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Political Events

Soviet troops in Lithuania seize the Vilnius television station by force January 13, killing 15, wounding hundreds, and signaling a harsh new attitude by Moscow toward the republics (see 1990). Soviet Black Berets in Latvia kill five in an attack on ministry building at Riga, but the Republic of Georgia declares its independence April 9 (see 1992). The Moldovian Soviet Socialist Republic becomes the independent Republic of Moldova May 23, but leaders of the Trans-Dneister Autonomous Republic declare independence from Moldova, and fighting breaks out between the two (see 1990; 1992). Boris Yeltsin wins easy election June 13 as president of the Russian Republic in the first democratic elections ever held in Russia; Leningraders vote to rename their city St. Petersburg.

Former Iranian prime minister Shahpur Bakhtiar is found stabbed to death at his suburban Paris home August 6 at age 77, having survived two previous assassination attempts.

A coup attempt by Communist Party hard liners August 19 ends August 23 after President Yeltsin at Moscow calls for a general strike to resist the coup. Some tank commanders support Yeltsin and the coup leaders flee. Soviet President Gorbachev returns from brief detention in his Crimean summer home August 23 and suspends the Communist Party August 24, ending 74 years of communist rule. Ukraine proclaims independence from the Soviet Union August 24, threatening to strip Russia of her most productive agricultural territories. The Republic of Belarus declares independence August 25, having had her own seat in the United Nations since 1945; mathematician and physicist Stanislav Stanislavovich Shushkevich, 56, has headed the country's Supreme Soviet at Minsk and is named president (see 1994).

CIA director William H. Webster resigns August 31 and is replaced November 6 by Wichita-born Robert M. (Michael) Gates, 47, who was deputy director from 1986 to 1989 and will head the agency until 1993. Former CIA director John A. McCone has died at his Pebble Beach, Calif., home February 14 at age 89.

President Gorbachev persuades the all-Soviet Congress to surrender power September 5. It has lost authority over the 15 constituent republics, the nation verges on political and economic collapse; Gorbachev works with leaders of the republics to restore order, draft a new constitution, and create a noncommunist political order. He recognizes the independence of the Baltic republics September 6 as other republics gain autonomy.

Uzbekistan declares her independence August 31 under the leadership of President Islam Karimov, 53, who is relected; Kyrgyzstan declares her independence August 31 under the leadership of former metalworker Askar Akayev, 47,who becomes the country's first nationally chosen president October 12, restores Frunze's pre-Soviet name Bishkek, and will hold power until 2005; Azerbaijan's national assembly (Milli Medjlis) officially restores the country as an independent republic October 18. The Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh inside Azerbaijan demands independence as war continues between Armenia and Azerbaijan (see 1988). Armenian soldiers help to carve out a corridor linking the region to Armenia and take control of nearby Azeri villages, and by the time a Russian-brokered cease-fire is declared in 1994 the conflict will have killed at least 30,000 people and displaced more than 80,000.

Turkmenistan declares her independence October 27 under the leadership of President Saparmurad A. Niyazov, 51, who has been reelected; Kazakhstan declares her independence in December under the leadership of President Nursultan Nazarbatyev.

The autonomous enclave of Chechnya elects Dzhokhar Dudayev president and declares independence from Russia late in the year as the Soviet Union breaks apart. The largely Muslim state (population: about 1.2 million) has defied Russia for 3 centuries (see 1995).

The Soviet Nuclear Threat Reduction Act (Nunn-Lugar Act) signed into law by President Bush December 12 initiates a "build-down" of nuclear capabilities in the former Soviet republics. Senate Armed Forces Committee chairman Samuel Augustus "Sam" Nunn, now 53 (D. Ga.), and former Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Richard Green "Dick" Lugar, not 59 (R. Ind.), have sponsored the measure after consultations with former Soviet leaders, and within 13 years half the nuclear arsenal of the cold-war enemy will have been scrapped, but security at the remaining stockpiles will be so lax that experts raise fears that terrorists may gain access to them.

Ukraine joins with Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgysztan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and four other former Soviet republics December 21 in a Commonwealth of Independent States. Mikhail Gorbachev resigns December 25, and the USSR is dissolved as Boris Yeltsin becomes president of Russia, a position he will hold until the end of 1999.

Norway's Olaf V dies at Oslo January 17 at age 87 after a 33-year reign. His 53-year-old son assumes the throne as Harald V.

Germany's Bundestag votes June 20 to move the nation's capital from Bonn to Berlin despite the high costs involved. Berlin is closer to East Germany, supporters of the move argue (see 1999).

