Obvious Political Events
Worldwide
Camp David Peace agreements, 1978
- 1973 oil serious problem and 1979 energy shortage
- The presence and rise of a lot 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 Martinez de Peron as the first woman President in Argentina in 1974 until being (removed from a ruling position)/legally stated under oath in 1976, Elisabeth Domitien becomes the first woman Prime Minister of Lesotho, Indira Gandhi continuing as Prime Minister of India until 1977, Lidia Gueiler Tejada becoming the (meantime/temporary time) President of Bolivia beginning from 1979 to 1980, Maria de Lowerdes Pintasilgo becoming the first woman Prime Minister of Portugal in 1979, and Margaret Thatcher becoming the first woman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- Nixon displays the V-for-victory sign as he leaves the White House after resigning
- United States President Richard Nixon resigns as President in 1974 while facing charges for impeachment for the Watergate (shameful and disgraceful act or situation).
- Augusto Pinochet rises to power as ruler of Chile after 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 mean ruler of Chile until 1990.
- Suriname receives independence from the Netherlands on November 25, 1975
- In Guyana, the Rev. Jim Jones led several hundred people from the United States to establish a Perfect Marxist (place where a lot of people live and work together) in the jungle named Jonestown. In the middle of legal accusations of dishonesty (or ruining), mental and physical abuse by Jones on his followers, and denying them the right to leave Jonestown, a Government-related committee visited Guyana to investigate in November 1978. They were attacked by Jones' guards and Congressman Leo Ryan was killed. The insane Jones then ordered everyone in the (place where a lot of people live and work together) to commit suicide. The people drank or were forced to drink cyanide-laced fruit punch. A total of 900 dead were found, including Jones, who shot himself.
- United States President Jimmy Carter and Soviet Union leader Leonid Brezhnev sign the SALT II agreement (between countries), June 18, 1979, in Vienna, Austria
- Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative party rise to power in the United Kingdom in 1979, starting a neoliberal money-based policy of reducing government spending, weakening the power of trade unions, and promoting money-based and trade liberalization.
- Francisco Franco dies after 39 years in power. Juan Carlos I crowned king of Spain and calls for reintroduction of democracy, (a country ruled harshly by one person) in Spain ends. First general elections held in 1977 and Adolfo Suarez becomes prime minister of Spain after his Centrist Democratic Union wins. Socialist and Communist parties legalised. Current Spanish Constitution signed in 1977.
- 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 rare/not enough. If East Germans had enough money to get/obtain a television set, a telephone, or a Trabant car, they were placed on waiting lists which caused them to wait as much as ten years for the item in question.
- The Soviet Union under the leadership of Leonid Brezhnev, having the largest armed forces and largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world, chased after an agenda to lessen tensions with its rival superpower, the United States for most of the seventies. That policy known as (ending warlike aggression between countries) suddenly ended with the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan at the end of 1979. While known as a 'period of going bad (from not moving)' in Soviet historiography the Seventies are mostly considered as a sort of a golden age of the USSR in terms of stability and relative well-being. Anyway, hidden inflation continued to increase for the second straight ten years, and production regularly (all the time) fell short of demand in farming and consumer goods manufacturing. By the end of the 1970s, signs of social and money-based going bad (from not moving) were becoming very obvious/very clear.
- Enver Hoxha's rule in Albania was showed in the 1970s by growing (being completely separate from others), first from a very public split/division with the Soviet Union the ten years before, and then by a 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 United States .
- 1978 would become known as the "Year of Three Popes". In August, Paul VI, who had ruled since 1963, died. His (person or thing that comes after something else) was Cardinal (extremely pale or white in color) Luciano, who took the name 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 II. He was the first non-Italian pope since 1523.
Camp David Peace agreements, 1978
- On 17 September 1978 the Camp David Peace agreements are signed between Israel and Egypt. The Peace agreements led directly to the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Agreement (between countries). They also resulted in Sadat and Begin sharing the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize.
- Major changes in the People's Republic of China. U.S. president Richard Nixon visited the country in 1972, restoring relations between the two countries, although polite/(to improve relationships with people) ties were not established until 1979. In 1976 Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai both died, beginning a new time in history. After the brief rule of Mao's chosen (person or thing that comes after something else) Hua Guofeng, Deng Xiaoping came out/became visible as China's most important leader, and began to shift the country towards market (the study of money flow/the flow of money within a country) and away from (related to ideas or beliefs) driven policies.
- In Iraq, Saddam Hussein began to rise to power by helping to modernize the country. One major effort to begin (doing something) was removing the Western (one company that controls too much) on oil which later during the high prices of 1973 oil serious problem would help Hussein's exciting plans. On July 16, 1979, he assumed the presidency cementing his rise to power. His presidency led to the breaking off of a Syrian-Iraqi bringing-together-as-one, which had been searched for/tried to get under his person or thing that came before Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr and would lead to the Iran-Iraq War starting in the 1980s.
- Japan's money-based growth went past the rest of the world in the 1970s, unseating the United States as the world's best industrial power.
- On April 17, 1975, Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia's capital Phnom penh
- Idi Amin, President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979, after rising to power in a secret and successful plan becomes famous (for something bad) for his violent/difficult (a country ruled harshly by one person) in Uganda. Amin's government in power abuses/mistreats (fighting/group of fighters) to his rule, chases after a racist agenda of removing Asians from Uganda (especially Indians who arrived in Uganda during British colonial rule). Amin starts the Ugandan-Tanzanian War in 1978 in friendly partnership with Libya based on an (related to a country expanding its rule) agenda to add on territory from Tanzania which results in Ugandan defeat and Amin's overthrow in 1979.
- South African (person who uses action and strong words to support or oppose something) Steve Biko dies in 1977.
- Francisco Macias Nguema ruled Equatorial Guinea as a violent/difficult mean ruler from 1969 until his overthrow and execution in 1979.
- Jean-Bedel Bokassa, who had ruled the Central African Republic since 1965, made himself Emperor Bokasa I and renamed his very poor country the Central African Empire in 1977. He was overthrown two years later and went into (permanent removal from a country).