File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson
Orenthal James Simpson (born July 9, 1947), nicknamed "Juice", is an American former football running back, actor, and broadcaster who played for the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League. Once a popular figu ...
is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson
Nicole Brown Simpson (née Brown; May 19, 1959 – June 12, 1994) was the ex-wife of the former professional American football player, O. J. Simpson, to whom she was married from 1985 to 1992. She was the mother of their two children, Sydney an ...
and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strikes Kobe
Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...
, Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, killing 5,000-6,000 people; The Unabomber Manifesto is published in several U.S. newspapers; Gravestones mark the victims of the Srebrenica massacre near the end of the Bosnian War
The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...
; Windows 95 is launched by Microsoft for PC; The first exoplanet
An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...
, 51 Pegasi b
51 Pegasi b, officially named Dimidium , and formerly unofficially dubbed Bellerophon , is an extrasolar planet approximately away in the constellation of Pegasus. It was the first exoplanet to be discovered orbiting a main-sequence star, the S ...
, is discovered; Space Shuttle Atlantis
Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' (Orbiter Vehicle designation: OV‑104) is a Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle which belongs to NASA, the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States. ''Atlantis'' was manufactured by the Rockwell Inte ...
docks with the Space station
A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew in orbit for an extended period of time, and is therefore a type of space habitat. It lacks major propulsion or landing systems. An orbital station or an orbital space station i ...
Mir in a display of U.S.-Russian cooperation; The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City is bombed by domestic terrorists, killing 168., 300x300px, thumb
rect 0 0 200 200 O. J. Simpson murder case
rect 200 0 400 200 Kobe earthquake
rect 400 0 600 200 Unabomber Manifesto
rect 0 200 300 400 Oklahoma City bombing
rect 300 200 600 400 Srebrenica massacre
rect 0 400 200 600 Space Shuttle Atlantis
Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' (Orbiter Vehicle designation: OV‑104) is a Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle which belongs to NASA, the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States. ''Atlantis'' was manufactured by the Rockwell Inte ...
rect 200 400 400 600 51 Pegasi b
51 Pegasi b, officially named Dimidium , and formerly unofficially dubbed Bellerophon , is an extrasolar planet approximately away in the constellation of Pegasus. It was the first exoplanet to be discovered orbiting a main-sequence star, the S ...
rect 400 400 600 600 Windows 95
1995 was designated as:
* United Nations Year for Tolerance
* World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War
This was the first year that the
Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government no longer providing public funding, marking the beginning of the
Information Age.
America Online
AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo! Inc. ...
and
Prodigy offered access to the
World Wide Web system for the first time this year, releasing browsers that made it easily accessible to the general public.
Events
January
*
January 1
** The
World Trade Organization (WTO) is established to replace the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is a legal agreement between many countries, whose overall purpose was to promote international trade by reducing or eliminating trade barriers such as tariffs or quotas. According to its pre ...
(GATT).
**
Austria,
Finland and
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
join the
European Union.
*
January 9
Events Pre-1600
* 681 – Twelfth Council of Toledo: King Erwig of the Visigoths initiates a council in which he implements diverse measures against the Jews in Spain.
*1127 – Jin–Song Wars: Invading Jurchen soldiers from the J ...
–
Valeri Polyakov completes 366 days in space while aboard the
Mir space station, breaking a duration record.
*
January 17 – The 6.9
Great Hanshin earthquake strikes the southern
Hyōgo Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and has a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to the southeast, an ...
of Japan with a maximum
Shindo of VII, leaving 5,502–6,434 people dead, and 251,301–310,000 displaced.
*
January 25
Events Pre-1600
* 41 – After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as Roman emperor by the Senate.
* 750 – In the Battle of the Zab, the Abbasid rebels defeat the Umayyad Caliphate, leading to the overthrow of the dynasty ...
–
Norwegian rocket incident: A rocket launched from the space exploration centre at
Andøya, Norway, is briefly interpreted by the Russians as an incoming attack.
