Editing 1970s (section)

==Politics and wars==
{{See also|List of sovereign states in the 1970s}}
[[File:Cold War alliances mid-1975.png|thumb|750px|center|The world map of military alliances in 1970s: Western allies (blue), Non-aligned countries (green) and Soviet allies (red)]]

===Wars===
[[File:DakToVietnam1966.jpg|thumb|250px|The [[Vietnam War]] (1955–1975)]]
{{Main|List of wars 1945–1989#1970–1979}}
The most notable wars and/or other conflicts of the decade include:
*The [[Cold War]] (1945–1991)
** The [[Vietnam War]] came to a close in 1975 with the fall of Saigon and the unconditional surrender of South Vietnam on April 30, 1975. The following year, Vietnam was officially declared reunited.
** [[Soviet–Afghan War]] (1979–1989) – Although taking place almost entirely throughout the 1980s, the war officially started on December 27, 1979.
** [[Angolan Civil War]] (1975–2002) – resulting in intervention by multiple countries on the Marxist and anti-Marxist sides, with Cuba and Mozambique supporting the [[Marxist]] faction, and South Africa and [[Zaire]] supporting the anti-Marxists.
** [[Cambodian Civil War]] (1967–1975) ends with the Khmer Rouge establishing [[Democratic Kampuchea]].
** [[Ethiopian Civil War]] (1974–1991)
** The [[Bangladesh Liberation War]] of 1971 in South Asia, engaging [[East Pakistan]], [[West Pakistan]], and India
** [[Cambodian–Vietnamese War]] (1978–1991)
[[File:1971 Instrument of Surrender.jpg|thumb|276x276px|[[Pakistan Army]] General [[A. A. K. Niazi]] signing surrender agreement before Sh. [[Jagjit Singh Aurora]] of [[Indian Army]] after getting defeated in the [[Bangladesh Liberation War|1971 Bangladesh Liberation War]] against [[East Pakistan]], which eventually liberated as Bangladesh later.]]
* The [[Portuguese Colonial War]] (1961–1974)
* [[1971 Bangladesh genocide]]
* [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1971]]
* [[Arab–Israeli conflict]] (Early 20th century–present)
[[File:Egyptianbridge.jpg|alt=Egyptianbridge|thumb|[[Egyptian Armed Forces|Egyptian military]] vehicles crossing the [[Suez Canal]] on October 7, 1973, during the [[Yom Kippur War]].]]
** [[Yom Kippur War]] (1973) – the war was launched by Egypt and Syria against Israel in October 1973 to recover territories lost by the Arabs in the [[Six-Day War|1967 conflict]]. The Israelis were taken by surprise and suffered heavy losses before they rallied. In the end, they managed to repel the Egyptians (and a simultaneous attack by Syria in the Golan Heights) and crossed the Suez Canal into Egypt proper. In 1978, Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel at [[Camp David]] in the United States, ending outstanding disputes between the two countries. Sadat's actions would lead to his [[Assassination of Anwar El Sadat|assassination in 1981]].
*[[Turkish invasion of Cyprus]] (1974)
*[[Indonesian invasion of East Timor]] (1975)
* [[The Emergency (India)|Indian emergency]] (1975–1977)
* [[Lebanese Civil War]] (1975–1990) – A civil war in the Middle East which at times also involved the PLO and Israel during the early 1980s.
* [[Western Sahara War]] (1975–1991) – A regional war pinning the rebel [[Polisario Front]] against Morocco and Mauritania.
* [[Ugandan–Tanzanian War]] (1978–1979) – the war which was fought between Uganda and Tanzania was based on an [[Expansionism|expansionist]] agenda to annex territory from Tanzania. The war resulted in the overthrow of [[Idi Amin]]'s regime.
* The [[Ogaden War]] (1977–1978) was another African conflict between Somalia and Ethiopia over control of the [[Ogaden]] region.
* The [[Rhodesian Bush War]] (1964–1979)

