Editing 1980s (section)

====Europe====
[[File:BerlinWall-BrandenburgGate.jpg|thumb|right|150px|The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 marked the beginning of German reunification]]
[[File:UKK-hautajaissaattue.jpg|thumb|150px|Former [[president of Finland]] from 1956 to 1982. Funeral cortege of [[Urho Kekkonen]] in Helsinki, 1986]]
* The [[European Community]]'s [[Enlargement of the European Union|enlargement]] continued with the accession of Greece in 1981 and Spain and Portugal in 1986.
* In 1983, [[Bettino Craxi]] became the first [[socialist]] to hold the office of [[Prime Minister of Italy]]; he remained in power until 1987, becoming one of the longest-serving Prime Ministers in the history of Italian Republic. At the end of his presidency the [[Mani pulite]] corruption scandal broke up, causing the collapse of the political system.
* Significant political reforms occurred in a number of communist countries in eastern Europe as the populations of these countries grew increasingly hostile and politically active in opposing communist governments. These reforms included attempts to increase individual liberties and market liberalization, and promises of democratic renewal. The collapse of communism in eastern Europe was generally peaceful, the exception being [[Romanian Revolution|Romania]], whose leader [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]] tried to keep the people isolated from the events happening outside the country. While making a speech in Bucharest in December 1989, he was booed and shouted down by the crowd, and then tried to flee the city with his wife [[Elena Ceaușescu|Elena]]. Two days later, they were captured, charged with genocide, and [[Execution of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu|shot]] on Christmas Day.
* In [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], following the death of communist leader [[Josip Broz Tito]] in May 1980, the trend of political reform of the communist system occurred along with a trend towards [[ethnic nationalism]] and inter-ethnic hostility, especially in Serbia, beginning with the 1986 [[Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts]] followed by the agenda of Serbian communist leader [[Slobodan Milošević]] who aggressively pushed for increased political influence of Serbs in the late 1980s, condemning non-Serb Yugoslav politicians who challenged his agenda as being enemies of Serbs.
* There was [[The Troubles|continuing civil strife]] in [[Northern Ireland]], including the adoption of hunger strikes by [[Irish Republican Army]] prisoners seeking the reintroduction of political status.
* [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] became leader of the Soviet Union in 1985, and initiated major reforms to the Soviet Union's government through increasing the rights of expressing political dissent and opening elections to opposition candidates (while maintaining legal dominance of the Communist Party). Gorbachev pursued negotiation with the United States to decrease tensions and eventually end the [[Cold War]].
* During the [[Revolutions of 1989]], most of the communist governments in Eastern Europe collapsed. The [[fall of the Berlin Wall]] in 1989 would be followed in 1990 by the [[German reunification]].
* The United Kingdom was governed by the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] under Prime Minister [[Margaret Thatcher]], the first female leader of a Western country. Under her [[Premiership of Margaret Thatcher|Premiership]], the party introduced widespread economic reforms including the [[privatisation]] of industries and the de-regulation of [[stock market]]s echoing similar reforms of [[President of the United States|US President]] [[Ronald Reagan]]. She was also a staunch opponent of communism, earning her the nickname ''The Iron Lady''.
* Poor industrial relations marked the beginning of the decade; the [[UK miners' strike (1984–85)]] was a major [[industrial action]] affecting the [[Coal mining in the United Kingdom|UK coal industry]]. The strike by the [[National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain)|National Union of Mineworkers]] (NUM) was led by [[Arthur Scargill]], although some NUM members considered it to be unconstitutional and did not observe it. The [[BBC]] has referred to the strike as "the most bitter industrial dispute in British history."<ref>{{cite news|title=1984: The beginning of the end for British coal |location=London |publisher=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/12/newsid_3503000/3503346.stm|access-date=20 December 2014}}</ref> At its height, the strike involved 142,000 mineworkers, making it the biggest since the [[1926 United Kingdom general strike|1926 General Strike]].<ref>{{cite book |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Strikes Around the World, 1968–2005: Case-studies of 15 Countries |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YZ2ms23ZuVQC|location=Amsterdam |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |page=353 |date=2007 |isbn=978-90-5260-285-1}}</ref>
* In November 1982, [[Leonid Brezhnev]], who had led the Soviet Union since 1964, died. He was followed in quick succession by [[Yuri Andropov]], the former KGB chief, and [[Konstantin Chernenko]], both of whom were in poor health during their short tenures in office.
*Presidents of France were [[Valéry Giscard d'Estaing]] and [[François Mitterrand]]. The Chancellors of West Germany were [[Helmut Schmidt]] and [[Helmut Kohl]].