Contemporary
Indonesian Invasion of East Timor 1975 and the Occupation
Indonesia annexed East Timor in 1976; the occupation, never recognised by the UN, lasted until 1999 and cost an estimated 100,000 to 180,000 lives.
Era · 1945 – present
Contemporary
From the Cold War and the Space Race to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the world we live in today.
Contemporary
Angolan Civil War 1975-2002: MPLA, UNITA and Foreign Armies
The MPLA government won; the war ended after UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi was killed and a ceasefire was signed on 4 April 2002.
Contemporary
Lebanese Civil War 1975-1990: Factions, Invasions and Beirut
The Taif Agreement of 1989 rebalanced power between Lebanon's communities, and the war ended in October 1990 with Syria dominant in the country.
Contemporary
Cambodian Genocide 1975-1979: Khmer Rouge and the Killing Fields
An estimated 1.5 to 2 million people died; the regime fell to a Vietnamese invasion in January 1979, and surviving leaders were tried decades later.
Contemporary
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (1975): The Handshake in Space
Apollo and Soyuz 19 docked for about two days, the first international crewed space mission and a symbol of US-Soviet detente.
Contemporary
1975 UK EEC Referendum: Britain's First Vote on Europe
About 67 percent of voters chose to keep the United Kingdom in the European Community (Common Market).
Contemporary
Spanish Transition to Democracy (1975–1982): After Franco
Spain became a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy under the 1978 Constitution, confirmed by the peaceful transfer of power to the Socialists in 1982.
Contemporary
Banqiao Dam Failure (1975): China's Typhoon Nina Dam Catastrophe
Dozens of dams collapsed; estimates of deaths range from about 26,000 in early official figures to more than 200,000 including later famine and disease.
Contemporary
Korean Axe Murder Incident (1976): Death in the Panmunjom JSA
Two US Army officers were killed; three days later UN forces cut down the tree in Operation Paul Bunyan, and the Joint Security Area was divided along the demarcation line.
Contemporary
Soweto Uprising (1976): Students Against Apartheid Education
Police killed students on the first day and hundreds of people in the months of unrest that followed; the Afrikaans decree was dropped and resistance to apartheid revived.
Contemporary
Operation Entebbe 1976: The Israeli Hostage Rescue in Uganda
Israeli commandos freed about 100 hostages; three hostages, one Israeli officer, all the hijackers present and dozens of Ugandan soldiers were killed.
Contemporary
Viking 1 Mars Landing (1976): First Pictures From Mars
Viking 1 made the first fully successful landing on Mars and returned the first clear surface images, but its biology experiments found no convincing evidence of life.