Directory

1985 CE

A year shaped by the rise of Gorbachev, the Live Aid concerts, the Mexico City earthquake, and renewed superpower diplomacy at the Geneva Summit.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in March following the death of Konstantin Chernenko, beginning an era of reform that would transform the Soviet Union.
  • The Geneva Summit between President Reagan and General Secretary Gorbachev in November marked the first meeting between American and Soviet leaders in over six years, easing Cold War tensions.
  • South Africa declared a state of emergency in July as anti-apartheid protests intensified, with the government deploying troops in Black townships.
  • The Anglo-Irish Agreement was signed in November by British Prime Minister Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald, giving the Republic of Ireland a consultative role in Northern Ireland's governance.
  • Albania's longtime leader Enver Hoxha died in April after ruling the country in strict Stalinist isolation for four decades. Ramiz Alia succeeded him.
  • Israel completed its withdrawal from most of Lebanon in June, retaining a self-declared security zone in the south that would remain occupied until 2000.
  • Brazil returned to civilian rule in March when Jose Sarney was sworn in as acting president after President-elect Tancredo Neves fell ill on the eve of inauguration. Neves died in April, and Sarney became president, ending 21 years of military dictatorship.
  • New Zealand's anti-nuclear policy caused a rift with the United States when the government refused to allow a U.S. warship to dock, effectively suspending the ANZUS alliance.
  • Daniel Ortega was inaugurated as president of Nicaragua in January, while the U.S.-backed Contra war against the Sandinista government continued.

Conflict & Security

  • The Iran-Iraq War continued with major offensives and counteroffensives, while Iraq expanded its use of chemical weapons against Iranian forces.
  • Hezbollah operatives hijacked TWA Flight 847 in June, holding passengers hostage for 17 days and killing a U.S. Navy diver, drawing global attention to the Lebanese crisis.
  • Palestinian guerrillas hijacked the Italian cruise liner Achille Lauro in October, killing American passenger Leon Klinghoffer, in an event that strained U.S.-Palestinian relations.
  • The conflict in Sri Lanka between Tamil separatists and government forces escalated, with both sides committing atrocities against civilians.
  • South African security forces killed dozens of anti-apartheid protesters throughout the year as the government intensified its crackdown on opposition movements.
  • The Afghan mujahideen continued their resistance against Soviet forces, with fighting intensifying in several provinces and civilian casualties mounting.
  • The civil war in Sudan between the government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement continued, with devastating humanitarian consequences in the south.
  • The Sikh separatist movement in India remained active following the 1984 Golden Temple assault, with continued violence in Punjab.
  • Israeli warplanes bombed the PLO headquarters in Tunis in October, killing over 60 people in an attack condemned by the UN Security Council.
  • Guerrilla conflicts continued in Central America, with civil wars in El Salvador and Guatemala and the Contra insurgency in Nicaragua causing widespread civilian suffering.

Economy & Finance

  • The Plaza Accord in September led to coordinated intervention in currency markets, causing the U.S. dollar to decline significantly against the Japanese yen and German Deutsche Mark.
  • The U.S. economy grew at approximately 4%, with inflation remaining low and the stock market continuing its upward trend.
  • The U.S. federal deficit remained a major concern, with the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act passed in December mandating automatic spending cuts to reduce the deficit.
  • Japan's economy continued to expand rapidly, with strong export growth and an appreciating yen following the Plaza Accord, though the beginnings of an asset bubble were forming.
  • The Soviet economy continued to stagnate, with Gorbachev's early reform efforts focused on anti-corruption campaigns and attempts to improve worker productivity.
  • The Latin American debt crisis persisted, with major debtors including Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina struggling under the weight of external obligations.
  • Oil prices remained relatively stable, averaging around $27 per barrel, though OPEC's declining market share foreshadowed the price collapse that would come in 1986.
  • China's economic reforms continued under Deng Xiaoping, with the country's GDP growth remaining strong as special economic zones attracted foreign investment.
  • The European Community continued working toward the completion of the single market, with negotiations on the Single European Act advancing.
  • The savings and loan industry in the United States showed growing signs of distress, with regulatory failures and risky lending practices setting the stage for a major crisis.

Technology & Infrastructure

  • The internet continued its development as the Domain Name System was established, with .com, .edu, .gov, and other domain extensions introduced in January.
  • Microsoft released the first version of Windows in November, providing a graphical user interface for IBM-compatible personal computers.
  • The compact disc continued to transform the music industry, with CD sales growing rapidly and threatening to displace vinyl records.
  • The Nintendo Entertainment System was released in North America in October, reviving the video game industry after the 1983 crash.
  • Cellular phone technology advanced, with mobile handsets becoming somewhat smaller and networks expanding, though phones remained expensive and primarily used by business professionals.
  • The first .com domain name, symbolics.com, was registered in March, marking an early step in the commercialization of the internet.
  • The Soviet Union launched several Soyuz missions to the Salyut 7 space station, continuing its long-duration human spaceflight program.
  • Personal computer adoption continued to grow in homes and offices, with the IBM PC and its clones dominating the business market.
  • Fiber-optic telecommunications technology advanced, with plans underway for the first transatlantic fiber-optic cable.

