The Second Millenium

[Vince53]

It's back to 1992 for us!

In a 5-4 decision, the US Supreme Court upholds "Roe vs. Wade," removing most abortion restriction in the US. There have been roughly 58 million abortions in the US since then. The death toll of World War 2, including civilians, is about 80 million.

Czechoslovakia agrees to divide peacefully into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, effective January 1 of next year. Contrary to a prediction in the Wall Street Journal, Slovakia is presently a developed, high-income nation.

Georgia, which had suffered for centuries under Islam and Communism, is admitted to the United Nations.

Hurricane Andrew becomes the most destructive hurricane in the history of the US. Traveling westward, it passes over Florida, reaches the Gulf of Mexico, re-strengthens, and turns back over Florida.

The space shuttle Endeavor carries the first Black female astronaut into space.

The democratically-elected President of Brazil resigns after the government votes to impeach him for corruption. Years later, Brazil's Supreme Court overturns the case for lack of evidence.

The Catholic church approves a new catechism, which two years later will be translated into English. Later, there is a major revision. The Church also apologizes for its persecution of Galileo for denying the Catholic doctrine that the Earth is the center of the universe.

In its first national election after becoming independent , Lithuania votes the Communists back into power.

With nothing to gain, the US invades Somalia to end its civil wars and mass starvation.

The first planets outside our solar system are confirmed to exist. Some had been discovered previously, but interpreting the data was controversial.

 

[Vince53]

Let's look at 1993!

On January 1, Czechoslavia peacefully divides into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Formed after WW1 by the victorious Allies, Czechoslovakia had been a prosperous democracy before being conquered first by the Nazis and then by the Communists. Although they still get along, the Czechs and Slavs have different histories and cultures, and the Slavs wanted to secede.

IBM announces that in 1992, it had lost $4.91 billion, the biggest one-year corporate loss in history at that time. IBM had offered its employees a profit-sharing plan in which they could purchase IBM stock at a discount for their retirement plans. Their stock price plummets, and employees find themselves out of a job, with a heavy loss of retirement income.

Can you trust the news? NBC had wanted to show how dangerous a General Motors pick-up truck was, and they showed two of them exploding on TV after a minor collision. Then NBC sells the wrecks to a junkyard. Not too smart--General Motors buys the wrecks and finds that NBC had planted explosives on the trucks.

The Great Blizzard of 1993 sets record snowfalls in eastern North America from Cuba to Quebec.

David Koresh had formed a cult in Waco, Texas. With about 100 members, the cult legally purchased firearms and ammunition and fortified their compound. Children who misbehaved were sometimes sent to bed without dinner, so Janet Reno, the new Attorney General, ordered Koresh arrested. Ignoring the local sheriff, who wanted to wait until Koresh next visited town to arrest him, Reno sends in federal agents who lose a shoot-out. Holding themselves and their children hostages, the cultists then hold out for 51 days, tiring the FBI. So Reno orders an attack in which 76 people are killed.

Kim Campbell becomes Canada's first female Prime Minister. Elected five months before a regular election (the previous Prime Minister had resigned) she quickly re-organizes the government more efficiently. But she publicly states that she cannot quickly solve Canada's problems, and she loses the election five months later. With Parliament in recess, she could pass no new laws.

The US destroys Iraqi secret police headquarters after they had launched an unsuccessful plot to assassinate former President George Bush. As these secret police were hated by the Iraqi people, the destruction was well-received.

 

[Vince53]

Back to 1993!

Broken pieces of the Tel Dan Stele (a stone monument) are discovered. Apparently authorized by King Hazael of Syria, it boasts of his victories over Israel and Judah. Depending on how broken pieces are re-assembled, with gaps filled in, it seems to refer to "Joram, son of Ahab, King of Israel, and Ahaziah, son of Joram of the House of David. Scholars seem to be evenly divided on these identifications. It is dependent on a particular arrangement of the fragments, and not all scholars agree on this." Wikipedia

In Italy, the Mafia kills a Catholic priest in front of his church in retaliation for his strong anti-Mafia stand.

Portuguese companies, universities, and the government work together to build Portugal's first satellite. Launched by a French rocket, the satellite mostly consists of navigational equipment to keep it in the correct orbit. It did various Earth surveys and successfully tested various technologies. It worked for 13 years before falling silent.

Blackhawk Down! The US Army botches up an attempt to kidnap a Somalian warlord, and two small troop transport helicopters are shot down. Desperate for food, the warlord's followers had been stealing UN, Red Cross, Catholic, and US food supplies from other starving areas. Enraged mobs attack the downed Americans, while the US sends in Special Forces to rescue them. Over 1,000 Somalians and 18 Americans are killed in the battle.

