1980 Event Contemporary period Poland
Solidarity
At the Gdańsk shipyards the Soviet bloc’s first free trade union is born. Communism loses its workers’ legitimacy.
A shared history
European construction did not begin in 1950. This thread links the ancient inheritance, the Judeo-Christian matrix and the contemporary Union.
326
events
3600 BC
earliest marker
46
countries covered
0
already discussed
Event density
One century per bar before 1500, one decade after: archives are not evenly spread.
Ancient Greece
Early Middle Ages
Renaissance
Enlightenment
Concert of Europe
European integration
Rome
High and Late Middle Ages
Reformation and wars of religion
Age of revolutions
World wars
Cold War
1980
1984
1989
15 events
1975 1999
European integration 15 events1980 Event Contemporary period Iceland
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir
Iceland elects the world’s first woman head of state by direct universal suffrage.
1981 Event European construction Greece
Accession of Greece to the Communities
As the tenth member, Greece anchors its restored democracy in Community Europe.
1984 Event Contemporary period Liechtenstein
Women’s suffrage
The last country in Europe to grant it, by a male-only referendum.
1985 Treaty European construction
Schengen Agreement
Five states sign on the Moselle an agreement progressively abolishing internal border controls.
1986 Event European construction Spain
Accession of Spain to the Communities
With Portugal, Spain joins the EEC: southern enlargement consecrates democratisation.
1986 Event European construction Portugal
Accession of Portugal to the Communities
Portugal joins the EEC on the same day as Spain and begins rapid economic catch-up.
1986 Disaster Contemporary period Belarus
Chernobyl fallout
Nearly 70 % of the radioactive fallout lands on Belarusian territory.
1986 Treaty European construction
Single European Act
The internal market is scheduled for 1993 and qualified majority voting extended.
1988 Event Contemporary period Estonia
Singing Revolution
Three hundred thousand Estonians sing banned anthems together: dissent becomes massive.
1989 Event Contemporary period Romania
December revolution
The only violent fall of a European communist regime; Ceaușescu is executed on 25 December.
1989 Event Contemporary period Czechia
Velvet Revolution
In a few weeks and without violence the regime falls; Václav Havel becomes president.
1989 Event European construction Hungary
Pan-European Picnic
On 19 August Hungary opens its border with Austria: the first breach in the Iron Curtain.
1989 Event Contemporary period Lithuania
Baltic Way
Two million people form a human chain from Tallinn to Vilnius.
1989 Event European construction
Fall of the Berlin Wall
9 November opens German reunification and, in time, that of the continent.