*
January 31 –
Mexican peso crisis: U.S. President
Bill Clinton invokes emergency powers to extend a $20 billion loan to help Mexico avert financial collapse.
February
*
February 13
Events Pre-1600
* 962 – Emperor Otto I and Pope John XII co-sign the ''Diploma Ottonianum'', recognizing John as ruler of Rome.
*1322 – The central tower of Ely Cathedral falls on the night of 12th–13th.
*1462 – The ...
– Twenty-one
Bosnian Serb commanders are charged with
genocide and
crimes against humanity
Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...
in the
United Nations'
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal ...
, a tribunal on
human rights violations during the
Wars in the Balkans.
*
February 21 –
Steve Fossett lands in
Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada, becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a
balloon.
*
February 25
Events Pre-1600
* 138 – Roman emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius as his son, effectively making him his successor.
* 628 – Khosrow II, the last great Shah of the Sasanian Empire (Iran), is overthrown by his son Kavadh II.
...
– The
Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) (Organización del Tratado de Cooperación Amazónica
TCA is formed.
*
February 26
Events Pre-1600
*747 BC – According to Ptolemy, the epoch (origin) of the Nabonassar Era began at noon on this date. Historians use this to establish the modern BC chronology for dating historic events.
* 364 – Valentinian I is p ...
– The United Kingdom's oldest investment banking firm,
Barings Bank, collapses after securities broker
Nick Leeson loses $1.4 billion by
speculating on the
Tokyo Stock Exchange.
March
*
March 1
**
Julio María Sanguinetti is sworn in as
President of Uruguay
The president of Uruguay ( es, Presidente del Uruguay), officially known as the president of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay (), is the head of state and head of government of Uruguay. Their rights are determined in the Constitution of Urugua ...
for his second term.
** Polish Prime Minister
Waldemar Pawlak resigns from Parliament and is replaced by ex-communist
Józef Oleksy.
*
March 3 –
United Nations Operation in Somalia II, the
United Nations peacekeeping mission in Somalia, ends.
*
March 14
Events Pre-1600
* 1074 – Battle of Mogyoród: Dukes Géza and Ladislaus defeat their cousin Solomon, King of Hungary, forcing him to flee to Hungary's western borderland.
* 1590 – Battle of Ivry: Henry of Navarre and the Huguen ...
– Astronaut
Norman Thagard becomes the first American to ride into space aboard a Russian launch vehicle (the ''
Soyuz TM-21''), lifting off from the
Baikonur Cosmodrome
The Baikonur Cosmodrome ( kk, Байқоңыр ғарыш айлағы, translit=Baiqoñyr ğaryş ailağy, ; russian: Космодром Байконур, translit=Kosmodrom Baykonur, ) is a spaceport in an area of southern Kazakhstan leased to R ...
in
Kazakhstan.
*
March 20 – Members of the doomsday cult
Aum Shinrikyo carry out the
Tokyo subway sarin attack, killing 14 people and leading to over a thousand injured. The attack remains the deadliest terrorist incident in Japanese history.
*
March 22 – Cosmonaut
Valeri Polyakov returns after setting a record for 438 days in
outer space.
*
March 25
Events Pre-1600
* 421 – Italian city Venice is founded with the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo di Rialto on the islet of Rialto.
* 708 – Pope Constantine becomes the 88th pope. He would be the last pope to vi ...
– Boxer
Mike Tyson
Michael Gerard Tyson (born June 30, 1966) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 2005. Nicknamed "Iron Mike" and "Kid Dynamite" in his early career, and later known as "The Baddest Man on the Planet", Tyson is cons ...
is released from prison after serving nearly 3 years.
*
March 26 – The
Schengen Agreement, easing cross-border travel, goes into effect in several European countries.
*
March 31
Events Pre-1600
* 307 – After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine the Great, Constantine marries Fausta, daughter of the retired Roman emperor Maximian.
*1146 – Bernard of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a field at V ...