Shortly after its first democratic presidential election, Burundi erupts into a 12 year long civil war in which about 300,000 die.

After a lot of problems, including a space shuttle mission having to make adjustments, the Hubble Space Telescope begins working right three years after its launch. The only space telescope designed to be serviced, it has been visited four more times by space shuttle crews for upgrades and repairs. Without the distortion of Earth's atmosphere, it has made major discoveries and breakthroughs in astrophysics. And the repairs worked--it is still in service today. One more thing: its onboard computer uses Windows 3.

 

[Vince53]

I'm sorry, Folks. I posted yesterday, but it didn't take. Let's try again.

Welcome to 1994


Currency speculators cause a world-wide financial crisis while making a fortune at the expense of poor nations. The US quickly steps in to keep the Mexican economy from collapsing. The speculators legally purchased all the Thailand currency that they could, driving up the price. Then they sold the currency at the same time in different parts of the world, making huge profits. Thailand had adjusted its economy to its more valuable currency, but now the value of their currency plunged, making it impossible for Thailand to pay its debts. This harmed the economies of other developing nations, ans a small recession followed. No laws were broken, and the speculators kept their profits.

The US and Russia agree to a major reduction in nuclear weapons.

The Citadel, a military academy run by the state of South Carolina, is forced to admit female students. The first one quickly drops out, but others follow successfully.

With Afghanistan starving due to civil war, Afghan terrorists seize a Pakistani school bus and take fifteen hostages into the Afghan Embassy. During negotiations, Pakistani commandos storm the embassy, killing the terrorists and rescuing all the hostages.

Communist China connects to the internet.

On his deathbed, one of the perpetrators of the famous photo of the Loch Ness Monster explains how the picture was faked.

A defeated United States removes its troops from Somalia.

After the President is assassinated, the government of Rwanda goes on a 100 day rampage, massacring about 20% of the population.

South Africa elects Black civil rights leader Nelsen Mandela as President. It is the nation's first national election permitting Blacks to vote.

The Channel Tunnel, connecting Britain and France underwater, is completed. Cars can make the trip in 38 minutes.

 

[Vince53]

We return to 1994.

The ex-wife of former football star O.J. Simpson and her boyfriend are found murdered. Fearing a riot, police slowly pursue Simpson before he surrenders.

The tiny Arab nation of Yemen had been formed by uniting two smaller nations. Believing that they were being mistreated, the southern nation seceded, with its military still intact. After a brief all-out civil war, the north wins.

Remains of a shattered comet crash into Jupiter, making such great impacts that they are photographed.

Israel and Jordan sigh a peace treaty, ending their 46 year war.

Eugene Bullard was an American who was half Negro and half Indian. He enlisted in the French army during WW1 and received three medals for heroism. He then flew twenty combat missions in the French Air Force. When the US entered the war, he was rejected for not being White. On August 23, 1994, he was posthumously commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force.

The last Soviet troops withdraw from occupied Europe.

The US invades Haiti without resistance and restores the democratic government that the military had overthrown.

Netscape Navigator, a successful web browser, is released. But you have to buy it separately, and it is driven out of business by the free Windows Explorer. Although both early browsers tended to crash a lot, Netscape was probably better in the beginning. But Microsoft kept improving Explorer, bundled it with Windows for free, and eventually Explorer replaced Netscape as the world's most popular browser.

 

[Vince53]

We are now entering 1995!

British scientists confirm the existence of "rogue waves." Twice as high as other waves in the area, their cause is still not known.

A massive earthquake kills about 6,000 Chinese and leaves over one quarter of a million homeless.

In an act of stupidity that almost caused a nuclear war, Russia does not notify its radar technicians that Norway was launching an exploratory rocket. Following a path similar to a radar-jamming nuclear missile (designed to explode at high altitude) the missile fell harmlessly into the ocean after Russia had activated its nuclear defenses.

The US rushes a $20 billion loan to Mexico to keep its currency from collapsing.

Denver, Colorado opens the most modern airport in the world. Years later, they still can't get the baggage sorting equipment to work.

Yahoo! It isn't the first internet search engine, but it is a major advancement over the others, as Yahoo Search goes online.

An American terrorist sets off a bomb in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people.

An American space shuttle docks with the Russian space station.

Bosnian Serb military units enter a Moslem enclave and massacre over 8,000 civilians.

During August, about 1/3 of Chile is buried under massive snowstorms, decimating their cattle and crops.

