January •
January 2 –
1971 Ibrox disaster: During a crush, 66 people are killed and over 200 injured in Glasgow, Scotland. •
January 5 – The first ever
One Day International cricket match is played between Australia and England at the
Melbourne Cricket Ground. •
January 8 –
Tupamaros kidnap Geoffrey Jackson, British ambassador to
Uruguay, in
Montevideo, keeping him captive until September. •
January 9 –
Uruguayan president
Jorge Pacheco Areco demands emergency powers for 90 days due to kidnappings, and receives them the next day. •
January 12 – The landmark United States television sitcom
All in the Family, starring
Carroll O'Connor as
Archie Bunker, debuts on
CBS. •
January 14 – Seventy
Brazilian political prisoners are released in
Santiago, Chile; Giovanni Enrico Bucher is released
January 16. •
January 15 – The
Aswan High Dam officially opens in Egypt. •
January 18 • Strikes in Poland demand the resignation of Interior Minister
Kazimierz Świtała. He resigns January 23 and is replaced by Franciszek Szlachcic. •
Ivan Koloff defeats
Bruno Sammartino for the
WWWF World Heavyweight Championship in wrestling ending a seven and two thirds years reign, the longest in the Championships history. • A South Korean marine kills 6 people in
a mass shooting in
Kimpo, South Korea. •
January 19 – Representatives of 23 western oil companies begin negotiations with
OPEC in
Tehran to stabilize
oil prices;
February 14 they sign a treaty with 6
Arab states of the Persian Gulf. •
January 24 – The
Guinean government sentences to death 92 Guineans who helped Portuguese troops in the
failed landing attempts in November 1970; 72 are sentenced to
hard labor for life; 58 of the sentenced are hanged the next day. •
January 25 • In
Uganda,
Idi Amin deposes
Milton Obote in a
coup, and becomes president. • In Los Angeles,
Charles Manson and 3 female "Family" members are found guilty of the 1969
Tate–LaBianca murders. •
Himachal Pradesh becomes the 18th Indian state. •
Intelsat IV (F2) is launched; it enters commercial service over the Atlantic Ocean
March 26. •
January 29 – The last of
its many UFO sightings is made at
Pudasjärvi, Finland. •
January 31 –
Apollo program:
Apollo 14 (carrying astronauts
Alan Shepard,
Stuart Roosa, and
Edgar Mitchell) lifts off on the third successful lunar landing mission. :
Aswan Dam opens in
Egypt.
February •
February 4 • In Britain,
Rolls-Royce goes bankrupt and is nationalised. • The
Nasdaq stock exchange is founded in New York City. •
February 5 –
Apollo 14 lands on the Moon. •
February 6 – The 4.6
Mb Tuscania earthquake shakes the Italian province of Viterbo with a maximum
Mercalli intensity of VIII (
Severe), causing 24 deaths, 150 injuries and extreme damage. •
February 7 • Switzerland gives women voting rights in state elections, but not in all
canton-specific ones. •
Władysław Gomułka is expelled from the Central Council of the Polish Communist Party. •
February 8 – A new
stock market index called the
Nasdaq Composite debuts in the United States. •
February 9 • The 6.5–6.7
Sylmar earthquake hits the
Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum
Mercalli intensity of XI (
Extreme), killing 64 and injuring 2,000. •
Satchel Paige becomes the first
Negro league player to be elected into the
Baseball Hall of Fame. •
Apollo program:
Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third human Moon landing. •
February 10 – A
total lunar eclipse is visible from Pacific, Americas, Europe and Africa, and is the 50th lunar eclipse of
Lunar Saros 123. •
February 11 – The US, UK, USSR and others sign the
Seabed Treaty, outlawing
nuclear weapons on the ocean floor. •
February 11–
12 – Palestinian and Jordanian fighters clash in
Amman. •
February 13 –
Vietnam War: Backed by American air and artillery support,
South Vietnamese troops invade
Laos. •
February 15 –
Decimal Day: The United Kingdom and Ireland both switch to
decimal currency (see also
decimalisation). •
February 16 – In Italy, a local parliament elects the city of
Catanzaro as the capital of
Calabria; residents of
Reggio di Calabria riot for 5 days because of the decision. •
February 20 – The U.S.
