Explore 6636 historical events from 1980–1989.
Jean-Baptiste Philippe Ouédraogo, also referred to by his initials JBO, is a Burkinabé physician and retired military officer who served as President of Upper Volta from 8 November…
Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo, the president of Upper Volta, was ousted in a coup d'état led by Thomas Sankara.
Hurricane Alicia was a small but powerful tropical cyclone that caused significant destruction in the Greater Houston area of Southeast Texas in August 1983. Although Alicia was a …
Hurricane Alicia made landfall near Galveston, Texas, causing $3 billion in damage and 21 fatalities.
Typhoon Ellen, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Herming, was considered the worst typhoon to hit China since 1979. Typhoon Ellen was first noted as a tropical disturbance east o…
Typhoon Ellen dissipated after destroying hundreds of homes across Hong Kong and the Philippines.
The Ejército Popular Boricua, EPB also known as Los Macheteros, is a clandestine militant and insurgent organization based in Puerto Rico, with cells in the broader US and other na…
The clandestine Boricua Popular Army staged a bank robbery in West Hartford, Connecticut, making off with $7 million…
Gulf Air Flight 771 was an international scheduled passenger flight from Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, Pakistan, to Abu Dhabi International Airport, Abu Dhabi, United Arab…
Flying from Pakistan, Gulf Air Flight 771 was bombed up by the Abu Nidal Organization while on approach over the…
The Maze Prison escape took place on 25 September 1983 in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. HM Prison Maze was a maximum security prison considered to be one of the most escape-proo…
In one of the largest prison escapes in British history, 38 Provisional Irish Republican Army prisoners hijacked a…
The Cold War was a period of international geopolitical rivalry between the United States (USA) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc…
Cold War: Soviet lieutenant colonel Stanislav Petrov averted a potential nuclear war by identifying as a false alarm…
Yacht racing is a sailing sport involving sailing yachts and larger sailboats, as distinguished from dinghy racing, which involves open boats. It is composed of multiple yachts, in…
The racing yacht Australia II, captained by John Bertrand, won the America's Cup and ended the New York Yacht Club's…
Richard Matthew Stallman, also known by his initials rms, is an American free software movement activist and programmer. He campaigns for software to be distributed in such a manne…
American software developer Richard Stallman announced plans for the Unix-like operating system GNU, the first free…
Gulf Air Flight 771 was an international scheduled passenger flight from Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, Pakistan, to Abu Dhabi International Airport, Abu Dhabi, United Arab…
Flying from Pakistan, Gulf Air Flight 771 was blown up by the Abu Nidal Organization while on approach over the United…
The National Reorganization Process was the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from the coup d'état of 24 March 1976 until the transfer of power on 10 December 1983 to a go…
As the military dictatorship came to an end, Argentina's first democratic election in a decade resulted in Raúl…
The Bijon Setu massacre refers to the killing of 16 sadhus and a sadhvi of the Ananda Marga, at Bijon Setu, West Bengal, India, on 30 April 1982. The killings remain unresolved, wi…
The Bijon Setu massacre occurs in Calcutta, India
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 becomes the first pontiff to visit Canterbury Cathedral
Shlomo Argov was an Israeli diplomat. He was the Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom, whose attempted assassination led to the 1982 Lebanon War.
The Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom, Shlomo Argov, is shot on a London street; he survives but is left paralyse
VASP Flight 168, a Boeing 727-212 registered PP-SRK, was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from São Paulo to Fortaleza, Brazil which, on June 8, 1982, crashed into a mountainsi…
VASP Flight 168 crashes in Pacatuba, Ceará, Brazil, killing 128 people
Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was King and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 13 June 1982 until his death in 2005. Prior to his ascension, he was Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia from 1…
Fahd becomes King of Saudi Arabia upon the death of his brother, Khalid
Roberto Calvi was an Italian banker, dubbed "God's Banker" by the press because of his close business dealings with the Holy See. He was a native of Milan and was chairman of Banco…
Italian banker Roberto Calvi's body is discovered hanging beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London, England
Aeroflot Flight 8641 was a Yakovlev Yak-42 airliner on a domestic scheduled passenger flight from Leningrad to Kiev. On 28 June 1982, the flight crashed south of Mazyr, Byelorussia…
Aeroflot Flight 8641 crashes in Mazyr, Belarus, killing 132 people
The Constitution Act, 1982 is a part of the Constitution of Canada. The Act was introduced as part of Canada's process of patriating the constitution, introducing several amendment…
Constitution Act, 1982 Patriation of the Canadian constitution in Ottawa by Proclamation of Elizabeth II, Queen of Canad
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play …
Baseball: Rollie Fingers of the Milwaukee Brewers becomes the first pitcher to record 300 saves
Nagasaki , officially Nagasaki City , is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan.
Heavy rain causes a mudslide that destroys a bridge at Nagasaki, Japan, killing 299.
The Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted armed conflict fought in Lebanon from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 deaths, displaced nearly one million people, and c…
Lebanese Civil War: The first troops of a multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the Palestine Liberation…
United States Space Force Combat Forces Command (USSF CFC) is the United States Space Force's space operations, cyber operations, and intelligence field command. Headquartered at P…
The United States Air Force Space Command is founded.
Bachir Pierre Gemayel was a Lebanese militia commander who led the Lebanese Forces, the military wing of the Kataeb Party, in the Lebanese Civil War and was elected President of Le…
President-elect of Lebanon Bachir Gemayel is assassinated.