1980s.html
 
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Millennia: 2nd millennium
Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century
Decades: 1950s 1960s 1970s - 1980s - 1990s 2000s 2010s
Years: 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984
1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
Categories: Births - Deaths - Architecture
Establishments - Disestablishments
The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was one of the most well-known events of the 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 Jan. 1, 1980 to Dec. 31, 1989. The decade saw social, economic and general upheaval as wealth, production and western culture migrated to new industrializing economies. As economic liberalization increases 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 the region.

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 witnesses 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.

The western world witnessed the political revival of right-wing politics and advancement of neoliberalism with the election of politicians including 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. This growth occurred not only in developing regions but also developed western nations, where many newborns were the offspring of Baby Boomers. 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.

Contents

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.
  • Alcohol education and drug education expanded, bringing about movements such as M.A.D.D., Nancy Reagan's Just Say No campaign, and D.A.R.E.. By 1990, every state in the U.S. mandated the drinking age to be 21.
  • Rejection of smoking increases throughout the western world.
  • 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.
  • In the United States, homosexuals faced renewed discrimination which started with a backlash against disco music which was derided as "fag" music. In 1980, an anti-homosexual documentary was televised by ABC across the nationcitation needed. The rise of AIDS led to increased public disdain of homosexuality and homosexuals. The Supreme Court upheld laws which criminalize gay sex in the Bowers v. Hardwick decision. MTV banned Dead or Alive music videos because of their homosexual content. However, in the United Kingdom there was increased acceptance of the gay community, partly due to outspoken advocacy by homosexual celebrities. This is a trend that has continued in the UK into the 21st century.

Culture

Main article: Culture of the 1980s

Sports

  • The Jamaica national bobsled team stunned the world and received major media attention at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada for its unexpected good performance which overcame the stereotype that northern countries were the only efficient competitors in winter olympic games. 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.

Fashion

Main article: 1980s in fashion

Music

See also Timeline of musical events#1980s.
Stage view of Live Aid concert at John F. Kennedy 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.
Stage view of Live Aid concert at John F. Kennedy 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.

New styles of music

  • Thrash metal appeared and became an underground sensation originating mostly in the Bay Area (San Francisco), and New York City. A few of these acts managed to achieve mainstream exposure (especially during the early 1990s), and were frequently seen as alternatives to the poppier "glam metal" bands of the day.
  • Extreme metal began, and gained prominence in the underground.
  • House music was a new development in dance music mid-way through the decade, growing out of the post-disco scene early in the decade and later developed into acid house, a harder form of dance often associated with the developing late 1980s drug culture.
  • American singer Prince, French band Indochine ("3e sexe"), Canadian singer Norman Iceberg ("Be My Human Tonight"), Spanish band Mecano ("Mujer Contra Mujer") became part of a worldwide movement of artists writing innovative lyrics filled with sexual innuendos reflecting the then-popular and highly fashionable androgynous style.
  • With increased aphrodisiacs of popular music, thousands of new bands from all over the country sprang up in opposition by performing aggressive, stripped-down punk rock with an even larger amount of political and social awareness injected into the lyrics. Known as Hardcore punk, it would go on to influence and create other musical genres well into the 21st century.
  • El General recorded a first album and reggaeton was born in Panama.
  • Prince was credited with jump-starting the Minneapolis sound.

Film

Main article: 1980s in film

Video games

See also History of video games#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

Africa

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

Asia

Iranian soldier during the Iran-Iraq war.
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).
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).

Europe

1980 strike at Gdańsk Shipyard, birthplace of the Polish Soldarity movement and the beginning of the eventual collapse of communism in Europe.
1980 strike at Gdańsk Shipyard, birthplace of the Polish Soldarity 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.
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 Soldarity 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 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 by Serbian communist leader Slobodan Milosevic who aggressively pushed for increased political influence of Serbs in the late 1980s while being opposed by other non-Serb Communist officials which would lead to the collapse of the country in the 1990s.
  • At the end of the decade, the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 would be followed in 1990 by the German reunification.

Oceania

Disasters

Lake Nyos, Cameroon.
Lake Nyos, Cameroon.

Non-natural disasters

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 explodes after takeoff, killing all of the crew onboard. This is the first disaster involving the destruction of a NASA space shuttle.

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.

See also

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