1980s

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was one of the most well-known events of the 1980s.

The 1980s was the decade spanning from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 1989.

The decade saw social, economic and general upheaval as wealth, production and western culture migrated to new industrializing economies. As economic liberalization increased in the western world, multiple multinational corporations associated with the manufacturing industry relocated into Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, China and new market economies in eastern Europe following the collapse of communism in eastern Europe.

Developing countries across the world facing increasing economic and social difficulties as they suffer from multiple debt crises in the 1980s, requiring many of these countries to apply for financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Ethiopia witnessed widespread famine in the mid-1980s, resulting in the country having to depend on foreign aid to provide food to its population and worldwide efforts to address and raise money to help Ethiopians, such as the famous Live Aid concert in 1985.

Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan were the leaders of the United Kingdom and the USA which were the two most powerful nations during the 1980's. Both leaders led the revival of right-wing politics and helped to bring about the downfall of communism. These policies eventually became known as Thatcherism and Reaganomics.

The western world witnessed the political revival of right-wing politics and advancement of neoliberalism with the rule of politicians including Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Ronald Reagan as President of the United States, Helmut Kohl as Chancellor of Germany, Brian Mulroney as Prime Minister of Canada and Carlos Salinas de Gortari as President of Mexico.

Major civil discontent and violence occurs in the Middle East including the Iran-Iraq War, major conflict and violence in Lebanon from 1982 to 1983, U.S. military action against Libya in 1985, and the First Intifada in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

In the eastern world, hostility to authoritarianism and the failing command economies of communist states resulted in a wave of reformist policies by communist regimes such as the policies of perestroika and glasnost in the USSR, along with the overthrows and attempted overthrows of a number of communist regimes, such as in Poland, Hungary, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 in China, the Czechoslovak velvet revolution, and the overthrow of the dictatorial regime in Romania and other communist Warsaw Pact states in Central and Eastern Europe. It came to be called as the late 1980s purple passage of the autumn of nations. By 1989 with the disintigration of the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet Union announced the abandonment of political hostility to the western world and thus the Cold War ended. These changes continued to be felt in the 1990s and into the 21st century.

The 1980s was also an era of tremendous population growth around the world, surpassing even the 1970s and 1990s for arguably being the largest in human history. Population growth was particularly rapid in a number of African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian countries during this decade, with rates of natural increase close to or exceeding 4% annually.

Zeitgeist and characterization

The 1980s backlashed the hippie movement of the late 1960s, religion, patriotism and materialism making a comeback.

The kitsch of the 1970s, while itself rejected, influenced the fashion of the 1980s - in the beginning of the decade marked by the New Romantic movement and later by fashion inspired by hair metal bands, including teased hair, ripped jeans and neon clothing.

Michael Jackson was by far the most popular entertainer of the 1980s, and his leather jacket, glove and Moonwalk dance were often imitated.

The keyboard synthesizer and drum machine, introduced in the 1970s, were most popular in music in the 1980s, especially in New Wave music, after the 1980s electronic instruments were no longer popular in rock but continued to be the main component of mainstream pop.

Social trends

• The War on Drugs was instituted in the United States by President Ronald Reagan because of the excesses of drug use in the 1970s. In spite of the sentences imposed by the Reagan administration, drug use continued and new drugs such as Crack cocaine appeared in the country.
• The role of women in the workplace increased greatly. Continuing the 1970s' trend, more and more women in the English-speaking world took to calling themselves "Ms.", rather than "Mrs." or "Miss." A similar change occurred in Germany, with women choosing "Frau" instead of "Fräulein" in an effort to disassociate marital status from title. In most western countries, women began to exercise the option of keeping their maiden names after marriage; in Canada, legislation was enacted to end the practice of automatically changing a woman's last name upon marriage.
• National safety campaigns raised awareness of seat belt usage to save lives in automobile accidents, helping to make the measure mandatory in most countries and U.S. states by 1990. Similar efforts arose to push child safety seats and bike helmet use, already mandatory in a number of U.S. states and some countries.
• Rejection of smoking based on health concerns increases throughout the western world.
• Increased awareness and opposition to white-minority apartheid rule in South Africa occur in the western world.
• Counterculture in the eastern world revolves around pro-democracy stances in opposition to the multiple authoritarian communist regimes.
• Opposition to nuclear power plants grew, especially after the catastrophic 1986 Chernobyl accident.
• Environmental concerns intensified. In the United Kingdom, environmentally friendly domestic products surged in popularity. Western European countries adopted "greener" policies to cut back on oil use, recycle most of their nations' waste, and increase focus on water and energy conservation efforts. Similar "Eco-activist" trends appeared in the U.S. in the late 1980s.
• Gay rights began to weaken as people came to dislike (and even downright hate) homosexuals. Negative public views of homosexuals were further strengthened with the discovery of AIDS, which people claimed were God's punishment for homosexuals and their "loose morals".

