunited. The Hubble Space Telescope is launched into orbit. The Gulf War begins following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.
- Culture & Mood: A feeling of global restructuring. The Cold War is over, and a new 'Global Village' is being born. Twin Peaks brings surrealism to mainstream TV.
- Fashion & Slang: Neon windbreakers and side-fades. If you're impressed, you say 'As if!' or 'Dope.'
- Fun Fact: 1990 was the year the first ever web server and browser were built by Tim Berners-Lee, and Home Alone became a massive box office phenomenon.
- 11 Feb: Nelson Mandela Released from Victor Verster Prison After Twenty-Seven Years – Anti-apartheid revolutionary Nelson Mandela walked free from prison in South Africa after serving twenty-seven years of incarceration, marking a monumental turning point in the struggle against racial segregation and paving the way for democratic negotiations.
- 15 Mar: Mikhail Gorbachev Elected as First Executive President of the Soviet Union – The Congress of People's Deputies elected Mikhail Gorbachev to the newly established executive presidency of the Soviet Union, consolidating political reform powers while struggling against severe economic shortages and rising nationalist movements.
- 21 Mar: Namibia Achieves Full Sovereign Independence from South African Rule – The territory of Namibia officially gained full international independence following decades of armed struggle and United Nations-supervised elections, establishing Sam Nujoma as its first democratically elected president.
- 24 Apr: Hubble Space Telescope Launched into Earth Orbit Aboard Discovery – NASA successfully launched the Space Shuttle Discovery carrying the Hubble Space Telescope into Low Earth Orbit, opening a revolutionary new window for optical astronomy and deep-space observation despite initial corrective mirror adjustments.
- 22 May: North and South Yemen Officially Merge to Form United Republic – The Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen) formally unified to establish the single sovereign state of the Republic of Yemen, reshaping geopolitical alliances across the Arabian Peninsula.
- 12 Jun: Russian Soviet Republic Adopts Declaration of State Sovereignty – The Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian SFSR adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty, declaring the supremacy of Russian republic laws over Soviet Union federal legislation and accelerating the decentralization of the USSR.
- 2 Aug: Iraqi Military Forces Invade and Occupy Kuwait – Iraqi armed forces under President Saddam Hussein launched a full-scale military invasion and occupation of neighboring Kuwait, seizing control of major oil fields and triggering an international condemnation and United Nations economic embargo.
- 3 Oct: Formal Reunification of Germany Concludes Four Decades of Division – The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) was officially dissolved and acceded to the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), formally reuniting the German nation fifty-five years after the end of World War II.
- 28 Nov: Margaret Thatcher Resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom – Following a leadership challenge within the Conservative Party over European integration and taxation policies, Margaret Thatcher announced her resignation as Prime Minister, ending eleven and a half years in office and leaving Chancellor John Major to succeed her.
- 29 Nov: United Nations Security Council Authorizes Military Action Against Iraq – The UN Security Council passed Resolution 678, establishing a January 15, 1991 deadline for Iraq to withdraw its military forces from Kuwait or face authorized international coalition military intervention.