===International conflicts===
[[File:1979 Iranian Revolution.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[1979 Iranian Revolution]]]]
The most notable International conflicts of the decade include:
* Major conflict between capitalist and communist forces in multiple countries, while attempts are made by the Soviet Union and the United States to lessen the chance for conflict, such as both countries endorsing nuclear nonproliferation.
* In June 1976, peaceful student protests in the [[Soweto]] township of South Africa by black students against the use of Afrikaans in schools led to the [[Soweto uprising]] which killed more than 176 people, overwhelmingly by South Africa's [[Security Police]].<ref name="Harrison 1987">{{cite book|title=The White Tribe of AKHONA ZULU Africa|year=1987|first=David|last=Harrison}}</ref>
* Rise of separatism in the province of [[Quebec]] in Canada. In 1970, radical [[Quebec nationalism|Quebec nationalist]] and [[Marxism|Marxist]] militants of the ''[[Front de libération du Québec]]'' (FLQ) kidnapped the Quebec labour minister [[Pierre Laporte]] and British Trade Commissioner [[James Cross]] during the [[October Crisis]], resulting in Laporte being killed, and the enactment of [[martial law]] in Canada under the [[War Measures Act]], resulting in a campaign by the Canadian government which arrests suspected FLQ supporters. The election of the ''[[Parti Québécois]]'' led by [[René Lévesque]] in the province of [[Quebec]] in Canada, brings the first political party committed to Quebec independence into power in Quebec. Lévesque's government pursues an agenda to secede Quebec from Canada by democratic means and strengthen Francophone Québécois culture in the late 1970s, such as the controversial [[Charter of the French Language]] more commonly known in Quebec and Canada as "Bill 101".
* [[Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos|Martial law]] was declared in the Philippines on September 21, 1972, by [[President of the Philippines|dictator]] [[Ferdinand Marcos]].
* In Cambodia, the communist leader [[Pol Pot]] led a revolution against the American-backed government of [[Lon Nol]]. On April 17, 1975, Pot's forces captured [[Phnom Penh]], the capital, two years after America had halted the bombings of their positions. His communist government, the [[Khmer Rouge]], forced people out of the cities to clear jungles and establish a radical, Marxist agrarian society. Buddhist priests and monks, along with anyone who spoke foreign languages, had any sort of education, or even wore glasses were tortured or killed. As many as 3 million people may have died. Vietnam [[Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia|invaded the country]] at the start of 1979, overthrowing the Khmer Rouge and installing a [[People's Republic of Kampuchea|satellite government]]. This provoked a brief, but furious [[Sino-Vietnamese War|border war with China]] in February of that year.
* The [[Iranian Revolution]] of 1979 transformed Iran from an autocratic pro-Western monarchy under Shah [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]] to a [[theocracy|theocratic]] [[Islamist]] government under the leadership of [[Ayatollah]] [[Ruhollah Khomeini]]. Distrust between the revolutionaries and Western powers led to the [[Iran hostage crisis]] on November 4, 1979, where 66 diplomats, mainly from the United States, were held captive for 444 days.
* Growing internal tensions take place in [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] beginning with the [[Croatian Spring]] movement in 1971 which demands greater decentralization of power to the constituent republics of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia's communist ruler [[Joseph Broz Tito]] subdues the Croatian Spring movement and arrests its leaders, but does initiate major constitutional reform resulting in the [[1974 Yugoslav Constitution|1974 Constitution]] which decentralized powers to the republics, gave them the official right to separate from Yugoslavia, and weakened the influence of Serbia (Yugoslavia's largest and most populous constituent republic) in the federation by granting significant powers to the Serbian autonomous provinces of Kosovo and [[Vojvodina]]. In addition, the 1974 Constitution consolidated Tito's dictatorship by proclaiming him president-for-life. The 1974 Constitution would become resented by Serbs and began a gradual escalation of ethnic tensions.

===Coups===
[[File:Selassie restored.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Haile Selassie]] was overthrown from power in Ethiopia, ending one of the longest-lasting monarchies in world history.]]
{{Main|List of coups d'état and coup attempts#1970–1979}}
The most prominent [[coups d'état]] of the decade include:
* 1970 – Coup in Syria, led by [[Hafez al-Assad]].
* 1971 – [[1971 Ugandan coup d'état|Military coup]] in Uganda led by [[Idi Amin]].
* 1973 – [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|Coup d'état in Chile on September 11th]], Salvador Allende was overthrown and killed in a military attack on the presidential palace. Augusto Pinochet takes power backed by the military junta.
* 1974 – [[Derg|Military coup]] in Ethiopia led to the overthrowing of [[Haile Selassie]] by the communist junta led by General [[Aman Andom]] and [[Mengistu Haile Mariam]], ending one of the world's longest-lasting monarchies in history.
* 1974 – (25 April) [[Carnation Revolution]] in Portugal started as a military coup organized by the Armed Forces Movement (Portuguese: Movimento das Forças Armadas, MFA) composed of military officers who opposed the Portuguese fascist regime, but the movement was soon coupled with an unanticipated and popular campaign of civil support. It would ultimately lead to the decolonization of all its colonies, but leave power vacuums that led to civil war in newly independent Lusophone African nations.
* 1975 – [[Sheikh Mujibur Rahman]], [[President of Bangladesh]], and almost his entire family was [[assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman|assassinated]] in the early hours of August 15, 1975, when a group of [[Bangladesh Army]] personnel went to his residence and killed him, during a coup d'état.
* 1976 – [[Jorge Rafael Videla]] seizes control of Argentina in 1976 through a [[1976 Argentine coup d'état|coup]] sponsored by the Argentine military, establishing himself as a dictator of a [[National Reorganization Process|military junta]] government in the country.
* 1977 – [[1977 Pakistani military coup|Military coup]] in Pakistan. Political leaders including Zulfikar Ali Bhutto were arrested, and martial law was declared.
* 1979 – an Attempted coup in Iran, backed by the United States, to overthrow the [[Interim Government of Iran (1979)|interim government]], which had come to power after the [[Iranian Revolution]].
* 1979 – Coup in El Salvador, President General [[Carlos Humberto Romero]], was overthrown by junior ranked officers, who formed a Junta government, which lead to the beginning of a 12-year civil war.