Culture

Main article: Culture of the 1980s

Sports

See also: Sports timeline#1980s

• The 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow were disrupted by a boycott led by the United States and 64 other countries in protest of the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
• The 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles were boycotted by the Soviet Union in response to the actions taken by the United States and other countries in the previous 1980 Moscow Summer Olympic.
• The 1984 Winter Olympics are held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (now Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina). Yugoslavia becomes the second communist country to host the Olympic Games, but unlike the Soviet Union in 1980, there were no boycotts on the games by western countries.

• The Jamaica national bobsled team received major media attention and stunned the world at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada for its unexpected good performance. It overcame the stereotype that northern countries were the only efficient competitors in winter Olympic Games due to the fact of having an actual winter. The events surrounding the Jamaica bobsled team in 1988 would lead to the creation of the hit Disney movie Cool Runnings five years later which was based on Jamaica's 1988 bobsled team.

• FIA bans Group B rallying after a series of deaths and injuries take place in the 1986 season.

• Canadian hockey player Wayne Gretzky rises to fame as a dominant player in the North American National Hockey League (NHL) during 1980’s.

Fashion

Main article: 1980s in fashion

Music

See also Time line of events#1980s

Stage view of Live Aid concert at Philadelphia's JFK Stadium in the United States in 1985. The concert was an international effort by musicians and activists to sponsor action to send aid to the people of Ethiopia who were suffering from a major famine.

• The decade began with a backlash against disco music in the United states, and a movement away from the orchestral arrangements that had characterized much of the music of the 1970s. Music in the 1980s was characterized by unheard of electronic sounds accomplished through the use of synthesizers and keyboards, along with drum machines. This made a dramatic change in music.
• In the United States, MTV was launched and music videos began to have a huge effect on the record industry.U.S. Pop artists such as Madonna and Michael Jackson mastered the format and turned it into big business.
• New Wave and Synthpop were developed by many British and American artists, and became popular phenomena throughout the decade, especially in the early and mid eighties.
• Hard rock, heavy metal, Big Hair Bands and Glam metal, experienced extreme popularity in 1980s, becoming one of the most dominating music genres of the 1980s.
• Live Aid concert in 1985 containing many artists promotes attention and action to send food aid to Ethiopia whose people were suffering from a major famine.
• The Hip hop scene evolved to become a powerful musical force.

Film

Main article: 1980s in film

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Video games

See also History of video games in the 1980s

Although popularity of video games and arcades began in the mid to late 1970s, it continued throughout the 1980s with rapid growth in video game technology throughout the decade. Space Invaders, developed in Japan in 1978, was first previewed at a UK trade show in 1979, making a huge impact on the early 80s gaming scene. Many other games followed including Pac-Man, creating a Pac Man fever craze early in the decade, especially in 1982 and 1983; Super Mario Bros. games became a highly successful franchise starting in 1985, with its popularity continuing today.

In the 1980s, Atari failed to apply proper quality control to the software development process for its popular Video Computer System game console. The amount of low-quality software caused a massive collapse of the home console industry. The release of Nintendo's Famicom/NES console rectified the problem and revived home gaming by only being able to play games approved by the company. PC Engine and Sega Mega Drive were next generation game consoles that were released during the last years of the decade.