Windows 95 is released. So successful that it drives most other operating systems out of the market, it takes up 55 megabytes on a computer's hard drive. Windows 10 takes up 20 gigabytes.

About 837,000 Black men attend the Million Man March in Washington DC. A peaceful event organized by Black Muslims, it focused on gaining awareness of Black political and social needs and galvanized thousands of Black Americans to do volunteer work.

Jewish terrorists assassinate the Prime Minister of Israel because they oppose peace with the Palestinians.

After entering Jupiter's atmosphere, the Galileo space probe sends 57 minutes worth of data before being crushed by the pressure.

 

[Vince53]

Welcome to 1996!

One of the worst blizzards in US history partially shuts down the federal government for a few days.

Chechnya is part of Russia and was not a republic in the USSR. Declaring itself independent it had launched a destructive civil war on itself, which continues into 1996. Russia eventually wins and has been rebuilding the ruins ever since.

The military junta that had seized Sierra Leone is peacefully overthrown by a general. Two months later, he restores democracy and peacefully hands over the government to the newly-elected President. Nut in Niger, the military overthrows the democratically-elected government.

France conducts its last nuclear weapon test.

Haiti elects Rene Preval as President. He leads his poverty-stricken nation into lower unemployment (although it is still very high), improves the economy, and improves agriculture.

IBM's super-computer, "Big Blue" defeats the world chess champion. After the champion moves, Big Blue considers all possible moves, and then counts the number of victories that followed each move. It then chooses the move with the most victories. However, Big Blue still loses the match.

Having lost a war to the free world when he invaded Kuwait, Iraq's Saddam Hussein comes up with a plan. He will bar and delay UN weapons inspectors, even though Iraq has nothing to hide. This way, he can fool people into thinking that he has weapons of mass destruction, enabling him to blackmail his way into international power. What could possible go wrong?

Israel launches a major offensive against Lebanon in response to terrorist attacks. Surprisingly, within a few days, Israel and the PLO sign a peace treaty.

Uganda peacefully re-elects Yoweri Museveni as President. Still in office, he has brought economic growth and stability to a nation that is still undergoing a civil war. He eventually suspends many democratic rights in order to remain in power, but Uganda has still made progress.

In a major victory for homosexuals, the US Supreme Court strikes down state laws that prohibit local governments from passing laws protecting gay rights.

Moslems kidnap seven Catholic monks in Algeria. It is not clear if they were killed by the Moslems or by the Algerian army in a failed rescue attempt.

 

[Vince53]

We return to 1996!

In Scotland, scientists successfully clone Dolly the Sheep. She lives 6.45 years before dying of lung disease, having given birth to six lambs.

A meteorite that MIGHT be from Mars MIGHT contain evidence of microscopic Martian bacteria. Scientist have produced similar evidence in the lab without bacteria, so it cannot be proven either way.

In Britain, Prince Charles and Lady Diana get divorced.

While dropping off a spy team in South Korea, a North Korean submarine runs aground. One crew member makes it back to North Korea, one is captured, and the others are killed or kill each other.

The Taliban capture the capital of Afghanistan. They go on to capture the surrounding area.

 

[Vince53]

And in 1997...

A scandal breaks out in France. Museums there have over 2,000 works of art stolen from individuals by the Nazis. After the war, victorious Allies found themselves in possession of thousands of paintings that were not catalogued. They were assigned to nations as accurately as possible, who then returned them as accurately as possible, putting many in museums because they could not find the owners. Many of the owners wee Jews who had died or disappeared, and many of their descendants could not prove ownership.

Mother Teresa dies. Years earlier, Time Magazine had done a computer analysis of Catholic saints, and then set out to find living Catholics who met the criteria. Mother Teresa was their first choice.

A large V-shaped UFO with five lights passes over southern Arizona and into Mexico. Thousands of eyewitnesses, including the state governor, observe the object. The most likely explanation is that five private airplanes did it, and that people then imagined that the separate lights were connected.

343 Moslem pilgrims to Mecca are killed when a fire sweeps their camp.

Terrorist seize 71 hostages at the Japanese embassy in Peru. After a 126 day siege, Peruvian commandos storm the complex in a complicated but successful rescue.

An enraged World chess champion Gary Kasparov accuses IBM of cheating after he loses a match to Big Blue. Kasparov was winning, when he chose to sacrifice his queen for Big Blue's less-valuable castle. Big Blue takes an unusually long time to think, and then pulls back the castle. Blowing his temper, Kasparov is too upset to play well and, while still holding the lead, loses the game, and with it the entire match. Replays by thousands of chess fans and all types of computers agree that Big Blue should have captured the queen (after which the castle would have been captured), but Kasparov still would have won. Did Big Blue actually "think" independently of its programming?

