Explore 6636 historical events from 1980–1989.
The Ariane 4 was a European expendable launch vehicle, developed by the Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES), the French space agency, for the European Space Agency (ESA). It …
The Ariane 4 rocket is launched on its maiden flight
Pope John Paul II was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death in 2005. He was the first non-Italian pope since Adrian VI in t…
Pope John Paul II canonizes 117 Vietnamese Martyrs
The Gare de Lyon rail accident, occurred on 27 June 1988, when an SNCF commuter train headed inbound to Paris's Gare de Lyon terminal crashed into a stationary outbound train, kill…
The Gare de Lyon rail accident in Paris, France, kills 56 people
The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, also known as the Second Bosphorus Bridge, is a bridge in Istanbul, Turkey spanning the Bosphorus Strait. When completed in 1988, it was the 5th-lon…
The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, providing the second connection between the…
Ne Win was a Burmese general and politician who served as Burma's head of government from 1958 to 1960 and again from 1962 to 1974; and also as head of state from 1962 to 1981. Ne …
General Ne Win, effective ruler of Burma since 1962, resigns after pro-democracy protests.
Operation Praying Mantis was the 18 April 1988 attack by the United States on Iranian naval targets in the Persian Gulf in retaliation for the mining of a U.S. warship four days ea…
The United States launches Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian naval forces in the largest naval battle since World
John Demjanjuk, was a Trawniki and Nazi camp guard at Sobibor extermination camp, Majdanek, and Flossenbürg. Demjanjuk became the center of global media attention in the 1980s, whe…
In Israel John Demjanjuk is sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II, although the verdict is later o
On May 4, 1988, a fire followed by several explosions occurred at the Pacific Engineering and Production Company of Nevada (PEPCON) chemical plant in Henderson, Nevada, United Stat…
The PEPCON disaster rocks Henderson, Nevada, as tons of Space Shuttle fuel detonate during a fire
Widerøe Flight 710, known as the Torghatten Accident, was a controlled flight into terrain into the mountain of Torghatten in Brønnøy Municipality, Norway. The Widerøe-operated de …
All thirty-six passengers and crew are killed when Widerøe Flight 710 crashes into Mt
This is a chronology of activities by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) from 1980 to 1989. For actions before and after this period see Chronology of Provisional Irish Re…
A British soldier was killed in the Inglis Barracks bombing in London, England.
The history of Wrigley Field, the home of the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball's National League, begins well before the Cubs played their first game in that venue.
The first night baseball game in the history of Chicago's Wrigley Field (game was rained out in the fourth inning).
The 1988 Nepal earthquake occurred near the Nepal–India border on 20 August 1988 at 23:09:09 UTC. The epicenter was located in Udayapur District. Measuring Mw 6.9, it was the large…
The 6.9 Mw Nepal earthquake shakes the Nepal–India border with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving…
The 8888 Uprising, also known as the 1988 Uprising, was a series of nationwide protests, marches, and riots in Burma that peaked in August 1988. Key events occurred on 8 August 198…
The 8888 Uprising in Myanmar comes to an end.
The Carrollton bus collision occurred on May 14, 1988, on Interstate 71 in unincorporated Carroll County, Kentucky, United States. The collision involved a former school bus in use…
Carrollton bus collision: A drunk driver traveling the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton, Kentucky hits a conve
The Soviet–Afghan War took place in Afghanistan from December 1979 to February 1989. Marking the beginning of the 47-year-long Afghan conflict, it saw the Soviet Union and the Afgh…
Soviet–Afghan War: After more than eight years of fighting, the Soviet Army begins to withdraw 115,000 troops from Afgha
The surgeon general of the United States is the operational head of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC) and thus a leading spokesperson on matters of…
A report by the Surgeon General of the United States C
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from…
Margaret Thatcher holds her controversial Sermon on the Mound before the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
Section 28 refers to a part of the Local Government Act 1988, which stated that local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales "shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or p…
Section 28 of the United Kingdom's Local Government Act 1988, a controversial amendment stating that a local authority c
Operation Breakthrough was a US-Soviet effort to free three gray whales from pack ice in the Beaufort Sea near Point Barrow in the U.S. state of Alaska in 1988. The whales' plight …
A hunter discovers three gray whales trapped under the ice near Alaska; the situation becomes a multinational effort…
Victoria Police is the primary law enforcement agency of the Australian state of Victoria. It was formed in 1853 and currently operates under the Victoria Police Act 2013.
Two officers of the Victoria Police are gunned down execution-style in the Walsh Street police shootings, Australia.
Uganda Airlines Flight 775 was a Boeing 707, registration 5X-UBC, that crashed while attempting to land at Rome-Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Italy on 17 October 1988. Out of the 52 o…
Uganda Airlines Flight 775 crashes at Rome–Fiumicino International Airport, in Rome, Italy, killing 33 people.
The Somaliland War of Independence also known as the Great Isaaq Uprising or the Isaaq Rebellion was a rebellion waged by the Somali National Movement (SNM) against the ruling mili…
Somaliland War of Independence: The Somali National Movement launches a major offensive against Somali government forces
RDX (Research Department Explosive or Royal Demolition Explosive), or hexogen, also known by other names, is an organic compound with the formula (CH2N2O2)3. It is white, odorless,…
Three cars on a train carrying hexogen to Kazakhstan explode in Arzamas, Gorky Oblast, USSR, killing 91 and injuring abo
Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 046 was an Argentine scheduled domestic flight from Buenos Aires to Posadas, via Resistencia, that undershot the runway at Libertador General José de S…
Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 046, a McDonnell Douglas MD-81, crashes short of the runway at Libertador General José de S