File:1970s decade montage.jpg, Clockwise from top left: U.S. President Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...
doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office following the Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the Presidency of Richard Nixon, administration of President Richard Nixon. The scandal began in 1972 and ultimately led to Resignation of Richard Nixon, Nix ...
in 1974; The United States was still involved in the Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
in the early decade. The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
leaked information regarding the nation's involvement in the war. Political pressure led to America's withdrawal from the war in 1973, and the Fall of Saigon
The fall of Saigon, known in Vietnam as Reunification Day (), was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by North Vietnam on 30 April 1975. As part of the 1975 spring offensive, this decisive event led to the collapse of the So ...
in 1975 leading to evacuations
Evacuation or Evacuate may refer to:
* Casualty evacuation (CASEVAC), patient evacuation in combat situations
* Casualty movement, the procedure for moving a casualty from its initial location to an ambulance
* Emergency evacuation, removal of pers ...
of South Vietnamese that same year; the 1973 oil crisis
In October 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) announced that it was implementing a total oil embargo against countries that had supported Israel at any point during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which began after Eg ...
causes a financial crisis
A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with Bank run#Systemic banki ...
throughout the developed world; both the leaders of Israel and Egypt shake hands after the signing of the Camp David Accords
The Camp David Accords were a pair of political agreements signed by Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin on 17 September 1978, following twelve days of secret negotiations at Camp David, the country retre ...
in 1978; in 1971, the Pakistan Armed Forces
The Pakistan Armed Forces (; ) are the military forces of Pakistan. It is the world's sixth-largest military measured by active military personnel and consists of three uniformed services—the Army, Navy, and the Air Force, which are backe ...
commits the 1971 Bangladesh genocide
The Bangladesh genocide was the ethnic cleansing of Bengalis residing in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) during the Bangladesh Liberation War, perpetrated by the Pakistan Army and the Razakar (Pakistan), Razakars. It began on 25 March 1971, as ...
to curb independence movements in East Pakistan
East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...
, killing 300,000 to 3,000,000 people; this consequently leads to the Bangladesh Liberation War
The Bangladesh Liberation War (, ), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalism, Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which res ...
; the 1970 Bhola cyclone
The 1970 Bhola cyclone (also known as the Great Cyclone of 1970) was a catastrophic and extremely deadly tropical cyclone that struck East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) and India's West Bengal on 12 November 1970. It remains the deadliest t ...
kills an estimated 500,000 people in the densely populated Ganges Delta
The Ganges Delta (also known the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta, the Sundarbans Delta or the Bengal Delta) is a river delta predominantly covering the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent, consisting of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Be ...
region of East Pakistan
East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...
in November 1970, and became the deadliest natural disaster in 40 years; the Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Impe ...
of 1979 ousts Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (26 October 1919 – 27 July 1980) was the last List of monarchs of Iran, Shah of Iran, ruling from 1941 to 1979. He succeeded his father Reza Shah and ruled the Imperial State of Iran until he was overthrown by the ...
who is later replaced by an Islamic theocracy led by Ayatollah Khomeini
Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (17 May 1900 or 24 September 19023 June 1989) was an Iranian revolutionary, politician, political theorist, and religious leader. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the main leader of the Iranian ...
; the popularity of the disco
Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...
music genre and subculture peaks during the mid-to-late 1970s.
, 335px, thumb
rect 446 4 592 200 Fall of Saigon
The fall of Saigon, known in Vietnam as Reunification Day (), was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by North Vietnam on 30 April 1975. As part of the 1975 spring offensive, this decisive event led to the collapse of the So ...
rect 301 4 445 200 Pentagon Papers
The ''Pentagon Papers'', officially titled ''Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force'', is a United States Department of Defense history of the United States in the Vietnam War, United States' political and militar ...
rect 0 2 297 200 Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the Presidency of Richard Nixon, administration of President Richard Nixon. The scandal began in 1972 and ultimately led to Resignation of Richard Nixon, Nix ...
rect 390 202 611 424 Energy crisis of 1973
rect 309 426 600 621 Camp David Accords
The Camp David Accords were a pair of political agreements signed by Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin on 17 September 1978, following twelve days of secret negotiations at Camp David, the country retre ...
rect 0 427 152 621 Bhola cyclone
rect 154 300 305 486 Bangladesh Liberation War
The Bangladesh Liberation War (, ), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalism, Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which res ...
rect 0 203 184 311 Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Impe ...
rect 0 312 184 424 Iran hostage crisis
The Iran hostage crisis () began on November 4, 1979, when 66 Americans, including diplomats and other civilian personnel, were taken hostage at the Embassy of the United States in Tehran, with 52 of them being held until January 20, 1981. Th ...
rect 192 203 386 423 Disco
Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...
The 1970s (pronounced "nineteen-seventies"; commonly shortened to the "Seventies" or the "70s") was the decade that began on January 1, 1970, and ended on December 31, 1979.
In the 21st century, historians have increasingly portrayed the 1970s as a "pivot of change" in world history, focusing especially on the economic upheavals that followed the end of the
postwar economic boom. On a global scale, it was characterized by frequent coups, domestic conflicts and civil wars, and various political upheavals and armed conflicts which arose from or were related to
decolonization
Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby Imperialism, imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. The meanings and applications of the term are disputed. Some scholar ...
, and the global struggle between
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
, the
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact (WP), formally the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance (TFCMA), was a Collective security#Collective defense, collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Polish People's Republic, Poland, between the Sovi ...
, and the
Non-Aligned Movement
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 121 countries that Non-belligerent, are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. It was founded with the view to advancing interests of developing countries in the context of Cold W ...
. Many regions had periods of high-intensity conflict, notably
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
, the
Middle East
The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq.
The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
,
Latin America
Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
, and
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
.
In the Western world,
social progressive values that began in the
1960s
File:1960s montage.png, Clockwise from top left: U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War; the Beatles led the British Invasion of the U.S. music market; a half-a-million people participate in the Woodstock, 1969 Woodstock Festival; Neil Armstrong ...
, such as increasing political awareness and
economic liberty of women, continued to grow. In the United Kingdom, the
1979 election resulted in the victory of its
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
leader
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
, the first female British Prime Minister. Industrialized countries
experienced an economic recession due to
an oil crisis caused by oil embargoes by the
Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries
The Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC; ) is a multi-governmental organization headquartered in Kuwait which coordinates energy policies among oil-producing Arab states. OAPEC's primary objective is safeguarding the cooper ...
. The crisis saw the first instance of
stagflation
Stagflation is the combination of high inflation, stagnant economic growth, and elevated unemployment. The term ''stagflation'', a portmanteau of "stagnation" and "inflation," was popularized, and probably coined, by British politician Iain Mac ...
which began a political and
economic trend Economic trend may refer to:
*all the economic indicators that are the subject of economic forecasting
**see also: econometrics
*general trends in the economy, see: economic history
Economic history is the study of history using methodologica ...
of the replacement of
Keynesian
Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongly influences economic output an ...
economic theory with
neoliberal
Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pej ...
economic theory, with the first neoliberal government coming to power with the
1973 Chilean coup d'état
The 1973 Chilean coup d'état () was a military overthrow of the democratic socialist president of Chile Salvador Allende and his Popular Unity (Chile), Popular Unity coalition government. Allende, who has been described as the first Marxist ...
.
The 1970s was also an era of great technological and scientific advances; since the appearance of the first commercial microprocessor, the
Intel 4004
The Intel 4004 was part of the 4 chip MCS-4 micro computer set, released by the Intel, Intel Corporation in November 1971; the 4004 being part of the first commercially marketed microprocessor chipset, and the first in a long line of List of I ...
in 1971, the decade was characterised by a profound transformation of computing units – by then rudimentary, spacious machines – into the realm of portability and
home accessibility. There were also great advances in fields such as physics, which saw the consolidation of
quantum field theory
In theoretical physics, quantum field theory (QFT) is a theoretical framework that combines Field theory (physics), field theory and the principle of relativity with ideas behind quantum mechanics. QFT is used in particle physics to construct phy ...
at the end of the decade, mainly thanks to the confirmation of the existence of
quark
A quark () is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nucleus, atomic nuclei ...
s and the detection of the first
gauge boson
In particle physics, a gauge boson is a bosonic elementary particle that acts as the force carrier for elementary fermions. Elementary particles whose interactions are described by a gauge theory interact with each other by the exchange of gauge ...
s in addition to the
photon
A photon () is an elementary particle that is a quantum of the electromagnetic field, including electromagnetic radiation such as light and radio waves, and the force carrier for the electromagnetic force. Photons are massless particles that can ...
, the
Z boson
In particle physics, the W and Z bosons are vector bosons that are together known as the weak bosons or more generally as the intermediate vector bosons. These elementary particles mediate the weak interaction; the respective symbols are , , and ...
and the
gluon
A gluon ( ) is a type of Massless particle, massless elementary particle that mediates the strong interaction between quarks, acting as the exchange particle for the interaction. Gluons are massless vector bosons, thereby having a Spin (physi ...
, part of what was christened in 1975 as the
Standard Model
The Standard Model of particle physics is the Scientific theory, theory describing three of the four known fundamental forces (electromagnetism, electromagnetic, weak interaction, weak and strong interactions – excluding gravity) in the unive ...
.
In Asia, the People's Republic of China's international relations changed significantly following its recognition by the United Nations, the death of
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...
and the beginning of market liberalization by Mao's successors. Despite facing an oil crisis due to the
OPEC
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC ) is an organization enabling the co-operation of leading oil-producing and oil-dependent countries in order to collectively influence the global oil market and maximize Profit (eco ...
embargo, the economy of Japan witnessed a large boom in this period, overtaking the economy of West Germany to become the second-largest in the world. The United States withdrew its military forces from the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
. In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, which led to the
Soviet–Afghan War
The Soviet–Afghan War took place in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from December 1979 to February 1989. Marking the beginning of the 46-year-long Afghan conflict, it saw the Soviet Union and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic o ...
.
The 1970s saw an initial increase in violence in the Middle East as Egypt and Syria declared war on Israel, starting the
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was fought from 6 to 25 October 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states led by Egypt and S ...
, but in the late 1970s, the situation was fundamentally altered when Egypt signed the
Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty. Political tensions in Iran exploded with the
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Impe ...
in 1979, which overthrew the
Pahlavi dynasty
The Pahlavi dynasty () is an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian royal dynasty that was the Pahlavi Iran, last to rule Iran before the country's monarchy was abolished by the Iranian Revolution in 1979. It was founded in 1925 by Reza Shah, Reza S ...
and established an
Islamic republic
The term Islamic republic has been used in different ways. Some Muslim religious leaders have used it as the name for a form of Islamic theocratic government enforcing sharia, or laws compatible with sharia. The term has also been used for a s ...
under the leadership of
Ayatollah Khomeini
Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (17 May 1900 or 24 September 19023 June 1989) was an Iranian revolutionary, politician, political theorist, and religious leader. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the main leader of the Iranian ...
.
Africa saw further
decolonization
Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby Imperialism, imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. The meanings and applications of the term are disputed. Some scholar ...
in the decade, with
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...
and
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...
gaining their independence in 1975 from the
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire was a colonial empire that existed between 1415 and 1999. In conjunction with the Spanish Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It achieved a global scale, controlling vast portions of the Americas, Africa ...
after the
Carnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution (), code-named Operation Historic Turn (), also known as the 25 April (), was a military coup by military officers that overthrew the Estado Novo government on 25 April 1974 in Portugal. The coup produced major socia ...
in Portugal. Furthermore,
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
withdrew its claim over
Spanish Sahara
Spanish Sahara (; ), officially the Spanish Possessions in the Sahara from 1884 to 1958, then Province of the Sahara between 1958 and 1976, was the name used for the modern territory of Western Sahara when it was occupied and ruled by Spain bet ...
in 1976, marking the formal end of the
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...
. The continent was, however, plagued by endemic military coups, with the long-reigning
Emperor of Ethiopia
The emperor of Ethiopia (, "King of Kings"), also known as the Atse (, "emperor"), was the hereditary monarchy, hereditary ruler of the Ethiopian Empire, from at least the 13th century until the abolition of the monarchy in 1975. The emperor w ...
Haile Selassie
Haile Selassie I (born Tafari Makonnen or ''Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Lij, Lij'' Tafari; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles, Rege ...
being removed, civil wars and famine.
The economies of much of the
developing world
A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreeme ...
continued to make steady progress in the early 1970s because of the
Green Revolution
The Green Revolution, or the Third Agricultural Revolution, was a period during which technology transfer initiatives resulted in a significant increase in crop yields. These changes in agriculture initially emerged in Developed country , devel ...
. However, their economic growth was slowed by the oil crisis, although it boomed afterwards.
The 1970s saw the world population increase from 3.7 to 4.4 billion, with approximately 1.23 billion births and 475 million deaths occurring during the decade.
Politics and wars
Wars

