Explore 6419 historical events from 1970–1979.
Pope John Paul II was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death in 2005. He was the first non-Italian pope since Adrian VI in t…
Pope John Paul II starts his first official visit to his native Poland, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist cou
Ixtoc 1 was an exploratory oil well being drilled by the semi-submersible drilling rig Sedco 135 in the Bay of Campeche of the Gulf of Mexico, about 100 km (62 mi) northwest of Ciu…
A blowout at the Ixtoc I oil well in the southern Gulf of Mexico causes at least 3,000,000 barrels (480,000 m3) of oil t
Flight lieutenant is a junior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank originated in the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) in 1914. It fel…
Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings takes power in Ghana after a military coup in which General Fred Akuffo is overthrown
Bryan Lewis Allen is an American self-taught hang glider pilot and cyclist. He achieved fame when he piloted the two aircraft that won the first two Kremer prizes for human-powered…
Bryan Allen wins the second Kremer prize for a man-powered flight across the English Channel in the Gossamer Albatross
ABC News is the news division of the American television network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ABC World News Tonight with David Muir; other programs incl…
ABC News correspondent Bill Stewart is shot dead by a Nicaraguan National Guard soldier under the regime of Anastasio So
This article lists the heads of state of Afghanistan since the foundation of the first modern Afghan state, the Hotak Empire, in 1709.
Afghan leader Nur Muhammad Taraki is assassinated upon the order of Hafizullah Amin, who becomes the new General…
Operation Caban, also known as the 1979 Central African coup d’état, was a bloodless military operation by the French intelligence service SDECE in September 1979 to depose Empero…
A French-supported coup d'état in the Central African Empire overthrows Emperor Bokassa I.
On 7 October 1979, a Swissair DC-8 crashed while landing at Athens-Ellinikon International Airport in Athens, Greece. Of the 154 passengers and crew on board, 14 were killed in the…
Swissair Flight 316 crashes at Ellinikon International Airport in Athens, Greece, killing 14.
The first National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights was a large political rally that took place in Washington, D.C., on October 14, 1979. The first such march on Wash…
The first National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights draws approximately 100,000 people.
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Conservative Party, in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Beginning as an allianc…
Former Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe was acquitted of conspiracy to murder Norman Scott, who had accused Thorpe of
James Earl Carter Jr. was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, Carter …
U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul.
Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault, is a French multinational corporation and automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company currently produces a range …
A car bomb destroys a Renault motor car owned by "Nazi hunters" Serge and Beate Klarsfeld outside their home in France…
Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an archipelagic country spanning the Micronesia and Polynesia sub-regions of Oceania in the central Pacific Ocean. The state compr…
The island nation of Kiribati becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
Iliwerung or Illiwerung is a complex volcano forming a prominent south-facing peninsula on Lembata Island in southern Indonesia. It contains north-south and northwest-southeast tre…
A landslide occurs on the Iliwerung volcano in Indonesia, triggering a tsunami that kills over 530 and leaves 700…
Black Monday in Malta refers to 15 October 1979 when the Progress Press and the home of Eddie Fenech Adami, then Leader of the Opposition, were ransacked following a rally by the …
Supporters of the Malta Labour Party ransack and destroy the Times of Malta building and other locations associated…
Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, better known as Mother Teresa or Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta, was an Albanian-Indian Catholic nun, founder of the Missionaries of Charity and a Catholic…
Mother Teresa is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Department of Education Organization Act is a United States federal law enacted in 1979, which created the Department of Education. The new department was split off from the De…
The Department of Education Organization Act creates the U.S. Department of Education.
Christijan Albers is a Dutch former professional racing driver. After success in the DTM he drove in Formula One from 2005 until the 2007 British Grand Prix, shortly after which he…
Christijan Albers, Dutch racing driver
The Bala Hissar uprising was an insurrection that took place on August 5, 1979, at the historical fortress Bala Hissar on the southern edge of Kabul, Afghanistan. Insurgents, as we…
In Afghanistan, Maoists undertake the Bala Hissar uprising against the Leninist government.
PJSC Aeroflot – Russian Airlines, commonly known as Aeroflot, is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. Aeroflot is headquartered in the Central Administrative Okrug, …
Two Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134s collide over the Ukrainian city of Dniprodzerzhynsk and crash, killing all 178 aboard…
The Troubles were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland c…
The Troubles: Eighteen British soldiers are killed at the Warrenpoint ambush by the Provisional Irish Republican Army…
FCA US, LLC, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler Corporation, is one of the "Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, hea…
The Chrysler Corporation asks the United States government for US$1.5 billion to avoid bankruptcy.
Venda, officially the Republic of Venda, was a Bantustan in northern South Africa. It was fairly close to the South African border with Zimbabwe to the north, while, to the south a…
South Africa grants independence to the "homeland" of Venda (not recognised outside South Africa).
Lars Börgeling is a German pole vaulter.
Lars Börgeling, German pole vaulter