1991

Events

1. 13 January

   Soviet troops storm the Vilnius television tower

   Soviet forces attacked unarmed crowds defending Lithuanian broadcasting sites in Vilnius, killing 14 civilians. The violence strengthened support for Baltic independence at home and abroad.

2. 17 January

   Operation Desert Storm opens with air strikes on Iraq

   A US-led coalition began a massive air campaign against Iraq, which had occupied Kuwait since August 1990. A ground offensive in late February expelled Iraqi forces within 100 hours.

3. 28 February

   Gulf War ceasefire takes effect

   One hundred hours after the ground offensive began, coalition forces halted operations, Kuwait having been liberated. Saddam Hussein remained in power in Baghdad.

4. 3 March

   Rodney King's beating by Los Angeles police is filmed

   A bystander videotaped officers beating Rodney King after a car chase. The officers' acquittal in April 1992 sparked riots in Los Angeles in which more than 60 people died.

5. 29 April

   Cyclone strikes the coast of Bangladesh

   A severe tropical cyclone drove a storm surge of up to six metres onto the Chittagong coast, killing some 138,000 people. It led to wider investment in cyclone shelters and warnings.

6. 21 May

   Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated in Tamil Nadu

   A suicide bomber from the Tamil Tigers killed the former Indian prime minister at an election rally in Sriperumbudur. His mother, Indira Gandhi, had been assassinated in 1984.

7. 15 June

   Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Philippines

   The second-largest eruption of the twentieth century sent ash 35 km into the sky. Its aerosols cooled global temperatures by about 0.5°C, and timely evacuations saved thousands of lives.

   Philippines

8. 20 June

   Bundestag votes to move Germany's government to Berlin

   By 338 votes to 320, the parliament of reunified Germany chose Berlin over Bonn as the seat of government. The move was completed in 1999.

9. 25 June

   Croatia and Slovenia declare independence

   The two republics broke away from Yugoslavia on the same day. A brief war in Slovenia was followed by much longer conflicts in Croatia and Bosnia.

   Yugoslavia

10. 6 August

    Tim Berners-Lee makes the World Wide Web public

    Tim Berners-Lee posted a summary of his World Wide Web project to an internet newsgroup, inviting outside collaboration. The web, created at CERN, spread rapidly and transformed communication.

11. 

    19 August

    Soviet hardliners launch a coup against Gorbachev

    Communist hardliners placed Mikhail Gorbachev under house arrest in Crimea and declared a state of emergency. Boris Yeltsin led resistance in Moscow, the coup collapsed, and the USSR dissolved by December.

    MoscowCrimea

12. 19 September

    Hikers find Ötzi the Iceman in the Alps

    Two German hikers found a body in the ice on the Austrian-Italian border. Ötzi proved to be a man who died some 5,300 years ago, killed by an arrow, with his clothes and tools preserved.

13. 4 December

    Pan Am ceases operations

    Pan American World Airways flew its last flight after 64 years. The airline had pioneered transoceanic air travel and launched the Boeing 747, but it never recovered from deregulation, recession and the Lockerbie bombing.

14. 8 December

    Leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus agree to dissolve the USSR

    Meeting in the Belovezha Forest, Boris Yeltsin, Leonid Kravchuk and Stanislav Shushkevich declared that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist and created the Commonwealth of Independent States.

    Soviet UnionUkraine

15. 16 December

    Kazakhstan declares independence

    Kazakhstan became the last Soviet republic to declare independence, days before the USSR was dissolved. Nursultan Nazarbayev led the vast Central Asian country for nearly three decades.

16. 25 December

    Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as Soviet president

    In a televised address, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned. That evening the Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin and replaced by the Russian tricolour.

17. 31 December

    The last Soviet institutions cease to function

    By the end of the year, all remaining institutions of the Soviet Union had ceased to operate, days after Gorbachev's resignation. Fifteen independent states took its place.

    Soviet Union
18. 