Emergency Broadcast System sends an erroneous warning across the nation's radio and television stations, meant to be a standard weekly test conducted by
NORAD in Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado. Some stations cease broadcasting until the message is rescinded, as required by federal rules, while most ignore it. •
February 21 • The
Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at
Vienna. • Between February 21 and 22,
an outbreak of nineteen
tornadoes rages across the
Mississippi Delta in
Mississippi and
Louisiana, killing 123 people. •
February 23 –
Operation Lam Son 719: South Vietnamese General
Do Cao Tri is killed in a helicopter crash en route to taking control of the faltering campaign. •
February 25 – A
partial solar eclipse is visible from Europe, Africa and Asia, and is the 18th solar eclipse of
Solar Saros 149. •
February 26 – Secretary General
U Thant signs the
United Nations proclamation of the
March equinox (March 21) as
Earth Day. •
February 27 – Doctors in the first Dutch
abortion clinic (Mildredhuis in
Arnhem) start to perform
abortions. •
February 28 –
Evel Knievel sets a world record and jumps 19 cars on a motorbike in
Ontario, California. :
Apollo 14 on Moon : Earthquake in
Tuscania, Italy. :
Tornadoes kill over 100 in the U.S. state of
Mississippi.
March •
March 1 • A bomb explodes in the men's room at the
United States Capitol; the
Weather Underground claims responsibility. • Pakistani president
Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan indefinitely postpones the pending National Assembly session, precipitating massive civil disobedience in
East Pakistan. • Canadian
John Robarts ends his term of office as the 17th
Premier of Ontario. •
March 2 –
All-Pakistan Awami League leader
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman launched the
non-cooperation movement in
East Pakistan. •
March 4 – The southern part of
Quebec, and especially
Montreal, receives " (42 cm) of snow in what becomes known as the
Century's Snowstorm (
la tempête du siècle). •
March 5 • The
Pakistani army occupies
East Pakistan. • In
Belfast, a
Led Zeppelin show includes the first public performance of "
Stairway to Heaven," a song from the band's
fourth album. •
March 6 – A fire in a mental hospital in
Burghölzli, Switzerland kills 28 people. •
March 7 •
Die Sendung mit der Maus airs its first episode on
Das Erste. • The British postal workers' strike, led by
UPW General Secretary
Tom Jackson, ends after 47 days. •
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, political leader of
East Pakistan (modern day-
Bangladesh), delivers a
public speech at the Racecourse Field in
Dhaka calling for masses to be prepared to fight for national independence. •
March 8 • The
Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI breaks into the
Media, Pennsylvania offices of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation and removes all of its files. • "
Fight of the Century": Boxer
Joe Frazier defeats
Muhammad Ali in a 15-round
unanimous decision at
Madison Square Garden. •
March 10 –
William McMahon replaces
John Gorton as the
Liberal/
Country Coalition Prime Minister of Australia after Gorton resigns following a
vote of confidence that was tied 33-all. •
March 11 –
THX 1138,
George Lucas' first full-length film, premieres in theaters. •
March 12 –
Hafez al-Assad becomes president of
Syria. •
March 12–
13 –
The Allman Brothers Band plays their legendary concert at the
Fillmore East. •
March 16 –
Trygve Bratteli forms a government in Norway. •
March 18 – A landslide in Chungar,
Peru crashes into
Yanawayin Lake, killing 200. •
March 23 – General
Alejandro Lanusse of
Argentina takes power in a military coup. •
March 25 – •
Bangladesh Liberation War: The
Pakistani army starts
Operation Searchlight in
East Pakistan (now
Bangladesh) at midnight after President
Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan, a military ruler, voids election results that gave the
Awami League an overwhelming majority in the parliament; start of the
1971 Bangladesh genocide. That ended the
non-cooperation movement. • The
North East Mall opens in
Hurst, Texas •
March 26 •
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is
arrested by the Pakistan army. • East Pakistan's independence is declared by
M. A. Hannan on the behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from Kalurghat Radio Station,
Chittagong. •
Nihat Erim (a former
CHP member) forms the new government of
Turkey (33rd government, composed mostly of technocrats). •
March 27 – East Pakistan's independence is declared by army major (later president of Bangladesh)
Ziaur Rahman from Kalurghat Radio Station. •
March 29 • U.S. Army lieutenant
William Calley is found guilty of 22 murders during the
My Lai Massacre and is sentenced to life in prison (he is later pardoned). • A
Los Angeles jury recommends the
death penalty for
Charles Manson and female followers
Susan Atkins,
Patricia Krenwinkel and
Leslie Van Houten. •
March 30 –
Starbucks coffee shop is founded in the U.S. state of
Washington.