The most notable wars and/or other conflicts of the decade include:
*The
Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
(1945–1991)
** The
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
came to a close in 1975 with the fall of Saigon and the unconditional surrender of South Vietnam on April 30, 1975. The following year, Vietnam was officially declared reunited.
**
Soviet–Afghan War
The Soviet–Afghan War took place in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from December 1979 to February 1989. Marking the beginning of the 46-year-long Afghan conflict, it saw the Soviet Union and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic o ...
(1979–1989) – Although taking place almost entirely throughout the 1980s, the war officially started on December 27, 1979.
**
Angolan Civil War
The Angolan Civil War () was a civil war in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. It was a power struggle between two for ...
(1975–2002) – resulting in intervention by multiple countries on the Marxist and anti-Marxist sides, with Cuba and Mozambique supporting the
Marxist
Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...
faction, and South Africa and
Zaire
Zaire, officially the Republic of Zaire, was the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1971 to 18 May 1997. Located in Central Africa, it was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa after Sudan and Algeria, and the 11th-la ...
supporting the anti-Marxists.
**
Cambodian Civil War
The Cambodian Civil War (, Romanization of Khmer#UNGEGN, UNGEGN: ) was a civil war in Cambodia fought between the Communist Party of Kampuchea (known as the Khmer Rouge, supported by North Vietnam and China) against the government of the Ki ...
(1967–1975) ends with the Khmer Rouge establishing
Democratic Kampuchea
Democratic Kampuchea was the official name of the Cambodian state from 1976 to 1979, under the government of Pol Pot and the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), commonly known as the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge's capture of the capital Phno ...
.
**
Ethiopian Civil War
The Ethiopian Civil War was a civil war in Ethiopia and present-day Eritrea, fought between the Ethiopian military junta known as the Derg and Ethiopian-Eritrean anti-government rebels from 12 September 1974 to 28 May 1991.
The Derg overthre ...
(1974–1991)
** The
Bangladesh Liberation War
The Bangladesh Liberation War (, ), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalism, Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which res ...
of 1971 in South Asia, engaging
East Pakistan
East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...
,
West Pakistan
West Pakistan was the western province of Pakistan between One Unit, 1955 and Legal Framework Order, 1970, 1970, covering the territory of present-day Pakistan. Its land borders were with Afghanistan, India and Iran, with a maritime border wit ...
, and India
**
Cambodian–Vietnamese War
The Cambodian–Vietnamese War was an armed conflict between Democratic Kampuchea, controlled by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge, and the Vietnam, Socialist Republic of Vietnam. It began in December 1978, with a Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia which to ...
(1978–1991)

* The
Portuguese Colonial War
The Portuguese Colonial War (), also known in Portugal as the Overseas War () or in the Portuguese Empire, former colonies as the War of Liberation (), and also known as the Angolan War of Independence, Angolan, Guinea-Bissau War of Independence ...
(1961–1974)
*
1971 Bangladesh genocide
The Bangladesh genocide was the ethnic cleansing of Bengalis residing in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) during the Bangladesh Liberation War, perpetrated by the Pakistan Army and the Razakar (Pakistan), Razakars. It began on 25 March 1971, as ...
*
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
*
Arab–Israeli conflict
The Arab–Israeli conflict is a geopolitical phenomenon involving military conflicts and a variety of disputes between Israel and many Arab world, Arab countries. It is largely rooted in the historically supportive stance of the Arab League ...
(Early 20th century–present)

**
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was fought from 6 to 25 October 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states led by Egypt and S ...
(1973) – the war was launched by Egypt and Syria against Israel in October 1973 to recover territories lost by the Arabs in the
1967 conflict. The Israelis were taken by surprise and suffered heavy losses before they rallied. In the end, they managed to repel the Egyptians (and a simultaneous attack by Syria in the Golan Heights) and crossed the Suez Canal into Egypt proper. In 1978, Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel at
Camp David
Camp David is a country retreat for the president of the United States. It lies in the wooded hills of Catoctin Mountain Park, in Frederick County, Maryland, near the towns of Thurmont, Maryland, Thurmont and Emmitsburg, Maryland, Emmitsburg, a ...
in the United States, ending outstanding disputes between the two countries. Sadat's actions would lead to his
assassination in 1981.
*
Turkish invasion of Cyprus
The Turkish invasion of Cyprus began on 20 July 1974 and progressed in two phases over the following month. Taking place upon a background of Cypriot intercommunal violence, intercommunal violence between Greek Cypriots, Greek and Turkish Cy ...
(1974)
*
Indonesian invasion of East Timor
The Indonesian invasion of East Timor, known in Indonesia as Operation Lotus (), began on 7 December 1975 when the Indonesian military (ABRI/TNI) invaded East Timor under the pretext of anti-colonialism and anti-communism to overthrow the Fre ...
(1975)
*
Indian emergency (1975–1977)
*
Lebanese Civil War
The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon.
The religious diversity of the ...
(1975–1990) – A civil war in the Middle East which at times also involved the PLO and Israel during the early 1980s.
*
Western Sahara War
The Western Sahara War (, , ) was an armed conflict between the Sahrawi indigenous Polisario Front and Morocco from 1975 to 1991 (and Mauritania from 1975 to 1979), being the most significant phase of the Western Sahara conflict. The confl ...
(1975–1991) – A regional war pinning the rebel
Polisario Front
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro (Spanish language, Spanish: ; ), better known by its acronym Polisario Front, is a Sahrawi nationalism, Sahrawi nationalist liberation movement seeking to end the occupatio ...
against Morocco and Mauritania.
*
Ugandan–Tanzanian War (1978–1979) – the war which was fought between Uganda and Tanzania was based on an
expansionist
Expansionism refers to states obtaining greater territory through military empire-building or colonialism.
In the classical age of conquest moral justification for territorial expansion at the direct expense of another established polity (who ...
agenda to annex territory from Tanzania. The war resulted in the overthrow of
Idi Amin
Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 30 May 192816 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 until Uganda–Tanzania War, his overthrow in 1979. He ruled as a Military dictatorship, ...
's regime.
* The
Ogaden War
The Ogaden War, also known as the Ethio-Somali War (, ), was a military conflict between Somali Democratic Republic, Somalia and derg, Ethiopia fought from July 1977 to March 1978 over control of the sovereignty of the Ogaden region. Somalia ...
(1977–1978) was another African conflict between Somalia and Ethiopia over control of the
Ogaden
Ogaden (pronounced and often spelled ''Ogadēn''; , ) is one of the historical names used for the modern Somali Region. It is also natively referred to as Soomaali Galbeed (). The region forms the eastern portion of Ethiopia and borders Somalia ...
region.
* The
Rhodesian Bush War
The Rhodesian Bush War, also known as the Rhodesian Civil War, Second as well as the Zimbabwe War of Independence, was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised country U.D.I. ...
(1964–1979)
International conflicts

