Learn History on Your Schedule.
Thousands of workers and students pictured in Tiananmen Square. Many of the people above would be dead soon after, victims of the PRC's effort to wipe out dissent. (People's World) On this day in 1989, thousands of Chinese student activists and workers gathered in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, in a massive display of civil disobedience. Site…
Then-president Václav Havel (L) with American Secretary of Defense William Cohen (R) in 1997. (Defense.gov) On this day in 1989, Czech writer and activist Václav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia (now Czechia) in that country's first free, post-communist election. The Central European country had just recently removed itself from the USSR (Union of Soviet…
American troops and Panamanian women in 1989. (OSW) On this day in 1989, US military forces invaded Panama, a small country linking Central and South America. Titled Operation Just Cause (or, according to many soldiers who took part in the operation, "Just 'cause"), the invasion was justified by US command as a necessity for protecting…
Potsdamer Platz, Berlin: Berliners and tourists gather in disbelief at the new opening in the "Wall of Shame". (source: Wikimedia Commons) On this day in 1989 Germans began to tear down the Berlin Wall. The 155 km (96 mile) wall had split East and West Germany in two through Berlin since 1961. Prior to the…
ASAP History 