April •
April 1 – The United Kingdom lifts all restrictions on gold ownership. •
April 5 • In
Ceylon, a group calling themselves the
People's Liberation Front begins a
rebellion against the
Bandaranaike government. •
Mount Etna erupts in Sicily. •
April 8 – A right-wing coup attempt is exposed in
Laos. •
April 12 – Palestinians retreat from
Amman to the north of
Jordan. •
April 17 • The People's Republic of
Bangladesh forms under
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Mujibnagor. •
Libya,
Syria and
Egypt sign an agreement to form a
confederation. •
April 19 • The government of
Bangladesh flees to India. •
Sierra Leone becomes a
republic. • The Soviet Union launches
Salyut 1. •
Charles Manson is sentenced to death in the United States; in 1972, the sentence for all California death-row inmates will be commuted to life imprisonment. •
April 20 •
Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education: The
Supreme Court of the United States rules unanimously that
busing of students may be ordered to achieve racial
desegregation. •
Cambodian prime minister
Lon Nol resigns but remains effectively in power until the next elections. •
National Public Radio (NPR) airs its first broadcast. •
April 21 –
Siaka Stevens is sworn in as the first president of
Sierra Leone. •
April 23 -
The Rolling Stones release their ninth studio album
Sticky Fingers. •
April 24 •
Soyuz 10 fails to dock with
Salyut 1. • An estimated 200,000 people in Washington, D.C., and a further 125,000 in
San Francisco march in protest against the
Vietnam War. •
April 25 •
Todor Zhivkov is reelected as the leader of the
Bulgarian Communist Party. •
Franz Jonas is reelected as president of
Austria. •
April 26 – The government of
Turkey declares a
state of siege in 11 provinces, including
Ankara, in response to violent
demonstrations. •
April 30 – The
Milwaukee Bucks sweep the
Baltimore Bullets in four games to win their first
NBA championship.
May •
May 1 •
Amtrak begins intercity rail passenger service in the United States. • The
Ceylonese government promises
amnesty for guerillas who surrender before
May 5. •
May 2 – In
Ceylon, left-wing guerillas launch a series of assaults against public buildings. •
May 3 •
Arsenal F.C. wins the
English League First Division championship at the home of their bitter rivals
Tottenham Hotspur, with
Ray Kennedy scoring the winner. (Arsenal will go on to win the league and cup 'double' six days later by defeating
Liverpool in the
FA Cup final). • The Harris Poll finds that 60% of Americans are against the
Vietnam War. • East German leader
Walter Ulbricht resigns as
Socialist Unity Party leader but retains the position of head of state. •
1971 May Day Protests: Anti-war militants attempt to disrupt government business in
Washington, D.C.; police and military units arrest as many as 12,000, most of whom are later released. •
May 5 • The
U.S. dollar floods the European
currency markets and especially threatens the
Deutsche Mark; the central banks of Austria, Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland stop the currency trading. •
FedEx, the
logistics and
delivery service, founded in
Little Rock, Arkansas, United States. •
May 6 – The government of
Ceylon begins a major offensive against the
People's Liberation Front. •
May 9 •
Arsenal FC beats
Liverpool F.C. 2–1 to win the English
FA Cup, thus completing the league and cup 'double'. •
Mariner 8 fails to launch. •
May 12 – An
earthquake in
Turkey destroys most of the city of
Burdur. •
May 15 –
Israeli ambassador to Turkey
Efraim Elrom is kidnapped; he is
found killed in
Istanbul May 25. •
May 16 – A coup attempt is exposed and foiled in
Egypt. •
May 18 • The U.S. Congress formally votes to end funding for the
American Supersonic Transport program. • The
Montreal Canadiens win the
Stanley Cup against the
Chicago Black Hawks. The Canadiens became only the second team in
NHL history to win the Cup in Game 7 on the road, and did so after the home team had won each of the previous six games in the series. This also marked
Jean Béliveau's last NHL game. •
May 19 –
Mars probe program:
Mars 2 is launched by the
Soviet Union. •
May 22 – An
earthquake lasting 20 seconds destroys most of
Bingöl,
Turkey; more than 1,000 are killed and 10,000 are made homeless. •
May 23 –
Aviogenex Flight 130 crashes at
Rijeka Airport,
Yugoslavia, killing 78 people, mostly British tourists. •
May 26 • Austria and the People's Republic of China establish diplomatic relations. •
Qantas agrees to pay $500,000 to bomb hoaxer/extortionist Mr. Brown (Peter Macari), who is later arrested. •
May 27 • Six armed passengers hijack a
Romanian passenger plane and force it to fly to
Vienna. •
Christie's auctions a diamond known as
Deepdene; it is later found to be artificially colored. •
May 28 – Portugal resigns from
UNESCO. •
May 30 –
Mariner program:
Mariner 9 is launched toward
Mars. •
May 31 – The birth of
Bangladesh is declared by the government in exile in territory formerly part of
Pakistan.
