The 1990s made up the last decade of the 20th century. This naturally made it a historical transition, to the modern age of our 21st century. Learn more about how the world changed at that time with this list of the highlights of the ’90s.
- 01The ’90s marked the last decade of the second millennium of the Common Era (CE) calendar.
- 02According to the United Nations (UN), the world’s population grew by 1.6 billion people, or 30%, during the 1990s.
- 03Worldwide economic growth varied between 1.5% from 1990 to 1994 and 2.5% from 1995 to 1999.
- 04The ’90s set a world record for a decade’s worth of damage from natural disasters, at $608 billion.
- 05The USA, in particular, saw the worst flooding in its history since the 19th century.
The Fall of the Soviet Union marked the biggest event of the ’90s.
Economic stagnation, caused by various factors, in the 1980s set the stage for the Soviet collapse. These factors included overspending on the military, overdependence on heavy industry, low investment in consumer and service industries, and lack of free-market mechanisms. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s policy of toleration and openness to nationalist and dissident sentiments also helped fracture the Union. Lithuania became the first Soviet member state to leave the Union in August 1991, with Latvia and Estonia following in September.
Other member states followed in the following months, with Gorbachev formally recognizing the end of the Union in December 1991. Ironically, the Central Asian Republics became the last to leave the Union, only once it had become clear that nothing could stop its collapse. The Fall of the Soviet Union marked the end of the Cold War, with western writers like Francis Fukuyama calling it proof that liberal democracy, and not Communism, showed the way for humanity’s future.
The resulting question over German reunification became a major issue in the West.
Communism fell in East Germany in May 1990, with the newly-elected government pushing for union with West Germany. West Germany proved receptive, but only if its allies and the Soviet Union agreed to allow reunification. The USA gave its support, but Britain, France, and the Soviet Union all proved reluctant to do likewise. They feared that a reunified Germany would dominate Europe, and maybe even start WWIII. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher even called reunifying Germany an insult to everyone who died to defeat Germany in WWII.
Eventually, the Soviet Union gave way, as they couldn’t afford to send troops to keep Germany separate. Britain and France only gave way after the USA threatened to leave NATO and form a separate alliance with Germany. Even then, Thatcher tried to pressure France to stop reunification and even offered to pay the Soviets to keep troops in East Germany. German reunification took place on October 3 of 1990, a date which remains celebrated as a holiday in Germany today.
NASA launched the Hubble Telescope in 1990.
Arguably the most famous telescope, NASA named its space telescope after American astronomer Edwin Hubble. By putting Hubble in space, NASA hoped it would get clearer pictures without the atmosphere distorting light from deep space. Ironically, a faulty mirror kept Hubble from coming online until 1993, when astronomers finally replaced it. Ever since then, Hubble has taken an estimated 1 million pictures, of events ranging from the birth and death of stars to galaxies billions of light-years away.
Hubble helped scientists calculate the age of the universe, which is around 13.7 billion years old. Hubble even showed scientists how the universe expanded faster and faster every year that passed. Despite now measuring over 30 years old, NASA feels no need to rush to replace Hubble, instead they continue to maintain and upgrade the telescope with new equipment. In fact, they predict they can keep Hubble going until 2040.