Home computers become popular in the 1980s and during that decade they were used heavily for gaming, especially the ZX Spectrum. The prevailing IBM PC standard was born in 1981 but had a status of a non-entertainment computer throughout the decade. Along with the IBM PC, the Commodore 64 (1982) was the most popular 8-bit home computer and its successor, the Amiga (1985), was the most popular 16-bit home computer.

International issues

• Militance against communist governments in Europe and Asia, collapse of the Warsaw Pact precipitates the end of the Cold War.
• International debt crisis in developing countries, reliance of these countries on aid from the International Monetary Fund.
• Spread of neoliberal economics in developed world.

Africa

A United Kingdom Royal Air Force C-130 transport aircraft airdropping food during 1985 famine in Ethiopia.

• Zimbabwe becomes independent from official colonial rule of the United Kingdom in 1980.
• The Second Sudanese Civil War erupts in 1983 between the Muslim government of Sudan in the north and non-Muslim rebel secessionists in Southern Sudan. The conflict continues through the present day Dafur genocide.
• 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia occurs, resulting in international efforts to help the Ethiopian people, including the famous Live Aid concert in July 1985.
• The United States launches an aerial bombardment of Libya in 1986 n retaliation for Libyan support of terrorism and attacks on US personnel in Germany and Turkey.
• Nigeria suffered multiple military coups in 1983 and 1985.
• Battle of Cuito Cuanavale takes place as part of the Angolan civil war and South African Border War from 1987 to 1988. The battle involves the largest fighting in Africa since World War II between military forces from Angola, Cuba (expeditionary forces), Namibia versus military forces from South Africa and the dissident Angolan UNITA organization.
• The South African Border War between South Africa versus Angola, Namibia, and Zambia ends in 1989, ending over-thirty years of conflict.

Americas

United States President Ronald Reagan plays a pivotal role in the final years of the Cold War and has a large influence in the U.S. and its allied countries in the adoption of neoliberal economic policies.

The Argentine warship General Belgrano sinking after being attacked by British forces during the Falklands War.

• Ten thousand Cubans storm the Peruvian embassy in Havana seeking political asylum on April 6, 1980. On April 7 the Cuban government granted permission for the emigration of Cubans seeking refuge in the Peruvian embassy.
• Peru faces the beginning of internal conflict by the communist Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement in 1980 that would continue until the end of the 1990s.
• Famous former Beatles musician John Lennon is assassinated in 1980 in the United States.
• Political unrest in the province of Quebec, which rooted from the many differences between the dominant francophone population versus the anglophone minority and the francophones rights in the dominantly English-speaking Canada, came to a head in 1980 when the provincial government called a public referendum on partial separation from the rest of Canada. The referendum ended with the "no" side winning majority (59.56% no, 40.44% yes).
• Ronald Reagan elected U.S. President in 1980. In international affairs, Reagan pursued a hardline policy towards preventing the spread of communism, initiating a massive buildup of U.S. military power to challenge the Soviet Union. He further directly challenges the Iron Curtain by demanding that the Soviet Union dismantle the Berlin Wall.
• Mexico suffers from a debt crisis starting in 1982.
• The Falklands War occurred from 2 April 1982 – 14 July 1982 between the United Kingdom and Argentina over the disputed territory of the Falkland Islands.
• Canada gains official independence from the United Kingdom with a new Constitution on April 17, 1982, authorized by the signature by Queen Elizabeth II. This Act severed all Political Dependencies of the United Kingdom in Canada.
• The United States engages in significant direct conflict and indirect conflict in the decade via alliances with various groups in a number of Central and South American countries claiming that the U.S. was acting to oppose the spread of communism and end illicit drug trade. The U.S. government supports the government of Colombia's attempts to destroy its large illicit cocaine-trafficking industry. U.S. provides support for right-wing rebels in El Salvador which becomes controversial after the El Mozote massacre on December 11, 1981 in when U.S.-trained Salvadoran paramilitaries killed 1000 Salvadoran civilians. The United States, along with members of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, invaded Grenada in 1983. The Iran-Contra affair erupts which involves U.S. interventionism in Nicaragua, resulting in members of the U.S. government being indicted in 1986. U.S. military action begins against Panama in December 1989 to overthrow its president, Manuel Noriega.
• Air India Flight 182 is destroyed on June 23, 1985 by Sikh-Canadian militants. It is the largest mass murder involving Canadians in Canada's history.
• The Space Shuttle Challenger breaks apart during takeoff off the coast of central Florida on January 28, 1986, killing all 7 crew members onboard.
• Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier is overthrown by a popular uprising on February 6, 1986.
• The 1986 World's Fair, Expo 86, was held in Vancouver.
• Enactment of the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement in 1989.
• Military dictatorships give way to democracy in Argentina (1983), Uruguay (1984-5), Brazil (1985-8) and Chile (1988-9).
• Independence is awarded to Antigua, Belize, (both 1981) and St. Kitts (1983).
• Exxon Valdez oil spill in March 1989.
• Black men marry white women at a rate of 10% in the United States.

