1980s

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File:1980s replacement montage02.PNG|thumb|420px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, _Columbia_, lifts off in 1981; US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev become less aggressive towards each other, leading to the end of the Cold War; The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989; In 1981, the IBM Personal Computer is released; In 1985, the Live Aid concert is held in order to help stop the famine in Ethiopia during the time Mengistu Haile Mariam ruled the country; Ukraine and much of the world is filled with radioactive debris from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster; The Iran–Iraq War kills over one million people.
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rect 1 172 241 336 Iran–Iraq War
rect 246 173 506 336 Fall of the Berlin Wall
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The **1980s** was the decade that began on January 1, 1980 and ended on December 31, 1989. It is distinct from the decade known as the 199th decade which began on January 1, 1981 and ended on December 31, 1990.

This decade (group of ten years) is sometimes called the "Greed decade" in English speaking countries. Unlike the 1960s and 1970s, this is when the word _yuppie_ was used to describe "young urban professionals" – young adults who lived in cities and started to get good jobs. This was also the rise of a more conservative period in these countries – Ronald Reagan was president for most of this time in the United States, Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and Brian Mulroney was Prime Minister of Canada.

This decade also saw the Soviet Union fight a war that seemed endless in Afghanistan, civil war in Ethiopia.  It saw the fall of the Berlin Wall; this started the end of the Cold War and the end of Communism in Eastern Europe.

The "eighties" are also well known for their extreme fashions, such as "big hair", New Wave, punk rock, funk, or preppies. Rap music first started to get big in the 80s. It often went with breakdancing in what is now called the "old school" days. Many developments were also made in computer technology during these years; and video games became popular.

In sports, Italy and Argentina won the FIFA World Cup. The Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals, Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, New York Mets, Minnesota Twins and Oakland Athletics won the World Series. The Pittsburgh Steelers, Oakland Raiders, San Francisco 49ers, Washington Redskins, Los Angeles Raiders, Chicago Bears and New York Giants won the Super Bowl. Finally, the Los Angeles Lakers dominated the NBA, with only the Houston Rockets winning a title.

## Important events

- 1980 - 1988 – Iran-Iraq War
- Solidarity movement in Poland.
- Glasnost and Perestroika reforms in the Soviet Union.
- 1981 – AIDS is discovered for the first time.
- 1981 – Assassination attempts are made on Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II.
- 1982 – Falklands War between Argentina and the United Kingdom.
- 1979 - 1989 – Soviet-Afghan War
- 1984 - Sikh Genocide
- 1986 – Prime Minister Olof Palme is assassinated
- 1986 – The Space Shuttle _Challenger_ explodes.
- 1986 – End of Marcos regime in the Philippines
- 1986 – The Chernobyl accident happens in Ukraine because of a test that went wrong. It is the second-largest known nuclear accident, after the Mayak accident in 1957. It is also one of the biggest disasters for the environment. Many people died.
- 1987 – President Ronald Reagan travels to Berlin to deliver his "Tear down this wall!" speech.
- 1989 – Japanese Emperor Hirohito dies.
- 1989 – Tiananmen Square massacre
- 1989 – The Berlin Wall is torn down.

## Important people

- Pope John Paul II, Pope in the 1980s
- Elizabeth II, British queen from 1952 to 2022
- Hirohito, Emperor of Japan from 1926 to 1989
- Akihito, Emperor of Japan since 1989
- Kim Il-Sung, dictator of North Korea
- Bhumibol Adulyadej, king of Thailand
- Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysian Prime Minister from 1981 to 2003
- Deng Xiaoping, leader in China from 1978 to 1990
- Jimmy Carter, President of the United States from 1977 to 1981
- Ronald Reagan, President of the United States from 1981 to 1989
- George H.W. Bush, President of the United States from 1989 to 1993, vice-president of the United States from 1981 to 1989
- Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990
- Helmut Schmidt, German chancellor until 1982
- Helmut Kohl, German chancellor from 1982 to 1998
- François Mitterrand, French President from 1981 to 1995
- Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq
- Muammar al-Gaddafi, Libyan dictator
- Hosni Mubarak, President of Egypt
- Yitzhak Shamir, Prime minister of Israel
- Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader
- Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian actor
- Sylvester Stallone, American actor
- Michael Jordan, American basketball-player
- Tom Cruise, American actor
- Eddie Murphy, American actor
- Duran Duran, English band
- Eurythmics, music band
- Prince, American singer
- Madonna, American singer
- Michael Jackson, American singer
- Bob Geldof, musician and fundraiser
- Iron Maiden, British heavy metal band
- N.W.A, hip hop group
- Ferdinand Marcos, President of the Philippines
- Corazon Aquino, President of the Philippines
- Indira Gandhi, prime minister of India until 1984
- Rajiv Gandhi, prime minister of India from 1984 until 1989
- Fidel Castro, leader of Cuba
- Augusto Pinochet, Chilean dictator
- Jorge Rafael Videla, dictator of Argentina until 1981
- Leopoldo Galtieri, dictator of Argentina from 1981 to 1982
- Nicolae Ceaușescu, Romanian dictator until 1989
- Wojciech Jaruzelski, Polish communist leader
- Lech Walesa, leader of Polish Solidarity movement
- Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of Iran
- Mikhail Gorbachev, the last chairman of the communist party of the Soviet Union.
- Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court, from Arizona.
- Terry Fox, running across most of Canada in his Marathon of Hope.
- Hulk Hogan, American pro-wrestler and actor
- Steve Jobs, Founder of Apple Inc.