The 1980s (pronounced "nineteen-eighties", shortened to "the '80s" or "the Eighties") was the decade that began on 1 January 1980, and ended on 31 December 1989.
The decade saw a dominance of conservatism and free market economics, and a socioeconomic change due to advances in technology and a worldwide move away from planned economies and towards laissez-faire capitalism compared to the 1970s. As economic deconstruction increased in the developed world, multiple multinational corporations associated with the manufacturing industry relocated into Thailand, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, and China. Japan and West Germany saw large economic growth during this decade. The AIDS epidemic became recognized in the 1980s and has since killed an estimated 40.4 million people (as of 2022[update]).[1]Global warming theory began to spread within the scientific and political community in the 1980s.
The United Kingdom and the United States moved closer to supply-side economic policies, beginning a trend towards global instability of international trade that would pick up more steam in the following decade as the fall of the USSR made right-wing economic policy more powerful.
The final decade of the Cold War opened with the US-Soviet confrontation continuing largely without any interruption. Superpower tensions escalated rapidly as President Reagan scrapped the policy of détente and adopted a new, much more aggressive stance on the Soviet Union. The world came perilously close to nuclear war for the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, but the second half of the decade saw a dramatic easing of superpower tensions and ultimately the total collapse of Soviet communism.
Developing countries across the world faced economic and social difficulties as they suffered 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 witnessed widespread famine in the mid-1980s during the corrupt rule of Mengistu Haile Mariam, 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 Live Aid concert in 1985.
By 1986, nationalism was making a comeback in the Eastern Bloc, and the desire for democracy in socialist states, combined with economic recession, resulted in Mikhail Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika, which reduced Communist Party power, legalized dissent and sanctioned limited forms of capitalism such as joint ventures with companies from capitalist countries. After tension for most of the decade, by 1988 relations between the communist and capitalist blocs had improved significantly[2] and the Soviet Union was increasingly unwilling to defend its governments in satellite states.
The 1980s was an era of tremendous population growth around the world, surpassing the 1970s and 1990s, and arguably being the largest in human history. During the 1980s, the world population grew from 4.4 to 5.3 billion people. There were approximately 1.33 billion births and 480 million deaths. 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. The 1980s saw the advent of the ongoing practice of sex-selective abortion in China and India as ultrasound technology permitted parents to selectively abort baby girls.[3]
The 1980s saw great advances in genetic and digital technology. After years of animal experimentation since 1985, the first genetic modification of 10 adult human beings took place in May 1989, a gene tagging experiment[4] which led to the first true gene therapy implementation in September 1990. The first "designer babies", a pair of female twins, were created in a laboratory in late 1989 and born in July 1990 after being sex-selected via the controversial assisted reproductive technology procedure preimplantation genetic diagnosis.[5]Gestational surrogacy was first performed in 1985 with the first birth in 1986, making it possible for a woman to become a biological mother without experiencing pregnancy for the first time in history.[6]
The global internet took shape in academia by the second half of the 1980s, as well as many other computer networks of both academic and commercial use such as USENET, Fidonet, and the bulletin board system. By 1989, the Internet and the networks linked to it were a global system with extensive transoceanic satellite links and nodes in most developed countries.[7] Based on earlier work, from 1980 onwards Tim Berners-Lee formalized the concept of the World Wide Web by 1989. Television viewing became commonplace in the Third World, with the number of TV sets in China and India increasing by 15 and 10 times respectively.[8]
Soviet–Afghan War (1979–1989) – a war fought between the Soviet Union and the Islamist Mujahideen Resistance in Afghanistan. The mujahideen found other support from a variety of sources including the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States (see Operation Cyclone), as well as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and other Muslim nations through the context of the Cold War and the regional India–Pakistan conflict.
Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, sparking the Falklands War. It occurred from 2 April to 14 July 1982, between the United Kingdom and Argentina as British forces fought to recover the islands. Britain emerged victorious and its stance in international affairs and its long-decaying reputation as a colonial power received an unexpected boost. The military junta of Argentina, on the other hand, was left humiliated by the defeat; and its leader Leopoldo Galtieri was deposed three days after the end of the war. A military investigation known as the Rattenbach Report even recommended his execution.
1982 Lebanon War – the Government of Israel ordered the invasion as a response to the assassination attempt against Israel's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Shlomo Argov, by the Abu Nidal Organization and due to the constant terror attacks on northern Israel made by the terrorist organizations which resided in Lebanon. After attacking the PLO, as well as Syrian, leftist and MuslimLebanese forces, Israel occupied southern Lebanon and eventually surrounded the PLO in west Beirut and subjected to heavy bombardment, they negotiated passage from Lebanon.
In October 1985 eight Israeli F-15 Eagles carried out Operation Wooden Leg intending to bomb the PLO's new headquarters in Tunis, Tunisia, more than 2,000 km from Israel. The attack was later condemned by the United Nations Security Council. The United States is thought to have assisted or known of the attack.
The Iran–Iraq War took place from 1980 to 1988. Iraq was accused of using illegal chemical weapons to kill Iranian forces and against its own dissident Kurdish populations. Both sides suffered enormous casualties, but the poorly equipped Iranian armies suffered worse for it, being forced to use soldiers as young as 15 in human-wave attacks. Iran finally agreed to an armistice in 1988.
The United States launched an aerial bombardment of Libya in 1986 in retaliation for Libyan support of terrorism and attacks on US personnel in Germany and Turkey.
The United States engaged in significant direct and indirect conflict in the decade via alliances with various groups in a number of Central and South American countries claiming that the US was acting to oppose the spread of communism and end illicit drug trade.
The US government supported the government of Colombia's attempts to destroy its large illicit cocaine-trafficking industry and provided support for right-wing military government in the Salvadoran civil war which became controversial after the El Mozote massacre on 11 December 1981, in which US trained Salvadoran paramilitaries killed 1000 Salvadoran civilians.
