This day in history. Read about what happened today. A short and interesting account of historical events and facts about this day as well as any other day of the year. Find historical birthdays, deaths, tragedies, war events, disasters and sports events.

This year in history
In the year 1991

	January 13th	Soviet Union troops killed 14 and injured almost 200 Lithuanian independence supporters in Lithuania's capital, Vilnius.
	January 16th	Operation Desert Storm officially began. The aim of the operation was to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait.
	January 18th	American airline carrier, Eastern Air Lines, closed after 62 years of operation.
	January 20th	Sudan's government imposed Islamic law on the nation.
	January 26th	President of Somalia, Mohamed Siad Barre, was overthrown ending any form of formal government in the country. There has not been a formal government in Somalia ever since.
	February 7th	Jean-Bertrand Aristide was sworn in as Haiti's first democratically elected president.
	February 26th	Iraqi troops withdrew from Kuwait after 208 days of occupation.
	February 26th	The first ever web browser, Worldwide Web, was released by Tim Berners-Lee who is credited as one of the inventors of the world wide web.
	March 3rd	The beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers took place and was recorded by an amateur video camera. The acquittal of the police officers who had been involved in the incident triggered massive riots in the city of Los Angeles. The riots cost the lives of more than 50 people and caused property damage in excess of 1 billion dollars.
	March 14th	The "Birmingham Six" are released from prison after spending 16 years in prison for the bombing a pub. They were freed after a court determined that the police had fabricated evidence.
	March 31st	The Warsaw Pact treaty ended, 46 years after it was signed.
	March 31st	The "British Telecom" company officially changed its name to "BT".
	April 9th	Georgia declared its independent from the rule of the Soviet Union.
	April 30th	A tropical cyclone devastated Bangladesh resulting in the death of more than 120,000 people.
	May 21st	Former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated near the city of Madras.
	June 7th	Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted in a violent explosion which generated a 7km high ash column. The volcano had been dormant for almost 600 years.
	June 17th	The Population Registration Act was abolished in South Africa, effectively ending the era of official racial classification.
	June 25th	Croatia and Slovenia declared their independence from Yugoslavia.
	July 9th	A ban prohibiting South Africa from participating in the Olympic Games was lifted 30 years after it had been implemented.
	July 10th	Boris Yeltsin began his term as Russia's first, elected, President.
	July 11th	A Nationair passenger flight crashed while it was attempting an emergency landing at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 261 people died in the crash.
	July 22nd	American serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer, was arrested after police discovered the remains of 11 males in his Milwaukee apartment. He was subsequently murdered in jail while serving a life sentence.
	August 8th	The Warsaw radio mast collapsed when some of the cables that supported the structure where improperly removed to be replaced. It was the tallest construction ever built by man and stood at 646.38 meters (2,120 feet).
	August 8th	British Journalist, John McCarthy, was released after having spent five years as a the hostage of the Lebanese terrorist group, Islamic Jihad.
	August 13th	The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) was released in the United States. It was by far the most popular entertainment console of its time.
	August 21st	Latvia declared its independence after the occupation of Soviet Union.
	August 24th	Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as head of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
	August 24th	The Ukraine declared itself independent from the rule of the Soviet Union.
	August 25th	Belarus declared its independence from the rule of the Soviet Union.
	August 27th	Moldova declared its independence from rule of the Soviet Union.
	August 29th	The Soviet Communist Party party was dissolved. The party had led the October Revolution and was responsible for establishing of a socialist state in Russia.
	September 1st	Uzbekistan declared its independence from the Soviet Union.
	September 3rd	American film director, Frank Capra, died at the age of 94. He was a highly celebrated director of American cinema, with a career that spanned over 35 years and about 37 motion pictures.
	September 6th	The Soviet Union recognized the independence of the Baltic States, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
	September 8th	The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia became an independent state.
	September 9th	Tajikistan declared its independence from the rule of the Soviet Union.
	September 16th	The trial of deposed Panamanian dictator, Manuel Noriega, began in the United States. The once strong ally of the United States was deposed after the 1989 United States invasion of Panama. He was found guilty and sentenced to 40 years in prison for crimes related to drug trafficking and racketeering violations.
	September 17th	The first version of the Linux operating system was released on the Internet.
	September 19th	While on a hiking trip in the Alps, a couple of German tourists discovered the mummified remains of a human being who had lived at around 3300 BC. The remains have been nicknamed 'Otzi the Iceman'. In a stunning discovery scientists noted that the body had 57 tattoos on it and some of the scientists found evidence that the locations of the tattoos were selected for therapeutic reasons in a system very similar to modern acupuncture.
	September 21st	Armenia was granted independence from the Soviet Union.
	September 24th	American children's writer, Dr. Seuss, died at the age of 87. He was one of the most famous children's books writer and cartoonist best of all known for his creation of 'The Cat in the Hat'.
	October 19th	An earthquake measuring 7 on the Richter scale struck Northern Italy resulting in over 2000 fatalities.
	October 20th	A fire-storm in Oakland Hills, USA. causes the death of 25 people as well as the destruction of almost 3500 homes and apartments.
	October 24th	American, Gene Roddenberry, died at the age of 70. He was the creator of the Star Trek universe. Before Star Trek he had worked as an aircraft pilot for Pan Am and as a policeman in Los Angeles.
	October 27th	Turkmenistan proclaimed its independence from the Soviet Union.
	November 2nd	Bartholomew I became the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Greek Orthodox Church.
	November 21st	The Unites Nations security council appointed Boutros Boutros-Ghali to the position of secretary-general.
	November 23th	German actor, Klaus Kinski, died at the age of 65. He is most remembered for his participation in the internationally acclaimed films, Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), and Fitzcarraldo (1982). He is the father of actress, Nastassja Kinski.
	December 4th	American journalist, Terry Anderson, was released after 7 years as a hostage of Hezbollah in Beirut.
	December 4th	US airline Pan Am ceases its operations. Pan Am was once America's largest air carrier.
	December 15th	Approximately 500 Egyptian pilgrims drowned when the ferryboat they were travelling in sank in the Red Sea.
	December 25th	Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as president of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union itself was officially dissolved one day later.
	December 26th	The Supreme Soviet officially dissolved the USSR.
	December 26th	The Mount Pinatubo volcano in the Philippines erupted after more than 500 years of dormancy. It was the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century and one that had global atmospheric repercussions.

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