Press Association Images
1989 was one of the most momentous years in the 20th century.
For everyone who lived through those 12 heady months, the sights and sounds probably still linger in the memory. It was one of those occasions where you could feel, with all your senses, an old order dissolve and a new era begin.
Some historians such as Eric Hobsbawm choose to argue that, so disruptive was the social and cultural upheaval across the globe, 1989 actually represents the beginning of the end of the 20th century. Everything that came after it was too unusual and unexpected to belong to what had gone before.
1989 offered brash entertainment and brutal violence, peaceful revolution and state-sponsored tragedy. It swept a host of ideas, personalities, even countries from the planet, and introduced us to new ways we ruled, met, entertained and amused each other.
Below you'll find 12 days from the turbulent second half of 1989 which tell something of the story of the year. It was 20 years ago that the world changed.
Wow, what a year it was. The Protests at Tianenmen Square and the Fall of the Berlin Wall. What a great day for democracy. (in a way.)
I was too young to remember such a time, but looking at these pictures now and learning about that year, it just goes to show that people have put up with their goverments for too long and many of them paied the price, but at thest they have learned.
Shame China has not yet learnt his lession...