**
TAROM Flight 371 from
Bucharest to
Brussels crashes shortly after takeoff killing all 60 people on board.
**American singer
Selena is
murdered
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...
by her fan club president,
Yolanda Saldívar.
April
*
April 7 –
–
Samashki massacre: Russian paramilitary troops begin a massacre of at least 250 civilians in
Samashki,
Chechnya
Chechnya ( rus, Чечня́, Chechnyá, p=tɕɪtɕˈnʲa; ce, Нохчийчоь, Noxçiyçö), officially the Chechen Republic,; ce, Нохчийн Республика, Noxçiyn Respublika is a republic of Russia. It is situated in the ...
.
*
April 19 –
Oklahoma City bombing: 168 people, including eight federal Marshals and 19 children, are killed at the
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and 680 are wounded by a bomb set off by
Timothy McVeigh.
*
April 30 – The United States government stops funding the
NSFNET, making the
Internet a wholly privatized system.
May
*
May 7 –
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac (, , ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. Chirac was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988, as well as Ma ...
is elected president of France.
*
May 10
Events Pre-1600
* 28 BC – A sunspot is observed by Han dynasty astronomers during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han, one of the earliest dated sunspot observations in China.
*1291 – Scottish nobles recognize the authority of Edw ...
– At
Vaal Reefs
Vaal Reefs is a gold bearing reef which is mined near the town of Orkney in Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality in the North West province of South Africa.
The town of Orkney is home to a large gold mining operation originally owned by An ...
gold mine in
Orkney
Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...
, a runaway locomotive falls into a lift shaft onto an ascending cage and causes it to plunge to the bottom of the deep shaft, killing 104.
*
May 11
Events 1601–1900
*1812 – Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is Assassination of Spencer Perceval, assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the British House of Commons.
*1813 – William Lawson (explorer), William Lawson, Grego ...
– More than 170 countries agree to extend the
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty indefinitely and without conditions.
Sega
is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
launches the
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...
game console in North America four months before its initial scheduled date.
*
May 13 – The 6.6
Western Macedonia earthquake strikes northwestern
Greece with a maximum
Mercalli intensity of VIII (''Severe''), injuring 25 and causing $450 million in damage.
*
May 14 – The
Dalai Lama proclaims 6-year-old
Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the 11th
reincarnation of the
Panchen Lama.
*
May 16
Events Pre-1600
* 946 – Emperor Suzaku abdicates the throne in favor of his brother Murakami who becomes the 62nd emperor of Japan.
*1204 – Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire.
* 1364 ...
– Following the
Tokyo subway sarin attack two months earlier, Japanese police besiege the headquarters of
Aum Shinrikyo near
Mount Fuji
, or Fugaku, located on the island of Honshū, is the highest mountain in Japan, with a summit elevation of . It is the second-highest volcano located on an island in Asia (after Mount Kerinci on the island of Sumatra), and seventh-highest p ...
and arrest cult leader
Shoko Asahara. Further police operations result in over two hundred arrests and thirteen members of the cult, including Asahara, are sentenced to death.
*
May 24
Events Pre-1600
* 919 – The nobles of Franconia and Saxony elect Henry the Fowler at the Imperial Diet in Fritzlar as king of the East Frankish Kingdom.
* 1218 – The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt.
* 1276 – Magnus La ...
–
AFC Ajax wins the
UEFA Champions League at the
Ernst Happel Stadium in
Vienna by defeating
A.C. Milan 1–0.
*
May 28 – The 7.0
Neftegorsk earthquake strikes northern
Sakhalin Island in Russia with a maximum
Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''), leaving 1,967 people dead and 750 injured.
June
*
June 2
**
Mrkonjić Grad incident: A United States Air Force
F-16
The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it ...
piloted by Captain
Scott O'Grady is shot down over
Bosnia and Herzegovina while patrolling the
NATO no-fly zone. O'Grady is rescued by
U.S. Marines six days later.
**
Waffen-SS Hauptsturmführer Erich Priebke