Science & Discovery

  • British scientists published their discovery of the ozone hole over Antarctica in May, demonstrating dramatic seasonal ozone depletion caused by chlorofluorocarbons.
  • The wreck of the RMS Titanic was located on the Atlantic seabed in September by a joint American-French expedition led by Robert Ballard, 73 years after the ship sank.
  • The Greenland Ice Sheet Project began deep ice core drilling, extracting samples that would provide detailed records of Earth's climate history over tens of thousands of years.
  • Fullerenes, also known as buckyballs, were discovered by researchers Harold Kroto, Robert Curl, and Richard Smalley, revealing a new form of carbon with a spherical molecular structure.
  • The International Cometary Explorer spacecraft became the first to visit a comet when it passed through the tail of Comet Giacobini-Zinner in September.
  • Research on genetic engineering advanced, with scientists developing new techniques for modifying DNA and beginning to explore the potential of gene therapy.
  • The Soviet Vega 1 and Vega 2 spacecraft completed their Venus encounters in June, deploying balloons into the Venusian atmosphere and landing probes on the surface as part of a dual-target mission.
  • Paleontological research in China yielded important dinosaur discoveries, with new species described from the Mesozoic deposits of several provinces.
  • Computer science advanced with the development of improved artificial intelligence algorithms and the growing power of parallel processing systems.
  • Atmospheric scientists continued to study the greenhouse effect, with improved climate models projecting significant warming from continued fossil fuel combustion.

Health & Medicine

  • The HIV/AIDS epidemic continued to expand, with the number of reported cases in the United States exceeding 15,000 and global infections estimated in the millions.
  • Rock Hudson's death from AIDS in October became a turning point in public awareness of the epidemic, as one of the first major public figures to die from the disease.
  • The discovery that HIV could be transmitted through blood transfusions led to widespread screening of the blood supply in developed nations.
  • The WHO continued to expand its Expanded Programme on Immunization, working to increase childhood vaccination rates in developing nations.
  • Research on the relationship between cholesterol and cardiovascular disease advanced, with the National Institutes of Health recommending dietary changes to reduce heart disease risk.
  • Famine in Ethiopia and other parts of the Horn of Africa continued, with millions of people requiring food aid and medical assistance.
  • The development of monoclonal antibody technology advanced, with researchers exploring diagnostic and therapeutic applications.
  • Tuberculosis remained a major global health challenge, with drug-resistant strains emerging as a growing concern.
  • Research on Alzheimer's disease progressed, with improved understanding of the amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles characteristic of the condition.
  • Tobacco-related health concerns grew, with scientific evidence linking smoking to an expanding list of cancers and cardiovascular conditions.

Climate & Environment

  • A massive earthquake struck Mexico City on September 19, killing an estimated 10,000 people and causing widespread destruction in the capital.
  • A volcanic eruption of Nevado del Ruiz in Colombia in November triggered lahars that buried the town of Armero, killing approximately 23,000 people.
  • Global atmospheric CO2 concentrations continued to rise, reaching approximately 346 parts per million at the Mauna Loa Observatory.
  • Deforestation in tropical regions continued at high rates, with growing international concern about the loss of biodiversity and carbon sinks.
  • The Rhine River Action Programme was initiated following years of industrial pollution, beginning efforts to restore the ecological health of one of Europe's most important waterways.
  • Drought in the Sahel region of Africa continued to contribute to food insecurity and environmental degradation across the semi-arid zone south of the Sahara.
  • The global scientific community began building consensus on climate change, with research increasingly linking greenhouse gas emissions to observed warming trends.
  • The Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources continued to regulate fishing in Southern Ocean waters, though enforcement remained challenging.

Culture & Society

  • The Live Aid concerts in London and Philadelphia in July raised over $100 million for famine relief in Ethiopia, watched by an estimated 1.9 billion people worldwide.
  • The global population reached approximately 4.85 billion, with continued rapid growth in Africa and South Asia.
  • Back to the Future, directed by Robert Zemeckis, became the highest-grossing film of the year and a cultural touchstone of the 1980s.
  • The Schengen Agreement was signed by five European nations in June, paving the way for the elimination of border controls between participating countries.
  • Amadeus won the Academy Award for Best Picture at the ceremony held in March. The Color Purple and Out of Africa were among the year's most prominent films.
  • French intelligence agents sank the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbour, New Zealand in July, killing a photographer, in an operation to prevent protests against nuclear testing.
  • The wreck of the Titanic captured worldwide public attention after its discovery, sparking renewed interest in the 1912 disaster.
  • Madonna's global popularity continued to rise, with the singer's Like a Virgin album and world tour making her one of the decade's defining pop culture figures.
  • The Heysel Stadium disaster in Brussels in May killed 39 people, mostly Italian, when a wall collapsed during crowd disturbances before the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus.
  • We Are the World, a charity single for African famine relief, was recorded in January by a supergroup of American music artists, becoming one of the best-selling singles in history.