WHAT ALL HAPPENED MAY TO NOVEMBER 1989
Find out what all happened May to November 1989

Iran-Contra Affair: Oliver North is sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell to a three-year suspended prison term, two years probation, $150,000 in fines and 1,200 hours community service. His convictions were later overturned. (5. July 1989)

Burma's ruling junta puts opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest. (20. July 1989)

A death squad composed of El Salvadoran army troops kills six Jesuit priests and two others at Jose Simeon Canas University. (16. November 1989)

The Hungarian Republic is officially declared by president Mátyás Szűrös, replacing the communist Hungarian People's Republic. (23. October 1989)

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

The government of China sends troops to force protesters out of Tiananmen Square after seven weeks of occupation. (3. June 1989)

The pleasure boat Marchioness sinks on the River Thames following a collision. 51 people are killed. (20. August 1989)

General elections are held in Nicaragua with the Sandinista National Liberation Front winning a majority. (5. August 1989)

The Chinese authorities declare martial law in the face of pro-democracy demonstrations, setting the scene for the Tiananmen Square massacre. (20. May 1989)

Cold War: Fall of the Berlin Wall. Communist-controlled East Germany opens checkpoints in the Berlin Wall allowing its citizens to travel to West Germany. This key event led to the eventual reunification of East and West Germany, and fall of communism in eastern Europe including Russia. (9. November 1989)

A solar flare from the Sun creates a geomagnetic storm that affects micro chips, leading to a halt of all trading on Toronto's stock market. (16. August 1989)

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

The Tel Aviv–Jerusalem bus 405 suicide attack: 14 bus passengers are killed when an Arab assaulted the bus driver as the bus was driving by the edge of a cliff. (6. July 1989)

The longtime leader of the People's Republic of Bulgaria Todor Zhivkov is removed from office and replaced by Petar Mladenov. (10. November 1989)

The O-Bahn Busway in Adelaide, the world's longest guided busway, opens. (20. August 1989)

1989 Loma Prieta earthquake (7.1 on the Richter scale) hits the San Francisco Bay Area and causes 57 deaths directly (and 6 indirectly). (17. October 1989)

The Tank Man halts the progress of a column of advancing tanks for over half an hour after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. (5. June 1989)

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

Largest anti-Apartheid march in South Africa, led by Desmond Tutu. (13. September 1989)

Large groups of students occupy Tiananmen Square and begin a hunger strike. (13. May 1989)