Mood:
"Old systems collapse as uncertainty and opportunity collide."
Events: "The Soviet Union dissolves and the Gulf War takes place."
Events: "The Soviet Union dissolves and the Gulf War takes place."
- Jan 17: Operation Desert Storm Begins – A massive United States-led coalition launches an intensive aerial bombing campaign against Iraqi forces, initiating active combat operations to liberate occupied Kuwait.
- Feb 28: Gulf War Ceasefire – Following a swift and decisive 100-hour ground campaign that successfully drives Iraqi forces out of Kuwait, a formal ceasefire is declared, ending the Persian Gulf War.
- Apr 3: UN Resolution 687 Passed – The United Nations Security Council formally adopts Resolution 687, establishing strict cease-fire terms and mandating the complete disarmament of Iraq's chemical and biological weapons.
- Aug 6: World Wide Web Publicly Available – Tim Berners-Lee publishes the first files describing the World Wide Web project on the internet's alt.hypertext newsgroup, making the web publicly accessible for the first time.
- Aug 24: Ukraine Declares Independence – Amidst the crumbling political architecture of the Soviet Union, the Ukrainian parliament formally adopts the Declaration of Independence, setting up a historic public referendum.
- Dec 25: Dissolution of the Soviet Union – Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev officially resigns, the Soviet hammer-and-sickle flag is lowered from the Kremlin for the final time, and the USSR ceases to exist.