June • June –
Massachusetts passes its Chapter 766 laws enacting
special education. •
June 1 –
Vietnam War: Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace, claiming to represent the majority of U.S. veterans who served in
Southeast Asia, speak against war protests. •
June 6 •
Soyuz program:
Soyuz 11 (
Vladislav Volkov,
Georgi Dobrovolski,
Viktor Patsayev) is launched. • A midair collision between
Hughes Airwest Flight 706 Douglas DC-9 jetliner and a U.S. Marine Corps
McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom jet fighter near
Duarte, California claims 50 lives. •
June 10 • The U.S. ends its
trade embargo of China. • Corpus Thursday: A student rally on the streets of Mexico City is roughly
dispersed. •
Amtrak had its first fatal accident when
11 people were killed and 163 injured in the derailment of the
City of New Orleans train near
Tonti, Illinois. •
June 11 –
Neville Bonner becomes the first
Indigenous Australian to sit in the
Australian Parliament. •
June 13 •
Vietnam War:
The New York Times begins to publish the
Pentagon Papers. • Racing drivers
Gijs van Lennep of the Netherlands and
Helmut Marko of Austria win the
24 Hours of Le Mans in the
Martini Racing Porsche 917K. •
June 14 – Norway begins oil production in the
North Sea. •
June 17 • Representatives of Japan and the United States sign the
Okinawa Reversion Agreement, whereby the U.S. will return control of
Okinawa. • President
Richard Nixon declares the U.S.
war on drugs. •
June 18 –
Southwest Airlines, a
low-cost carrier, begins its first flights between
Dallas,
Houston and
San Antonio. •
June 20 – Britain announces that Soviet space scientist
Anatoly Fedoseyev has been granted asylum. •
June 21 – Britain begins new negotiations for
EEC membership in Luxembourg. •
June 25 –
Madagascar accuses the U.S. of conspiring to oust the government; the U.S. recalls its ambassador. •
June 27 – Concert promoter
Bill Graham closes the legendary
Fillmore East, which first opened on 2nd Avenue in New York City on March 8, 1968. •
June 28 – Assassin Jerome A. Johnson shoots
Joe Colombo, boss of his eponymous crime family, in the head during an
Italian-American rally, putting him in a coma. •
June 30 •
New York Times Co. v. United States: The
U.S. Supreme Court rules that the
Pentagon Papers may be published, rejecting government injunctions as unconstitutional
prior restraint. • After a successful mission aboard
Salyut 1, the world's first human-occupied space station, the crew of the
Soyuz 11 spacecraft die after their air supply leaks out through a faulty valve.