The most notable International conflicts of the decade include:
* Major conflict between capitalist and communist forces in multiple countries, while attempts are made by the Soviet Union and the United States to lessen the chance for conflict, such as both countries endorsing nuclear nonproliferation.
* In June 1976, peaceful student protests in the
Soweto
Soweto () is a Township (South Africa), township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western T ...
township of South Africa by black students against the use of Afrikaans in schools led to the
Soweto uprising
The Soweto uprising, also known as the Soweto riots, was a series of demonstrations and protests led by black school children in South Africa during apartheid that began on the morning of 16 June 1976.
Students from various schools began to p ...
which killed more than 176 people, overwhelmingly by South Africa's
Security Police
Security police usually describes a law enforcement agency which focuses primarily on providing security and law enforcement services to particular areas or specific properties. They may be employed by governmental, public, or private institutio ...
.
* Rise of separatism in the province of
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
in Canada. In 1970, radical
Quebec nationalist
Quebec nationalism or Québécois nationalism is a feeling and a political doctrine that prioritizes cultural belonging to, the defence of the interests of, and the recognition of the political legitimacy of the Québécois nation. It has been ...
and
Marxist
Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...
militants of the ''
Front de libération du Québec
The (FLQ) was a Quebec separatist terrorist group which aimed to establish an independent and socialist Quebec. Founded sometime in the early 1960s, the FLQ conducted a number of attacks between 1963 and 1970,Reich, Walter. ''Origins of Terror ...
'' (FLQ) kidnapped the Quebec labour minister
Pierre Laporte
Pierre Laporte (; 25 February 1921 – 17 October 1970) was a Canadian lawyer, journalist and politician. He was deputy premier of the province of Quebec when he was kidnapped and murdered by members of the Front de libération du Québec (FL ...
and British Trade Commissioner
James Cross
James Richard Cross (29 September 1921 – 6 January 2021) was an Irish-born British diplomat who served in India, Malaysia and Canada. While posted in Canada, Cross was kidnapped by members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) duri ...
during the
October Crisis
The October Crisis () was a chain of political events in Canada that started in October 1970 when members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnapped the provincial Labour Minister Pierre Laporte and British diplomat James Cross f ...
, resulting in Laporte being killed, and the enactment of
martial law
Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...
in Canada under the
War Measures Act
The ''War Measures Act'' (; 5 George V, Chap. 2) was a statute of the Parliament of Canada that provided for the declaration of war, invasion, or insurrection, and the types of emergency measures that could thereby be taken. The Act was brough ...
, resulting in a campaign by the Canadian government which arrests suspected FLQ supporters. The election of the ''
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois (PQ; , ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishi ...
'' led by
René Lévesque
René Lévesque ( ; August 24, 1922 – November 1, 1987) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 23rd premier of Quebec from 1976 to 1985. He was the first Québécois political leader since Confederation to seek, ...
in the province of
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
in Canada, brings the first political party committed to Quebec independence into power in Quebec. Lévesque's government pursues an agenda to secede Quebec from Canada by democratic means and strengthen Francophone Québécois culture in the late 1970s, such as the controversial
Charter of the French Language
The ''Charter of the French Language'' (, ), also known as Bill 101 (, ), is a law in the Canadian province of Quebec defining French, the language of the majority of the population, as the official language of the provincial government. It is th ...
more commonly known in Quebec and Canada as "Bill 101".
*
Martial law
Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...
was declared in the Philippines on September 21, 1972, by
dictator
A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute Power (social and political), power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a polity. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to r ...
Ferdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...
.
* In Cambodia, the communist leader
Pol Pot
Pol Pot (born Saloth Sâr; 19 May 1925 – 15 April 1998) was a Cambodian politician, revolutionary, and dictator who ruled the communist state of Democratic Kampuchea from 1976 until Cambodian–Vietnamese War, his overthrow in 1979. During ...
led a revolution against the American-backed government of
Lon Nol
Marshal Lon Nol (, also ; 13 November 1913 – 17 November 1985) was a Cambodian military officer and politician who served as Prime Minister of Cambodia twice (1966–67; 1969–71), as well as serving repeatedly as defence minister and provi ...
. On April 17, 1975, Pot's forces captured
Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Cambodia, most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since 1865 and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its political, economic, industr ...
, the capital, two years after America had halted the bombings of their positions. His communist government, the
Khmer Rouge
The Khmer Rouge is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), and by extension to Democratic Kampuchea, which ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. The name was coined in the 1960s by Norodom Sihano ...
, forced people out of the cities to clear jungles and establish a radical, Marxist agrarian society. Buddhist priests and monks, along with anyone who spoke foreign languages, had any sort of education, or even wore glasses were tortured or killed. As many as 3 million people may have died. Vietnam
invaded the country at the start of 1979, overthrowing the Khmer Rouge and installing a
satellite government
A satellite state or dependent state is a country that is formally independent but under heavy political, economic, and military influence or control from another country. The term was coined by analogy to planetary objects orbiting a larger obj ...
. This provoked a brief, but furious
border war with China in February of that year.
* The
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Impe ...
of 1979 transformed Iran from an autocratic pro-Western monarchy under Shah
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (26 October 1919 – 27 July 1980) was the last List of monarchs of Iran, Shah of Iran, ruling from 1941 to 1979. He succeeded his father Reza Shah and ruled the Imperial State of Iran until he was overthrown by the ...
to a
theocratic
Theocracy is a form of autocracy or oligarchy in which one or more deities are recognized as supreme ruling authorities, giving divine guidance to human intermediaries, with executive and legislative power, who manage the government's daily a ...
Islamist government under the leadership of
Ayatollah
Ayatollah (, ; ; ) is an Title of honor, honorific title for high-ranking Twelver Shia clergy. It came into widespread usage in the 20th century.
Originally used as a title bestowed by popular/clerical acclaim for a small number of the most di ...
Ruhollah Khomeini
Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (17 May 1900 or 24 September 19023 June 1989) was an Iranian revolutionary, politician, political theorist, and religious leader. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the main leader of the Iranian ...
. Distrust between the revolutionaries and Western powers led to the
Iran hostage crisis
The Iran hostage crisis () began on November 4, 1979, when 66 Americans, including diplomats and other civilian personnel, were taken hostage at the Embassy of the United States in Tehran, with 52 of them being held until January 20, 1981. Th ...
on November 4, 1979, where 66 diplomats, mainly from the United States, were held captive for 444 days.
* Growing internal tensions take place in
Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
beginning with the
Croatian Spring
The Croatian Spring (), or Maspok, was a political conflict that took place from 1967 to 1971 in the Socialist Republic of Croatia, at the time part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. As one of six republics comprising Yugoslavi ...
movement in 1971 which demands greater decentralization of power to the constituent republics of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia's communist ruler
Joseph Broz Tito subdues the Croatian Spring movement and arrests its leaders, but does initiate major constitutional reform resulting in the
1974 Constitution which decentralized powers to the republics, gave them the official right to separate from Yugoslavia, and weakened the influence of Serbia (Yugoslavia's largest and most populous constituent republic) in the federation by granting significant powers to the Serbian autonomous provinces of Kosovo and
Vojvodina
Vojvodina ( ; sr-Cyrl, Војводина, ), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia, located in Central Europe. It lies withi ...
. In addition, the 1974 Constitution consolidated Tito's dictatorship by proclaiming him president-for-life. The 1974 Constitution would become resented by Serbs and began a gradual escalation of ethnic tensions.
Coups

The most prominent
coups d'état of the decade include:
* 1970 – Coup in Syria, led by
Hafez al-Assad
Hafez al-Assad (6 October 193010 June 2000) was a Syrian politician and military officer who was the president of Syria from 1971 until Death and state funeral of Hafez al-Assad, his death in 2000. He was previously the Prime Minister of Syria ...
.
* 1971 –
Military coup
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...
in Uganda led by
Idi Amin
Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 30 May 192816 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 until Uganda–Tanzania War, his overthrow in 1979. He ruled as a Military dictatorship, ...
.
* 1973 –
Coup d'état in Chile on September 11th, Salvador Allende was overthrown and killed in a military attack on the presidential palace. Augusto Pinochet takes power backed by the military junta.
* 1974 –
Military coup
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...
in Ethiopia led to the overthrowing of
Haile Selassie
Haile Selassie I (born Tafari Makonnen or ''Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Lij, Lij'' Tafari; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles, Rege ...
by the communist junta led by General
Aman Andom
Aman Mikael Andom (; ; 21 June 1924 – 23 November 1974) was an Ethiopian military officer and politician who was the first post-imperial acting head of state of Ethiopia. Aman was also the first Chairman of the Derg. He was appointed to this ...
and
Mengistu Haile Mariam
Mengistu Haile Mariam (, pronunciation: ; born 21 May 1937) is an Ethiopian former politician, revolutionary, and military officer who served as the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991. He was General Secretary of the Workers' Party o ...
, ending one of the world's longest-lasting monarchies in history.
* 1974 – (25 April)
Carnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution (), code-named Operation Historic Turn (), also known as the 25 April (), was a military coup by military officers that overthrew the Estado Novo government on 25 April 1974 in Portugal. The coup produced major socia ...
in Portugal started as a military coup organized by the Armed Forces Movement (Portuguese: Movimento das Forças Armadas, MFA) composed of military officers who opposed the Portuguese fascist regime, but the movement was soon coupled with an unanticipated and popular campaign of civil support. It would ultimately lead to the decolonization of all its colonies, but leave power vacuums that led to civil war in newly independent Lusophone African nations.
* 1975 –
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), also known by the honorific Bangabandhu, was a Bangladeshi politician, revolutionary, statesman and activist who was the founding president of Bangladesh. As the leader of Bangl ...
,
President of Bangladesh
President of Bangladesh (POB), officially the President of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is the head of state of Bangladesh and commander-in-chief of the Bangladesh Armed Forces.
The role of the president has changed three times since ...
, and almost his entire family was
assassinated
Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives.
Assassinations are orde ...
in the early hours of August 15, 1975, when a group of
Bangladesh Army
The Bangladesh Army () is the land warfare branch, and the largest component of the Bangladesh Armed Forces. The primary mission of the Army is to defend the land of Bangladesh from any external attack. Control of personnel and operations is ad ...
personnel went to his residence and killed him, during a coup d'état.
* 1976 –
Jorge Rafael Videla
Jorge Rafael Videla ( ; ; 2 August 1925 – 17 May 2013) was an Argentine military officer and the ''de facto'' President of Argentina from 1976 to 1981, during the National Reorganization Process. His rule, which was during the time of Operati ...
seizes control of Argentina in 1976 through a
coup sponsored by the Argentine military, establishing himself as a dictator of a
military junta
A military junta () is a system of government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''Junta (governing body), junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the Junta (Peninsular War), national and local junta organized by t ...
government in the country.
* 1977 –
Military coup
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...
in Pakistan. Political leaders including Zulfikar Ali Bhutto were arrested, and martial law was declared.
* 1979 – an Attempted coup in Iran, backed by the United States, to overthrow the
interim government
A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, a transitional government or provisional leadership, is a temporary government formed to manage a period of transition, often following state collapse, revolut ...
, which had come to power after the
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Impe ...
.
* 1979 – Coup in El Salvador, President General
Carlos Humberto Romero, was overthrown by junior ranked officers, who formed a Junta government, which lead to the beginning of a 12-year civil war.
Terrorist attacks
The most notable terrorist attacks of the decade include:
* The
Munich massacre takes place at the
1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...
in Munich, Germany, where Palestinians belonging to the terrorist group
Black September
Black September (), also known as the Jordanian Civil War, was an armed conflict between Jordan, led by Hussein of Jordan, King Hussein, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), led by chairman Yasser Arafat. The main phase of the fight ...
organization kidnapped and murdered eleven Israeli athletes.
* Rise in the use of terrorism by militant organizations across the world. Groups in Europe like the Red Brigades and the Baader-Meinhof Gang were responsible for a spate of bombings, kidnappings, and murders. Violence continued in Northern Ireland and the Middle East. Radical American groups existed as well, such as the Weather Underground and the Symbionese Liberation Army, but they never achieved the size or strength of their European counterparts.
*On September 6, 1970, the world witnessed the beginnings of modern rebellious fighting in what is today called as Dawson's Field hijackings, Skyjack Sunday. Palestinian terrorists hijacked four airliners and took over 300 people on board as hostage. The hostages were later released, but the planes were blown up.
Prominent political events
Worldwide
*
1973 oil crisis
In October 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) announced that it was implementing a total oil embargo against countries that had supported Israel at any point during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which began after Eg ...
and 1979 energy crisis
* The presence and rise of a significant number 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 Perón as the first woman President in Argentina in 1974 until being deposed in 1976, Elisabeth Domitien becomes the first woman Prime Minister of Central African Republic, Indira Gandhi continuing as Prime Minister of India until 1977, Lidia Gueiler Tejada becoming the interim President of Bolivia beginning from 1979 to 1980, Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo becoming the first woman Prime Minister of Portugal in 1979, and
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
becoming the first woman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1979.
Americas

* United States President
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...
resigned as president on August 9, 1974, while Impeachment process against Richard Nixon, facing charges for impeachment for the
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the Presidency of Richard Nixon, administration of President Richard Nixon. The scandal began in 1972 and ultimately led to Resignation of Richard Nixon, Nix ...
.
* Augusto Pinochet rose to power as ruler of Chile after 1973 Chilean coup d'état, 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 dictator of Chile until 1990.
* Argentine president Isabel Perón begins the Dirty War, where the military and security forces hunt down left-wing political dissidents as part of Operation Condor. She is overthrown in a 1976 Argentine coup d'état, military coup in 1976, and
Jorge Rafael Videla
Jorge Rafael Videla ( ; ; 2 August 1925 – 17 May 2013) was an Argentine military officer and the ''de facto'' President of Argentina from 1976 to 1981, during the National Reorganization Process. His rule, which was during the time of Operati ...
comes to power and continues the Dirty War until the military junta relinquished power in 1983.
* Suriname was granted independence from the Netherlands on November 25, 1975.
* In Guyana, the Rev. Jim Jones led several hundred people from his People's Temple in California to create and maintain a Utopian Marxist commune in the jungle named Jonestown. Amid allegations of corruption, mental, sexual, and physical abuse by Jones on his followers, and denying them the right to leave Jonestown, a Congressional committee and journalists visited Guyana to investigate in November 1978. The visitors (and several of those trying to leave Jonestown with them) were attacked and shot by Jones' guards at the airport while trying to depart Guyana together. Congressman Leo Ryan was among those who were shot to death. The demented Jones then ordered everyone in the commune to kill themselves. The people drank or were forced to drink, cyanide-laced fruit punch (Flavor Aid). A total of over 900 dead were found (approximately 1/3 of which were children), including Jones, who had shot himself. Multiple units of the United States military were organized, mobilized, and sent to Guyana to recover over 900 deceased Jonestown residents. After rejections from the Guyanese Government for the United States to bury the Jonestown dead in Guyana, US military personnel were then tasked to prepare and transport the human remains from Guyana for burial in the USA. The US General Accounting Office later detailed an approximate cost of $4.4 million (in taxpayer dollars) for Jonestown's clean-up and recovery operation expenses.
* The Somoza family, Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua is Nicaraguan Revolution, ousted in 1979 by the Sandinista National Liberation Front, leading to the Contras, Contra War in the 1980s.
* Greenland was granted Devolution, self-government within the Kingdom of Denmark on November 29, 1979.
Europe

