The 1990's

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The 1990's were dominated by rage and violence. It was a time of war, terrorism, murder, and hatred.

Some major milestones of the 1990's:

Gulf War
Oklahoma City Bombing
World Trade Center Bombing
Waco Texas
School Violence-Columbine
Rodney King

Gulf War

In 1991, Americans and its allies attacked Iraq in the Persian Gulf. The attack portion of the Gulf War was called Desert Storm. The entire war lasted six weeks and was mainly an air war which ended with a ground battle. This war was fought for two reasons, an outward goal and an underlying goal. The outward goal was to free defenseless Kuwait, a country who had been invaded by Iraq, led by their leader Saddam Hussein. The underlying goal was that the United States wanted to protect their oil interests in the Persian Gulf. After six weeks, the war ended. Kuwait was free but Saddam Hussein remained in power in Iraq.

Violence of the Times

Following are some major violent events that took place during this decade:

Rodney King	1991	Rodney King was an African-American driver in Los Angeles who was pulled over and beaten by Caucasian police officers. This act of violence was videotaped and shown all over the news. This event sparked terrible racial strife and violence in Los Angeles. The riots caused over 50 deaths and tons of looting from local businesses.
First World Trade Center Bombing	1993	Islamic fundamentalists planted a car bomb in the World Trade Center in New York. Six people were killed and over one thousand were injured.
Waco, Texas	1993	The Branch Davidians were a religious group who armed themselves and lived on a private compound. Federal officials tried to search the compound for weapons and bombs. The religious group would not allow the officials into the compound for over 51 days. The government lost patience and raided the compound. Eighty Branch Davidians and four federal officials were killed.
Oklahoma City Bombing	1995	A car bomb exploded in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. This explosion killed 169 people. Of those killed, 19 were children who were attending the building's day care center. Americans Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were later convicted of this terrible act of violence. They were said to be "anti-government" and were showing their dismay for the Waco, Texas episode two years before.
Columbine Shooting	1999	The Columbine shooting was not the only school shooting in the 1990s, but was, without a doubt, the worst. Twelve students, one teacher, and the two shooters died. Others were injured that terrible day. This terrible event sparked questions about violence and children.

Anything good?

It seems as if the 1990s were marred by terrible events. Did anything good happen in the 1990s? Yes.

1991: The World Wide Web started.
1992: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) went into effect. This gave people with disabilities more rights with concern to employment.
1994: NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) opened free trade between Canada, the United States, and Mexico.
It was the era that brought about SUVs (sport utility vehicles), rollerblades, the Macarena, beanie babies, fanny packs, original reality TV ( The Real World on MTV), Tickle-Me-Elmo, Dawson's Creek, Friends, Seinfeld, ER, grunge music, cell phones, "you go girl" and so much more.