1979

The Iranian Revolution

1979 was the 1,978th year of the Common Era and the eighth year of the 1970s.

Events

• On 1 January, the United States and China establish full diplomatic relations in the aftermath of the Sino-Soviet split.
• Phnom Penh falls to Vietnam, forcing the Khmer Rouge government to leave Cambodia. The Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia succeeds in its goal, and the Khmer Rouge become a guerrilla group once more.
• Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi leaves Iran for medical care in the United States, and the Iranian Revolution occurs back in Iran. The Shah is overthrown and Ayatollah Khomeini seizes power, transforming the Kingdom of Iran into the Islamic Republic of Iran theocracy.
• In Afghanistan, the Soviet Union stages a coup d'état against the weak President Hafizullah Amin as he loses the support of the people and loses strength. The US ambassador Adolph Dubs is killed by hostage-takers after police try to rescue him.
• China invades Vietnam as a result of the invasion of Cambodia, starting the Sino-Vietnamese War. The Soviet Union backs Vietnam, while the USA backs China.
• Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Yitzhak Rabin of Israel agree to a peace treaty at the end of the Camp David Accords, with Egypt recognizing Israel's existence.
• Conservative politician Airey Neave from Northern Ireland is assassinated by the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
• Malta, Kiribati, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Saint Lucia gain independence from the United Kingdom.
• Tanzania invades Uganda to assist Milton Obote against the dictatorship of Idi Amin, ousting him from power and forcing him into exile in Saudi Arabia; Obote is restored as President.
• On 17 April, 100 schoolchildren in the Central African Empire protesting against the law forcing students to wear uniforms are killed on the orders of Emperor Jean-Bedel Bokassa, who is overthrown in September.
• The Nicaraguan Civil War breaks out after Anastasio Somoza is overthrown by the Sandinistas, leading to a decade of civil warfare between the communist Sandinistas and the capitalist Contras.
• Mayor George Moscone of San Francisco and supervisor Harvey Milk are assassinated by Dan White, who gets away with murder with a "twinkie defense".
• Colombian drug smuggler and contraband salesman Pablo Escobar is introduced to the cocaine trade by Chilean chemist Mateo Moreno, leading to the rise of Escobar and his cousin Gustavo Gaviria's drug operation. Their friend "El Leon" makes a flight into Miami, Florida with a load of cocaine, introducing drugs to the city through his friend Carlos Lehder. The cocaine epidemic and the drug wars begin.
• Pope John Paul II visits his communist homeland of Poland, stirring the support of the people against communism and leading to the foundation of Solidarity.
• The Baader-Meinhof Gang fail in their assassination of NATO commander Alexander Haig on 25 June.
• Saddam Hussein rises to power in Iraq, leading to the Iran-Iraq War as Ba'athist Iraq attempts to forestall a Shi'ite uprising in Iraq against the Sunni majority.
• The Salvadoran Civil War also begins as the FMLN rises up against the government, which is backed by the USA.
• President Francisco Macias Nguema is assassinated in a revolution in Equatorial Guinea.
• British nobles Louis Mountbatten and Doreen Knatchbull are assassinated on 28 August by the IRA in a bomb attack while they are fishing.
• The Second Nigerian Republic takes power after military rule ends.
• Dictator Park Chung-hee is assassinated by his own security cheef Kim Jae-gyu in South Korea, ending his 17-year military rule over the ROK.
• 5 American communists are killed by the Ku Klux Klan in the Greensboro massacre.
• The Iran hostage crisis takes place as the US embassy personnel in Tehran are taken hostage by Iranian students in response to the USA's refusal to hand over the Shah to Khomeini, leading to an oil embargo against Iran.
• On 20 November Juhayman al-Otaybi leads 200 Islamic extremists militants in the Grand Mosque seizure at Mecca's Masjid al-Haram, so French GIGN commandos storm the mosque to assist the government of Saudi Arabia. 250 people are killed and 600 wounded. The next day, 4 Americans are murdered by a Pakistani mob after Ayatollah Khomeini falsely reported that Americans occupied the mosque. The siege leads to Saudi Arabia enacting sharia law in the country.
• The One-child policy is adopted as population control becomes an issue in China.

Deaths

1974 - 1975 - 1976 - 1977 - 1978 - 1979 - 1980 - 1981 - 1982 - 1983 - 1984