Croatia and Slovenia declare independence from Yugoslavia June 25 but no world power recognizes them (see 1990). President Slobodan Milosevic orders the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) to subdue the breakaway republics, the army is composed mostly of Serbs, Serbo-Croat battles erupt, a civil war begins, Serb forces lay siege to the Croatian city of Vukovar, the European Community engineers a series of cease-fires, but the United States does not intervene to stop the bloodshed. The JNA and Serbian guerrillas launch a final offensive against Vukovar November 17, its last defenders flee November 19, and the city surrenders after an 86-day siege in which it has been virtually leveled with as many as 5,000 people dead. Only 10,000 people remain alive in the city, most of the original 50,000 having left (see 1992; Krajina, 1995).

Former head of Communist Czechoslovakia Gustav Husák dies at his native Bratislava November 18 at age 88.

Political and economic leaders from 12 European Community (EC) nations meet at Maastricht in the Netherlands and sign a treaty in December establishing a new entity: the European Union (EU) is intended to permit pursuit of a common foreign policy and will have greater powers than did the EC in matters that have heretofore been the sole province of individual, sovereign powers; initial signatories are Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain, but Britain has been allowed to "opt out" of the EU's social chapter, which sets Continent-wide standards for workers' rights (Prime Minister Major has opposed the provision); the pact must be ratified by the voters of each country, and French voters next year will ratify it by a margin of only 51.05 percent to 48.9 percent (Danish voters will reject the treaty and not approve it until May 1993, by which time the other nations will have agreed to exempt Denmark from cooperating on matters of defense, police, and monetary policy) (see 1993).

U.S. and allied missiles and planes bomb targets in Iraq and Kuwait beginning January 17. Congress has voted January 12 to approve legislation permitting President Bush to make war on Iraq if she does not withdraw from Kuwait by January 15 in accordance with UN resolutions (see 1990). Pilots fly more than 1,000 missions per day in the first weeks of the Persian Gulf War, dropping thousands of pounds of TNT with computer-guided accuracy in history's heaviest bombing, and meeting little resistance. U.S. and allied casualties are minimal. Antiwar demonstrations ("No blood for oil") increase beginning the night of January 16 (they have been staged in U.S. cities for months) when news of the outbreak of hostilities reaches America. European cities also have peace demonstrations, but polls suggest most Americans united behind President Bush, who has the highest approval rating of any U.S. president since that enjoyed by Franklin D. Roosevelt in December 1941.

Turkey's parliament votes January 17 to let U.S. and allied planes use Turkish air bases for attacks on Iraq, but the war is costing the country billions in lost revenue and most Turks side with Iraq.

Iraqi missiles strike Tel Aviv and Haifa beginning January 18, causing little damage. Israel has refrained from taking any pre-emptive strike against Iraqi missile sites and does not retaliate lest it destroy the allied coalition. Washington sends in Patriot surface-to-air missile launchers manned by U.S. servicemen when the missiles prove effective in destroying airborne Iraqi Scud missiles over Saudi Arabia.

Operation Desert Storm begins February 24 and ends in 100 hours with Iraqi forces defeated. New York-born Gen. Colin L. (Luther) Powell, 53, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has advised President Bush to give economic sanctions more time to work, but Bush has spurned the advice; Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, 56, has planned the combined air and ground attack, using night-flying Apache attack helicopters to destroy Iraqi tanks, armored personnel carriers, trucks, and other vehicles while sending 270,000 U.S., British, and French troops in a sweep around the Iraqis' western flank while air attacks sever the main highway route from Baghdad to Basra. Iraq's 4,000 Soviet-built tanks are no match for the highly mobile, 65-ton Abrams tanks of the U.S. Army; the Abrams's armor plating is 2½ times as strong as steel, their turbine engines drive them at speeds of up to 45 miles per hour, their machine guns and cannon enable them to shoot targets as far as three kilometers away, and their thermo sights lock on to the exhaust pipes of enemy tanks, more than 3,900 of which are destroyed (only four U.S. tanks are lost). More than 100,000 Iraqi troops surrender, at least 3,500 Iraqi civilians are killed, but Saddam Hussein remains in power under terms of UN Resolution 687, adopted in April, and another 14,000 will die in the next few years of waterborne diseases. The economic sanctions imposed earlier by the UN remain essentially in place, preventing Saddam from selling oil to raise money for new military ventures, and Saddam agrees to accept the destruction of Iraq's long-range missiles and of its biological, chemical, and nuclear arsenals, with all facilities involved in the research and development of these weapons to be rendered harmless. The United Nations appoints a special inspection commission (UNSCOM), but although Iraq files a disclosure report within a few weeks of signing the UN resolution the report will turn out to be largely fictitious (see 1993). When Shiite and Kurdish forces rebel against Saddam's regime in some cities, he sends in helicopter gun ships to suppress the uprisings, killing some 35,000 Iraqis.

Turkey's former prime minister Süleyman Demirel regains office following general elections October 20 (see 1987). Now 66, he heads a coalition government with the Social Democrat People's Party (see 1993).