===Terrorist attacks===
{{Main|List of terrorist incidents#1970s–2000s}}
The most notable terrorist attacks of the decade include:
* The [[Munich massacre]] takes place at the [[1972 Summer Olympics]] in Munich, Germany, where Palestinians belonging to the terrorist group [[Black September (group)|Black September]] organization kidnapped and murdered eleven Israeli athletes.
* Rise in the use of terrorism by militant organizations across the world. Groups in Europe like the [[Red Brigades]] and the [[Baader-Meinhof]] Gang were responsible for a spate of bombings, kidnappings, and murders. Violence continued in Northern Ireland and the Middle East. Radical American groups existed as well, such as the [[Weather Underground]] and the [[Symbionese Liberation Army]], but they never achieved the size or strength of their European counterparts.
*On September 6, 1970, the world witnessed the beginnings of modern rebellious fighting in what is today called as [[Dawson's Field hijackings|Skyjack Sunday]]. Palestinian terrorists hijacked four [[airliner]]s and took over 300 people on board as hostage. The hostages were later released, but the planes were blown up.

===Prominent political events===
'''Worldwide'''
* [[1973 oil crisis]] and [[1979 energy crisis]]
* The presence and rise of a significant number of women as heads of state and heads of government in a number of countries across the world, many being the first women to hold such positions, such as [[Soong Ching-ling]] continuing as the first Chairwoman of the People's Republic of China until 1972, [[Isabel Perón]] as the first woman President in Argentina in 1974 until being deposed in 1976, [[Elisabeth Domitien]] becomes the first woman Prime Minister of Central African Republic, [[Indira Gandhi]] continuing as Prime Minister of India until 1977, [[Lidia Gueiler Tejada]] becoming the interim President of Bolivia beginning from 1979 to 1980, [[Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo]] becoming the first woman Prime Minister of Portugal in 1979, and [[Margaret Thatcher]] becoming the first woman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1979.