*
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
and the Conservative party rose to power in the United Kingdom in 1979, initiating a
neoliberal
Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pej ...
economic policy of reducing government spending, weakening the power of trade unions, and promoting economic and trade liberalization.
* Francisco Franco died after 39 years in power. Juan Carlos I was crowned king of Spain and called for the Spanish transition to democracy, reintroduction of democracy. The dictatorship in Spain ended. The first general elections were held in 1977 and Adolfo Suárez became Prime minister of Spain after his Centrist Democratic Union won. The Socialist and Communist parties were legalized. The current Spanish Constitution was signed in 1978.
* 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 scarce. If East Germans had enough money to procure a television set, a telephone, or a Trabant automobile, they were placed on waiting lists which caused them to wait as much as a decade for the item in question.
* The Troubles in Northern Ireland continued, with an explosion of political violence erupting in the early 1970s. Notable attacks include the McGurk's Bar bombing, McGurk's Car bombing, the Bloody Sunday (1972), Bloody Sunday massacre, and the Dublin and Monaghan bombings.
* The Soviet Union under the leadership of Leonid Brezhnev, having the largest armed forces and the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world, pursued an agenda to lessen tensions with its rival superpower, the United States, for most of the seventies. That policy, known as détente, abruptly ended with the Soviet-Afghan war, Soviet invasion in Afghanistan at the end of 1979. While known as a "period of stagnation" in Soviet historiography, the Seventies are largely considered as a sort of a Golden age (metaphor), golden age of the USSR in terms of stability and relative well-being. Nevertheless, hidden inflation continued to increase for the second straight decade, and production consistently fell short of demand in agriculture and consumer goods manufacturing. By the end of the 1970s, signs of social and economic stagnation were becoming very pronounced.
* Enver Hoxha's rule in Albania was characterized in the 1970s by growing isolation, first from a very public schism with the Soviet Union the decade before, and then by a Sino-Albanian split, 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 the United States.
*In 1977 the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II was the international celebration marking the 25th anniversary of the accession of Elizabeth II to the thrones of seven countries.
* 1978 would become known as the "Year of Three Popes". In August, Paul VI, who had ruled since 1963, died. His successor was Cardinal Albino Luciano, who took the name Pope John Paul I, 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.
Asia
* On September 17, 1978, the
Camp David Accords
The Camp David Accords were a pair of political agreements signed by Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin on 17 September 1978, following twelve days of secret negotiations at Camp David, the country retre ...
were signed between Israel and Egypt. The Accords led directly to the 1979 Egypt–Israel peace treaty. They also resulted in Sadat and Begin sharing the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize.
* Major changes in the People's Republic of China. US president
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...
1972 visit by Richard Nixon to China, visited the country in 1972 following visits by Henry Kissinger in 1971, restoring relations between the two countries, although formal diplomatic ties were not established until 1979. In 1976,
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...
and Zhou Enlai both died, leading to the end of the Cultural Revolution and the beginning of a new era. After the brief rule of Mao's chosen successor Hua Guofeng, Deng Xiaoping emerged as China's paramount leader, and began to shift the country towards market economics and away from ideologically driven policies. In 1979, Deng Xiaoping State visit by Deng Xiaoping to the United States, visited the US.
* In 1971, the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek, then-President of the Republic of China (Taiwan), were United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758, expelled from the United Nations and replaced by the People's Republic of China. Chiang Kai-shek died in 1975, and in 1978 his son Chiang Ching-kuo became president, beginning a shift towards democratization in Taiwan.
* In Iraq, Saddam Hussein began to rise to power by helping to modernize the country. One major initiative was removing the Western monopoly on Petroleum, oil, which later during the high prices of
1973 oil crisis
In October 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) announced that it was implementing a total oil embargo against countries that had supported Israel at any point during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which began after Eg ...
would help Hussein's ambitious plans. On July 16, 1979, he assumed the President of Iraq, presidency cementing his rise to power. His presidency led to the breaking off of a Syrian-Iraqi unification, which had been sought under his predecessor Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr and would lead to the Iran–Iraq War starting in the 1980s.
* Japan's economic growth surpassed the rest of the world in the 1970s, unseating the United States as the world's foremost industrial power.
* On April 17, 1975, the
Khmer Rouge
The Khmer Rouge is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), and by extension to Democratic Kampuchea, which ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. The name was coined in the 1960s by Norodom Sihano ...
, led by
Pol Pot
Pol Pot (born Saloth Sâr; 19 May 1925 – 15 April 1998) was a Cambodian politician, revolutionary, and dictator who ruled the communist state of Democratic Kampuchea from 1976 until Cambodian–Vietnamese War, his overthrow in 1979. During ...
, took over Cambodia's capital
Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Cambodia, most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since 1865 and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its political, economic, industr ...
.
**From 1975 to 1979, the Khmer Rouge carried out the Cambodian genocide that killed nearly two million.
*On April 13, 1975, the Lebanese Civil War began.
*In 1978, Zia ul Haq came to power
*In 1979, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was hanged in jail
Africa
*
Idi Amin
Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 30 May 192816 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 until Uganda–Tanzania War, his overthrow in 1979. He ruled as a Military dictatorship, ...
, President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979, after rising to power in a coup became infamous for his brutal dictatorship in Uganda. Amin's regime persecuted opposition to his rule and pursued a Racism, racist agenda of removing Asians from Uganda (particularly demographics of India, Indians who arrived in Uganda during British colonial rule). Amin initiated the
Ugandan–Tanzanian War in 1978 in alliance with Libya based on an
expansionist
Expansionism refers to states obtaining greater territory through military empire-building or colonialism.
In the classical age of conquest moral justification for territorial expansion at the direct expense of another established polity (who ...
agenda to annex territory from Tanzania which resulted in Ugandan defeat and Amin's overthrow in 1979.
* South African activist Steve Biko died in 1977.
* Francisco Macías Nguema ruled Equatorial Guinea as a brutal dictator from 1969 until his overthrow and execution in 1979.
* Jean-Bédel Bokassa, who had ruled the Central African Republic since 1965, proclaimed himself Emperor Bokassa I and renamed his impoverished country the Central African Empire in 1977. He was overthrown two years later and went into exile.
Disasters
Natural disasters

