1970s

Millennia: 1st millennium - 2nd millennium - 3rd millennium

Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

Decades: 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s - 1970s - 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s

Years: 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979

Events and trends

Computers, technology

Microprocessors are developed - used first in industrial applications and after that also in consumer products
Pocket calculators make the slide rule obsolete.
Home computer revolution starts
Unix created along with C programming language
Microsoft is founded (1975)

Science

Viking missions to Mars
Voyager spacecraft explore the outer solar system
Theory of quantum chromodynamics postulated to describe the strong interaction, one of the four fundamental forces of nature

War, peace and politics

fear of Nuclear war
The United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark join Common Market in 1973.
Watergate break-in, cover-up, and scandal, leading to U.S. president Richard Nixon's resignation
Widespread strikes and industrial unrest in the United Kingdom throughout decade.
Margaret Thatcher elected Britain's first female prime minister.
Democracy established in Spain after death of dictator Francisco Franco who ruled for 40 years.
Democracy established in Portugal after dictatorship overthrown in military coup.
Coup in Chile topples government of Salvador Allende, who is replaced by Augusto Pinochet.
Elected government in Pakistan replaced by Martial Law.
Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge government in Cambodia results in 2.5 million deaths.
USSR begins disastrous military campaign in Afghanistan.
Iranian revolution and hostage situation
end of Vietnam War
Indonesia invades East Timor and follows it with a long occupation.
Rise of environmental awareness and green movements, peace movement and women's liberation in Europe and the USA. First Earth Day (1970). Whole Earth Catalog becomes widely popular and wins National Book Award.

Economics

high inflation
high unemployment
OPEC oil embargo (see 1973 energy crisis and 1979 energy crisis)

Culture

Disco, Punk rock, Gothic rock music
Star Wars
An age of superstars and idols in sports, music, literature and film.
Jamaican reggae music begins to gain an international audience, while dub music influences African Americans in New York City, leading to the development of hip hop

Others

Indonesian Archaeological Service and UNESCO restore Borobodur

World leaders

Gough Whitlam (Australia)
Pierre Trudeau (Canada)
Mao Zedong (People's Republic of China)
Deng Xiaoping (People's Republic of China)
President Chiang Kai-shek (Republic of China on Taiwan)
President Yen Chia-kan (Republic of China on Taiwan)
President Anwar Sadat (Egypt)
President Urho Kekkonen (Finland)
President Georges Pompidou (France)
President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (France)
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (India)
President Suharto (Indonesia)
President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr (Iraq)
Prime Minister Golda Meir (Israel)
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (Israel)
Prime Minister Menachem Begin (Israel)
Emperor Hirohito (Japan)
Pope Paul VI
Pope John Paul I
Pope John Paul II
Prime Minister Keith Holyoake (New Zealand)
Prime Minister John Ross Marshall (New Zealand)
Prime Minister Norman Eric Kirk (New Zealand)
Prime Minister Wallace Rowling (New Zealand)
Prime Minister Robert Muldoon (New Zealand)
Prime Minister James Chichester-Clark (Northern Ireland)
Prime Minister Brian Faulkner (Northern Ireland)
President Erskine Hamilton Childers (Ireland)
President Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh (Ireland)
President Patrick Hillery (Ireland)
Taoiseach Jack Lynch (Republic of Ireland)
Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave (Republic of Ireland)
Taoiseach Charles Haughey (Republic of Ireland)
Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (Pakistan)
Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (Singapore)
Leonid Brezhnev (Soviet Union)
Queen Elizabeth II (United Kingdom)
Prime Minister Edward Heath (United Kingdom)
Prime Minister Harold Wilson (United Kingdom)
Prime Minister James Callaghan (United Kingdom)
President Richard Nixon (United States)
President Gerald Ford (United States)
President Jimmy Carter (United States)
Chancellor Willy Brandt (West Germany)
Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (West Germany)
President Josip Broz Tito (Yugoslavia)

Sports figures

Henry Aaron (U.S. baseball player)
Muhammad Ali (U.S. boxer)
Rick Barry (U.S. basketball player)
Franz Beckenbauer (West German soccer player)
Wilfred Benitez (Puerto Rican boxer)
George Best (Northern Irish soccer player)
Larry Bird (U.S. basketball player)
Bjorn Borg (Swedish tennis player)
Terry Bradshaw (U.S. American football player)
Rod Carew (Panamanian baseball player)
Nadia Comaneci (Romanian gymnast)
Jimmy Connors (U.S. tennis player)
Roberto Duran (Panamanian boxer)
Gareth Edwards (Welsh rugby player)
Julius Erving (U.S. basketball player)
George Foreman (U.S. boxer)
Joe Frazier (U.S. boxer)
Wilfredo Gómez (Puerto Rican boxer)
Bobby Hull (Canadian ice hockey player)
Kareem Abdul Jabbar (U.S. basketball player)
Reggie Jackson (U.S. baseball player)
Barry John (Welsh rugby player)
Billie Jean King (U.S. tennis player)
Olga Korbut (Russian gymnast)
Guy Lafleur (Canadian ice hockey player)
Niki Lauda (Austrian racing driver)
Clive Lloyd (Guyanan cricketer)
Pete Maravich (U.S. basketball player)
Willie Mays (U.S. baseball player)
Eddie Merckx (Belgian cyclist)
Carlos Monzon (Argentinian boxer)
Gerd Müller (West German soccer player)
Joe Namath (U.S. American football player)
Jack Nicklaus (U.S. golfer)
Jim Palmer (U.S. baseball player)
Pelé (Brazilian soccer player)
Richard Petty (U.S. racing driver)
Pete Rose (U.S. baseball player)
Secretariat (racehorse)
Barry Sheene (English motorcycle racer)
O.J. Simpson (U.S. American football player)
Mark Spitz (U.S. swimmer)
Roger Staubach (U.S. American football player)
Bill Walton (U.S. basketball player)

Entertainers

Alan Alda (M*A*S*H)
David Cassidy (The Partridge Family
Gary Coleman (Diff'rent Strokes)
Richard Dreyfuss (Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, American Graffiti)
Clint Eastwood (Dirty Harry, Escape from Alcatraz)
Mark Hamill (Star Wars`)
Goldie Hawn (Butterflies Are Free, Shampoo, $)
George Lucas (Star Wars, American Graffiti, THX 1138)
Jack Nicholson (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Chinatown, The Last Detail, Five Easy Pieces)
Sylvester Stallone (Rocky)
Henry Winkler (The Fonz on Happy Days)

Music

See also: List of rock and roll albums in the 1970s

Writers

Film


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