'''Americas'''<br />
[[File:Nixon-depart.png|thumb|right|Nixon displays the [[V sign|V-for-victory sign]] as he departs the White House after resigning]]
[[File:Junta Militar argentina 1976.png|thumb|The first [[Military junta|Military Junta]] after the [[Dirty War|1976 Coup d'Etat in Argentina]], integrated by [[Jorge Rafael Videla|Jorge Videla]], [[Emilio Eduardo Massera|Emilio Massera]] and [[Orlando Ramón Agosti|Orlando Agosti]]]]
* United States President [[Richard Nixon]] resigned as president on August 9, 1974, while [[Impeachment process against Richard Nixon|facing charges for impeachment]] for the [[Watergate scandal]].
* [[Augusto Pinochet]] rose to power as ruler of Chile after [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|overthrowing]] the country's Socialist president [[Salvador Allende]] in 1973 with the assistance of the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) of the United States. Pinochet would remain the dictator of Chile until 1990.
* Argentine president [[Isabel Perón]] begins the [[Dirty War]], where the military and security forces hunt down left-wing political dissidents as part of [[Operation Condor]]. She is overthrown in a [[1976 Argentine coup d'état|military coup]] in 1976, and [[Jorge Rafael Videla]] comes to power and continues the Dirty War until the military junta relinquished power in 1983.
* Suriname was granted independence from the Netherlands on November 25, 1975.
* In Guyana, the Rev. [[Jim Jones]] led several hundred people from his People's Temple in California to create and maintain a Utopian Marxist commune in the jungle named [[Jonestown]]. Amid allegations of corruption, mental, sexual, and physical abuse by Jones on his followers, and denying them the right to leave Jonestown, a Congressional committee and journalists visited Guyana to investigate in November 1978. The visitors (and several of those trying to leave Jonestown with them) were attacked and shot by Jones' guards at the airport while trying to depart Guyana together. Congressman [[Leo Ryan]] was among those who were shot to death. The demented Jones then ordered everyone in the commune to kill themselves. The people drank or were forced to drink, cyanide-laced fruit punch (Flavor Aid). A total of over 900 dead were found (approximately 1/3 of which were children), including Jones, who had shot himself. Multiple units of the United States military were organized, mobilized, and sent to Guyana to recover over 900 deceased Jonestown residents. After rejections from the Guyanese Government for the United States to bury the Jonestown dead in Guyana, US military personnel were then tasked to prepare and transport the human remains from Guyana for burial in the USA. The US General Accounting Office later detailed an approximate cost of $4.4&nbsp;million (in taxpayer dollars) for Jonestown's clean-up and recovery operation expenses.
* The [[Somoza family|Somoza]] dictatorship in Nicaragua is [[Nicaraguan Revolution|ousted]] in 1979 by the [[Sandinista National Liberation Front]], leading to the [[Contras|Contra War]] in the 1980s.
* Greenland was granted [[Devolution|self-government]] (or "[[home rule]]") within the Kingdom of Denmark on November 29, 1979.<ref>{{cite news|title=Greenland Takes a Step Towards Autonomy|url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/independence-day-greenland-takes-a-step-towards-autonomy-a-592880.html|newspaper=Spiegel Online|access-date=10 January 2015|date=2008-11-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Greenland Profile – BBC|work=BBC News |date=29 May 2012 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-18249815|access-date=10 January 2015}}</ref>

'''Europe'''<br />
[[File:Carter Brezhnev sign SALT II.jpg|thumb|right|United States President [[Jimmy Carter]] and [[Premier of the Soviet Union|Soviet Premier]] [[Leonid Brezhnev]] sign the [[Strategic Arms Limitation Talks|SALT II treaty]], June 18, 1979, in [[Vienna]], Austria]]

* [[Margaret Thatcher]] and the Conservative party rose to power in the United Kingdom in 1979, initiating a [[neoliberal]] economic policy of reducing government spending, weakening the power of trade unions, and promoting economic and trade liberalization.
* [[Francisco Franco]] died after 39 years in power. [[Juan Carlos&nbsp;I]] was crowned king of Spain and called for the [[Spanish transition to democracy|reintroduction of democracy]]. The dictatorship in Spain ended. The first general elections were held in 1977 and [[Adolfo Suárez]] became [[Prime minister of Spain]] after his Centrist Democratic Union won. The Socialist and Communist parties were legalized. The current Spanish Constitution was signed in 1978.
* In 1972, [[Erich Honecker]] was chosen to lead East Germany, a role he would fill for the whole of the 1970s and 1980s. The mid-1970s were a time of extreme recession for East Germany, and as a result of the country's higher debts, consumer goods became more and more scarce. If East Germans had enough money to procure a television set, a telephone, or a [[Trabant]] automobile, they were placed on waiting lists which caused them to wait as much as a decade for the item in question.
* [[The Troubles]] in Northern Ireland continued, with an explosion of political violence erupting in the early 1970s. Notable attacks include the [[McGurk's Bar bombing|McGurk's Car bombing]], the [[Bloody Sunday (1972)|Bloody Sunday]] massacre, and the [[Dublin and Monaghan bombings]]. 
* The Soviet Union under the leadership of [[Leonid Brezhnev]], having the largest armed forces and the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world, pursued an agenda to lessen tensions with its rival superpower, the United States, for most of the seventies. That policy, known as [[détente]], abruptly ended with the [[Soviet-Afghan war|Soviet invasion in Afghanistan]] at the end of 1979. While known as a "period of stagnation" in Soviet historiography, the Seventies are largely considered as a sort of a [[Golden age (metaphor)|golden age]] of the USSR in terms of stability and relative well-being. Nevertheless, hidden inflation continued to increase for the second straight decade, and production consistently fell short of demand in agriculture and consumer goods manufacturing. By the end of the 1970s, signs of social and economic stagnation were becoming very pronounced.
* [[Enver Hoxha]]'s rule in Albania was characterized in the 1970s by growing isolation, first from a very public schism with the Soviet Union the decade before, and then by a [[Sino-Albanian split|split]] in friendly relations with China in 1978. Albania normalized relations with [[Yugoslavia]] in 1971, and attempted trade agreements with other European nations, but was met with vocal disapproval by the United Kingdom and the United States.
*In 1977 the [[Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II]] was the international celebration marking the 25th anniversary of the accession of Elizabeth II to the thrones of seven countries.
* 1978 would become known as the "Year of Three Popes". In August, [[Paul&nbsp;VI]], who had ruled since 1963, died. His successor was Cardinal Albino Luciano, who took the name [[Pope John Paul I|John Paul]]. But only 33 days later, he was found dead, and the Catholic Church had to elect another pope. On October 16, Karol Wojtyła, a Polish cardinal, was elected, becoming [[Pope John Paul&nbsp;II]]. He was the first non-Italian pope since 1523.