Asia

Iranian soldier during the Iran-Iraq war.

A famous picture during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 in China where a protestor blockades a group of tanks from entering the area of the protest. Photo by Jeff Widener (Associated Press).

• The Iran-Iraq war takes place from 1980 to 1988. Iraq is accused of using illegal chemical weapons to kill Iranian forces and against its own dissident Kurdish populations.
• Serious conflicts erupt in Lebanon in the 1980s. The 1982 Lebanon War occurs when Israel attacks Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) forces inside Lebanon, in which Israel faces war with Lebanese and Syrian armed forces inside Lebanon. The controversial Siege of Beirut by Israeli military forces resulted in enormous damage to the infrastructure and significant civilian casualties in Lebanon's capital and was internationally condemned, even by the United States, a traditional close ally of Israel.[1]. The1983 Beirut barracks bombing kills U.S. marines in Lebanon.
• The Bhopal disaster occurs in 1984 when a toxic gas leak occurred in Bhopal, India.
• Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated on October 31, 1984.
• The Red Army of the Soviet Union begins to suffer serious casualties and defeats in the ongoing Soviet-Afghan war by 1985 resulting in new Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev beginning to design a strategy for the eventual departure of Red Army forces from Afghanistan.
• The First Intifada (First Uprising) in the Gaza Strip and West Bank begins in 1987 when Palestinian Arabs begin large-scale protests against the Israeli military presence in the Gaza Strip and West Bank which the Palestinians claim as their own. The Intifada soon became violent as the Israeli army and Palestinian militants fought for control over the disputed territories. The First Intifada would continue until peace negotiations began between the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Israeli government in 1993.
• Soviet-Afghan war ends on February 15, 1989, ending almost ten years of warfare between the two countries and is the last war that the Soviet Union's Red Army participated in.
• Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 occurs in the People's Republic of China in 1989, in which pro-democracy protestors demand political reform. The protest is repressed by government forces.

Europe

1980 strike at Gdańsk Shipyard, birthplace of the Polish Solidarity movement and the beginning of the eventual collapse of communism in Europe.

Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980s engages in major political reforms, such as increasing freedom of the press and works to end the Cold War.