July , Lower Manhattan, 1971 • July –
Nordic Council secretariat inaugurated. •
July 3 –
Jim Morrison, lead singer of
The Doors, dies of a
heart failure at the age of
27 in the bathtub of his apartment on the 3rd floor of the
Rue Beautreillis 17 in
Paris,
France. •
July 4 •
Michael S. Hart posts the first
e-book, a copy of the
United States Declaration of Independence, on the
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign's
mainframe computer, the origin of
Project Gutenberg. • The first plane lands at
Seychelles International Airport in
Victoria, Seychelles (
Mahe). •
July 5 –
Right to vote: The
Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, formally certified by President
Richard Nixon, lowers the voting age from 21 to 18. •
July 6 –
Hastings Banda is proclaimed
President for Life of
Malawi. •
July 9 – The United Kingdom increases the number of its troops in
Northern Ireland to 11,000. •
July 10–
11 –
Coup attempt in
Morocco: 1,400 cadets take over the king's palace for three hours and kill 28 people; 158 rebels die when the king's troops storm the palace (ten high-ranking officers are later executed for involvement). •
July 10 –
Gloria Steinem makes her
Address to the Women of America. •
July 11 – The
nationalization of all large
copper mines in Chile is completed. •
July 13 •
Ólafur Jóhannesson forms a government in
Iceland. •
Jordanian army troops launch an offensive against Palestinian guerillas in Jordan. • The
Yugoslavian government begins allowing foreign companies to take their profits from the country. •
Reggie Jackson's long
home run, which hits a transformer on the roof of
Tiger Stadium, helps the
American League defeat the
National League 6–4 in the
Major League Baseball All-Star Game in
Detroit. •
July 14 –
Libya severs its diplomatic ties with
Morocco. •
July 15 – American President
Richard Nixon announces his
1972 visit to China. •
July 17 – Italy and Austria sign a treaty that ends the dispute (
Südtirolfrage) regarding
South Tyrol. •
July 18 – The
Trucial States are formed in the
Persian Gulf. •
July 19 – The
South Tower of the
World Trade Center in
New York City tops out at , making it the second-tallest building in the world after the North Tower that had topped out in December 1970. •
July 19–
23 – Major
Hashem al-Atta ousts Jaafar Muhammad al-Nimeiri in a
military coup in
Sudan. Fighting continues until
July 22, when pro-Nimeiri troops regain power. Al-Atta and three officers are executed. •
July 22 • A
BOAC flight from London to Khartoum is ordered to land at
Benghazi, Libya, where two leaders of the unsuccessful Sudanese coup, travelling as passengers, are forced to leave the plane and are subsequently executed. • A
partial solar eclipse is visible from Asia and North America, and is the 70th and final solar eclipse of
Solar Saros 116. •
July 24 –
Georgina Rizk of
Lebanon is crowned
Miss Universe 1971. •
July 25–
30 –
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli records two
Debussy works in
Munich for
Deutsche Grammophon, his fifth recording. •
July 26 –
Apollo 15 (carrying astronauts
David Scott,
Alfred Worden and
James Irwin) is launched. •
July 28 –
Abdel Khaliq Mahjub,
Sudanese communist leader, is hanged. •
July 29 – The United Kingdom opts out of the
Space Race with the cancellation of its
Black Arrow launch vehicle. •
July 30 – In Japan,
an All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 collides with a Japanese fighter jet; 162 people are killed. •
July 31 –
Apollo 15 astronauts
David Scott and
James Irwin become the first to ride in the
Lunar Roving Vehicle, a day after landing on the Moon.
August • August –
Camden, New Jersey erupts in
race riots, with looting and arson, following the beating death of a
Puerto Rican motorist by city police. Also in 1971,
Philadelphia International Records is established, with Camden native Leon Huff as co-founder. •
August 1 – In New York City, 40,000 attend
The Concert for Bangladesh. •
August 2 – U.S. department store chain
J. C. Penney debuts its trademark
Helvetica wordmark which has been used ever since. •
August 5 • The
South Pacific Forum (SPF) is established. • The
McDonnell Douglas DC-10 enters service with
American Airlines. •
August 6 – A
total lunar eclipse lasting 1 hour, 40 minutes, and 4 seconds is observed, visible from South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia, and is the 38th lunar eclipse of
Lunar Saros 128. •
August 7 –
Apollo 15 returns to
Earth. •
August 9 • India signs a 20-year treaty of friendship and cooperation with the
Soviet Union. •
Internment in
Northern Ireland: British security forces arrest hundreds of
nationalists and detain them without trial in
Long Kesh prison; 20 people die in the riots that follow. •
