Date in year · 1989 · The 1980s

December 22, 1989

On December 22, 1989, romanian Revolution: Communist President of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu is overthrown by Ion Iliescu after days of bloody confrontations. The deposed dictator and his wife Elena flee Bucharest in a helicopter as protesters erupt in cheers. The year's #1 song was "Look Away" by Chicago. Jan Blokhuijsen, David Ngog, Christian Vietoris would arrive in the same year.

Events

2

Births

2

Deaths

1

Year

1989

1980s

Around 1989

The year in brief

1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1989th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 989th year of the 2nd millennium, the 89th year of the 20th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1980s decade.

Read the full year of 1989 →

What happened

On December 22, 1989

  1. 1989 Romanian Revolution: Communist President of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu is overthrown by Ion Iliescu after days of bloody confrontations. The deposed dictator and his wife Elena flee Bucharest in a helicopter as protesters erupt in cheers.

    1989 popular uprising in Romania

    The Romanian revolution was a period of violent civil unrest in the Socialist Republic of Romania during December 1989 as a part of the revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several countries around the world, primarily within the Eastern Bloc. The Romanian revolution started in the city of Timișoara and soon spread throughout the country, ultimately culminating in the drumhead trial and execution of longtime Romanian Communist Party (PCR) General Secretary Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena, and the end of 42 years of Communist rule in Romania. It was also the last removal of a Marxist–Leninist government in a Warsaw Pact country during the events of 1989, and the only one that violently overthrew a country's leadership and executed its leader; according to estimates, over one thousand people died and thousands more were injured.

  2. 1989 German reunification: Berlin's Brandenburg Gate re-opens after nearly 30 years, effectively ending the division of East and West Germany.

    1989–1991 unification process of Germany

    German reunification, also known as the expansion of the Federal Republic of Germany (BRD), was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the German Democratic Republic and the integration of its re-established constituent federated states into the Federal Republic of Germany to form present-day Germany. This date was chosen as the customary German Unity Day, and has thereafter been celebrated each year as a national holiday. On the same date, East and West Berlin were also reunified into a single city, which eventually became the capital of Germany.

Arrivals

Born on December 22, 1989

Jordin Sparks 1989– American singer and actress (born 1989)
Jacob Stallings 1989– American baseball player (born 1989)

Farewells

Died on December 22, 1989

Elsewhere that year

Other moments from 1989

The class of 1989

Others born in 1989

Jan Blokhuijsen 1989– Dutch speed skater
David Ngog 1989– French footballer
Christian Vietoris 1989– German racing driver
Charlie Culberson 1989– American baseball player
Torrin Lawrence 1989– American sprinter (died 2014)
Bethan Dainton 1989– Welsh rugby union player

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