The Iran–Contra affair erupted which involved US interventionism supporting the Contras in Nicaragua, resulting in members of the US government being indicted in 1986.
US military action began against Panama in December 1989 to overthrow its dictator, Manuel Noriega resulting in 3,500 civilian casualties and the restoration of democratic rule.
The most notable internal conflicts of the decade include:
The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 occurred in the People's Republic of China in 1989, in which pro-democracy protesters demanded political reform. The protests were crushed by the People's Liberation Army.
The First Intifada (First Uprising) in the Gaza Strip and West Bank began in 1987 when Palestinian Arabs mounted large-scale protests against the Israeli military presence in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, largely inhabited by Palestinians. The First Intifada would continue until peace negotiations began between the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Israeli government in 1993.
Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990) – Throughout the decade, Lebanon was engulfed in civil war between Islamic and Christian factions.
1986 Egyptian conscripts riot: On 25 February 1986 around 25,000 conscripts of the Central Security Forces (CSF), an Egyptian paramilitary force, staged violent protests in and around Cairo, due to the rumour that their three-year mandatory service would be prolonged by one additional year without any additional benefits or rank promotion. It was suppressed by the army.
El Mozote massacre in El Salvador on 11 December 1981, against civilians, committed by government forces supported by the United States during their anti-guerrilla campaign against Marxist–Leninist rebels.
Air India Flight 182 was destroyed on 23 June 1985, by Sikh-Canadian militants. It was the biggest mass murder involving Canadians in Canada's history.
On 21 December 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up over the village of Lockerbie, Scotland, while en route from London's Heathrow Airport to New York's JFK. The bombing killed all 259 people on board, plus 11 people on the ground. The bombing was and remains the worst terrorist attack on UK soil.
The "Anti-Bureaucratic Revolution" – a series of interconnected coups d'états – take place in Yugoslavia from 1988 to 1989 through mass protests organized and committed by supporters of Serbian politician Slobodan Milošević overthrow the governments of Serbia's autonomous provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina, and the government of Montenegro, and finally the main government of Serbia with Milošević becoming President of Serbia.
US President Reagan's decision to station intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Western Europe provoked mass protests involving more than one million people.
In 1982, Canada gained official independence from the United Kingdom with the Canada Act 1982, authorized by the signature by Elizabeth II. This Act severed all political dependencies of the United Kingdom in Canada (although the Queen remained the head of state).
In 1986, Australia gained full independence from the United Kingdom with the Australia Act 1986, which severed the last remaining powers of the British government over the Australian government, including the removal of the privy council as the highest court of appeal. Australia retained the Queen as head of state.
In 1986, New Zealand and the United Kingdom fully separated New Zealand's governments from the influence of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, resulting in New Zealand's full independence with the Constitution Act 1986 which also reorganized the New Zealand government.
Independence was granted to Vanuatu from the British/French condominium (1980), Kiribati from joint US-British government (1981) and Palau from the United States (1986).
Zimbabwe becomes independent from official colonial rule of the United Kingdom in 1980.
US President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev signing the INF Treaty, 1987
Ronald Reagan was elected US president in 1980. In international affairs, Reagan pursued a hardline policy towards preventing the spread of communism, initiating a considerable buildup of US military power to challenge the Soviet Union. He further directly challenged the Iron Curtain by demanding that the Soviet Union dismantle the Berlin Wall.
The Reagan Administration accelerated the War on Drugs, publicized through anti-drug campaigns including the Just Say No campaign of First Lady Nancy Reagan. Drugs gained attention in the US as a serious problem in the '80s. Cocaine was relatively popular among celebrities and affluent youth, while crack, a cheaper offshoot of the drug, was linked to high crime rates in inner cities during the American crack epidemic. [citation needed]
The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (1968) (PATCO) declared a strike on 3 August 1981, seeking better working conditions, better pay, and a 32-hour workweek. The strike caused considerable disruption of the US air transportation system. Resolution came when Ronald Reagan fired over 11,000 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored his order to return to work, banning them from federal service for life. After seeking appeals, many of the controllers were re-hired while the FAA attempted to replace much of their air traffic control staffing. The remainder continued to be banned until President Clinton lifted the final aspects in 1993.
Political unrest in the province of Quebec, which, due to the many differences between the dominant francophone population and the anglophone minority, and also to francophone rights in the predominantly English-speaking Canada, came to a head in 1980 when the provincial government called a public referendum on partial separation from the rest of Canada. The referendum ended with the "no" side winning majority (59.56% no, 40.44% yes).
The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 marked the beginning of German reunificationFormer president of Finland from 1956 to 1982. Funeral cortege of Urho Kekkonen in Helsinki, 1986
In 1983, Bettino Craxi became the first socialist to hold the office of Prime Minister of Italy; he remained in power until 1987, becoming one of the longest-serving Prime Ministers in the history of Italian Republic. At the end of his presidency the Mani pulite corruption scandal broke up, causing the collapse of the political system.
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 communist governments. These reforms included attempts to increase individual liberties and market liberalization, and promises of democratic renewal. The collapse of communism in eastern Europe was generally peaceful, the exception being Romania, whose leader Nicolae Ceaușescu tried to keep the people isolated from the events happening outside the country. While making a speech in Bucharest in December 1989, he was booed and shouted down by the crowd, and then tried to flee the city with his wife Elena. Two days later, they were captured, charged with genocide, and shot on Christmas Day.
In Yugoslavia, following the death of communist leader Josip Broz Tito in May 1980, the trend of political reform of the communist system occurred along with a trend towards ethnic nationalism and inter-ethnic hostility, especially in Serbia, beginning with the 1986 Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts followed by the agenda of Serbian communist leader Slobodan Milošević who aggressively pushed for increased political influence of Serbs in the late 1980s, condemning non-Serb Yugoslav politicians who challenged his agenda as being enemies of Serbs.
Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of the Soviet Union in 1985, and initiated major reforms to the Soviet Union's government through increasing the rights of expressing political dissent and opening elections to opposition candidates (while maintaining legal dominance of the Communist Party). Gorbachev pursued negotiation with the United States to decrease tensions and eventually end the Cold War.
The United Kingdom was governed by the Conservative Party under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the first female leader of a Western country. Under her Premiership, the party introduced widespread economic reforms including the privatisation of industries and the de-regulation of stock markets echoing similar reforms of US PresidentRonald Reagan. She was also a staunch opponent of communism, earning her the nickname The Iron Lady.
Poor industrial relations marked the beginning of the decade; the UK miners' strike (1984–85) was a major industrial action affecting the UK coal industry. The strike by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) was led by Arthur Scargill, although some NUM members considered it to be unconstitutional and did not observe it. The BBC has referred to the strike as "the most bitter industrial dispute in British history."[9] At its height, the strike involved 142,000 mineworkers, making it the biggest since the 1926 General Strike.[10]
In November 1982, Leonid Brezhnev, who had led the Soviet Union since 1964, died. He was followed in quick succession by Yuri Andropov, the former KGB chief, and Konstantin Chernenko, both of whom were in poor health during their short tenures in office.
Following the assassination of Park Chung-hee, South Korean president Chun Doo Hwan came to power at the end of 1979 and ruled as a dictator until his presidential term expired in 1987. He was responsible for the Gwangju Uprising in May 1980 when police and soldiers battled armed protesters. Relations with North Korea showed little sign of improvement during the 1980s. In 1983, when Chun was in Burma, a bomb apparently planted by North Korean agents killed a number of South Korean government officials. The June Democratic Struggle in 1987, a nationwide pro-democracy movement in South Korea, leads to democratic reforms, an end to authoritarian rule and democratic elections. After leaving office, Chun was succeeded by Roh Tae Woo, the first democratic ruler of the country, which saw its international prestige greatly rise with hosting the Olympics in 1988. Roh pursued a policy of normalizing relations with China and the Soviet Union, but had to face militant left-wing student groups who demanded reunification with North Korea and the withdrawal of US troops.
In the Philippines, after almost 20 years of dictatorship, Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos left the presidency and was replaced by Corazon Aquino through the "People Power Revolution" from 22 to 25 February 1986. This has been considered by some a peaceful revolution despite the fact that the Armed Forces of the Philippines issued an order to disperse the crowds on EDSA (the main thoroughfare in Metro Manila).
The 1988 Summer Olympics were held in South Korea, the first time the country hosted them.
Africa
A widespread famine hit Ethiopia from 1983 to 1985, affecting 7.75 million people, killing around 300,000 to 1.2 million. 400,000 refugees left the country. Blame for the famine has been attributed to drought, Ethiopia's civil war, and policies taken by the Derg military regime.
Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States, was shot in Washington, D.C. by a mentally disturbed individual. Reagan's press secretary, James Brady, was also shot, along with a police officer and a US Secret Service agent.[12]
Indira Gandhi, 3rd Prime Minister of India, is assassinated by her own bodyguards in response to the Indian Army's attack on Golden Temple to destroy Sikh Militant stronghold in Amritsar earlier in the decade.[20]
HIV/AIDS, a global pandemic that has killed over 40 million people, was identified in the 1980s, with the first reported cases in 1981.
On 17 October 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake struck the San Francisco Bay Area during Game 3 of the 1989 World Series, gaining worldwide attention. Sixty-five people were killed and thousands injured, with major structural damage on freeways and buildings and broken gas-line fires in San Francisco, California. The cost of the damage totaled US$13 billion (1989 US$).
The 1988–89 North American drought decimated the US with many parts of the country affected. This was the worst drought to hit the United States in many years. The drought caused $60 billion in damage (between $80 billion and $120 billion for 2008 US$). The concurrent heat waves killed 5,800 to 17,000 people in the United States.
In 1980, Saudia Flight 163, a Lockhead L-1011 TriStar, caught fire moments after takeoff from the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh. The flight immediately returned to the airport, but evacuation of the plane was delayed and all 301 people aboard died.
In 1985, Air India Flight 182, a Boeing 747 flying from Montreal to Bombay via London and Delhi, is blown up over Irish waters by a bomb planted by Sikh separatists, killing all 320 passengers and crew on board. This was the deadliest act of aviation terrorism until the September 11 attacks of 2001.
Japan Air Lines Flight 123, a Boeing 747 carrying 524 people, crashed in 1985, while on a flight from Tokyo to Osaka, killing 520 of the people on board, leaving four survivors. This was the deadliest single-aircraft crash to date.
In 1986, the NASA Space Shuttle Challengerdisintegrated 73 seconds after launch, killing all of the crew on board. This was the first disaster involving the destruction of a NASA Space Shuttle. A faulty O-ring was the cause of the accident.
On 26 April 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 1987, a fire broke out on South African Airways Flight 295, a Boeing 747, eventually causing the aircraft to crash into the Indian Ocean. All 159 aboard were killed.
On 20 December 1987, the Philippine passenger ferry MV Doña Paz burned and sank after colliding with the oil tanker MT Vector off the island of Marinduque. With an estimated death toll of over 4,000, this was and remains the world's deadliest peacetime maritime disaster.
In 1988, Iran Air Flight 655, an Airbus A300 en route from Tehran to Dubai via Bandar Abbas, was shot down by the US missile cruiser USS Vincennes over the Strait of Hormuz, killing all 290 people on the plane. The event is one of the most controversial aviation occurrences of all time, with the true cause disputed between the Americans and the Iranians.
In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103, a Boeing 747 en route from Frankfurt to Detroit (via London and New York), was destroyed by a bomb while it was flying over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing the 259 passengers and crew members on board and 11 people on the ground. This was the worst terrorist attack to have occurred on British soil.
