Today in History

1990 East Germany holds its first and only free parliamentary elections The election was held between the peaceful revolution leading to the demise of the German Democratic Republic in 1989 and the German reunification in 1990. 1971 A 100 feet (30 meters)…

1992 Apartheid in South Africa comes to an end In a referendum, 68.7% of white South Africans voted for abolishment of racial segregation in the country. 1973 The photograph known as Burst of joy is taken Photographer Slava Veder was awarded the…

1988 A poison gas attack kills 5000 civilians in the Kurdish town of Halabjah The war crime was in all likelihood executed on the orders of Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein. 1988 In Northern Ireland, an Ulster loyalist kills 3 people at a…

1990 Mikhail Gorbachev becomes President of the Soviet Union His economic and political reforms, as well as his advocacy of free speech, strengthened pro-democracy movements in other Eastern European countries and ultimately led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the…

1991 The Birmingham Six are released The 6 men had been wrongly sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 for the IRA Birmingham pub bombings. 1979 Factory Plane Crash in China At least 200 people are killed when a plane crashes into a…