1980s

Millennia:
1st millennium - 2nd millennium - 3rd millennium
Centuries:
19th century - 20th century - 21st century
Decades:
1950s 1960s 1970s - 1980s - 1990s 2000s 2010s
Years:
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989

Events and trends

The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 1960s and 1970s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. It was also an era of political and economic decentralisation, especially in countries with mixed and command economies, since decades of active government intervention left a legacy of soaring inflation and rising unemployment. Coined the "me decade," this decade has been somewhat derided since its closing for its perceived "bumboclaatness" among Yuppies, certain clothes/music/hairstyles which seem outlandish by modern standards, overall high crime rates in many countries, and of course the onset of the AIDS virus in the early part of the decade. Political events and trends of the 1980s culminated in the toppling of military governments and authoritarian regimes, including every communist member of the Warsaw Pact, bringing to close the decades-long Cold War. The 1980s also saw very rapid developments in numerous sectors of technology which have defined the modern consumer world, particularly electronics like Personal Computers, gaming systems, and various audio technologies.

The population of the world increased dramatically in the 1980s, adding nearly one billion new people in the course of the decade.

Technology

Bulletin board system popularity.
Popularization of personal computers, Walkmans, VHS videocassette recorders, and Compact disc ("CD") players .
Introduction of the IBM PC in 1981.
Home video games become enormously popular, most notably Atari until the market crashes in 1983; the rise of Nintendo brings about full recovery.
The first Space Shuttle mission, STS-1, launched in 1981.
Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986.
The Soviet Union launches the Space station Mir in 1986.
Apple Macintosh, first commercially successful GUI, is released in 1984.
Accident at Chernobyl nuclear reactor, April 1986.
Framework (office suite) launched
Internet actively used by geeks in late 1980s

Science

Discovery of the W and Z bosons at CERN.
Development of the Scanning tunneling microscope by Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer.

War, peace and politics

Cold War peaks; fall of the Iron Curtain.
Jimmy Carter announces a U.S. boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow; Eastern bloc countries boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Solidarity movement in Poland launched in 1981. It eventually topples the country's Communist regime.
Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi tackles with a growing Sikh insurgency and the Khalistan Movement. She orders Operation Blue Star on the holy Golden Temple. She is assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.
Ronald Reagan proposes the Strategic Defense Initiative, derided as "Star Wars." Deploys Pershing missiles in Western Europe to counter the Soviet SS-20, to some protests.
Soviet fighters down Korean Air Flight 007 in 1983, leading to a high point in international tensions.
Three Soviet Premiers die in rapid succession: Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, and Konstantin Chernenko.
Gorbachev introduces Glasnost and Perestroika in the Soviet Union.
Fall of the Berlin Wall in East Germany in 1989, preparing the way to German reunification.
Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia.
Revolution in Romania, execution of Ceauşescu.
Margaret Thatcher and Thatcherism dominate British politics.
The "Reagan Revolution", beginning with the election of 1980, introduces so-called neoconservatives to Washington.
In 1981, François Mitterrand becomes France's President, the most politically successful Socialist in French history.
Helmut Kohl is elected in West Germany in 1982, leading to the defeat of the anti-deployment movement; he becomes the longest serving Chancellor so far.
Falklands War; Argentina invades the Falkland islands in 1982 but defeated by the United Kingdom.
Israel invades Lebanon in 1982, . A suicide bomber kills 241 U.S. marines stationed there as peacekeepers.
Iran-Iraq War from 1980 to 1988 causes the deaths of at least hundreds of thousands.
Over 120,000 flee Cuba in 1980 during the Mariel Boatlift, during which Fidel Castro released many criminals into American harbors.
P.W. Botha suppresses anti-apartheid activists; international boycotts of South Africa continue.
King Juan Carlos of Spain prevents a military coup in 1980. Spain joined NATO in 1982; it joined the European Union with Portugal in 1986.
In 1989 students protest on Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China and are eventually suppressed.
Large protests in the Philippines topples the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship; military rule ends after protests in Argentina and South Korea.
Augusto Pinochet forms a new constitution, holds a referendum on rule and loses. Democracy is restored.
The Soviet Union ends its disastrous military campaign in Afghanistan.
Former United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim is exposed as a former Nazi
Vietnam continues its military occupation of Cambodia.
In Europe, rise of alleged neo-fascist parties (Le Pen in France, Schönhuber/Republikaner in Germany, Haider in Austria), parallel to a rise of Green parties.
Political correctness becomes a concern in mainstream politics.
Ronald Reagan decides to invade Grenada in 1984 and depose the nascent hard-line communist government.
The Reagan administration bombs Libya in 1986 in response to alleged Libyan support for attacks on U.S. servicemen in Europe.
Under George H. W. Bush, the U.S. invades Panama in 1989 to overthrow Manuel Noriega.
The Reagan Doctrine implements support for anti-communist or anti-Soviet insurgencies most notably in Nicaragua, Angola, Cambodia, and Afghanistan. This leads to continued civil war, the deposition of several regimes, some democratization, but also the Iran-Contra scandal.
The United States launches a covert war against the Sandinista government of Nicaragua and is condemned by the World Court for mining Nicaragua's harbour, an authority and judgement the U.S. administration did not recognize.
President Tito of Yugoslavia dies.
Release of Americans held hostage in Iran.
Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini issues a Fatwa urging the killing of Salman Rushdie.
Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland.
In 1985, A radical PLO offshoot called Palestine Liberation Front hijacks the Achille Lauro and shoots the wheelchair-bound Leon Klinghoffer, throwing him overboard.
Terror groups Abu Nidal and Hezbollah rise to prominence in Western attention.
Dark years for Malta and its politics. Violence is culminated by the murder of Raymond Caruana and blocking entry to Nationalist supporters into the southern village of Zejtun.
The Rainbow Warrior is sunk by French secret service agents.

