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This week’s archive charts moments of reckoning and renewal – the Soviet Union’s shifting tides, a prime minister on the brink of downfall, a financial crisis gathering pace, and a young driver making history. Dive into The Independent’s front pages and see how each headline captured history as it happened. Mikhail Gorbachev delivers his most anticipated address since taking power two and a half years earlier, vowing to see through his sweeping programme of social and economic reform. In a three-hour speech marking the Russian Revolution’s 70th anniversary, he praised Vladimir Lenin and condemned Joseph Stalin, signalling a new direction for the USSR. A Sunday Independent poll finds that most voters believe Margaret Thatcher should resign, as the embattled prime minister faces growing criticism over her stance on Europe. With rivals like Michael Heseltine waiting in the wings, the pressure would soon reach its climax. Thatcher announced her resignation later that month, ending 11 years in power. Media tycoon Robert Maxwell is found dead after falling overboard from his yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, near the Canary Islands. His mysterious death shocked the business and political worlds. Within weeks, his publishing empire was revealed to be built on massive pension fund fraud. Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated at a peace rally in Tel Aviv by a Jewish extremist opposed to the Oslo Accords. The shocking attack brought global condemnation and cast a shadow over the Israeli-Palestinian peace process that Rabin had come to symbolise. Riots spread across Paris and other French cities after the deaths of two teenagers sparked anger over police tactics and inequality in the suburbs. As cars burned and curfews were imposed, France faced its worst urban unrest in decades – a crisis that exposed deep social and racial divides. Saddam Hussein is sentenced to death by an Iraqi tribunal for crimes against humanity over the 1982 Dujail massacre. The verdict, delivered three years after his capture, marked a pivotal moment in post-war Iraq. It was met with jubilation by some and unease by others amid continuing violence and deep division. The financial crisis begins to take shape as major US banks admit the multibillion-dollar scale of their losses in the subprime mortgage market. The revelations send shockwaves through global markets, marking one of the first clear signs of the turmoil that would soon engulf economies worldwide. Lewis Hamilton becomes the youngest Formula One world champion after a dramatic final-lap finish at the Brazilian Grand Prix. The 23-year-old clinches the title by a single point, marking a historic breakthrough for British motorsport and the start of a new F1 era. Barack Obama wins the US presidential election, defeating John McCain to become America’s first Black president. His landslide victory on a message of “hope and change” sparks celebrations across the United States and around the world. As polls close across the United States, the world holds its breath for the result of one of the most polarising elections in modern history. With Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump neck and neck through the night, The Independent’s late edition captures the anxious wait that gripped America before the shock result was confirmed.
