1991 - What happened in 1991 ?

January 1991

Thursday 03:

Hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky scores his 700th goal.

Sunday 13:

Soviet military troops attacked Lithuanian independence supporters in Vilnius.

Tuesday 15:

The United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait expires, preparing the way for the start of Operation Desert Storm.

Wednesday 16:

US serial killer Aileen Wuornos confesses to the murders of six men.

Friday 18:

Eastern Airlines shuts down after 62 years citing financial problems.

February 1991

Monday 04:

The Baseball Hall of Fame votes to ban Pete Rose.

Friday 15:

The Visegrád Agreement, establishing cooperation to move toward free-market systems, is signed by the leaders of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland.

Saturday 16:

Gulf War: U.S. and U.K. war planes bomb the suburbs of Baghdad, injuring at least 11 civilians and killing three others.

Monday 25:

Gulf War: An Iraqi Scud missile hits an American military barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia killing 28 US Marines.

Tuesday 26:

Gulf War: On Baghdad Radio Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein announces the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait.

March 1991

Sunday 03:

An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers.

Tuesday 05:

Iraq releases all Gulf War prisoners

Sunday 10:

540,000 American troops begin to leave the Persian Gulf.

Wednesday 13:

The United States Justice Department announces that Exxon has agreed to pay $1 billion for the clean-up of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.

Sunday 31:

The Warsaw Pact comes to an end.

April 1991

Thursday 04:

Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their plane over Merion, Pennsylvania.

Friday 05:

ASA Embraer EMB 120 crashes in Brunswick, Georgia, United States, killing all 23 aboard.

Tuesday 09:

Georgia declares its independence from the Soviet Union.

Wednesday 17:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 3,000 for the first time ever gaining 17.58 to 3,004.46.

Wednesday 24:

Freddie Stowers is awarded the posthumous Medal of Honor for which he had been recommended in 1918.

May 1991

Friday 03:

The last episode of the soap opera Dallas airs.

Sunday 19:

Willy T. Ribbs becomes the first African-American driver to qualify for the Indianapolis 500.

Tuesday 21:

Former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by a female suicide bomber near Madras.

Sunday 26:

Lauda Air Flight 004 explodes over rural Thailand, killing 223.

Tuesday 28:

The capital city of Addis Ababa, falls to the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, ending both the Derg regime in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Civil War.

June 1991

Wednesday 05:

Colo-Colo becomes the first Chilean soccer team to win the Copa Libertadores de América.

Sunday 09:

The congress of the Italian party Proletarian Democracy decides to merge with the Communist Refoundation Party.

Wednesday 12:

Russians elect Boris Yeltsin as the president of their republic.

Monday 17:

Apartheid: The South African Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act, which had required all racial classification of all South Africans at birth.

Sunday 23:

Sonic the Hedgehog is released for the Sega Genesis in North America.

July 1991

Monday 01:

The Warsaw Pact is officially dissolved.

Sunday 07:

Yugoslav Wars: Brioni Agreement ended ten-day independence war in Slovenia against the rest of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Wednesday 10:

Boris Yeltsin begins his 5-year term as the first elected President of Russia.

Thursday 11:

Total solar eclipse in Hawaii.

Friday 26:

Sonic the Hedgehog is released for the Sega Megadrive in Japan.

August 1991

Sunday 04:

1991 The Greek cruise ship Oceanos sinks off the coast of South Africa.

Sunday 11:

1991- The three original Nicktoons, Doug, Rugrats, and The Ren and Stimpy Show make their debuts on the Nickelodeon cable channel.

Tuesday 20:

Collapse of the Soviet Union: More than 100,000 people rally outside the Soviet Union's parliament building protesting the coup that deposed President Mikhail Gorbachev. Estonia reclaimed its indenpendence and seceded from the Soviet Union. Estonia had been occupied by the Soviets for more than 50 years.

Sunday 25:

Belarus declares independence from the Soviet Union

Tuesday 27:

Moldova declares independence from the USSR.

September 1991

Monday 09:

Tajikstan gains independence from the Soviet Union.

Thursday 19:

Ötzi the Iceman is discovered by a couple of German tourists.

Saturday 21:

Armenia is granted independence from Soviet Union.

Sunday 22:

The Dead Sea Scrolls are made available to the public for the first time, by the Huntington Library.

Thursday 26:

Biosphere 2 opens.

October 1991

Saturday 05:

The first official version of the Linux kernel, version 0.02, is released.

Saturday 12:

Askar Akayev, previously chosen President of Kyrgyzstan by republic's Supreme Soviet, is confirmed president in an uncontested poll

Tuesday 15:

Following a bitter confirmation hearing that involved allegations of sexual misconduct, the United States Senate votes to confirm Judge Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Sunday 20:

The Oakland Hills firestorm kills 25 and destroys 3469 homes and apartments, causing more than $2 billion in damage.

Tuesday 29:

The American Galileo spacecraft makes its closest approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first probe to visit an asteroid.

November 1991

Saturday 02:

Jermaine Jackson's single "Word to the Badd!", which attacks his brother Michael, is leaked to radio station KPWR in Los Angeles.

Sunday 03:

Fifteen people are killed in the Barrios Altos massacre in Lima, Peru.

Thursday 07:

Basketball player Magic Johnson announces he has tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS, and that he is retiring.

Saturday 23:

Queen frontman Freddie Mercury publicly announces that he has AIDS. Freddie dies peacefully the next day.

Wednesday 27:

The United Nations Security Council adopts UN Security Council Resolution 721, leading the way to the establishment of peacekeeping operations in Yugoslavia.

December 1991

Monday 02:

The first version of QuickTime was released.

Wednesday 04:

1991 - US airline Pan Am ends operations.

Sunday 08:

First post-Communist Romanian Constitution is adopted in a referendum.

Monday 16:

United Nations reverses its 1975 resolution that Zionism is racism by a vote of 111-25, with 13 abstentions

Thursday 26:

Supreme Soviet meets and formally dissolves the USSR