    Treaty

    Belovezha Accords

    The Belovezha Accords were signed on 8 December 1991 at Viskuli in the Belovezha Forest of Belarus by the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus: Boris Yeltsin, Leonid Kravchuk and Stanislav Shushkevich.

19. 

    Event

    Santa Cruz massacre

    The Santa Cruz massacre took place on 12 November 1991, when Indonesian troops opened fire on mourners and pro-independence demonstrators at the Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili, East Timor.

20. Treaty · Peace

    Paris Peace Agreements

    The Paris Peace Agreements were signed on 23 October 1991 by Cambodia's Supreme National Council, representing the rival factions, and eighteen other states to end the war in Cambodia that followed Vietnam's invasion of 1978.

21. Treaty

    Treaty of Asunción

    The Treaty of Asunción was signed on 26 March 1991 by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay in the Paraguayan capital.

22. Event

    Dissolution of the Soviet Union

    The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the breakup of the USSR into fifteen independent states in 1991.

In the profiles

• Russian SFSRBoris Yeltsin is elected president and resists the August coup
• Russian SFSRThe republic is renamed the Russian Federation on 25 December
• Republic of LithuaniaSoviet troops kill fourteen civilians at the Vilnius television tower
• Republic of EstoniaIndependence is restored on 20 August
• Republic of LatviaFull independence is restored on 21 August
• Soviet UnionThe Soviet Union is dissolved on 26 December
• Republic of IndiaEconomic liberalisation begins after a balance-of-payments crisis
• Republic of SomalilandIndependence is declared at Burao on 18 May
• Republic of ColombiaA new constitution replaces the charter of 1886

Wars and longer events

• Convention for a Democratic South AfricaBegan · 1991–1992
• Convertibility PlanBegan · 1991–2002
• Cold WarEnded · 1947–1991
• Eritrean War of IndependenceEnded · 1961–1991
• Karabakh movementEnded · 1988–1991
• Singing RevolutionEnded · 1987–1991
• Third Indochina WarEnded · 1978–1991

Died in 1991 13

• Jiang Qing1914–1991
• Alfonso García Robles1911–1991
• Gustáv Husák1913–1991
• Max Frisch1911–1991
• Rajiv Gandhi1944–1991
• Sir John Kerr1914–1991
• Bhim Singh II of Kotah1909–1991
• Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma1912–1991
• Joey Smallwood1900–1991
• Roy Welensky1907–1991
• Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal1916–1991
• W. Arthur Lewis1915–1991
• Raghubir Sinh1908–1991

Works 1

• LinuxWork / monument

States founded 12

• Albania 1991 CE – present
• Armenia 1991 CE – present
• Azerbaijan 1991 CE – present
• Georgia 1991 CE – present
• Kazakhstan 1991 CE – present
• Kyrgyzstan 1991 CE – present
• Republic of Somaliland 1991 CE – present
• Somalia 1991 CE – present
• Tajikistan 1991 CE – present
• Transitional Government of Ethiopia 1991 CE – 1995 CE
• Turkmenistan 1991 CE – present
• Uzbekistan 1991 CE – present

States that came to an end 17

• Armenian SSR 1920 CE – 1991 CE
• Azerbaijan SSR 1920 CE – 1991 CE
• Byelorussian SSR 1920 CE – 1991 CE
• Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic 1940 CE – 1991 CE
• Georgian SSR 1921 CE – 1991 CE
• Kazakh SSR 1936 CE – 1991 CE
• Kirghiz SSR 1936 CE – 1991 CE
• Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic 1940 CE – 1991 CE
• People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia 1987 CE – 1991 CE
• People's Socialist Republic of Albania 1946 CE – 1991 CE
• Russian SFSR 1917 CE – 1991 CE
• Somali Democratic Republic 1969 CE – 1991 CE
• Soviet Union 1922 CE – 1991 CE
• Tajik SSR 1929 CE – 1991 CE
• Turkmen SSR 1924 CE – 1991 CE
• Ukrainian SSR 1919 CE – 1991 CE
• Uzbek SSR 1924 CE – 1991 CE