On 24 March 1989, the oil tankerExxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef in Alaska's Prince William Soundspilling an estimated equivalent of 260,000 to 750,000 barrels of crude oil. Although not among the largest oil spills in history, its remote and sensitive location made it one of the most devastating ecological disasters, with after-effects continuing to be felt present-day.
In 1989, the Hillsborough disaster occurs during a FA Cup semi-final in Sheffield, England, fatally crushing 96 football fans and injuring nearly 1,000 more.
In 1989, United Airlines Flight 232, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 carrying 296 people, suffered an in-flight engine failure and was forced to crash-land at Sioux City, Iowa. 185 survived, while 111 were killed when the plane burst into flames upon touchdown.
The 1980s had many fundamental advances in medicine and biology. The first surrogate pregnancy of an unrelated child took place on 13 April 1986, in Michigan.[6] The first genetically modified crops, tobacco (Nicotiana) plants were grown in China in 1988.[23]
Gene therapy techniques became established by the end of the 1980s, allowing gene tagging and gene therapy to become a possibility, both of which were first performed in human beings in May 1989 and September 1990, respectively.
Electronics and computers
Arcade and video games had been growing in popularity since the late 1970s, and by 1982 were a major industry. But a variety of factors, including a glut of low-quality games and the rise of home computers, caused a tremendous crash in late 1983. For the next three years, the video game market practically ceased to exist in the US. But in the second half of the decade, it would be revived by Nintendo, whose Famicom console and mascot Mario had been enjoying considerable success in Japan since 1983. Renamed the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), it would claim 90% of the American video game market by 1989. The 1980s are considered to be the decade when video games achieved massive popularity. In 1980, Pac-Man was introduced to the arcades, and became one of the most popular video games of all time. Also in 1980, Game & Watch was created; it was not one of the best known game systems, but it facilitated mini-games and was concurrent with the NES. Donkey Kong, released in 1981, was a smash arcade hit and market breakthrough for Nintendo. Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Bros. 3, The Legend of Zelda, and the Mega Man series would become major hits for the console.
The personal computer experienced explosive growth in the 1980s, transitioning from a hobbyist's toy to a full-fledged consumer product. The IBM PC, launched in 1981, became the dominant computer for professional users. Commodore created the most popular home computers of both 8-bit and 16-bit generations. MSX standard was the dominant computer platform in Japan and in most parts of Asia. Apple Computer superseded its Apple II and Lisa models by introducing the first Macintosh computer in 1984. It was the first commercially successful personal computer to use a graphical user interface (GUI) and mouse,[24] which started to become general features in computers after the middle of the decade. Electronics and computers were also at the forefront of the advertising industry, with many commercials like "1984" from Apple achieving acclaim and pop-culture relevance.[25]
IBM PC (model 5150), the first DOS-compatible PC was released in 1981. The IBM PCs and compatible models from other vendors would become the most widely used computer systems in the world.
Commodore 64, with sales estimated at more than 17 million units between 1982 and 1994 became the best-selling computer model of all time.
Walkman and boomboxes, invented during the late 1970s, became very popular as they were introduced to various countries in the early 1980s, and had a profound impact on the music industry and youth culture. Consumer VCRs and video rental stores became commonplace as VHS won out over the competing Betamax standard. In addition, in the early 1980s various companies began selling compact, modestly priced synthesizers to the public. This, along with the development of Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI), made it easier to integrate and synchronize synthesizers and other electronic instruments, like drum machines, for use in musical composition.
High definition television (HDTV) of both the analog and digital variety were first developed in the 1980s though their use did not become widespread until the mid-2000s.
In 1981, Hayes Microcomputer Products started selling the Smartmodem. The Smartmodem paved the way for the modern modems that exist today, mainly because it was the first modem to transform what had previously required a two-stage process into a process involving only one stage. The Smartmodem contributed to the rise in popularity of BBS systems in the 1980s and early 1990s, which were the main way to connect to remote computers and perform various social and entertainment activities before the Internet and the World Wide Web finally became popular in the mid-1990s.
The 1980s witnessed a rapid expansion in the communications industry. Almost a decade after Martin Cooper, then an employee of Motorola, made the first mobile phone call in 1973, Millicom Inc., a telecommunications agency, and E.F. Johnson & Co., introduced the first portable cellular phone commercially available for use on a cellular network, the “Lunch Box” in 1981.[28][29][30] Two years later, Motorola launched the DynaTAC 8000X or the “Brick,” the first commercially available handheld mobile phone weighing 3 pounds (1.4 kg).[30] While revolutionary, these early products were bulky and challenging to handle. This led to fierce competition in the market, with companies vying to produce a lighter, more portable phone, setting the stage for the future of mobile technology.
The race for a slimmer version of the portable cell phone was underway, and technology entrepreneur Jan Stenbeck was determined to lead the charge. Stenbeck founded the tech start-up Technophone with a singular goal in mind: to create a lightweight, pocket-sized mobile phone. In 1986, under the guidance of Technophoneschief executive officer, Nils Martensson, the company unveiled the first pocket-sized mobile phone, the Excell PCT105.[28][31][32]
In 1983, the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X becomes the first commercially available mobile phone model
During the decade the standardization of Group 3 facsimile terminals by the International Telecommunication Union contributed to the significant spread of the fax machine.
VHS won out over the competing Betamax standard, becoming the leading standard in home video systems
The CD – the most basic CD ("Digital Audio Compact Disc") was released in October 1982 for distribution and listening to digital audio, and at the time contained up to 74 minutes of music.
TCP/IP: ARPANET officially changed its main protocol from NCP to TCP/IP on 1 January 1983, when the new protocols were activated. The TCP/IP protocol will become the dominant communications protocol from then onwards, and would be used as the foundation on which the Internet would be based.
