page_title: 1991
section_title: August
hierarchical_section_title: 1991 / Events / August
caption_attribution_description: The Warsaw radio mast which was the world's tallest structure until its collapse in 1991.
context_page_description: 1991 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1991st year of the Common Era and Anno Domini designations, the 991st year of the 2nd millennium, the 91st year of the 20th century, and the 2nd year of the 1990s decade.
  It was the final year of the Cold War that had begun in 1947. During the year, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics fell, leaving fifteen sovereign republics and the CIS in its place. In July 1991, India abandoned its policies of socialism and autarky and began extensive neoliberal changes to its economy. This increased GDP, but also increased economic inequality over the next two decades. A U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations fought against Iraq, which had invaded and annexed Kuwait in the previous year, 1990. The conflict would be called the Gulf War and would mark the beginning of a since-constant American military presence in the Middle East. The clash between Serbia and the other Yugoslav republics would lead into the beginning of the Yugoslav Wars, which ran through the rest of the decade.
  The Japanese asset price bubble burst this year, leading to the Lost Years and a permanently stagnated Japanese economy.
context_section_description: August 1 – Israel agrees to participate in the Madrid Conference of 1991, which is held in October. The talks open on October 30, the first direct negotiations between Israel and nearly all its Arab adversaries in history.
  August 4 – The cruise liner MTS Oceanos sinks off the coast of South Africa , leading to the rescue of all 571 passengers onboard by SAAF helicopters.
  August 6 – Tim Berners-Lee announces the World Wide Web project and software on the alt.hypertext newsgroup. The first website, "info.cern.ch", is created.
  August 7 – Shapour Bakhtiar, former prime minister of Iran, is assassinated.
  August 8 – The Warsaw radio mast, the tallest structure at the time, collapses.
  August 17
  In Sydney, Australia, taxi driver Wade Frankum shoots seven people and injures six others before killing himself.
  The remains of the Prussian King Frederick the Great are re-interred in Potsdam, Germany.
  August 17 – 20: Hurricane Bob hits North Carolina and New England, killing 17 people and causing US$1.5 billion in damage.
  August 19 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is put under house arrest while vacationing in Crimea during an attempted coup. The coup, led by Vice President Gennady Yanayev and seven hard-liners, collapses in less than 72 hours. The coup is protested by over 100,000 people outside the parliament building. He returns to Moscow three days later and arrests the coup leaders
  August 20 – Singing Revolution: Estonia restores its independence from the Soviet Union, followed by Latvia the next day. Two days later, Iceland becomes the first nation to recognize their and Lithuania's independence.
  August 23 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Russia restores the white-blue-red tricolour as its national flag.
  August 24 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Ukraine declares independence from Soviet Union.
  August 25
  Belarus declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
  Dissolution of Yugoslavia: Serbian aggression (Yugoslav People's Army and Chetniks) starts on Croatian town Vukovar.
  Student Linus Torvalds posts messages to Usenet newsgroup comp.os.minix about the new operating system kernel he had developed.
  Michael Schumacher, regarded as one of the greatest Formula One drivers in history, makes his Formula One debut at the Belgian Grand Prix.
  August 247 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Moldova declares independence.
  August 29
  Lebanon Hostage Crisis: Maronite general Michel Aoun leaves Lebanon via a French ship into exile.
  Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Boris Yeltsin bans and dissolves the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
  August 30 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Azerbaijan declares independence from Soviet Union. It is followed by Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan the next day and Tajikistan on September 9.
caption: The Warsaw radio mast after its collapse on August 8.
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