* On January 5, 1970, the 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and 14,621 were killed and 26,783 were injured.
* On May 31, 1970, the 1970 Ancash earthquake caused a landslide that buried the town of Yungay, Peru, Yungay in Peru; more than 47,000 people were killed.
* The
1970 Bhola cyclone
The 1970 Bhola cyclone (also known as the Great Cyclone of 1970) was a catastrophic and extremely deadly tropical cyclone that struck East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) and India's West Bengal on 12 November 1970. It remains the deadliest t ...
, a 120 mph (193 km/h) tropical cyclone, hit the densely populated
Ganges Delta
The Ganges Delta (also known the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta, the Sundarbans Delta or the Bengal Delta) is a river delta predominantly covering the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent, consisting of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Be ...
region of
East Pakistan
East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...
(now Bangladesh) on November 12 and 13, 1970, killing an estimated 500,000 people. The storm remains to date the deadliest tropical cyclone in world history.
* On October 29, 1971, the 1971 Odisha cyclone in the Bay of Bengal, in the Indian state of Odisha, killed 10,000 people.
* June, 1972, Hurricane Agnes hit the east coast of the United States, resulting in 128 deaths and causing over $2.1 billion in damage.
* On April 3, 1974, the 1974 Super Outbreak occurred in the U.S. producing 148 tornadoes and killing a total of 330 people.
* On December 24, 1974, Cyclone Tracy devastated the Australian city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin.
* Bangladesh famine of 1974 — Official records claim a death toll of 26,000. However, various sources claim about 1,000,000.
* On August 8, 1975, the Banqiao Dam, in China's Henan, 1975 Banqiao Dam failure, failed after a freak typhoon; over 200,000 people perished.
* On February 4, 1976, a 1976 Guatemala earthquake, major earthquake in Guatemala and Honduras killed more than 22,000.
* On July 28, 1976, 1976 Tangshan earthquake, a 7.5 earthquake flattened Tangshan, China, killing 242,769 people and injuring 164,851.
* On August 17, 1976, a 1976 Moro Gulf earthquake, magnitude 8 earthquake struck the Moro Gulf near the island of Sulu in Mindanao, Philippines, causing a tsunami killing 5,000 to 8,000 people.
* Typhoon Tip, Super Typhoon Tip affected areas in the southwestern Pacific Ocean from October 4–19, 1979. Off the coast of Guam, Tip became the largest and most powerful tropical cyclone ever recorded, with a gale diameter of almost 1,400 miles, 190-mph winds, and a record intensity of 870 millibars.
Non-natural disasters
*On October 2, 1970, a plane carrying the Wichita State University 1970 Wichita State Shockers football team, football team Wichita State University football team plane crash, crashed into a mountain near Logan, Utah, killing 31 with 9 survivors.
* On November 14, 1970, Southern Airways Flight 932 carrying the entire Marshall (West Virginia) football team and boosters crashed into a mountainside near Ceredo, West Virginia, Ceredo, West Virginia, on approach to Tri-State Airport in heavy rain and fog. They were returning from a road game loss at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. There were no survivors.
* On July 30, 1971, All Nippon Airways Flight 58 collided with a Japanese Air Self-Defense Force, JASDF fighter plane, killing all 162 on board. The JASDF pilot survived.
* On October 13, 1972, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 from Uruguay to Chile crashed in the Andes mountains. Survivors suffered from freezing temperatures, exposure and starvation for 72 days until their rescue on December 23.
* On December 29, 1972, Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 crashed in the Florida Everglades while its crew was distracted. 101 people died in the accident while 75 survived.
* On January 22, 1973, an Royal Jordanian, Alia Boeing 707, chartered by Nigeria Airways, Kano air disaster, crashed upon landing at Nigeria's Kano Airport after one of its landing gear struts collapsed. 176 of the 202 people on board perished, leaving 26 survivors.
* On March 3, 1974, Turkish Airlines Flight 981 crashed in northern France after a cargo hatch blowout, killing all 346 people aboard.
* On April 4, 1975, the rear loading ramp on a United States Air Force, USAF Lockheed C-5 Galaxy 1975 Tan Son Nhut C-5 accident, blew open mid-flight, causing Uncontrolled decompression, explosive decompression that crippled the aircraft. 153 were killed in the incident while 175 survived.
* On November 10, 1975, the U.S. Great Lakes bulk freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald, SS ''Edmund Fitzgerald'' foundered on Lake Superior with the loss of all 29 crewmen.
* On September 10, 1976, in the 1976 Zagreb mid-air collision, Zagreb mid-air collision, a British Airways Hawker Siddeley Trident and an Adria Airways, Inex-Adria Aviopromet McDonnell Douglas DC-9, Douglas DC-9 collided near Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now Croatia), killing all 176 aboard both planes and another person on the ground.
* On March 27, 1977, two Boeing 747s (a KLM and a Pan American World Airways, Pan Am) collided on the runway in heavy fog at Tenerife North Airport, Los Rodeos Airport in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, killing 583 people – the Tenerife airport disaster, worst aviation disaster on record.
* On January 1, 1978, Air India Flight 855 crashed into the sea off the coast of India, killing all 213 aboard.
* On September 25, 1978, PSA Flight 182 collided with a private Cessna 172 over San Diego, California, and crashed into a local neighborhood. All 135 on the PSA aircraft, both pilots of the Cessna, and 7 people on the ground (144 total) were killed.
* On May 25, 1979, American Airlines Flight 191, outbound from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, lost an engine during take-off and crashed, killing all 271 on board and 2 others on the ground. It was and remains the deadliest single-plane crash on American soil.
* On November 28, 1979, Air New Zealand Flight 901 crashed on the flanks of Mount Erebus in Antarctica, killing all 257 people on board.
* On March 28, 1979, there was a Three Mile Island accident, partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island Unit 2 reactor in Pennsylvania, United States. It is the most significant accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant history.
Worldwide trends
Superpower tensions had cooled by the 1970s, with the bellicose US–Soviet confrontations of the 1950s–60s giving way to the policy of détente, which promoted the idea that the world's problems could be resolved at the negotiating table. Détente was partially a reaction against the policies of the previous 25 years, which had brought the world dangerously close to nuclear war on several occasions, and because the US was in a weakened position following the failure of the Vietnam War. As part of détente, the US also restored ties with the People's Republic of China, partially as a counterweight against Soviet expansionism.
The US–Soviet geopolitical rivalry nonetheless continued through the decade, although in a more indirect faction as the two superpowers jockeyed relentlessly for control of smaller countries. American and Soviet intelligence agencies gave funding, training, and material support to insurgent groups, governments, and armies across the globe, each seeking to gain a geopolitical advantage and install friendly governments. Coups, civil wars, and terrorism went on across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and also in Europe where a spate of Soviet-backed Marxist terrorist groups were active throughout the decade. Over half the world's population in the 1970s lived under a repressive dictatorship. In 1979, a new wrinkle appeared in the form of Islamic fundamentalism, as the Shi'a theocracy of Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini
Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (17 May 1900 or 24 September 19023 June 1989) was an Iranian revolutionary, politician, political theorist, and religious leader. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the main leader of the Iranian ...
overthrew the Shah of Iran and declared itself hostile to both Western democracy and godless communism.
People were deeply influenced by the rapid pace of societal change and the aspiration for a more egalitarian society in cultures that were long colonized and have an even longer history of hierarchical social structure.
The
Green Revolution
The Green Revolution, or the Third Agricultural Revolution, was a period during which technology transfer initiatives resulted in a significant increase in crop yields. These changes in agriculture initially emerged in Developed country , devel ...
of the late 1960s brought about self-sufficiency in food in many developing economies. At the same time an increasing number of people began to seek urban prosperity over agrarian life. This consequently saw the duality of transition of diverse interaction across social communities amid increasing information blockade across social class.
Another common global ethos of the 1970s world included increasingly flexible and varied gender roles for women in industrialized societies. More women could enter the workforce. However, the gender role of men remained as that of a breadwinner. The period also saw the socioeconomic effect of an ever-increasing number of women entering the non-agrarian economic workforce. The Iranian revolution also affected global attitudes toward and among those of the Muslim faith toward the end of the 1970s.
The global experience of the cultural transition of the 1970s and an experience of a global zeitgeist revealed the interdependence of economies since World War II, in a world increasingly polarized between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Assassinations and attempts
Prominent assassinations, targeted killings, and assassination attempts include:
Economy
The 1970s were perhaps the worst decade of most industrialized countries' economic performance since the Great Depression.
Although there was no severe economic depression as witnessed in the 1930s, economic growth rates were considerably lower than previous decades. As a result, the 1970s adversely distinguished itself from the prosperous postwar period between 1945 and 1973. The oil shocks Arab Oil Embargo, of 1973 and 1979 energy crisis, 1979 added to the existing ailments and conjured high inflation throughout much of the world for the rest of the decade. U.S. manufacturing industries began to decline as a result, with the United States running its last trade surplus () in 1975. In contrast, Japan and West Germany experienced economic booms and started overtaking the U.S. as the world's leading manufacturers. In 1970, Japan overtook West Germany to become the world's second-largest economy. Japan would rank as the world's second-largest economy until 1994 when the European Economic Area (18 countries under a single market) came into effect.
In the US, the average annual inflation rate from 1900 to 1970 was approximately 2.5%. From 1970 to 1979, however, the average rate was 7.06%, and topped out at 13.29% in December 1979. This period is also known for
stagflation
Stagflation is the combination of high inflation, stagnant economic growth, and elevated unemployment. The term ''stagflation'', a portmanteau of "stagnation" and "inflation," was popularized, and probably coined, by British politician Iain Mac ...
, a phenomenon in which inflation and unemployment steadily increased. It led to double-digit interest rates that rose to unprecedented levels (above 12% per year). The prime rate hit 21.5 in December 1980, the highest in history.
A rising cost of housing was reflected in the average price of a new home in the U.S. The average price of a new home in the U.S. was $23,450 in 1970 up to $68,700 by 1980. By the time of 1980, when U.S. President Jimmy Carter was running for 1980 United States presidential election, re-election against Ronald Reagan, the Misery index (economics), misery index (the sum of the unemployment rate and the inflation rate) had reached an all-time high of 21.98%. The economic problems of the 1970s would result in a sluggish cynicism replacing the optimistic attitudes of the 1950s and 1960s and a distrust of government and technology. Faith in government was at an all-time low in the aftermath of Vietnam and Watergate, as exemplified by the low voter turnout in the 1976 United States presidential election.
There was also the 1973–74 stock market crash.
Great Britain also experienced considerable economic turmoil during the decade as outdated industries proved unable to compete with Japanese and German wares. Labor strikes happened with such frequency as to almost paralyze the country's infrastructure. Following the Winter of Discontent, Margaret Thatcher was elected prime minister in 1979 with the purpose of implementing extreme economic reforms.
In Eastern Europe, Soviet-style command economies began showing signs of stagnation, in which successes were persistently dogged by setbacks. The oil shock increased East European, particularly Soviet, exports, but a growing inability to increase agricultural output caused growing concern to the governments of the COMECON block, and a growing dependence on food imported from democratic nations.
On the other hand, export-driven economic development in Asia, especially by the Four Asian Tigers (Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan), resulted in rapid economic transformation and industrialization. Their abundance of cheap labor, combined with educational and other policy reforms, set the foundation for development in the region during the 1970s and beyond.
Oil crisis
Economically, the 1970s were marked by the 1970s Energy Crisis, energy crisis which peaked in 1973 and 1979 (see
1973 oil crisis
In October 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) announced that it was implementing a total oil embargo against countries that had supported Israel at any point during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which began after Eg ...
and 1979 oil crisis). After the first oil shock in 1973, gasoline was rationed in many countries. Europe particularly depended on the Middle East for oil; the United States was also affected even though it had its own oil reserves. Many European countries introduced car-free days and weekends. In the United States, customers with a license plate ending in an odd number were only allowed to buy gasoline on odd-numbered days, while even-numbered plate-holders could only purchase gasoline on even-numbered days. The realization that oil reserves were not endless and technological development was not sustainable development, sustainable without potentially harming the environment ended the belief in limitless progress that had existed since the 19th century. As a result, environmentalism, ecological awareness rose substantially, which had a major effect on the economy.
Science and technology
Science
The 1970s witnessed an explosion in the understanding of solid-state physics, driven by the development of the integrated circuit, and the laser. Stephen Hawking developed his theories of black holes and the boundary-condition of the universe at this period with his theory called Hawking radiation. The biological sciences greatly advanced, with molecular biology, bacteriology, virology, and genetics achieving their modern forms in this decade. Biodiversity became a cause of major concern as habitat destruction, and Stephen Jay Gould's theory of punctuated equilibrium revolutionized evolutionary thought.
Space exploration
As the 1960s ended, the United States had made two successful crewed lunar landings. Many Americans lost interest afterward, feeling that since the country had accomplished President John F. Kennedy's goal of landing on the Moon by the end of the 1960s, there was no need for further missions. There was also a growing sentiment that the billions of dollars spent on the space program should be put to other uses. The Moon landings continued through 1972, but the near loss of the Apollo 13 mission in April 1970 served to further anti-NASA feelings. Plans for missions up to Apollo 20 were canceled, and the remaining Apollo and Saturn hardware was used for the Skylab space station program in 1973–1974, and for the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (ASTP), which was carried out in July 1975. Many of the ambitious projects NASA had planned for the 1970s were canceled amid heavy budget cutbacks, and instead it would devote most of the decade to the development of the Space Shuttle. ASTP was the last crewed American space flight for the next five years. The year 1979 witnessed the spectacular reentry of Skylab over Australia. NASA had planned for a Shuttle mission to the space station, but the shuttles were not ready to fly until 1981, too late to save it.
Meanwhile, the Soviets, having failed in their attempt at crewed lunar landings, canceled the program in 1972. By then, however, they had already begun Salyut programme, Salyut, the world's first space station program, which began in 1971. This would have problems of its own, especially the tragic loss of the Soyuz 11 crew in July 1971 and the near-loss of the Soyuz 18a crew during launch in April 1975. It eventually proved a success, with missions as long as six months being conducted by the end of the decade.
In terms of uncrewed missions, a variety of lunar and planetary probes were launched by the US and Soviet programs during the decade. The most successful of these include the Soviet Lunokhod programme, Lunokhod program, a series of robotic lunar missions which included the first uncrewed sample return mission, sample return from another world, and the American Voyager program, Voyagers, which took advantage of a rare alignment of the outer planets to visit all of them except Pluto by the end of the 1980s.
China entered the space race in 1970 with the launching of its first satellite, but technological backwardness and limited funds would prevent the country from becoming a significant force in space exploration. Japan launched a satellite for the first time in 1972. The European Space Agency was founded during the decade as well.
File:Apollo 17 Cernan on moon.jpg, Apollo 17 Astronaut Gene Cernan becomes the last man on the Moon, December 13, 1972
File:Apollo-Soyuz-Test-Program-artist-rendering.jpg, An artist impression of an American Apollo spacecraft and Soviet Soyuz spacecraft docking, a propaganda portrait for the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project mission
File:Skylab and Earth Limb - GPN-2000-001055.jpg, America's first space station Skylab in orbit February 8, 1974
File:Mars Viking 11h016.png, ''Viking 1'', the first of two spacecraft sent to Mars, takes this picture of the landing site in Chryse Planitia (1978)
File:Great Red Spot From Voyager 1.jpg, ''Voyager 1'' passing by Jupiter's Great Red Spot February 25, 1979
Biology
* The second generation of Rhytidectomy, face lifts were first attempted in the 1970s, popularizing the procedure for millions.
* The first MRI image was published in 1973.
* César Milstein and Georges Köhler reported their discovery of how to use hybridoma cells to isolate monoclonal antibodies, effectively beginning the history of monoclonal antibody use in science.
* Carl Woese and George E. Fox classified archaea as a new, separate domain of life.
*Lucy (Australopithecus), "Lucy", a fossilized hominid of the species ''Australopithecus afarensis'', was discovered in the Afar Depression, Afar region of Ethiopia by Donald Johanson in 1974, providing evidence for bipedalism as an early occurrence in human evolution.
* After successful vaccination campaigns throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the WHO certified the eradication of smallpox in December 1979 after the last smallpox case in 1977.
* The first organisms Genetic engineering, genetically engineered were bacteria in 1973 and then mice in 1974.
*1977 The first complete DNA genome to be sequenced is that of bacteriophage φX174.
*In 1978, Louise Brown became the first child to be born via in vitro fertilisation, or IVF.
Social science
Social science intersected with hard science in the works in natural language processing by Terry Winograd (1973) and the establishment of the first cognitive sciences department in the world at MIT in 1979. The fields of generative linguistics and cognitive psychology went through a renewed vigor with symbolic modeling of semantic knowledge while the final devastation of the long-standing tradition of behaviorism came about through the severe criticism of B. F. Skinner's work in 1971 by the cognitive scientist Noam Chomsky.
Technology