August 10 –
Mr. Tickle, the first book in the
Mr. Men series is first published, in the U.K. •
August 11 – Construction begins on the
Louisiana Superdome in
New Orleans. •
August 12 –
Syria severs diplomatic relations with
Jordan because of border clashes. •
August 14 • The controversial
Stanford prison experiment, led by
Stanford University psychology professor
Philip Zimbardo, began in
Palo Alto, California • British troops are stationed on the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to stop arms smuggling. •
Bahrain declares independence as the State of Bahrain ( officially the Kingdom of Bahrain). •
August 15 •
Jackie Stewart becomes
Formula One World Drivers' Champion in the
Tyrrell 003-
Cosworth. • The number of British troops in Northern Ireland is raised to 12,500. • President
Richard Nixon announces that the United States will no longer convert dollars to gold at a fixed value, effectively ending the
Bretton Woods system. He also imposes a 90-day freeze on wages, prices and rents. •
August 15–
September 5 – The
1971 Women's World Cup in Association football (an event not recognized by FIFA) is staged in Mexico:
Denmark will be the winners. •
August 16 –
Hastings Banda, President of
Malawi, becomes the first black president to visit South Africa. •
August 18 •
Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from
Vietnam. • British troops are engaged in a firefight with the
IRA in
Derry,
Northern Ireland. •
August 19–
22 – A right-wing coup
ignites a rebellion in
Bolivia. Miners and students join troops to support president
Juan José Torres, but eventually
Hugo Banzer takes over. •
August 20 •
International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Intelsat) (effective February 12, 1973). • The
USS Manatee spills of fuel oil on
President Nixon's Western White House beach in
San Clemente, California. • A
partial solar eclipse is visible from Southern Ocean, and is the 4th solar eclipse of
Solar Saros 154. •
August 21 – A bomb made of two hand grenades by alleged communist rebels
explodes in the
Liberal Party campaign party in
Plaza Miranda in
Quiapo, Manila the
Philippines, injuring several anti-
Marcos political candidates. •
August 25 • Border clashes occur between
Tanzania and
Uganda. •
Bangladesh and eastern
Bengal are flooded; thousands flee the area. •
August 26 – A civilian government takes power in Greece. •
August 30 – The
Progressive Conservatives under
Peter Lougheed defeat the
Social Credit government under
Harry E. Strom in a
general election, ending 36 years of uninterrupted power for Social Credit in
Alberta.
September • September 1–
Operation Sourisak Montry VIII opens when forces of the
Royal Thai Army recapture several positions in the territory of
Laos on the south bank of the
Mekong in response to an encroaching Chinese presence to the north. •
September 2 – The
United Arab Republic is renamed to the
Arab Republic of Egypt •
September 3 •
Qatar gains independence from the United Kingdom. Unlike most nearby
emirates, Qatar declines to become part of either the
United Arab Emirates or
Saudi Arabia. •
Manlio Brosio resigns as
NATO Secretary General. •
September 4 • A
Boeing 727 (
Alaska Airlines Flight 1866) crashes into the side of a mountain near
Juneau, Alaska, killing all 111 people on board. • The
Free State of Christiania is founded. •
September 8 – In Washington, D.C., the
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is inaugurated, with the opening feature being the premiere of
Leonard Bernstein's
Mass. •
September 9 – English musician
John Lennon releases his second studio album
Imagine. Worldwide sales of the
title track will exceed 5 million. •
September 9–
13 –
Attica Prison riot: A revolt breaks out at the maximum-security prison in
Attica, New York. In the end,
state police and the
United States National Guard storm the facility; 42 are killed, 10 of them hostages. •
September 17 –
Hugo L. Black retires as an Associate Justice of the
Supreme Court of the United States after serving for 34 years, at this time a record for longevity; Black dies eight days later. •
September 19 –
Trams in Ballarat (Victoria, Australia) cease to run. •
September 21 –
Pakistan declares a
state of emergency. •
September 24 – Britain expels 90 KGB and GRU officials; 15 are not allowed to return. •
September 27–
October 11 – Japanese Emperor
Hirohito travels abroad. •
September 28 –
Cardinal József Mindszenty, who has taken refuge in the U.S. Embassy in
Budapest since
1956, is allowed to leave Hungary. •
September 29 – A
cyclone in the
Bay of Bengal, in the Indian state of
Orissa, kills 10,000. •
September 30 -
U.S Steel Tower opens in
Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.
