The World in 1989 the year the wall came down
160KComputers on the internet
1stWeb proposal, CERN in Geneva
$1.02Gallon of gas (US)
$3.97Movie ticket (US)
25ยขUS postage stamp
$189Sega Genesis at launch (US)
2MPeople in the Baltic chain
38,915Tokyo share index peak
29 yrsSince Brazil last voted
On one evening in August about 2 million people joined hands across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The line of hands ran more than 400 miles, all the way from Tallinn to Vilnius.
Life back then

Batman was the obsession of the summer, and the bat logo turned up on shirts, mugs and school bags. Game tips spread by word of mouth in the schoolyard, because there was nowhere online to look them up. In East Germany, families pointed their aerials west so they could watch news the state television would not show. In December a cartoon family from a variety show got a series of its own, and The Simpsons was on every playground list of favorite shows.
The year in 8 events
- ๐ฏ๏ธJan 7 Emperor Hirohito dies in Tokyo after 62 years on the throne. His son Akihito takes over and Japan starts a new era.
- ๐ข๏ธMar 24 The tanker Exxon Valdez runs aground in Alaska and spills millions of gallons of oil.
- ๐ฏ๏ธJun 4 Chinese troops clear protesters from Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Many people are killed.
- ๐ชAug 25 Voyager 2 flies past Neptune, the last planet on its tour, and sends home photos of blue clouds.
- ๐Sep 11 Hungary lets East Germans cross into Austria. Thousands drive west in small Trabant cars.
- ๐งฑNov 9 East Germany opens the Berlin Wall. Crowds climb on top and start chipping pieces off.
- ๐บDec 17 The Simpsons begins as a weekly series on US television with a Christmas episode.
- โDec 25 Romania's leader Nicolae Ceausescu is overthrown and shot after a week of protest and street fighting.