Longest human chain (multiple countries)

On 23 August 1989, calling for independence from the USSR, approximately 2 million people joined hands to form a human chain that stretched 675 kilometres (419 miles) across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The chain reached its longest at around 7 p.m. local time and lasted for about 15 minutes. This date was chosen as it marked the 50th anniversary of a treaty between the USSR and Nazi Germany that resulted in the countries' occupation by the Soviet Union. Called the "Baltic Way" or the "Chain of Freedom", the multi-national peace line started in Tallinn, Estonia, through Riga, Latvia, and ended in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact (known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact after the signatories, Vyacheslav Molotov and Joachim von Ribbentrop) on 23 August 1939. The treaty contained secret protocols giving the Baltic states to the USSR. The peace chain demonstration 50 years later led eventually to the return of independence to the three Baltic states a few months prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

On 11 December 2004, over 5 million people joined hands to form a human chain, 1,050 km (652.4 mi) long from Teknaf to Tentulia in Bangladesh - the longest human chain overall but only within one country.