October •
October 1 –
Walt Disney World opens in
Orlando, Florida. •
October 4–
7 –
Pink Floyd record their groundbreaking film,
Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii at the
Amphitheatre of Pompeii. •
October 13 – The
Pittsburgh Pirates defeat the
Baltimore Orioles 4–3 in Game 4 of the
World Series at home in the first ever
Major League Baseball postseason game played at night. The Pirates defeat the Orioles 2–1 in the decisive Game 7 at Baltimore four days later. •
October 14 –
Greenpeace is founded in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. • October 14 – The largest
state banquet in history is held at the ancient city of
Persepolis in
Iran, marking the symbolic
Celebration of the 2,500th Anniversary of the Founding of the Persian Empire. •
October 17 – The
Pittsburgh Pirates defeat the
Baltimore Orioles to win the
1971 World Series. •
October 18 – In New York City, the
Knapp Commission begins public hearings on police corruption. •
October 21 • U.S. President
Richard Nixon nominates
Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. and
William H. Rehnquist to the
U.S. Supreme Court. • The
Clarkston explosion in Scotland, caused by a gas leak, kills 22 people. •
October 24 –
Texas Stadium opens in
Irving, Texas. In the inaugural game, the host
Dallas Cowboys defeat the
New England Patriots 44–21. •
October 25 – The
United Nations General Assembly admits the
People's Republic of China and expels the
Republic of China (or Taiwan). •
October 27 – The
Democratic Republic of the Congo is renamed
Zaire. •
October 28 • The
House of Commons of the United Kingdom votes 356–244 in favour of joining the
European Economic Community. • The United Kingdom becomes the sixth nation successfully to launch a satellite into orbit using its own
launch vehicle, the
Prospero (X-3) experimental communications satellite, using a
Black Arrow carrier rocket from
Woomera, South Australia. • The
Khedivial Opera House in
Cairo, Egypt, burns down. •
October 29 –
Vietnam War –
Vietnamization: The total number of American troops still in
Vietnam drops to a record low of 196,700 (the lowest since January 1966). •
October 30 • Rev.
Ian Paisley founds the
Democratic Unionist Party in
Northern Ireland. •
Meddle, the critically acclaimed album by
progressive rock band
Pink Floyd, is released. •
October 31 – A bomb explodes at the top of the
Post Office Tower in London.
November •
Erin Pizzey establishes the world's first domestic violence shelter in
Chiswick, London. •
November 3 – The ''
UNIX Programmer's Manual'' is published. •
November 6 –
Operation Grommet: The U.S. tests a thermonuclear warhead at
Amchitka Island in Alaska, code-named Project Cannikin. At around 5
megatons, it is the largest ever U.S.
underground detonation. •
November 8 –
Led Zeppelin release their fourth studio album
Led Zeppelin IV, which goes on to sell 23,000,000 copies in the United States. •
November 9 – A
Royal Air Force C-130 crashes into the Ligurian Sea near
Leghorn, Italy, killing all 51 people on board. •
November 10 – In
Cambodia,
Khmer Rouge forces attack
Phnom Penh and its airport, killing 44, wounding at least 30 and damaging 9
airplanes. •
November 12 – Vietnam War –
Vietnamization: U.S. President
Richard M. Nixon sets February 1, 1972, as the deadline for the removal of another 45,000 American troops from
Vietnam. •
November 13 –
Mariner program:
Mariner 9 becomes the first spacecraft to enter
Mars orbit successfully. •
November 14 –
Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria is enthroned. •
November 15 •
Intel releases the world's first
microprocessor, the
Intel 4004. • International Organization and System of Space Communications (
Intersputnik) is founded (effective July 12, 1972). •
November 18 –
Oman gains independence from the
United Kingdom. •
November 20 – A bridge still under construction, called Elevado Engenheiro Freyssinet, falls over the Paulo de Frontin Avenue, in
Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil; 48 people are killed and several injured. Reconstructed, the bridge is a part of the Linha Vermelha elevate. •
November 22 – In Britain's worst mountaineering tragedy, the
Cairngorm Plateau disaster, five children and one of their leaders are found dead from
exposure in the Scottish mountains. •
November 23 – The People's Republic of China takes the
Republic of China's seat on the
United Nations Security Council (see
China and the United Nations). •
November 24 • During a severe storm over
Washington State, a man calling himself Dan Cooper (later misreported as
D. B. Cooper) parachutes from the
Northwest Orient Airlines plane he had hijacked, with US$200,000 in ransom money, and is never seen again. • A
Brussels court sentences pretender
Alexis Brimeyer to 18 months in jail for falsely using a noble title; Brimeyer has already fled to Greece. •
November 28 – The
59th Grey Cup Game sees the
Calgary Stampeders beat the
Toronto Argonauts 14–11. •
November 30 –
Iranian forces
occupy the
Persian Gulf islands of
Abu Musa (joint occupation by agreement with
Sharjah) and the
Greater and Lesser Tunbs (taken by force from
Ras Al Khaimah).
