1991 - What happened in 1991 ?

January 1991

Wednesday 09:

The Soviets storm Vilnius to stop Lithuanian independence.

Saturday 12:

Persian Gulf War: An act of the U.S. Congress authorizes the use of military force to drive Iraq out of Kuwait.

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.

Sunday 20:

Sudan's government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country's Muslim north and Christian south.

February 1991

Monday 04:

The Baseball Hall of Fame votes to ban Pete Rose.

Monday 11:

UNPO, the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, forms in The Hague, Netherlands.

Wednesday 13:

Gulf War: Two laser-guided "smart bombs" destroy an underground bunker in Baghdad killing hundreds of Iraqis civilians.

Friday 15:

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

Saturday 23:

Thailand: General Sunthorn Kongsompong leads a bloodless coup d'état, deposing Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan.

March 1991

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.

Thursday 14:

After 16 years in prison for allegedly bombing a pub in an Irish Republican Army attack, the "Birmingham Six" are freed when a court determines that the police fabricated evidence.

Friday 15:

Germany formally regains complete independence after the four post-World War II occupying powers (France, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union) relinquish all remaining rights.

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.

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.

Tuesday 30:

A tropical cyclone hits Bangladesh killing an estimated 138,000 people.

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

Tuesday 04:

Britain's Conservative government announces that some British regiments would disappear or be merged into others – the largest armed forces cuts in almost twenty years.

Wednesday 05:

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

Thursday 06:

Former Diff'rent Strokes child star Dana Plato is given a six-year suspended sentence for robbing a Las Vegas video store five weeks earlier.

Monday 10:

In what was dubbed "The Mother of All Parades," New York City hosts a parade welcoming back troops from Operation Desert Storm.

Monday 17:

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

July 1991

Sunday 07:

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

Tuesday 09:

South Africa is reintroduced into the Olympic movement after 30 years of exclusion.

Thursday 11:

Total solar eclipse in Hawaii.

Monday 22:

Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is arrested after the remains of 11 men and boys are found in his Milwaukee apartment.

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.

Thursday 08:

Collapse of Warsaw radio mast, the tallest construction ever built

Sunday 25:

Belarus declares independence from the Soviet Union

Tuesday 27:

Moldova declares independence from the USSR.

Thursday 29:

Supreme Soviet suspends all activities of the Soviet Communist Party.

September 1991

Sunday 01:

Uzbekistan declares independence from the Soviet Union

Monday 02:

The United States recognizes the independence of the Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Friday 06:

The name Saint Petersburg is restored to Russia's second largest city, which had been renamed Leningrad in 1924.

Friday 13:

A concrete beam weighing 55 tons fell in the Olympic Stadium, Montreal, Canada.

Saturday 21:

Armenia is granted independence from Soviet Union.

October 1991

Saturday 12:

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

Wednesday 16:

George Hennard runs amok in Killeen, Texas, killing 23 and wounding 19 in Luby's Cafeteria.

Sunday 20:

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

Friday 25:

Rock band Steely Dan reunites

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.

Thursday 07:

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

Tuesday 12:

Dili Massacre, Indonesian forces opened fire on a crowd of student protesters in Dili, East Timor.

Monday 18:

After the 3-month siege, the Croatian city of Vukovar is invaded by Serbians

Saturday 23:

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

December 1991

Saturday 14:

A rock slide takes off 10 metres of Mount Cook's elevation in New Zealand.

Wednesday 25:

Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as president of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day).

Thursday 26:

Supreme Soviet meets and formally dissolves the USSR

Saturday 28:

Sonic the Hedgehog Game Gear version is released in Japan.

Tuesday 31:

1991 - The Soviet Union officially dissolves.