2020: 30th

30th Anniversary:

January 12, 1990: The  Baku Pogrom began in Azerbaijan, SSR,  Soviet Union ending 7 days later with 90 Armenians killed and 700 Armenians injured.

January 19, 1990: Black January began in Azerbaijan, SSR, Soviet Union when the Soviet Red Army arrived.  170 civilians were killed, 800 civilians were injured, 29 soldiers were killed and 90 soldiers were injured in 2 days.

February 7, 1990:  The Communist Party of the Soviet Union ended its 68 year monopoly of power in the USSR -  73 year monopoly of power for the RSFSR.

February 11, 1990:  Nelson Mandela was released after spending 27 years in prison in Apartheid South Africa. Apartheid was officially ended in 1994.

March 11, 1990:  Lithuania redeclared its independence from the Soviet Union. It became independent from the Russian Empire in 1918 and was occupied by the Soviets from 1939-1941, the Germans (from 1941-1944) and then re-occupied and annexed by the Soviets from 1944-1990. The Soviet Union officially recognized independent Lithuania on September 6, 1991.

March 15, 1990:  Mikhail Gorbachev became the first (and only) Soviet President. The Soviet Union collapsed in December 1991.

March 18, 1990: The first-ever Democratic elections in its 41 year history were held in Communist East Germany. East Germany reunited with West Germany in October 1990.

March 21, 1990:  Namibia (formerly known as South West Africa) became independent from Apartheid South Africa. Apartheid officially ended in South Africa in 1994.

April 24, 1990: The Hubble Space Telescope was launched by NASA. It is expected to continue working until 2030-2040.

May 4, 1990: Latvia re-declared its independence from the Soviet Union. It became independent from the Russian Empire in 1918 and was occupied by the Soviets from 1939-1941, the Germans (from 1941-1944) and then re-occupied and annexed by the Soviets from 1944-1990. The Soviet Union officially recognized independent Latvia on September 6, 1991.

May 17, 1990: The World Health Organization (WHO) with 194 member countries declared that homosexuality is no longer a psychiatric disease.

May 20, 1990: The first-ever Democratic elections in 43 years were held in Communist Romania.

May 22, 1990: Yemen was united. South Yemen (a Socialist and Soviet-linked country since 1967) and North Yemen (ruled by a Military Junta since 1962) were united into the Republic of Yemen.

May 29, 1990 Boris Yeltsin became the first and only RSFSR President.  From December 1922 until June 12, 1990 the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic (part of the Soviet Union) had no separate Government as the other Soviet Republics did.

June 12, 1990 the RSFSR (part of the USSR) and RSFSR President, Boris Yeltsin, declared RSFSR laws superseded Soviet law. Today it is known as Russia Day in Russia.

July 1, 1990: East Germany officially switched to the West German Mark.

July 26, 1990: The ADA became law. The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) is a Civil Rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability.

July 27, 1990: Belarus declared its independence from the Soviet Union. The USSR didn’t recognize an independent Belarus until the Soviet Union collapsed on December 26, 1991.

August 2, 1990: Iraq invaded Kuwait. The two-day operation conducted by Iraq (and ordered by Saddam Hussein) against the neighboring State of Kuwait, which resulted in the seven-month-long Iraqi occupation of the country. This invasion and Iraq's subsequent refusal to withdraw from Kuwait by a deadline mandated by the United Nations led to military intervention by a United Nations-authorized coalition of 35 countries led by the United States.

October 3, 1990: Germany reunited. Split into the Soviet-backed Communist East Germany and the Western-backed Democratic West Germany after World War 2 in 1945, East Germany and West Germany reunited to become Germany.

December 11, 1990: Anti-Communist demonstrations in Albania start with student demonstrations in the capital, Tirana, although protests had begun earlier that year in other cities such as Shkodra and Kavaja. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Labour of Albania allowed political pluralism on December 11th and the largest Opposition Party, the Democratic Party, was founded the next day.

December 22, 1990: Lech Walesa became the first non-Communist President of Poland since 1939.

December 22, 1990: The Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands became independent of the United States (although are still part of the Compact Of Free Association.)