The US officially apologizes for The Tuskegee Experiment, in which poverty-stricken Black men with syphilis were given free life-time medical treatment in order to be studied. Somehow, when syphilis is later cured, no one ever tells them. Every single one of the men lives to a ripe old age as a result of the care.

Obeying its treaty, Britain hands Hong Kong back to China 99 years after seizing it. Contrary to fears, China does not mistreat its new citizens.

Princess Diana, the divorced mother of the heirs to the British throne, is killed in a car wreck while on a date. Her driver had been speeding to escape photographers. Over 2 billion people will watch her funeral on live TV.

 

[Vince53]

1998 is a great year for technology.

Microsoft releases Windows 98. It popularizes USB ports (every type of device can plug into the same spot). The system is so popular that 18 years later, about 1 out of every 200 computers uses it.

Moslem terrorists kill 172 people in remote regions of Algeria.

A right-wing tabloid blog on the internet reveals that US President Bill Clinton has been having an affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Europa, a moon of Jupiter, has a liquid ocean under a thick layer of ice. NASA also discovers that the Moon has enough water in its polar craters (which do not receive any sunlight) to support a science colony.

To the world's surprise and dismay, India, and then Pakistan, successfully test nuclear weapons to be used against each other.

Japan launches a Mars orbiter. But a combination of malfunctions and solar flares causes Japan to abandon the probe one week before reaching Mars. The dead spacecraft is not orbiting the Sun.

The four year long Second Congo War begins. Its 3,900,000 casualties make it the bloodiest war since WW2.

Murdering eight soldiers and sailors in the process, a 19 year old Russian sailor seizes the torpedo room of a Russian nuclear submarine. Fearing a nuclear disaster, Russian commandos storm the torpedo room as the sailor kills himself.

Augusto Pinochet had led a US-backed overthrow of Chile's socialist government. Converting Chile into an economic powerhouse, he commits so many murders that international warrants are issued for him. Traveling to London under a diplomatic passport (after leaving office) for heart surgery, he is arrested (illegally) by Britain. He is grudgingly released two years later.

Construction of the International Space Station begins by launching pre-constructed parts into space.

 

[Vince53]

Welcome to 1999!

The Euro currency is introduced., Used by 19 countries plus some overseas territories, it is second only to the US dollar in world-wide usage.

Abdullah II inherits the throne of Jordan and still holds it today. A Major General who had previously led Jordan's special forces, he is both British and US educated, and is a graduate of Britain's military academy. He has improved Jordan's economy and increased foreign investment. Striving for peace, he has met with the Pope and with the US President and has increased religious freedom, freedom of the press, democracy, and women's rights. Despite building a powerful military, he calls for peace with Israel.

They're full of hot air, but two adventurers set a record of just under 234 hours in a hot air balloon in an unsuccessful attempt to fly around the world.

A US bomber accidentally hits the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia, killing three and wounding twenty.

 

[Vince53]

We return to 1999

India successfully repels Pakistani invaders, ending a two month long war. A few months later, the military overthrows the Pakistani government.

For the fourth time, Russian President Boris Yeltsin fires his entire cabinet.

A total solar eclipse is visible in Europe and Asia.

A massive earthquake levels much of northwestern Turkey, killing about 17,000 people. Within the next few weeks, large earthquakes hit Athens and Taiwan.

A Pakistani general takes over the government. A left-winger who joined the US war on terrorism, he strengthens the middle class but removes so many rights that in 2008 he will resign and flee to Britain.

The Catholic church and Lutheran World Federation end their condemnations of each other. They agree that the Catholic Church and the Lutherans did not disagree on how to be saved during the Protestant Reformation. (No, I didn't make that ridiculous statement up).

A super-cyclone kills 10,000 people in India.

China launches its first Shenzou ("Magic Boat") spacecraft. Although unmanned, a three man version is launched a few years later.

After 442 years, Portugal returns Macau to China. With 632 thousand people living in 11.6 square miles, it is the most densely populated region on Earth. One of the world's richest cities, Macau is the world's largest gambling center. While maintaining military control, China usually lets Macau handle its own internal affairs, including having its own police force.

The US hands the Panama Canal over to Panama.

 

[Vince53]

Y2K Crisis!

Folks, I've had a great time writing this thread for about seven years. And I'm taking a break. Thank you for your readership, and I hope that I was able to help people learn useful information.

Adios!

 

[civilwarbuff]

Thanks for the thread, it was great reading that stuff....