Israeli and Arab delegates confer at Madrid October 30 and 31 under pressure from Washington and Moscow to begin settling their differences (see 1993). Bilateral talks follow, and the United Nations General Assembly votes December 16 to rescind its 1975 resolution equating Zionism with racism.

Thailand's military stages a coup February 23, ousting Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhaven after 15 years in office and replacing him with Anand Panyarachun, 58, as interim prime minister until a new constitution can be written and elections held.

A bombing kills former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi May 21 as he campaigns for reelection southwest of Madras (Chennai). His death at age 46 ends the dynasty begun by his grandfather Pandit Nehru in 1947 and leaves the country in turmoil.

Jiang Qing, widow of China's late Mao Zedong, reportedly takes her own life in early June at age 77. Other members of her "Gang of Four"—Wang Hongwen, 56; Zhang Chunqiao, 74; and Yao Wenyuan, 60—remain in detention.

Cambodia's various factions sign a peace agreement after 12 years of hostilities (but see 1993).

Laos adopts a new constitution (see 1975). Prime Minister Kaysone Phomvihan visited France and Japan 2 years ago seeking financial aid, and he becomes president after 16 years as prime minister (but see 1992).

Mongolia stops calling herself the People's Republic of Mongolia after 67 years and drafts a new constitution allowing opposition parties and establishing a republican government with a 76-member unicameral parliament, the Great Hural. Former president Yumzhagiyen Tsedenbal dies at age 75, having led the country from 1952 until 1984; former president Jambyn Batmönh resigned in March of last year at age 63; former foreign trade minister Punsalmaagiyn Ochirbat, 49, serves as president, and he will win Mongolia's first direct presidential election in 1993, but the 604,250-square-mile country has a population of only about 2.3 million.

Former Philippines first lady Imelda Marcos returns to Manila November 4 after nearly 6 years' exile to face tax fraud and other charges. She stays in a $2,000-per-day suite at the Westin-Philippine Plaza but is evicted after 4 weeks and obliged to move into a modest two-story concrete house.

Burmese opposition leader and human rights activist Aung San Suu Kyi, now 46, is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize but remains under house arrest and is unable to travel to Stockholm to accept (see 1989). Czechoslovakia's president Vaclav Havel has nominated her for the prize, calling her "an outstanding example of the power of the powerless" who has "refused to be bribed into silence."

Somalia's president Mohammed Siad Barre flees Mogadishu January 26 after a corrupt dictatorship that began in October 1969. Now close to 80, he has given women the right to vote, divorce, and gain custody of their children, but his own tribesman have turned against him. The rebel leader Ali Mahdi Mohammed is sworn in as interim president January 29 but the two factions of the United Somali Congress engage in bloodly conflict, Ali Mahdi flees Mogadishu in November, and more turmoil ensues (see 1993; famine 1992).

Mali's president Gen. Moussa Traore has his troops fire on demonstrators, some 300 youths are killed, and Traore is ousted in a coup d'état March 26; Lieut. Col. Amadou Toumani Touré, 42, announces on the radio at 6 o'clock in the morning that he has just arrested Toure and will organize elections as soon as minimum security can be established (see 1992).

Ethiopia's Moscow-backed dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, now 53, resigns under pressure May 21 and flies into exile after 14 years of increasingly repressive rule. Lieut. Col. Mengistu turns over the presidency to his vice president Lieut. Gen. Tesfaye Gebre-Kidan, 55, as rebel forces close in on Addis Ababa.

The central committee of Zimbabwe's ruling party (the African National Union-Patriotic Front, or ZANU-PF) votes in late June to remove phrases such as "Marxism-Leninism" and "scientific socialism" from the nation's constitution.

Zambia votes October 31 to elect union leader Frederick Chiluba, 48, president, thus ousting Kenneth Kaunda, now 67, after 27 years in office. Kaunda legalized opposition parties last year, this is the country's first pluralistic presidential election since Zambia became a one-party state in 1972, and Chiluba owes his victory to an economic decline that has seen increasing unemployment, dwindling copper reserves, decaying social services, worsening education, failing agriculture, and eroding the standard of living.

Haiti's president Jean-Bertrand Aristide takes office in February, tries to control the military, but is ousted September 30 in a bloody coup led by Brig. Gen. Raoul Cedras, 43 (see 1990). Other nations cut off all but humanitarian aid to the new regime (see 1993).

Surinam holds her first election since last year's bloodless coup; groups favoring renewed ties with the Netherlands win 38 seats in the 51-seat National Assembly May 25. The military's New Democratic Party wins only nine seats, and although some voter intimidation is reported in the interior international observers say the election was for the most part free and fair.

Nobel nuclear disarmament champion Alfonso García Robles dies of kidney failure at Mexico City September 2 at age 80.