FidoNet – In 1984, FidoNet was launched, enabling BBS users to send private messages (e-mails) and public messages (in the forum) between all BBS systems that were connected to the FidoNet network, in addition to sending files to each other. The rise in popularity and availability of the Internet around the world around the mid-1990s eventually contributed to the irrelevance of FidoNet.
World Wide Web – In 1989, the British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee first proposed a project to his employer CERN, based on the concept of hypertext, to facilitate sharing and updating information among researchers. In mid-November 1989 he would develop the first successful communication between a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) client and server via the internet. In the coming years Berners-Lee developed the system which would later become the foundation of the World Wide Web.
In 1981, Microsoft introduced the MS-DOS operating system, which would become the world's most widely used operating system in the 1980s and first half of the 1990s.
The most basic CD was first introduced in October 1982 for the purpose of distribution and listening to digital audio
In 1989, the British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee first proposed the World Wide Web, which he would develop in the coming years
American interplanetary probes continued in the 1980s, the Voyager duo being the most known. After making a flyby of Jupiter in 1979, they went near Saturn in 1980–1981. Voyager 2 reached Uranus in 1986 (just a few days before the Challenger disaster), and Neptune in 1989 before the probes exited the Solar System.
No American probes were launched to Mars in the 1980s, and the Viking probes, launched there in 1975, completed their operations by 1982. The Soviets launched two Mars probes in 1988, but they failed.
After a six-year hiatus, American space flights with astronauts resumed with the launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia in April 1981. The shuttle program progressed smoothly from there, with three more orbiters entering service in 1983–1985. But that all came to an end with the tragic loss of the Challenger (STS-51-L) on 28 January 1986, taking with it seven astronauts, including Christa McAuliffe, who was to have been the first teacher in space. In full view of the world, a faulty O-ring on the right solid rocket booster allowed hot gases to burn through the external fuel tank and cause it to explode, destroying the shuttle in the process. Extensive efforts were made to improve NASA's increasingly careless management practices, and to make the shuttle safer. Flights resumed with the launch of Discovery in September 1988.
The Soviet program with cosmonauts went well during the decade, experiencing only minor setbacks. The Salyut 6 space station, launched in 1977, was replaced by Salyut 7 in 1982. Then came Mir in 1986, which ended up operating for more than a decade, and was destined to be the last in the line of Soviet space stations that had begun in 1971. One of the Soviet Union's last "superprojects" was the Buran space shuttle; it was only used once, in 1988.
Automobiles
The American auto industry began in the 1980s in a thoroughly grim situation, faced with poor quality control, rising import competition, and a severe economic downturn.[33]Chrysler and American Motors (AMC) were near bankruptcy, and Ford was little better off.[34] Only General Motors (GM) continued with business as usual. But the auto makers recovered with the economy by 1983, and in 1985 auto sales in the United States hit a new record. However, the Japanese were now a major presence, and would begin manufacturing cars in the US to get around tariffs. In 1986, Hyundai became the first Korean auto maker to enter the American market. In the same year, the Yugoslavian-built Yugo was brought to the US, but the car was so small and cheap, that it became the subject of jokes. It was sold up to 1991, when economic sanctions against Yugoslavia forced its withdrawal from the American market.
As the decade progressed, cars became smaller and more efficient in design. In 1983, Ford design teams began to incorporate aerodynamic styling to decrease drag while in motion. The Thunderbird was one of the first cars to receive these design changes. In 1985, Ford released the Taurus with a design that was revolutionary among domestic mass market automobiles.
GM began suffering significant losses in the late 1980s, partially the result of chairman Roger Smith's restructuring attempts, and partially because of increasingly dated cars. An example were customers who increasingly purchased European luxury cars rather than Cadillacs. In 1985, GM started Saturn (the first new American make since the Edsel), with the goal of producing high-quality import fighters. Production would not begin until 1990.
Chrysler introduced its new compact, front-wheel drive K-cars in 1981. Under the leadership of Lee Iacocca, the company turned a profit again the following year, and by 1983 paid off its government loans. A succession of models using this automobile platform followed. The most significant were the minivans in 1984. These proved a to be popular and they would dominate the van market for more than a decade. In 1987, Chrysler purchased the Italian makes of Lamborghini and Maserati. In the same year, Chrysler bought AMC from Renault laying to rest the last significant independent US automaker, but acquiring the hugely profitable Jeep line and continuing the Eagle brand until the late 1990s.[35]
The DMC DeLorean was the brainchild of John DeLorean, a flamboyant former GM executive. Production of the gull-winged sports car began in Northern Ireland in 1981. John DeLorean was arrested in October 1982 in a sting operation where he was attempting to sell cocaine to save his struggling company. He was acquitted of all charges in 1984, but too late for the DeLorean Motor Company, which closed down in 1983. The DeLorean gained renewed fame afterward as the time machine in the Back to the Future film trilogy.
The imposition of corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) fuel-mileage standards in 1979 spelled the end of big-block engines, but performance cars and convertibles reemerged in the 1980s. Turbochargers were widely used to boost the performance of small cars, and technology from fuel injection began to take over from the widely used application of carburetors by the late 1980s. Front-wheel drive also became dominant.
The 1980s marked the decline of European brands in North America by the end of the decade. Renault, Citroën, and Peugeot ceased importation by the end of the decade. Alfa Romeo would continue until 1993. Fiat also ceased imports to North America in the 1980s.
Economics
The early 1980s was marked by a severe global economic recession that affected much of the developed world.
Inflation peaked in the US in April 1980 at 14.76% and subsequently fell to a low of 1.10% in December 1986 but then rebounded to 4.65% at the end of the decade.[36]
Finland's economy grew by almost the fastest pace in the world, which eventually culminated in the recession of the 1990s Finnish economy. In Finland, the 1980s were called the "Nousukausi", or "economic upswing".
Developing countries reliant on loans from the International Monetary Fund would experience debt crises throughout the 1980s.