Concorde makes the world's first commercial passenger-carrying supersonic flight.
Electronics and communications
The birth of modern computing was in the 1970s, which saw the development of:
*
Intel 4004
The Intel 4004 was part of the 4 chip MCS-4 micro computer set, released by the Intel, Intel Corporation in November 1971; the 4004 being part of the first commercially marketed microprocessor chipset, and the first in a long line of List of I ...
, the world's first general microprocessor
* the C (programming language), C programming language
* rudimentary personal computers, with the launch of the Datapoint 2200
* pocket calculators
* the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home video game console
* the Sony Walkman, built in 1978 by Japanese audio-division engineer Nobutoshi Kihara
* consumer video games, after the release of ''Computer Space''
* the earliest floppy disks, invented at IBM, which were 8 inches wide and long, commercially available by 1971
* email, with the first transmission in 1971
* electronic paper, developed by Nick Sheridon at Xerox's PARC (company), Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)
* the Xerox Alto of 1973, the first computer to use the desktop metaphor and mouse-driven graphical user interface (GUI)
The 1970s were also the start of:
* fiber optics, which transformed the communications industry
* microwave ovens, which became commercially available
* Betamax and VHS Videocassette recorder, VCRs which became commercially available and especially VHS would become widely used for home entertainment in the 1980s and 1990s.
* the first voicemail system, known as the Speech Filing System (SFS), invented by Stephen J. Boies in 1973
* e-commerce, invented in 1979 by Michael Aldrich
* LaserDisc, DiscoVision in 1978, the first commercial optical disc storage medium
* positron emission tomography, invented in 1972 by Edward J. Hoffman and fellow scientist Michael Phelps
* Mobile phone, cell phones, with the first call transmitted in 1973, Martin Cooper (inventor), Martin Cooper of Motorola
* car phone services, first available in Finland in 1971 in form of the zero-generation ARP (Autoradiopuhelin, or Car Radiophone) service
* Apple Computer, Apple Computer Company, founded in 1976 and incorporated the following year by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak
File:Apple II Plus, Museum of the Moving Image.jpg, The Apple I and Apple II Plus, II Plus (pictured), invented by Steve Wozniak, helped spur the History of personal computers, microcomputer revolution at the time.
File:HP 35 Calculator.jpg, The first scientific hand-held calculator (HP-35) is introduced.
File:Post FeTAp 611-2.jpg, Fernsprechtischapparat (FeTAp) 611-2 Telephone
File:Wiki 8-inch floppy disk.png, 8-inch floppy disk
File:N1500 v2.jpg, A Philips N1500 video cassette recorder, with wooden cabinet.
File:Atari-2600-Light-Sixer-FL.jpg, Atari 2600, launched in 1977.
File:Original Sony Walkman TPS-L2.JPG, Sony Walkman, the original TPS-L2 model.
File:Yamaha CS-80 (1977) 8-voices dual-layered analog polyphonic synthesizer, with 22 preset sounds & 6 user patches - VINTAGE SYNTH @ YAMAHA BOOTH - 2015 NAMM Show.jpg, 1970s analogue synthesizer Yamaha CS-80.
Rail
British Rail introduced high-speed trains on InterCity (British Rail), InterCity services. The trains consisted of British Rail Class 43 (HST), British Rail Class 43 diesel-electric locomotives at either end with British Rail Mark 3 carriages. The trains were built in the United Kingdom by British Rail Engineering Limited. The high speed trains ran at speeding up journeys between towns and cities and is still known as the ''InterCity 125''.
Amtrak was formed in the United States in 1971, assuming responsibility for inter-city passenger operations throughout the country. In 1976, Conrail was formed to take over the assets of six bankrupt freight railroads in the northeastern US.
Automobiles

The 1970s was an era of fuel price increases, rising insurance rates, safety concerns, and emissions controls. The
1973 oil crisis
In October 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) announced that it was implementing a total oil embargo against countries that had supported Israel at any point during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which began after Eg ...
caused a move towards smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles. Attempts were made to produce electric cars, but they were largely unsuccessful. In the United States, imported cars became a significant factor for the first time, and several domestic-built subcompact models entered the market. American-made cars such as the "quirky" AMC Gremlin, the jelly bean shaped AMC Pacer, and Pontiac Firebird's powerful Trans Am "sum up" the decade. Muscle cars and Convertible (car), convertible models faded from favor during the early-1970s. It was believed that the 1976 Cadillac Eldorado would be the last American-built convertible; ending the open body style that once dominated the auto industry.

Cars in the U.S. from the early 1970s are noted more for their power than their styling, but they even lost their power by ''Malaise era'' of the late-1970s.
Styling on American cars became progressively more boxy and rectilinear during the 1970s, with coupes being the most popular body style. Wood paneling and shag carpets dominated the interiors. Many automobiles began to lose their character and looked the same across brands and automakers, as well as featuring "luxury" enhancements such as vinyl roofs and opera windows.
Only a few had "real personalities" such as the AMC Gremlin, which was America's first modern subcompact, and the AMC Pacer.
"These two cars embody a sense of artful desperation that made them stand out from the crowd and epitomize at once the best and worst of the seventies."
Automobiles in the U.S. reached the largest sizes they would ever attain, but by 1977, General Motors managed to Downsize (automobile), downsize its full-size models to more manageable dimensions. Ford Motor Company, Ford followed suit two years later, with Chrysler offering new small front-wheel-drive models, but was suffering from a worsening financial situation caused by various factors. By 1979, the company was near bankruptcy, and under its new president Lee Iacocca (who had been fired from Ford the year before), asked for a government bailout. American Motors beat out the U.S. Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three to subcompact sized model (the AMC Gremlin, Gremlin) in 1970, but its fortunes declined throughout the decade, forcing it into a partnership with the French automaker Renault in 1979.

European car design underwent major changes during the 1970s due to the need for performance with high fuel efficiency—designs such as the Volkswagen Golf and Passat, BMW 3, 5, and 7 series, and Mercedes-Benz S-Class appeared at the latter half of the decade. Ford Europe, specifically Ford Germany, also eclipsed the profits of its American parent company. The designs of Giorgetto Giugiaro became dominant, along with those of Marcello Gandini in Italy. The 1970s also saw the decline and practical failure of the British car industry—a combination of militant strikes and poor quality control effectively halted development at British Leyland, owner of all other British car companies during the 1970s.

The Japanese automobile industry flourished during the 1970s, compared to other major auto markets. Japanese vehicles became internationally renowned for their affordability, reliability, and fuel-efficiency, which was very important to many customers after the oil crisis of 1973. Japanese car manufacturing focused on computerized robotic manufacturing techniques and lean manufacturing, contributing to high-efficiency and low production costs. The Honda Civic was introduced in 1973, and sold well due to its high fuel-efficiency. By 1975 Toyota overtook Volkswagen as the top-selling imported automobile brand in the U.S., with over a million cars sold per year by this point.
[[Toyota Today Magazine – 60 Years of Toyota in America https://www.toyotatoday.com/news/60-years-toyota-in-america.htm ]] Other popular compact cars included the Toyota Corolla and the Datsun Sunny, in addition to other cars from those companies and others such as Subaru, Mitsubishi, and Mazda.
Society
Role of women in society

The role of women in society was profoundly altered with growing feminism across the world and with the presence and rise of a significant number of women as heads of state outside monarchies and heads of government in a number of countries across the world during the 1970s, many being the first women to hold such positions. Non-monarch women heads of state and heads of government in this period included Isabel Perón as the first woman President in Argentina and the first woman non-monarch head of state in the Western hemisphere in 1974 until being deposed in 1976, Elisabeth Domitien becomes the first woman Prime Minister of the Central African Republic, Indira Gandhi continuing as Prime Minister of India until 1977 (and taking office again in 1980), Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Prime minister of Sri Lanka (Former Ceylon) and first female head of government in the world, re-elected in 1970, Prime Minister Golda Meir of Israel and acting chairman Soong Ching-ling of the People's Republic of China continuing their leadership from the sixties, Lidia Gueiler Tejada becoming the interim President of Bolivia beginning from 1979 to 1980, Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo becoming the first woman Prime Minister of Portugal in 1979, and
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
becoming the first woman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1979. Both Indira Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher would remain important political figures in the following decade in the 1980s.
Pope Paul VI recognized the popularity of Catholic Church, Catholic feminists, but ultimately held to tradition when it came to leaving bishops, priests, and deacons a male-only position.
Social movements
Anti-war protests

The Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War, opposition to the War in Vietnam that began in the 1960s grew exponentially during the early 1970s. One of the best-known anti-war demonstrations was the Kent State shootings. In 1970, university students were protesting the war and the draft. Riots ensued during the weekend and the National Guard was called in to maintain the peace. However, by 4 May 1970, tensions arose again, and as the crowd grew larger, the National Guard started shooting. Four students were killed and nine were injured. This event caused disbelief and shock throughout the country and became a staple of anti-Vietnam demonstrations.
Environmentalism
The 1970s started a mainstream affirmation of the environmentalism, environmental issues early activists from the 1960s, such as Rachel Carson and Murray Bookchin, had warned of. The Apollo 11 mission, which had occurred at the end of the previous decade, had transmitted back concrete images of the Earth as an integrated, life-supporting system and shaped a public willingness to preserve nature. On April 22, 1970, the United States celebrated its first Earth Day, in which over two thousand colleges and universities and roughly ten thousand primary and secondary schools participated.
Sexual revolution
The 1960s counterculture movement had rapidly undone many existing social taboos, and divorce, extramarital sex, and homosexuality were increasingly accepted in the Western world. The event of legalized abortion and over-the-counter birth control pills also played a major factor. Western Europe was in some ways more progressive on sexual liberation than the United States, as nudity in film and on TV had been gradually accepted there from the mid-1960s, and many European countries during this time began allowing women to go topless in public places. Nudist culture was also popular during the decade, especially in Germany and Scandinavia. Child erotica found a niche market, but would eventually be banned under child pornography laws in the 1980s to 1990s.
The market for adult entertainment in the 1970s was large, and driven in part by the sizable baby boomer population, and the 1972 movie ''Behind the Green Door'', an X-rated feature, became one of the top-grossing films of the year. ''Playboy Magazine'' appeared increasingly dull and old-fashioned next to new, more explicit sex-themed magazines such as ''Penthouse Magazine'' and ''Hustler Magazine''.
By the end of the decade, there was an increasing backlash against libertine sexual attitudes, and the event of the AIDS epidemic helped bring about an end to the Sexual Revolution. Adult movie theaters, which had exploded in numbers during the 1970s and were widely seen as a symptom of urban decay in the US, declined as pornographic movies would largely shift to VHS tapes during the succeeding decade.
Crime and urban decay
Crime rates in the US had been low from the 1940s until the mid-1960s, but began to escalate after 1965 due to a complex of social, economic, and demographic factors. By the 1970s, crime and blighted urban areas were a serious cause of concern, New York City being particularly affected. In 1972, the US Supreme Court ruled capital punishment unconstitutional, then reversed the ruling only four years later.
Feminism
The Second-Wave Feminist Movement in the United States, which had begun in the 1960s, carried over to the 1970s, and took a prominent role within society. The fiftieth anniversary of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (which legalized female suffrage) in 1970 was commemorated by the Women's Strike for Equality and other protests.
1971 saw Erin Pizzey establish the world's first domestic violence shelter in Chiswick, London and Pizzey and her colleagues opened further facilities throughout the next few years. This work inspired similar networks of safe houses for female victims of abuse in other countries, with the first shelter in continental Europe opening in Amsterdam in 1974.
With the anthology ''Sisterhood is Powerful'' and other works, such as ''Sexual Politics'', being published at the start of the decade, feminism started to reach a larger audience than ever before. In addition, the Supreme Court of the United States, Supreme Court's 1973 decision of ''Roe v. Wade'', which constitutionalized the right to an abortion, brought the women's rights movement into the national political spotlight.
Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Betty Ford, Shirley Chisholm, Bella Abzug, Robin Morgan, Kate Millett and Elizabeth Holtzman, among many others, led the movement for women's equality.
Even musically, the women's movement had its shining moment. Australian-American singer Helen Reddy, recorded the song ''I Am Woman'', which became an anthem for the women's liberation movement. ''I Am Woman'' reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and even won Helen her one and only Grammy Award.
Another movement to arise was the 1970s Goddess movement, which took place to combat patriarchal ideas of religion.
Most efforts of the movement, especially aims at social equality and repeal of the remaining oppressive, sexist laws, were successful. Doors of opportunity were more numerous and much further open than before as women gained unheard of success in business, politics, education, science, the law, and even homemaker, the home. Although most aims of the movement were successful, however, there were some significant failures, most notably the failure to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution with only three more states needed to ratify it (efforts to ratify ERA in the unratified states continues to this day and twenty-two states have adopted state ERAs). Also, the Gender pay gap, wage gap failed to close, but it did become smaller.
The second wave feminist movement in the United States largely ended in 1982 with the failure of the Equal Rights Amendment, and with new conservative leadership in Washington, D.C.. American women created a brief, but powerful, Third-wave feminism, third-wave in the early 1990s which addressed sexual harassment (inspired by the Anita Hill–Clarence Thomas Senate Judiciary Committee hearings of 1991). The results of the movement included a new awareness of such issues among women, and unprecedented numbers of women elected to public office, Year of the Woman, particularly the United States Senate.
Civil rights
The Civil rights movement, Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s began to fracture in the 1970s, as social groups began defining themselves more by their differences than by their universalities. The Black nationalism, Black Nationalist movement grew out of frustrations with the "non-violent" strategies of earlier Civil Rights Activists. With the April 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and June 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, many Black people were compelled to reject ideas of negotiation and instead embrace isolation. The feminist movement also splintered from a larger push for Civil Rights in the 1970s. The seventies were seen as the "woman's turn", though many feminists incorporated civil rights ideals into their movement. A feminist who had inherited the leadership position of the civil rights movement from her husband, Coretta Scott King, as leader of the black movement, called for an end to all discrimination, helping and encouraging the Woman's Liberation movement, and other movements as well. At the National Women's Conference in 1977 a minority women's resolution, promoted by King and others, passed to ensure racial equality in the movement's goals. Similarly, the gay movement made a huge step forward in the 1970s with the election of political figures such as Harvey Milk to public office and the advocating of anti-gay discrimination legislation passed and not passed during the decade. Many celebrities, including Freddie Mercury and Andy Warhol, also Coming out, came out during this decade, bringing gay culture further into the limelight.
Youth suffrage
The Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified on July 1, 1971, lowering the voting age for all federal and state elections from 21 years to 18 years. The primary impetus for this change was the fact that young men were being drafted to fight in the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
before they were old enough to vote.
Popular culture
File:Atari-2600-Wood-4Sw-Set.png, The First generation of video game consoles, first and second generation of video game consoles, second generations of video game consoles like the Magnavox Odyssey and Atari 2600 (pictured) were hits in the 1970s.
File:1976 Ford Gran Torino (Starsky and Hutch) 5.7.jpg, The famous TV series like ''Starsky and Hutch'' (pictured), ''Hawaii Five-O (1968 TV series), Hawaii Five-O'', ''The Streets of San Francisco'', ''The Six Million Dollar Man'', ''Charlie's Angels'', ''Wonder Woman (TV series), Wonder Woman'', ''Fawlty Towers'', ''Sanford and Son'', and ''Columbo'' were popular in the 1970s.
File:Philco-Ford Orange Retro TV (1970s).jpg, ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1970 TV series), Sabrina the Teenage Witch'', ''The Pink Panther Show,'' ''Schoolhouse Rock!'', ''The Addams Family (1973 TV series), The Addams Family'', ''Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids'', ''Hong Kong Phooey,'' ''Star Trek: The Animated Series, Star Trek'', ''Jabberjaw'', and ''Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels'' were all popular cartoons of the 1970s.
File:Earth Wind and Fire.jpg, The disco
Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...
genre was very popular in the decade. Earth, Wind & Fire, one of the most commercially successful disco bands of the era pictured here.
File:Bob Marley sckech Por Daniel Alvarado Silvera.jpg, Bob Marley helped popularize reggae, reggae music and the Rastafari cultural movement of the 1970s.
File:Brady Bunch full cast 1973.JPG, Family comedies like ''The Brady Bunch'', ''Happy Days'', ''All in the Family,'' and ''The Jeffersons'' gained notoriety, popularizing slang like "groovy".
File:1973 Volkswagen Super Beetle (9777174106).jpg, The Volkswagen Beetle and Toyota Corolla line of cars were popular in the 1970s, making the List of best-selling automobiles, world's best-selling automobiles at the time.
File:Signed Pong Cabinet.jpg, ''Pong'', created by Atari Inc. in 1972, is one of the earliest arcade video games and was the first electronic sports video game. Other games like ''Breakout (video game), Breakout'', ''Galaxian'', ''Asteroids (video game), Asteroids'' and ''Space Invaders'' also helped define the decade in video game culture, gaming culture.
File:Olimpiai Stadion, az olimpia megnyitóünnepsége. Fortepan 73767.jpg, Four Olympic Games were held in the 1970s, 1972 Winter Olympics, Sapporo and 1972 Summer Olympics, Munich in 1972, 1976 Winter Olympics, Innsbruck and 1976 Summer Olympics, Montreal in 1976 (all during the Cold War, and prompting significant events like the Munich massacre in 1972 and the 1976 Olympic boycott, African-led boycott in 1976).
File:Jaws (franchise) logo.png, New Hollywood films like ''Jaws (film), Jaws'', ''Star Wars (film), Star Wars, The Godfather, The Exorcist,'' ''Grease (film), Grease,'' and ''Rocky'' as well as ''Superman (1978 film), Superman'', ''Saturday Night Fever'', ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,'' and ''Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory'' were all extremely popular during the 1970s and decades following.
File:Disco ball4.jpg, Disco balls and roller skating trends were popular and widely used in nightclubs and roller rinks in the 1970s. Songs like Bee Gees, Bee Gee's ''Stayin' Alive'' and ABBA's ''Dancing Queen'' were played during the decade.
Music
During the early 1970s, popular music continued to be dominated by musicians who had achieved fame during the 1950s and the 1960s such as the Rolling Stones, The Who, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty, Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead, and Eric Clapton. In addition, many newcomer rock groups such as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin appeared. The Beatles disbanded in 1970, but each member of the band immediately released a highly successful solo album, and Paul McCartney especially would remain extremely popular throughout the decade. Singer-songwriters such as Elton John, James Taylor and Jackson Browne also came into vogue during the early 1970s.
The 1970s saw the rapid commercialization of rock music, and by mid-decade there were a spate of bands derisively dubbed "corporate rock" due to the notion that they had been created by record labels to produce simplistic, radio-friendly songs that offered clichés rather than meaningful lyrics. Such bands included The Doobie Brothers, Bread (band), Bread, Styx (band), Styx, Kansas (band), Kansas, and REO Speedwagon.
Funk, an offshoot of soul music with a greater emphasis on beats, and influences from rhythm and blues, jazz, and psychedelic rock, was also very popular. The mid-1970s also saw the rise of
disco
Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...
music, which dominated during the last half of the decade with bands like the Bee Gees, Chic (band), Chic, ABBA, Village People, Boney M, Donna Summer, KC and the Sunshine Band, and others. In response to this, rock music became increasingly hard-edged, with early metal artists like Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple. Minimalism also emerged, led by composers such as Philip Glass, Steve Reich and Michael Nyman. This was a break from the intellectual serial music in the tradition of Arnold Schoenberg, Schoenberg, which lasted from the early 1900s to the 1960s.
The 1970s also saw artists from Motown, Motown records become popular across the globe. Artists like the The Jackson 5, Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye dominated the record charts across the world and had a significant influence on pop culture, including breaking down racial barriers.

Classical and experimental music influenced both art rock and progressive rock genres with bands such as Pink Floyd, Yes (band), Yes, Todd Rundgren's Utopia, Supertramp, Rush (band), Rush, Genesis (band), Genesis, King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Jethro Tull (band), Jethro Tull, The Moody Blues and Soft Machine. Hard rock and Heavy metal music, Heavy metal also emerged among British bands Led Zeppelin, Queen (band), Queen, The Who, Black Sabbath, UFO (band), UFO, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep (band), Uriah Heep, and Judas Priest.
Australian band AC/DC also found its hard-rock origins in the early 1970s and its breakthrough in 1979's ''Highway to Hell'', while popular American rock bands included Aerosmith, Lynyrd Skynyrd and shock rockers Alice Cooper (band), Alice Cooper, Blue Öyster Cult, and Kiss (band), Kiss, and guitar-oriented Ted Nugent and Van Halen. In Europe, there was a surge of popularity in the early decade for glam rock.
After a successful return to live performing in the late 60s with his Elvis (1968 TV program), TV special, Elvis Presley regained his popularity through Las Vegas, Vegas performance engagements and concert tours throughout the United States until his death in 1977, which helped him acquire a new generation of fans. His 1973 televised concert, ''Aloha from Hawaii Via Satellite'', aired in over 40 countries in Europe and Asia, as well as the United States, making it one of the most popular concert events of the decade.
The second half of the decade saw the rise of punk rock, when a spate of fresh, young rock groups playing stripped-down hard rock came to prominence at a time when most of the artists associated with the 1960s to early 1970s were in creative decline. Punk bands included The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Ramones, Talking Heads, and more.