• The Solidarity movement begins in Poland in 1980, involving workers demanding political liberalization and democracy in Poland. Attempts by the communist regime to crush the Solidarity movement fail and negotiations between the movement and the government take place. Solidarity would be instrumental in encouraging people in other communist states to demand political reform.
• In 1981 there was a assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II in Saint Peter's Square.
• In 1986, Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was assassinated.
• Mikhail Gorbachev becomes leader of the Soviet Union in 1985, and intiates major reforms to the Soviet Union's government through increasing the rights of expressing political dissent, allowing some democratic elections (though maintaining Communist dominance). Gorbachev pursues negotiation with the United States to decrease tensions and eventually end the Cold War.
• The Rome and Vienna airport attacks take place on December 27, 1985 against people going on the Israeli El Al airline. The attack was done by militants loyal to Abu Nidal, backed by the government of Libya.
• The European Community's, enlargement continued with the accession of Greece in 1981 and Spain and Portugal in 1986.
• Significant political reforms occurred in a number of communist countries in eastern Europe as the populations of these countries grew increasingly hostile and politically active in opposing the authoritarian communist regimes. These reforms included increasing individual liberties, market liberalization, and promises of democratic renewal. One exception was Romania where the communist regime violently fought against protestors until the regime was overthrown. By 1989, a number of former Warsaw Pact countries had abandoned communism and adopted multi-party democracies.
• In Yugoslavia, following the death of communist dictator Joseph Broz Tito, the trend of political reform of the communist system occurred along with a trend towards ethnic nationalism and inter-ethnic hostility, especially in Serbia, beginning with the 1986 Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts followed by the agenda of Serbian communist leader Slobodan Milošević who aggressively pushed for increased political influence of Serbs in the late 1980s, condemning non-Serb Yugoslav politicians who challenged his agenda as being enemies of Serbs.
• At the end of the decade, the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 would be followed in 1990 by the German reunification.

Oceania

• Australia adopts a new constitution in 1986, fully separating Australia's government from influence of the parliament of the United Kingdom.
• The 1988 World's Fair, Expo '88, is held in Brisbane, Australia.
• Sitiveni Rabuka stages two military coups in Fiji in 1987, and declares the country a republic the same year.
• The Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front begins a violent campaign for Independence in New Caledonia.
• Independence is granted to Vanuatu (1980) and Palau (1981).
• Greenpeace's attempts to monitor French nuclear testing on Mururoa are halted by the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior.

Disasters

Lake Nyos, Cameroon.

• Mount St. Helens erupted in Washington, U.S. on May 18 1980, killing 57 people.
• The 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake struck the San Francisco Bay Area during the 1989 World Series, gaining worldwide attention. Sixty-five people were killed and thousands injured, with major structural damage on freeways and buildings and broken gas-line fires in San Francisco, California. The cost of the damage totaled $13 billion (1989 USD).
• The US Drought of 1988 decimated the US with many parts of the country becoming victim. This was the worst drought to hit the United States in many years. The US Drought of 1988 caused $60 billion in damage (between $80 billion and $120 billion for 2008 USD). The heat waves represented alongside stole 4800 to 17000 thousand lives in the Unites States.
• Hurricane Allen (1980), Hurricane Alicia (1983), Hurricane Gilbert (1988), Hurricane Joan (1988), and Hurricane Hugo (1989)
• Other natural disasters: The 1982–1983 El Nino brought destructive weather to most of the world; the 1985 Mexico earthquake registered 8.1 on the Richter scale and devastated Mexico City and other areas throughout central Mexico; the 1985 Nevado del Ruiz lahar in Colombia; the 1986 Lake Nyos limnic eruption in Cameroon; and the 1988 Armenian earthquake, which rocked the Caucasus region of the USSR.

Non-natural disasters

The space shuttle Challenger explodes on January 28, 1986.

In 1984 the Bhopal disaster resulted from a toxic MIC gas leak at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, killing 3,000 immediately and ultimately claiming 15,000-20,000 lives.

In 1986 the Chernobyl disaster, a large-scale nuclear meltdown in the Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union, spread a large amount of radioactive material across Europe, killing 47 people, dooming countless others to future radiation-related cancer, and causing the displacement of 300,000 people.

In 1986, the Challenger disaster, the NASA Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates after takeoff, killing all of the crew onboard. This is the first disaster involving the destruction of a NASA space shuttle. A faulty o-ring was the cause of the accident.

In 1989 the Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Alaska. Although not among the largest oil spills, its remote and sensitive location made it one of the most devastating ecological disasters ever.

External links

• Memories of the toys, games, TV, movies and music of the 1980s
• American Cultural History 1980–1989
• The UK in the 1980s
• australia in the 1980s
• CTV: Preserving the Legacy of 80's Alternative Music
• 80s Culture, Fashion, Movies, TV, and Music
• 80s Nostalgia - a nostalgic look back at our favourite decade.