Laissez faire and neoliberal economics have a resurgence in the developed world, led by the UK and US which emphasised reduced government intervention, lower taxes and deregulation of the stock markets, measures that became associated with an economic revival in the mid- to late-1980s.
Enactment of the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement in 1989 to further establish a strong economic bond between the two prosperous neighbor countries of North America.
The Solidarity movement began in Poland in 1980, involving workers demanding political liberalization and democracy in Poland. Attempts by the Communist government to prevent the rise of the Solidarity movement failed and negotiations between the movement and the government took place. Solidarity would be instrumental in encouraging people in other communist states to demand political reform.
The financial world and the stock market were glamorized in a way they had not been since the 1920s, and figures like Donald Trump and Michael Milken were widely seen as symbols of the decade. Widespread fear of Japanese economic strength would grip the United States in the 1980s.
The "Black Monday" stock market crash on 19 October 1987, decreased the value of the Dow Jones Industrial Average by more than 22%, causing widespread secondary drops in world markets.
During the 1980s, for the first time in world history, transpacific trade (with East Asia, such as China, and Latin America, primarily with Mexico) equaled that of transatlantic trade (with Western Europe or with neighboring Canada),[37] solidifying American economic power.[38]
The phrase Big Bang, used in reference to the sudden deregulation of financial markets, was coined to describe measures, including abolition of fixed commission charges and of the distinction between stockjobbers and stockbrokers on the London Stock Exchange and change from open-outcry to electronic, screen-based trading, effected by Margaret Thatcher in 1986.
Michael Jackson's Thriller became the best-selling album of all time, followed by the critically acclaimed album Bad five years later, and a musical film adaptation titled Moonwalker.
MTV began in 1981, and greatly influenced the way music is marketed and the rise of many rock stars during the 1980s. Early CGI also caught on within music videos, including the popular video for "Money for Nothing".
Along with early hip hop culture like 1988's Straight Outta Compton, graffiti became more mainstream in the 1980s.
Before the more mainstream use of the internet in the 1990s, many computer systems had searchable databases during the decade. These databases could be used to search a students' grades, computerized library and video rental systems to track books and video rentals.
Duran Duran (top), Madonna (bottom left) and Michael Jackson (bottom right) were among the best-selling musical talents of the decade, all considered some of the most globally popular and culturally significant pop and R&B talents of the 1980s, pictured here in 1983, 1987 and 1988 respectively.
American rock band Chicago continued their popularity from the 1970s and achieved two Billboard Hot 100 number 1 singles in the 1980s.
In the United States, MTV was launched and music videos began to have a larger effect on the record industry. Pop artists/bands such as Duran Duran, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Prince, Cyndi Lauper and Madonna mastered the format and helped turn this new product into a profitable business. At the beginning of the decade new wave fell from favor with the rise of the New Romantic,[39][40][41]new pop and synthpop genres developed by many British and American artists, popular phenomena throughout the decade especially in the early and mid-1980s. Music grew fragmented and combined into subgenres such as house, goth, and rap metal.[42] Famous music videos include those of Peter Gabriel.
The advent of numerous new technologies had a significant impact on 1980s music, and led to a distinct production aesthetic that included synthesizer sounds, drum machines and drum reverb.
Duran Duran, the biggest band of the 1980s, were leaders in the Second British Invasion, with a level of fame similar to Beatlemania by 1984. Their breakthrough album was Rio (1982). The single "Hungry Like the Wolf" was number 1 in Canada. UK number 1 singles include "Is There Something I Should Know?" and "The Reflex", which was the band's most successful single and was also number 1 in the US and on the Eurochart Hot 100. "A View to a Kill", theme song of the James Bond film, was number 1 in the US. "Notorious" was number 1 in Italy, Spain and Canada. "The Wild Boys" was number 1 in West Germany and South Africa. The band went on to sell over 100 million records and win Brit, Grammy and MTV awards.
Michael Jackson was one of the icons of the 1980s and his leather jacket, white glove, and Moonwalk dance were often imitated. Jackson's 1982 album Thriller became—and currently remains—the best-selling album of all time, with sales estimated by various sources as somewhere between 65 and 110 million copies worldwide. His 1987 album Bad sold over 45 million copies and became the first album to have five number-one singles chart on the Billboard Hot 100. Jackson had the most number-one singles throughout the decade (9), and spent the most weeks at number one (27 weeks). His 1987 Bad World Tour grossed over $125 million worldwide, making it the highest grossing world tour by a solo artist during the decade. Jackson earned numerous awards and titles during the 1980s, the most notable of which were a record eight Grammy Awards and eight American Music Awards in 1984, and the honor of "Artist of the Decade" by US President George H. W. Bush. Jackson was arguably the biggest star during this time, and would eventually sell more than one billion records around the world.
Prince was a popular star of the 1980s and the most successful chart act of the decade. His breakthrough album 1999, released in 1982, produced three top-ten hits and the album itself charted at number nine on the Billboard 200. His sixth studio album Purple Rain was an international success, boosting Prince to superstardom and selling over 25 million copies worldwide. The album produced the US number-one singles, "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy" and sold 13 million copies in the US as of 1996. Prince released an album every year for the rest of the decade, all charting within the top ten, with the exception of Lovesexy. He went on to sell over 120 million records worldwide and win seven Grammy Awards.
The '80s were above all a time of international corporatization... [Rock music] was reconceived as intellectual property, as a form of capital itself... The '80s were when stars replaced artists as bearers of significance... The '80s took rock sexuality and rock sexism over the top... The '80s were a time of renewed racial turmoil after ten-plus years of polite resegregation... Technology changed everything in the '80s. Cable brought us MTV and the triumph of the image. Synthesizers inflected the sounds that remained. Sampling revolutionized rock and roll's proprietary relationship to its own history. Cassettes made private music portable—and public. Compact discs inflated profitability as they faded into the background of busy lives.