Economics

Reaganomics, Thatcherism and Rogernomics.
In the United States the longest Bull market in history begins in 1983; Dow Jones Industrial Average passes 2000 point milestone January 8, 1987.
OPEC controls slip; Petroleum prices collapse below $10 per barrel by mid-1986, devastating oil-producing nations such as Mexico.
U.S. Midwest Farm Crisis 1981-1985.
East Asian Tigers' share of world trade rises significantly.
U.S. Balance of trade falls into chronic deficit; populists criticize trade relations with Japan.
Stockmarkets across the world crash on Black Monday, October 19, 1987. The New York Stock Exchange suffers its largest one-day stock market drop.
Late 1980s recession

Culture

Television networks are challenged by Cable television. In the U.S., Cheers and The Cosby Show top ratings and the Fox network is launched. CNN becomes the first 24-hour news channel.
The Video game console outstrips the Arcade game.
Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial opens in 1982 and shatters records for box office gross receipts.
Music videos (and MTV) begin to have an effect on record industry in the United States. Pop artists Michael Jackson and Madonna are pioneers; groups such as Duran Duran benefit.
Massive sales for Ethiopian Famine relief records by Band Aid ("Do They Know It's Christmas?") and USA for Africa ("We Are the World"), followed by Live Aid famine relief concert in London and Philadelphia. Other artists push for Nuclear disarmament.
In the United States, Contemporary Christian music reaches its mainstream popularity peak. Artists such as Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith find success on the pop charts as well as the Christian charts.
In the United States, Hair metal enjoys popularity.
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Schönberg and Boublil's Les Misérables dominate musical theatre .
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, the first animated children's television program built exclusively around a toyline, starts a new trend of increasing the connection between children's programming and Toy Advertising, alarming many parents and Watchdog organizations; an explosive number of toy tie-in cartoons follow.
Hip hop began to achieve mainstream success in the United States, with artists like Kurtis Blow and N.W.A.; hip hop's spread outside of New York City, especially to Los Angeles, accelerates.
'Gorbymania'
The Rubik's Cube, Cabbage Patch Kids, "Baby on Board" signs, and Trivial Pursuit fads capture the interest of the American public.
Soap operas gain popularity among high-schoolers and college students in the United States, thanks in part to the supercoupling of Luke and Laura on the most popular soap of the day, General Hospital.
Women's Lib movement increases women's role in the workplace, and establishes new precedents for US women. As a carry-over from the 1970s, more and more women take to calling themselves "Ms." versus "Mrs." or "Miss"
No-fault divorce laws pave the way for increased divorce rate, as depicted in the movie, Irreconcilable differences. The increase in single parent homes leads to the phenomenon of Latch-key children, where children come home to an empty house and watch a lot of television.
Animation in North America begins a dramatic comeback in production values and mainstream popular appeal both in feature films and on television.
Ninja and martial arts mania sweeps North America due to the popularity of Kung Fu Theater and Ninja Movies. Many instructional books are published and sold by many authors claiming to be experts. This is also often blamed as the beginning of the McDojo trend.
New Wave music popular from about 1978 to 1990.

Others

The AIDS epidemic is identified and named.
Assassination of John Lennon and Olof Palme, attempts on Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II.
Violent crime and drug trafficking soar to record levels in most large American cities.
Assymmetrical and poofy hair from about 1980 to 1993.