From the fall of the Soviet Union to the rise of Amazon, the 90s reshaped our world in profound ways. Join us as we count down the decade's most transformative events that continue to influence our lives today! From technological breakthroughs like the Human Genome Project to pivotal political moments like Mandela's presidency, these events didn't just make headlines—they changed history.
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00:00I'm afraid that if I subscribe to something like internet, you would really be hooked.
00:04I would get hooked and I would never, you know, spend time with my family.
00:09Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for 10 moments
00:12from the 1990s that altered the trajectory of human history.
00:15The European Union, it is one of the most confusing political entities on the planet.
00:20But one of the most common questions people ask is simple.
00:24Why does the EU exist? What does it hope to achieve?
00:27And why can't its members just do it by themselves?
00:30Number 10. Mandela becomes president.
00:32I accordingly take great pleasure in announcing the election of Comrade Nelson Mandela
00:38to the post of president.
00:40In 1994, Nelson Mandela made history as South Africa's first black president.
00:44In a country ruled for decades by the racist apartheid regime, his victory was earth-shattering.
00:49It represented both the end of apartheid and the dawn of a new era of racial equality.
00:53Both Nelson Mandela and South Africa had traveled a long way to get to this moment.
00:58More than 300 years of white domination ended for good
01:02with the swearing in of Nelson Mandela as this African nation's first black president.
01:07His election was the culmination of decades of struggle.
01:09Following his release in 1990 after 27 years in prison,
01:12Mandela's leadership helped unite a deeply divided nation
01:15and inspired the world with his message of forgiveness and reconciliation.
01:19The moment marked not just a victory for South Africa,
01:22but a global milestone for democracy and human rights.
01:24His election was potential proof of Martin Luther King Jr.'s words that
01:28the arc of history bends towards justice.
01:48Researchers broke down human chromosomes into manageable chunks
01:51and unraveled the yarn-like DNA segments to map the exact order of the base pairs inside.
01:56Once they understood what went where,
01:58they were able to rebuild entire human genes from their basic building blocks.
02:03Launched in 1990, the Human Genome Project set out to map all human genes.
02:07The task took geneticists 13 years and revolutionized science forever.
02:11By sequencing the genome, researchers unlocked the blueprints of human life.
02:14Their discoveries paved the way for continuing advancements in personalized medicine,
02:19genetic engineering, and disease prevention.
02:21The thing that was catapulting that discussion forward was this
02:25audacious idea of, should we sequence the human genome?
02:28Its impact is still growing, from cancer treatments to CRISPR.
02:31Around the same time, Dolly the sheep cloned in 1996
02:35showed the world that humanity had the power to change nature itself.
02:38Scientists here have already produced genetically identical sheep from the same embryo,
02:43but never before has one sheep been cloned from the single cell of another fully grown animal.
02:48Genetic manipulation has raised ethical questions that persist today.
02:51Still, these milestones marked a new frontier,
02:54marking the dawn of a new and vibrant genetic revolution.
02:578. Hubble Telescope Launch
02:59The Hubble Space Telescope, which launched in 1990,
03:01has transformed humanity's understanding of the universe around us.
03:05Its high-resolution images have allowed astronomers to determine the universe's age.
03:09We now know we are but blips in the approximate 13.7 billion year lifespan of the cosmos.
03:15We have also discovered that the universal expansion may be accelerating due to dark energy.
03:19Hubble's observations have confirmed the existence of supermassive black holes
03:23at the centers of galaxies and provided detailed views of protoplanetary disks.
03:27I got to fly in space aboard the space shuttle Atlantis.
03:31We launched into space to catch up with the Hubble Space Telescope.
03:34I used the robotic arm to reach out and grab it and put it in the back of our shuttle's payload bay
03:39so we could launch it into space.
03:41These discoveries have offered new insights into star and planet formation.
03:45Its deep-field images have revealed thousands of distant galaxies,
03:48peering back billions of years into the universe's past.
03:51The whole point of going to the Hubble and putting in new instruments is to improve its capability.
03:57So when we put a new instrument in and the pictures come back,
04:00they're sharper and have more detail than anything ever seen before.
04:047. Oklahoma City Bombing
04:06We interrupt briefly to thank the members of the public for their support.
04:10We interrupt briefly to tell you of a major explosion in Oklahoma City in a federal building
04:16in the center of Oklahoma City about 9 o'clock local time in Oklahoma.
04:19The 1995 Oklahoma City bombing was a devastating act of domestic terrorism.
