The Velvet Revolution was the peaceful overthrow of the communist government of Czechoslovakia. It began with a student march in Prague that was violently dispersed by riot police, and the news provoked mass demonstrations across the country. The playwright and former dissident Vaclav Havel led the opposition coalition Civic Forum, with its Slovak counterpart Public Against Violence. A general strike late in the month forced the Communist Party to give up its monopoly on power. Havel was elected president at the end of the year, and free elections followed in 1990. The country later split peacefully into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993, in what is called the Velvet Divorce.
Before and after
- 1 October 1989Birth of Brie Larson
- 13 October 1989Birth of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
- 6 November 1989Founding of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
- 9 November 1989Fall of the Berlin Wall
- from 17 November 1989 to 29 December 1989Velvet Revolution
- 17 November 1989Release of The Little Mermaid
- 20 November 1989Convention on the Rights of the Child
- 13 December 1989Birth of Taylor Swift
- from 15 December 1989 to 27 December 1989Romanian Revolution (1989)
More in Wars, politics & history
- 6 August 1945Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
- from 6 October 1973 to 26 October 1973Yom Kippur War
- from January 1978 to February 1979Iranian Revolution
- from 22 September 1980 to 20 August 1988Iran–Iraq War
- 3 November 20202020 United States presidential election
- 7 October 2023Gaza genocide
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.