1991 Snapshot
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The Vibe
Pop Culture
Internet Public
Slang
"Not!"
Price Check
Gas: $1.14
Notable Deaths
Freddie Mercury, Miles Davis, Dr. Seuss
Music & Style
Nirvana/Nevermind
World Affairs
Soviet Collapse
Gulf War
Year's Summary
- Global Events: The Soviet Union officially dissolves. The Gulf War ends with Operation Desert Storm. Apartheid is repealed in South Africa. The trial of the Rodney King beating footage sparks national debate.
- Culture & Mood: Nirvana releases Nevermind, and Grunge officially kills the 80s 'Hair Metal' era. The world is becoming more politically conscious and 'edgy.'
- Fashion & Slang: Flannel shirts and combat boots (Doc Martens). 'Talk to the hand.'
- Fun Fact: The first ever website goes live on the Internet, and 1991 was the year the Super Nintendo (SNES) was released in North America!
- 16 Jan: Operation Desert Storm Erupts in the Persian Gulf – Following Iraq's failure to meet the United Nations Security Council withdrawal deadline, a United States-led coalition of thirty-four nations launched Operation Desert Storm, a massive aerial and naval bombing campaign designed to liberate occupied Kuwait and restore regional stability.
- 28 Feb: Gulf War Combat Operations Suspend Following Coalition Victory – After a rapid one-hundred-hour ground offensive that successfully routed Iraqi military forces from Kuwait, United States President George H. W. Bush declared a formal cessation of military hostilities, securing an allied victory and establishing a temporary ceasefire framework.
- 3 Mar: Rodney King Police Brutality Incident Captured on Videotape in Los Angeles – Amateur videographer George Holliday filmed Los Angeles Police Department officers severely beating motorist Rodney King following a traffic stop, sparking nationwide outrage, intense public debates regarding systemic police brutality, and heightened racial tensions.
- 1 Jun: Albania Ends Decades of Totalitarian Isolation Under Ramiz Alia – Following widespread civil unrest, student-led general strikes, and economic collapse, the communist government of Albania collapsed, paving the way for multiparty elections and ending decades of severe Stalinist isolation under Enver Hoxha's former regime.
- 25 Jun: Slovenia and Croatia Declare Formal Independence from Yugoslavia – The republics of Slovenia and Croatia officially declared their sovereign independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, triggering immediate military interventions by the Yugoslav People's Army and marking the tragic beginning of the bloody Yugoslav Wars.
- 1 Jul: Warsaw Pact Officially Dissolved at Summit in Prague – Representatives from member states of the Warsaw Pact met in Prague, Czechoslovakia, to sign an official protocol terminating the military alliance, sealing the definitive dissolution of the Soviet-led Eastern bloc security apparatus.
- 21 Aug: Failed August Coup Against Mikhail Gorbachev Accelerates Soviet Collapse – Hardline communist officials and military leaders launched a botched coup d'état against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev while he was vacationing in Crimea, precipitating a dramatic popular counter-protest led by Boris Yeltsin and fatally undermining the central authority of the Soviet Union.
- 24 Aug: Ukraine Declares Independence from the Soviet Union – The parliament of the Ukrainian SSR overwhelmingly adopted the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, severing ties with Moscow and setting the stage for a national referendum that would decisively confirm the dissolution of the USSR.
- 6 Sep: Leningrad Officially Restores Historic Name of Saint Petersburg – Following a popular municipal referendum, residents of the major Soviet metropolis voted to officially restore the city's historic pre-revolutionary name of Saint Petersburg, shedding its Soviet-era designation honoring Vladimir Lenin.
- 25 Dec: Mikhail Gorbachev Resigns and Soviet Flag Lowered from Kremlin – Mikhail Gorbachev formally resigned as President of the Soviet Union in a televised address, following which the Soviet hammer-and-sickle flag was lowered from the Kremlin flagpole for the final time, replaced by the Russian tricolor as the USSR officially ceased to exist.