04:23The attack killed 168 people and injured hundreds more.
04:26The blast caused catastrophic damage, leaving 168 people dead and hundreds more injured.
04:33Timothy McVeigh, a Gulf War veteran, carried out the attack in retaliation
04:37for the federal government's handling of the Waco siege and Ruby Ridge standoff.
04:41Fueled by white nationalist and anti-government beliefs,
04:43his attack was a rallying cry that has echoed throughout subsequent years.
04:47It has helped mobilize a growing far-right movement,
04:50which blended survivalist paranoia with deep-seated racism.
04:53Whether it was a Nazi, whether it was a white supremacist, whether it was a survivalist,
04:59whether it was a militia man, he would have fully embraced their views.
05:04McVeigh's attack marked the rise of modern domestic terrorism in the U.S.,
05:08influencing right-wing extremism in politics for decades.
05:11This shift has rippled outward, altering America's domestic policies
05:15and reshaping its global image as it struggles to confront threats from within.
05:19Number 6. Founding of Amazon
05:20This is Amazon.com, Inc. And up here, this is my desk here.
05:28When Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in 1994, it was just an online bookstore.
05:32A direct competitor with brick-and-mortars like Barnes & Noble or Borders.
05:35But Amazon took off like Bezos' future rocket,
05:38growing into one of the largest retailers in history, revolutionizing global commerce.
05:42By embracing technical innovations, Amazon redefined how the world shops.
05:46Brick-and-mortar has given way to online shopping.
05:49Amazon's influence now spans industries from cloud computing to entertainment,
05:52making it a cornerstone of modern life.
05:54Around the same time, another giant, Google,
05:57was quietly laying the groundwork for its search engine dominance.
06:00A lot of people use it and communicate.
06:01I guess they can communicate with NBC writers and producers.
06:04Allison, can you explain what internet is?
06:06In just a few years, Google became a verb synonymous with online navigation.
06:10Together, these companies reshaped the face of the digital frontier.
06:14This doesn't take long to tour the offices of Amazon.com, Inc.
06:17Number 5. The Bosnian War
06:19The Bosnian War exposed the devastating potential of mechanized ethnic warfare in the modern era.
06:24For the first few months of the war, it was like a nightmare.
06:29When you go to work, you don't know if you will be alive on the way back.
06:35Sparked by the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the war saw horrifying atrocities.
06:39Events like the Siege of Sarajevo shocked the conscience of the Western world.
06:43In the Srebrenica Massacre, over 8,000 Bosnians were killed.
06:47It was Europe's worst genocide since World War II.
06:49The conflict led to a global reckoning with the failures of international intervention.
06:53A more robust response was needed to crimes against humanity.
06:56It drove the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
07:01The subsequent trial set a precedent for prosecuting future war crimes.
07:04The war also reshaped NATO, pushing it toward humanitarian interventions
07:08until 9-11 changed the world once more.
07:10Under pressure from an escalation in the fighting with the Serbs and championed by the US,
07:15a peace treaty was signed by Bosnian Prime Minister Haris Silicic, Croatian Foreign Minister Matej
07:21Granic, and the President of Herzeg-Bosnia Grezimir Zubac on March 18, 1994 in Washington, D.C.
07:29This brought an end to the conflict that has since become known as the War Within a War.
07:35The African country of Rwanda suffered a horrific campaign of mass murder.
07:41Neighbor turned against neighbor as violence engulfed the region,
07:46resulting in the deaths of over one-tenth of the country's population.
07:50The Rwandan genocide was a grim reminder of the global community
07:53turning a blind eye to atrocities in Africa.
07:55For much of the world, it has long been a continent to be exploited, not protected.
07:59Over the course of 100 days, an estimated 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu
08:04were massacred in one of the most rapid and horrifying genocides in human history.
08:08By the time the fighting was over, roughly 800,000 Rwandans had been killed.
08:13The world's inaction, despite clear warnings and pleas for intervention,
08:17signaled deep flaws in international institutions like the United Nations.
08:21The aftermath led to sweeping changes like the Responsibility to Protect Doctrine,
08:25aimed at preventing similar atrocities.
08:27Within hours, a campaign of violence spread from the Capitol Kigali
08:32throughout the country, which will not stop for three months.
08:36The genocide was carried out with meticulous organization.
08:40Lists of government opponents were handed out to militias
08:44who went and killed them, along with all their families.