December •
December 1 –
Cambodian Civil War:
Khmer Rouge rebels intensify assaults on
Cambodian government positions, forcing their retreat from Kompong Thmar and nearby Ba Ray, 10 kilometers northeast of
Phnom Penh. •
December 2 • Six of the seven
Trucial States combine in an act of union to found the
United Arab Emirates. • The
Soviet Mars 3 lander reaches the surface of
Mars, transmits for a few seconds and then goes silent. It is the first spacecraft to reach the planet. •
December 3 – The
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 begins with
Operation Chengiz Khan as Pakistan launches preemptive attacks on nine Indian airbases. The next day India launches a massive invasion of East Pakistan. •
December 3–
4 – The
Pakistani
submarine PNS Ghazi (former ) sinks mysteriously near the Indian coast while laying mines. •
December 4 • The
Montreux Casino burns down during a
Frank Zappa concert (the event is memorialized in the
Deep Purple song "
Smoke on the Water"). The casino is rebuilt in
1975. • The
McGurk's Bar bombing by the
Ulster Volunteer Force in
Belfast kills 15. •
December 7 –
Battle of Sylhet rages between the
Pakistani military and the
Indian Army. •
December 8 – U.S. President
Richard Nixon orders the 7th Fleet to move towards the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean. •
December 10 – The
John Sinclair Freedom Rally in support of the imprisoned activist features a performance by
John Lennon at
Crisler Arena,
Ann Arbor, Michigan. •
December 11 –
Nihat Erim forms the new government of
Turkey (34th government; Nihat Erim has served two times as prime minister). •
December 16 –
Victory Day of Bangladesh: The
Pakistan Army in
East Pakistan (now
Bangladesh) surrenders to the joint forces of India and the Bengali nationalist separatists, ending the
Bangladesh Liberation War. •
December 18 • The
U.S. dollar is
devalued for the second time in history. • The world's largest
hydroelectric plant in
Krasnoyarsk,
Soviet Union, begins operations. •
December 19 •
Clube Atlético Mineiro wins the
Brazil Football Championship. •
Intelsat IV (F3) is launched; it enters commercial service over the Atlantic Ocean February 18, 1972. • The controversial dystopian crime film
A Clockwork Orange, directed by
Stanley Kubrick is released in New York City. •
December 20 – Two groups of French doctors involved in
humanitarian aid merge to form
Médecins Sans Frontières. •
December 24 •
Giovanni Leone is elected
President of the Italian Republic. •
Juliane Koepcke survives a fall of 10,000 feet following disintegration of
LANSA Flight 508. •
December 25 • In the longest
American football game in
National Football League history, the
Miami Dolphins beat the
Kansas City Chiefs 27–24 after 82 minutes, 40 seconds of playing time.
Garo Yepremian kicked the winning 37-yard field goal after 7:40 of the second overtime period. •
Daeyeonggak Hotel fire: A fire at a 22-story hotel in
Seoul, South Korea, kills 158 people. •
December 26 • Former teacher
Patrick Critton hijacks Air Canada Flight 932, diverting the flight from Canada to Cuba. He would remain a fugitive for almost 30 years. • The first reported sighting of the
Nullarbor Nymph in Australia was made. The story traveled around the world until it was proven to be a hoax in 1972. •
December 29 – The United Kingdom gives up its military bases in
Malta. •
December 30 – The first
McDonald's in Australia opens in
Yagoona,
Sydney.
Date unknown •
Ray Tomlinson sends the first
ARPANET e-mail between host computers, in late 1971. • The
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia bans the cultural organization
Matica hrvatska (founded in 1842), soon after December 20. • The
Center for Science in the Public Interest is established in the United States. •
Bulanti motorcar built in Australia. •
Crude oil production peaks in the
continental United States at approximately . •
Skittles was introduced by
Wrigley in 1971. == Births ==