Madonna and Whitney Houston were groundbreaking female artists of the decade.[44] The keyboard synthesizer and drum machine were among the most popular instruments in music during the 1980s. After the 1980s, electronic instruments continued to be the main component of mainstream pop.
The techno style of electronic dance music emerged in Detroit, Michigan, during the mid to late 1980s. The house music style, another form of electronic dance music, emerged in Chicago, Illinois, in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino and gay communities, first in Chicago, then in New York City and Detroit. It eventually reached Europe before becoming infused in mainstream pop and dance music worldwide.
In 1984, the British supergroup Band Aid was formed to raise aid and awareness of the economic plight of Ethiopia. In 1985's Live Aid concert, featuring many artists, promoted attention and action to send food aid to Ethiopia whose people were suffering from a major famine.
The 1980s saw the return of studio-driven films, coming from the filmmaker-driven New Hollywood era of the 1970s.[52] The period was when 'high concept' films gained popularity, where movies were to be easily marketable and understandable, and, therefore, they had short cinematic plots that could be summarized in one or two sentences. The modern Hollywood blockbuster is the most popular film format from the 1980s. Producer Don Simpson[53] is usually credited with the creation of the high-concept picture of the modern Hollywood blockbuster. In the mid-1980s, a wave of British directors, including Ridley Scott, Alan Parker, Adrian Lyne and Tony Scott (with the latter directing a number of Don Simpson films) ushered in a new era of blockbusters using the crowd-pleasing skills they had honed in UK television commercials.[54]
A significant development in the home media business is the establishment of The Criterion Collection in 1984, an American company "dedicated to gathering the greatest films from around the world and publishing them in editions that offer the highest technical quality". Through their releases, they were able to introduce what is now a standard to home video: letterboxing to retain the original aspect ratio, film commentaries and supplements/special features.[55][56]
Music video channel MTV was launched in the United States in 1981 and had a profound impact on the music industry and popular culture, especially in the 1980s and early 1990s.
The 1980s was a decade of transformation in television. Cable television became more accessible and therefore, more popular. By the middle of the decade, almost 70% of the US population had cable television and over 85% were paying for cable services such as HBO or Showtime.[59] People who lived in rural areas where cable TV service was not available could still access cable channels through a large (and expensive) satellite dish, which, by the mid-1990s, was phased out in favor of the small rooftop dishes that offer DirecTV and Dish Network services.
Scandal rocked TV evangelism when in 1987 evangelist Jim Bakker, founder of PTL and Heritage USA, was defrocked for having an affair years earlier and later sent to prison for fraud. One year later, evangelist Jimmy Swaggart was defrocked for allegedly having sexual relations with a prostitute.
A young United States team famously defeated the heavily favored Soviet team in the Miracle on Ice game, and went on to win the gold medal for ice hockey, at the 1980 Winter Olympics.
The New York Islanders won the Stanley Cup for 4 straight years in 1980, 1981, 1982, and 1983. The Islanders also became the second NHL expansion team after the Philadelphia Flyers to win the Cup. Since their last Cup win in 1983, they were the third NHL team to win 4 consecutive championships and hold the NHL record for most consecutive playoff series' wins at 19 (stretching from the 1980 Playoffs to the 1984 Playoffs).
The 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles were boycotted by the Soviet Union and most of the Communist world (China, Romania, and Yugoslavia participated in the games) in retaliation for the boycott of the 1980 Games in Moscow.
The 1988 Summer Olympics were held in Seoul, South Korea. Attempts to include North Korea in the games were unsuccessful and it boycotted along with six other countries, but with 160 nations participating, it had the highest attendance of any Olympics to date.
FIA banned Group Brallying after a series of deaths and injuries took place in the 1986 season.
Canadian hockey player Wayne Gretzky's rise to fame in the NHL coincided with the Edmonton Oilers' first four Stanley Cup championships (1984, 1985, 1987, and 1988) and becoming the second NHL dynasty team of the 1980s.
On 9 August 1988, in what became the biggest trade in NHL history (also known as "The Trade Of The Century"), Wayne Gretzky was traded along with teammates Marty McSorley and Mike Krushelnyski from Edmonton to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Martin Gélinas, Jimmy Carson, three first round draft picks, and US$15 million cash (approximately $18 million CAD in 1988).
In 1987, WrestleMania III had a record attendance of 93,173, the largest recorded attendance for a live indoor sporting event in North America until 2010. This also remained the WrestleMania attendance record until WrestleMania 32 in 2016
In 1988, the live broadcast of WWF's The Main Event I drew a 15.2 Nielsen rating and 33 million viewers, both records for American televised wrestling.[67]
Hawthorn Football Club dominated Australian football, reaching seven successive VFL Grand Finals and winning the premiership in 1983, 1986, 1988, and 1989
Liverpool F.C. were the most successful club side of the era, becoming English champions on six occasions (1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, and 1988) and winning two European Cups (1981, 1984). They also won the FA Cup in 1986, completing the first double in their history, and four consecutive League Cup titles from 1981 to 1984.
Other highly successful club sides of the 1980s include Juventus (7 major honours won), Real Madrid (ten major honours won), Bayern Munich (nine titles won) PSV Eindhoven (four times Dutch champions and European Cup winners in 1988), and Flamengo (four times Brazilian champions, South American and International Cup winners in 1981).
In the NFL, the San Francisco 49ers became the dynasty of the decade, winning four Super Bowls under the leadership of Joe Montana; the Chicago Bears won Super Bowl XX in January 1986, in which the team has been widely remembered for their defense; and the Washington Redskins also enjoyed success throughout the decade, winning two of their three Super Bowls under the leadership of head coach Joe Gibbs.
Handheld electronic LCD games was introduced into the youth market segment. The primary gaming computers of the 1980s emerged in 1982: the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum.