08:48It also spurred efforts to prosecute those responsible.
08:50The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was created,
08:53setting a model for criminal justice worldwide.
08:563. Freddie Mercury Dies of AIDS
09:01When Freddie Mercury publicly revealed his AIDS diagnosis,
09:04it shattered the stigma of silence surrounding the disease.
09:07Just 24 hours later, the Queen frontman tragically passed away.
09:10His death ignited conversations about HIV AIDS across the globe.
09:14People and governments were forced to publicly acknowledge the pandemic's devastating toll.
09:19Mercury's death became a rallying cry for greater awareness, funding, and compassion.
09:23Over the following years, the public's public perception of HIV AIDS
09:27shifted from disgust towards the so-called gay plague to compassion for a humanitarian crisis.
09:32Earlier that same year, basketball star Magic Johnson's announcement and retirement brought
09:36the disease further into mainstream consciousness. It could affect anyone.
09:39Because of the HIV virus that I have attained, I will have to retire from the Lakers today.
09:51Together, these moments forced the world to confront AIDS with urgency and empathy.
10:042. Collapse of the USSR
10:06After 40 years of the Cold War and the threat of a nuclear holocaust,
10:10the world's largest communist state broke up into 15 independent republics,
10:14meaning the USA was now handed the accolade of New World Superpower.
10:36The United States was left as the sole superpower until the rise of China in subsequent decades.
10:54Geopolitics began anew from page one, triggering both NATO's expansion and economic transitions
11:00in former Soviet states. Democratic movements surged across the globe.
11:04You have to understand that we've been living inside the Soviet system.
11:07The right to private ownership was not recognized. Even today, we have a very
11:12specific relationship to property rights and entrepreneurship in Russia. So imagine what
11:17it was like back then. For people who had been concerned with completely different matters,
11:22like science or culture, and then suddenly forced to become or decided to become business owners,
11:28because they wanted to somehow live and survive.
11:30The collapse also, unfortunately, left a vacuum that fueled regional conflicts.
11:35Economic instability was commonplace, often resulting in new authoritarian regimes,
11:39especially in Russia under Vladimir Putin. Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few
11:43honorable mentions. Harry Potter's published. The franchise shaped an entire generation
11:47and sparked a global fantasy craze. Nirvana's Nevermind is released. Nevermind revolutionized
11:56music, globalized grunge, and sent alt-rock into the stratosphere. The Super Nintendo is released.
12:04The SNES made video games mainstream, establishing gaming as a dominant media force.
12:13Famine in Sudan. Sudan's famine forced a transformation of future global humanitarian
12:17responses. We can talk roughly of 350,000 people who need to be fed. That means give food
12:25on a daily basis to 350,000 people. We have already lost 20, 24, 25 days. Chaos in Haiti.
12:34The 1991 coup and belated U.S. interventions created decades of instability and dysfunction.
12:39What would have happened to that guy? You heard the crowd. They wanted us to turn them over to
12:44him. Without a doubt, they would have killed him and left him laying out there in the street.
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13:05Number 1. Formation of the European Union. After the horror of World War II,
13:10people wanted to find ways to ensure future peace and cooperation between the different
13:14countries in Europe. So, in the late 1940s, the idea of a European community was discussed.
13:22For millennia, Europe was a continent fractured by wars and ethnic conflict.
13:26It took a big step towards unity with the formation of the European Union and the
13:30Maastricht Treaty. What we are building is a community, a community. We were able to show
13:37how in one field after another, we could come together as neighbors to achieve by cooperation
13:45the many aims which we share and which we could not possibly hope to realize in isolation.
13:52Virtually overnight, the European economic community morphed into a political and economic
13:57powerhouse. The EU introduced a single market, established common policies, and later launched
14:02the euro as a common currency. Those reforms allowed the continent to leverage its economic
14:07might, rivaling both the US and China. The EU now alters global trade and as a bloc,
14:12influences worldwide economic policies. Where great powers fought over every single asset
14:17they could, the EU exists to tie Europeans together economically, politically, and maybe
14:21even militarily. It redefined cooperation, emphasized peace and shared values, and fostered
14:27free trade among member states. While challenges like Brexit and political divisions have tested
14:31its unity, the EU remains a symbol of collaboration. The challenge of the future will be to make sure
14:36that as the European Union gets bigger, it still works for the good of the people who live and work
14:42in it. Are you an 80s or 90s baby whose formative years were defined by other major world events?
14:47Let us know in the comments below.
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