| 1980 | Iran-Iraq War Begins | Middle East | This was a protracted military conflict between Iran and Iraq that resulted in a stalemate. |
| 1981 | AIDS Identified | Global | Medical researchers identified the disease known as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) for the first time. |
| 1982 | Falklands War | Falkland Islands | This 10-week war was fought between Argentina and the United Kingdom over two British dependent territories in South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial dependency, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. |
| 1983 | U.S. Embassy Bombing | Beirut, Lebanon | A suicide bombing against the U.S. embassy in Beirut kills 63 people. |
| 1984 | Bhopal Gas Tragedy | India | Considered the world’s worst industrial disaster, a gas leak incident on the night of 2-3 December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal, resulted in tens of thousands of people exposed to methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas. |
| 1985 | Live Aid Concerts | Global | Concerts organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. |
| 1986 | Chernobyl Disaster | Soviet Union (Ukraine) | A catastrophic nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, then located in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union. |
| 1987 | Stock Market Crash | Global | On 19th October, a severe worldwide economic recession known as Black Monday occurred, wherein stock markets around the world crashed, shedding a huge value in a very short time. |
| 1988 | Pan Am Flight 103 Bombing | Scotland, UK | A terrorist bombing resulted in the deaths of 270 people aboard Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The attack was believed to have been carried out by Libya. |
| 1989 | Fall of the Berlin Wall | Berlin, Germany | This monumental event signalled the end of the Cold War. The wall, which represented political and physical separation between East and West Germany, was destroyed. |