Nintendo finally decided in 1985 to release its Famicom (released in 1983 in Japan) in the United States under the name Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It was bundled with Super Mario Bros. and it suddenly became a success. The NES dominated the American and Japanese market until the rise of the next generation of consoles in the early 1990s, causing some to call this time the Nintendo era. Sega released its 16-bit console, Mega Drive/Genesis, in 1988 in Japan and in North America in 1989.
In 1989, Nintendo released the Game Boy, a monochrome handheld console.
The game Pac-Man (1980) became immensely popular and an icon of 1980s popular culture
Game & Watch was the popular mobile game during the decade until it was replaced in the early 1990s with more advanced Game Boy.
The beginning of the decade saw the continuation of the clothing styles of the late 1970s and evolved into heavy metal fashion by the end. However, fashion became more extravagant during the 1980s. The 1980s included teased and colourfully-dyed hair, ripped jeans, neon clothing and many colours and different designs which at first were not accepted.
Miniskirts returned to mainstream fashion in the mid-1980s after a ten-year absence, mostly made of denim material. From that point on, miniskirts and minidresses have remained in mainstream fashion to this day.
Makeup on the 1980s was aggressive, shining and colourful. Women emphasised their lips, eyebrows and cheeks with makeup. They used much blush and eyeliner.
According to decadeology, cultural decades do not necessarily line up with their numerical counterparts. For example, the 1980s are said by some to have begun in 1979 with the New Romantic movement (a British style in fashion and music influenced by futurist disco),[68][69] the Iranian Revolution, and the election of Margaret Thatcher.[70] Meanwhile, the Chicago Sun-Times declared the 1977 Star Wars as the first movie of the eighties.[71] A shift in television happened in the late 1970s as well: of the top shows considered to be "shows of the 1980s", more began 1978–1979 than began 1980–1981.[72][73] 1977 also saw[74] the introduction of ROM cartridge-based video game consoles, with the Atari Video Computer System, the Fairchild Channel F, and the Bally Astrocade, as well as seeing the introduction of the first mass-produced home computers, with the Apple II, the TRS-80, and the Commodore PET.
As for the cultural end of the decade, Reagan's last day in office 20 January 1989, marked the "end of an era".[75] Music saw a change, with the premier of Yo! MTV Raps on 6 August 1988, which was coincidentally the same date as the last broadcast of Casey Kasem hosting American Top 40. On the religious front, 1988 also saw the "unraveling of the decade's conservative dominance" with the release of The Last Temptation of Christ and the three televangelist scandals of Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, and Oral Roberts.[76] The years 1988–1993 are sometimes called the neighties for being a cultural bridge between the politically conservative 1980s and the Internet boom of the 1990s, which was kicked off by the release of Mosaic in 1993.[77]
^Katzman, Kenneth (2001). "Iran: The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran". In Benliot, Albert V. (ed.). Iran: Outlaw, Outcast, Or Normal Country?. Nova. p. 101. ISBN978-1-56072-954-9.
^Agar, Jon (2003). Constant touch: a global history of the mobile phone. Revolutions in science (Reprint ed.). Cambridge: Icon Books. ISBN978-1-84046-541-9.
^"Vintage Mobiles". GSM History: History of GSM, Mobile Networks, Vintage Mobiles. 18 November 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
^Taylor, Alexander; Redman, Christopher; Seaman, Barrett (8 September 1980). "Detroit's Uphill Battle". Time. Archived from the original on 30 November 2007. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
^Loder, Kurt (17 July 1981). "Rolling Stone Random Notes". The Tuscaloosa News – via Google News Archive. Pity the natty Anglo-dandies of Japan. Too late for the glam-rock movement, reviled in the New Wave era, these veteran fops — led by David "The Most Beautiful Man in the World" Sylvian — would seem made to order for the age of the clothes-conscious New Romantic bands.
^Nickson, Chris (25 September 2012). "New Wave Music in The 70s". ministryofrock.co.uk. New Wave survived through the post-punk years, but after the turn of the decade found itself overwhelmed by the more outrageous style of the New Romantics.
^Ebert, Roger; Bordwell, David (2008). Awake in the Dark: The Best of Roger Ebert (Paperback ed.). Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press. p. xvii. ISBN978-0226182018. In his pluralism, [Roger] Ebert proved a more authentic cinephile than many of his contemporaries. They tied their fortunes to the Film Brats and then suffered the inevitable disappointments of the 1980s return to studio-driven pictures.
^Loder, Kurt (23 July 1981). "Dress Right!". Rolling Stone. Midge, Rusty and Steve weren't discouraged; they had already hatched a plan to recruit some of their favorite musicians from other bands and record a whole album of electro-disco tracks.
^Farrington, Michael (8 November 2014). Decadeology. Amazon Kindle. The Eighties. This period began in 1979 with the New Romantic movement, the Iranian revolution, and a decided move towards Conservatism with the election of Margaret Thatcher and then Reagan a year later.
^Kramer, Peter (19 August 2004). Tasker, Yvonne (ed.). The Action and Adventure Cinema. Routledge. p. 366. ISBN9781134564941. For the Chicago Sun-Times it was immediately clear that Star Wars heralded a new era; it was '[t]he first movie of the 1980s'
^"88 Facts About the Summer of 1988". ultimateclassicrock.com. 15 August 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2024. You could see the end of an era in 1988 – the '90s were visible on the horizon; the Reagan presidency was winding down; retirement was looming for Dirty Harry; Bruce Springsteen's marriage ended; the great Louis L'Amour went to the big second-hand bookstore in the sky. Accepted norms were falling. MTV put a hip-hop show on its regular schedule – unthinkable not so long before
^Smith, Brent (18 May 2023). "Dark Neon: The Neighties: A Micro-Era Invisible to the Cultural Eye". Medium. Retrieved 12 June 2024. The neighties is an era that began in 1988 and ended in 1993. Five years of crucial late-20th century culture that flies under the radar, as invisible to the undiscerning eye as ultraviolet light.
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