WHAT ALL HAPPENED AUGUST TO DECEMBER 1989
Find out what all happened August to December 1989

Berlin's Brandenburg Gate re-opens after nearly 30 years, effectively ending the division of East and West Germany. (22. December 1989)

A magnitude 5.6 earthquake hits Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, killing 13 people. (28. December 1989)

Romanian Revolution: Protests continue in Timișoara, Romania, with rioters breaking into the Romanian Communist Party's District Committee building and attempting to set it on fire. (17. December 1989)

An official news agency in the Soviet Union reports the landing of a UFO in Voronezh. (9. October 1989)

Bankruptcy of Wärtsilä Marine; the biggest bankruptcy in the nordic countries until then. (23. October 1989)

Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Neptune, the second to last planet in the Solar System at the time. (25. August 1989)

East German Prime Minister Willi Stoph, along with his entire cabinet, is forced to resign after huge anti-government protests. (7. November 1989)

Colombian drug barons declare "total war" on the Colombian government. (24. August 1989)

Velvet Revolution: The number of protesters assembled in Prague, Czechoslovakia swells from 200,000 the day before to an estimated half-million. (20. November 1989)

In Leipzig, East Germany, the first of weekly demonstration for the legalisation of opposition groups and democratic reforms takes place. (4. September 1989)

Communist President of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu is overthrown by Ion Iliescu after days of bloody confrontations. The deposed dictator and his wife flee Bucharest with a helicopter as protesters erupt in cheers. (22. December 1989)

Douglas Wilder wins the governor's seat in Virginia, becoming the first elected African American governor in the United States. (7. November 1989)

Partnair Flight 394 drove into the North Sea, killing 55 people. The investigation showed that the tail of the plane vibrated loose in flight due to sub-standard connecting bolts that had been fraudulently sold as aircraft-grade. (8. September 1989)

Cold War: Velvet Revolution begins: In Czechoslovakia, a student demonstration in Prague is quelled by riot police. This sparks an uprising aimed at overthrowing the communist government (it succeeds on December 29). (17. November 1989)

Tadeusz Mazowiecki is chosen as the first non-communist Prime Minister in Central and Eastern Europe. (25. August 1989)

In West Beirut, a bomb explodes near the motorcade of Lebanese President René Moawad, killing him. (22. November 1989)

Cold War: East Germany's parliament abolishes the constitutional provision granting the Communist Party the leading role in the state. (1. December 1989)

Romanian Revolution: Protests break out in Timișoara, Romania, in response to an attempt by the government to evict dissident Hungarian pastor László Tőkés. (16. December 1989)

Singing Revolution: two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stand on the Vilnius-Tallinn road, holding hands (Baltic Way). (23. August 1989)

Space Shuttle program: STS-28 Mission – Space Shuttle Columbia takes off on a secret five-day military mission. (8. August 1989)