'''Asia'''<br />
[[File:Camp David, Menachem Begin, Anwar Sadat, 1978.jpg|thumb|right|Israeli Prime Minister [[Menachem Begin]] and Egyptian President [[Anwar Sadat]] shake hands, [[Camp David]], 1978]]
[[File:Nixon and Zhou toast.jpg|thumb|right|Nixon and Zhou toast, 1972]]
* On September 17, 1978, the [[Camp David Accords]] were signed between Israel and Egypt. The Accords led directly to the 1979 [[Egypt–Israel peace treaty]]. They also resulted in Sadat and Begin sharing the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize.
* Major changes in the People's Republic of China. US president [[Richard Nixon]] [[1972 visit by Richard Nixon to China|visited the country in 1972]] following visits by [[Henry Kissinger]] in 1971, restoring relations between the two countries, although formal diplomatic ties were not established until 1979. In 1976, [[Mao Zedong]] and [[Zhou Enlai]] both died, leading to the end of the [[Cultural Revolution]] and the beginning of a new era. After the brief rule of Mao's chosen successor [[Hua Guofeng]], [[Deng Xiaoping]] emerged as China's paramount leader, and began to shift the country towards market economics and away from ideologically driven policies. In 1979, Deng Xiaoping [[State visit by Deng Xiaoping to the United States|visited the US]].
* In 1971, the representatives of [[Chiang Kai-shek]], then-[[President of the Republic of China]] (Taiwan), were [[United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758|expelled]] from the United Nations and replaced by the People's Republic of China. Chiang Kai-shek died in 1975, and in 1978 his son [[Chiang Ching-kuo]] became president, beginning a shift towards democratization in Taiwan.
* In Iraq, [[Saddam Hussein]] began to rise to power by helping to modernize the country. One major initiative was removing the Western monopoly on [[Petroleum|oil]], which later during the high prices of [[1973 oil crisis]] would help Hussein's ambitious plans. On July 16, 1979, he assumed the [[President of Iraq|presidency]] cementing his rise to power. His presidency led to the breaking off of a Syrian-Iraqi unification, which had been sought under his predecessor [[Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr]] and would lead to the [[Iran–Iraq War]] starting in the 1980s.
* Japan's economic growth surpassed the rest of the world in the 1970s, unseating the United States as the world's foremost industrial power.
* On April 17, 1975, the [[Khmer Rouge]], led by [[Pol Pot]], took over Cambodia's capital [[Phnom Penh]].
**From 1975 to 1979, the Khmer Rouge carried out the [[Cambodian genocide]] that killed nearly two million.
*On April 13, 1975, the Lebanese Civil War began.
*In 1978, Zia ul Haq came to power
*In 1979, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was hanged in jail

'''Africa'''
[[File:Idi Amin at UN (United Nations, New York) gtfy.00132.jpg|thumb|Idi Amin]]
* [[Idi Amin]], President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979, after rising to power in a coup became infamous for his brutal dictatorship in Uganda. Amin's regime persecuted opposition to his rule and pursued a [[Racism|racist]] agenda of removing [[Asians]] from Uganda (particularly [[demographics of India|Indians]] who arrived in Uganda during British colonial rule). Amin initiated the [[Ugandan–Tanzanian War]] in 1978 in alliance with Libya based on an [[Expansionism|expansionist]] agenda to annex territory from Tanzania which resulted in Ugandan defeat and Amin's overthrow in 1979.
* South African activist [[Steve Biko]] died in 1977.
* [[Francisco Macías Nguema]] ruled Equatorial Guinea as a brutal dictator from 1969 until his overthrow and execution in 1979.
* [[Jean-Bédel Bokassa]], who had ruled the Central African Republic since 1965, proclaimed himself Emperor Bokassa&nbsp;I and renamed his impoverished country the Central African Empire in 1977. He was overthrown two years later and went into exile.