The highest-selling album of the decade was Pink Floyd's ''The Dark Side of the Moon'' (1973), along with Eagles (band), Eagles' ''Hotel California (Eagles album), Hotel California'' (1976) and Fleetwood Mac's ''Rumours (album), Rumours'' (1977). ''Dark Side of the Moon'' remained on the Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200 albums chart for 741 weeks. Electronic instrumental progressive rock was particularly significant in continental Europe, allowing bands like Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, Can (band), Can, and Faust (band), Faust to circumvent the language barrier. Their synthesiser-heavy krautrock, along with the work of Brian Eno (for a time the keyboard player with Roxy Music), would be a major influence on subsequent synthrock.
[Unterberger, 2002, pp. 1330–1.] The mid-1970s saw the rise of electronic art music musicians such as Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis, and Isao Tomita, Tomita, who with Brian Eno were a significant influence of the development of new-age music. Japanese band Yellow Magic Orchestra helped to pioneer synthpop, with their Yellow Magic Orchestra (album), self-titled album (in 1978 in music, 1978) setting a template with less minimalism and with a strong emphasis on melody, and drawing from a wider range of influences than had been employed by Kraftwerk. Yellow Magic Orchestra, YMO also introduced the microprocessor-based Roland MC-8 Microcomposer, Roland MC-8 sequencer and TR-808 rhythm machine to popular music.
In the first half of the 1970s, many jazz musicians from the Miles Davis school achieved cross-over success through jazz fusion, jazz-rock fusion with bands like Weather Report, Return to Forever, The Headhunters and The Mahavishnu Orchestra who also influenced this genre and many others. In Germany, Manfred Eicher started the ECM (record label), ECM label, which quickly made a name for "chamber jazz". Towards the end of the decade, Jamaican reggae music, already popular in the Caribbean and Africa since the early 1970s, became very popular in the U.S. and in Europe, mostly because of reggae superstar and legend Bob Marley. The mid-1970s saw the reemergence of acoustic jazz with the return of artists like Dexter Gordon to the US music scene, who, along with a number of other artists, such as trumpet innovators like Don Ellis and Woody Shaw, who were among the last of the decade's traditionally-oriented acoustic jazz musicians to be signed to major record labels, to receive critical and widespread commercial recognition and multiple Grammy nominations.

The late 1970s also saw the beginning of hip hop music with disc jockeys like DJ Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaataa taking loops from funk and soul records and playing them repeatedly at block parties and dance clubs. At the end of the 1970s, popular songs like ''Rapper's Delight'' by Sugarhill Gang gave hip hop a wider audience. Hip hop was also influenced by the song ''The Revolution Will Not Be Televised'' by Gil Scott-Heron.
Country music also continued to increase in popularity in the 1970s. Between 1977 and 1979, it became more mainstream, particularly with the outlaw country, outlaw movement, led by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. The 70s also saw the rise of a country music subgenre, southern rock, led by the Allman Brothers Band. Other artists; such as Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn, Don Williams, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, Ronnie Milsap, Crystal Gayle, and Barbara Mandrell; all scored hits throughout the 70s which reached both country and pop charts. The genre also saw its golden age of vocal duet, duos and vocal group, groups in this decade; with Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn, George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Jim Ed Brown and Helen Cornelius, the Bellamy Brothers, the Oak Ridge Boys, the Statler Brothers, Dave & Sugar, and The Kendalls. The genre also became more involved in Hollywood (film industry), Hollywood toward the end of the decade, with country-themed action films such as ''Smokey and the Bandit'' and ''Every Which Way But Loose (film), Every Which Way But Loose'', a trend that continued into the early 80s with ''Urban Cowboy'' and ''Bronco Billy''.
A major event in music in the early 1970s was the deaths of popular rock stars Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison, all at the age of 27. Two of popular music's most successful artists from other eras died within eight weeks of each other in 1977. Elvis Presley, the best-selling singer of all time, died on August 16, 1977. Presley's funeral was held at Graceland, on Thursday, August 18, 1977. Bing Crosby, who sold about 50 million records, died on October 14, 1977. His single, White Christmas (song), White Christmas, remains the best-selling single of all time, confirmed by the Guinness Records.
In addition to the deaths in the 1970s, breakups of bands and duos; such as the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Everly Brothers, and others; occurred over the course of the decade.
Statistically, Led Zeppelin and Elton John were the most successful musical acts of the 1970s, both having sold more than 300 million records since 1969.
During the 1970s, Japan had the second largest music market in the world. J-pop#1970s: Development of "new music", Popular music included Kayōkyoku#1970s–1980s: Idol kayō era, kayōkyoku, Japanese idol#1960–1980: Post-war era and idol beginnings, idols, New music (Japanese genre), new music, Japanese rock#1970s to 1980s: Diversification, rock and Enka#1960s–1970s: Commercial success, enka. Musical artists and bands included Momoe Yamaguchi, Saori Minami, the Candies (group), Candies, Pink Lady (duo), Pink Lady, Hiromi Go, Hideki Saijo, Yumi Matsutoya, Yuming, Saki Kubota, Judy Ongg and Sachiko Kobayashi.

Argentine rock became the most popular musical genre in Argentina among youngsters, and became famous throughout
Latin America
Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
. Legendary Argentine rockstar Charly García formed his first band, Sui Generis (Folk rock, Folk Rock), which released Argentine rock staples such as :es:Rasguña las piedras, ''Rasguña las piedras'' (''Scratch the Stones'') and :es:Canción para mi muerte, ''Canción para mi muerte'' (''Song for My Death''). In 1978, Charly García formed the first Latin American Supergroup (music), supergroup Serú Girán (Progressive rock, Progressive Rock), which released some of the greatest rock anthems in Latin America, such as '':es:Nena (Eiti Leda), Eiti Leda'' and '':es:Seminare, Seminare.''

Luis Alberto Spinetta achieved national acclaim with Almendra (band), Almendra, perhaps the first successful progressive rock band in Latin America, their greatest hit was '':es:Muchacha (Ojos de papel), Muchacha (Ojos de papel).'' Later in 1973, Pescado Rabioso (Spinetta's second band) launched ''Artaud (album), Artaud,'' for many the magnus opus of Argentine rock.
Other relevant Argentine musicians and bands of the 1970s are Vox Dei (band), Vox Dei, Pappo, Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota.
Film

Oscar winners of the decade were ''Patton (film), Patton'' (1970), ''The French Connection (film), The French Connection'' (1971), ''The Godfather'' (1972), ''The Sting'' (1973), ''The Godfather Part II'' (1974), ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' (1975), ''Rocky'' (1976), ''Annie Hall'' (1977), ''The Deer Hunter'' (1978), and ''Kramer vs. Kramer'' (1979).
The top ten highest-grossing films of the decade are (in order from highest to lowest grossing): ''Star Wars (film), Star Wars'', ''Jaws (film), Jaws'', ''Grease (film), Grease'', ''The Exorcist (film), The Exorcist'', ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', ''Superman (1978 film), Superman'', ''The Godfather'', ''Saturday Night Fever'', ''Rocky'', and ''Jaws 2''. Two of these movies came out on the same day: June 16, 1978.
In 1970s European cinema, the failure of the Prague Spring brought about nostalgic motion pictures such as István Szabó's ''Szerelmesfilm'' (1970). German New Wave and Rainer Fassbinder's existential movies characterized film-making in Germany. The movies of the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman reached a new level of expression in motion pictures like ''Cries and Whispers'' (1973).
''Airport (1970 film), Airport'' was released in 1970, spawning the Disaster film, air disaster film genre. Throughout the decade, the film spawned three sequels: ''Airport 1975, Airport '77, and The Concorde... Airport '79''. The genre also inspired a spoof film (''Airplane!'') along with its two sequels in the early 1980s. A slew of other air disaster films followed suit throughout the 1980s and well into the 1990s, primarily in made-for-TV movies.
Car chase movies also became a popular film genre of the 1970s with such films as ''Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry'' in 1974, and perhaps the genre's most popular film ''Smokey and the Bandit'' in 1977.
Asian cinema of the 1970s catered to the rising middle class fantasies and struggles. In the Bollywood cinema of India, this was epitomized by the movies of Bollywood superhero Amitabh Bachchan. Another Asian touchstone beginning in the early 1970s was Hong Kong martial arts film which sparked a greater interest in Chinese martial arts around the world. Martial arts film reached the peak of its popularity largely in part due to its greatest icon, Bruce Lee.
During the 1970s, Hollywood continued the New Hollywood movement of the late-1960s with young filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, as well as films like ''Apocalypse Now'', ''The Godfather'', ''Star Wars (film), Star Wars'', ''Taxi Driver'', ''Jaws (film), Jaws'', and ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind''. Top-grossing ''Jaws'' (1975) ushered in the blockbuster (entertainment), blockbuster era of filmmaking, though it was eclipsed two years later by the science-fiction film ''Star Wars'' (1977). ''Saturday Night Fever'' (1977) single-handedly touched off disco mania in the U.S. ''The Godfather'' (1972) was also one of the decade's greatest successes and its first follow-up, ''The Godfather Part II'' (1974) was also successful for a sequel.
''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' flopped in its 1975 debut, only to reappear as a more-popular midnight show later in the decade. Still in limited release decades after its premiere, it is the longest-running theatrical release in film history.
''The Exorcist'' (1973) was a box office success for the horror genre, inspiring many other so-called "devil (Satan)" films like ''The Omen'' and both of their own sequels. The release of the movie followed a general mood of paranoia on satanic themes in the United States; also the counterculture of the 1970s saw an increasing interest in occultism.
''All That Jazz (film), All That Jazz'' (1979) gained high critical praise, winning four Oscars and several other awards. It was an inductee of the 2001 National Film Registry list.
The Golden Age of Porn continued its reign throughout the 1970s, with one of its most popular films of the decade being ''Debbie Does Dallas'' in 1978.
Television
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, colour channels were now available; three stations had begun broadcasting in colour between 1967 and 1969. However, many viewers continued to watch black-and-white television sets for most of the decade, which meant for example that televised snooker (in which the colour of balls is important) did not reach the heights of its popularity until the 1980s.
Notable dramas included ''Play for Today'' and ''Pennies from Heaven (TV series), Pennies from Heaven''. In police dramas, there was a move towards increasing realism; popular shows included ''Dixon of Dock Green'', ''Z-Cars'', ''Softly, Softly (television series), Softly, Softly'', and ''The Sweeney''.
The science fiction show ''Doctor Who'' reached its peak.
1970s UK television featured a mix of traditional more modern comedies and sitcoms. ''Fawlty Towers'', ''Morecambe and Wise'', ''The Benny Hill Show'', ''Are You Being Served?'' and ''Dad's Army'' had their origins in the variety show and radio comedy of the first half of the century. Many popular British situation comedy, situation comedies (sit-coms) were gentle, unchallenging comedies of middle-class life; typical examples were ''Terry and June'' and ''Sykes (TV series), Sykes''. However, the middle-class settings of ''The Good Life (1975 TV series), The Good Life'' and ''The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin'' contrasted with their anti-establishment theme of people rejecting traditional social norms. A harsher side of society was shown by comedy series like ''Porridge (1974 TV series), Porridge'' and ''Rising Damp'', while sitcoms such as ''Mind Your Language'', ''Love Thy Neighbour (1972 TV series), Love Thy Neighbour'' and ''Till Death Us Do Part'' reflected social unease brought about by post-war immigration. Spike Milligan's ''Q (TV series), Q'' and the still-popular ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' both used surreal comedy, originating from the 1950s ''The Goon Show''.
During the 1970s, the original animated television series ''Roobarb'' and ''Noah and Nelly in... SkylArk''.
The television information retrieval service Teletext was initially introduced when the BBC Ceefax system went live on 23 September 1974.
In the late 1970s, BBC2's unveiled a new identity, a twin-striped "2", which was the first electronically generated symbol and scrolled on and off the screen.
United States

As the 1970s began, the Big Three TV networks were rapidly re-engineering their lineups, noting that existing programs were not attracting the youth audience. Most existing programs still operated on paradigms established in the 1950s, and some shows had literally been on the air since the dawn of TV broadcasting in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Shows that had low ratings or insufficient youth appeal were cancelled as networks scrambled to attract the large baby boomer audience.
To reflect the new social trends, television changed dramatically with more urban and edgy settings, and replaced the popular rural/country wholesome look of the 1950s and 1960s, seen as outmoded and unable to connect with young, educated urban audiences. This particular trend was known as the rural purge. Television was transformed by what became termed as "social consciousness" programming, such as ''All in the Family'' and ''Soap (TV series), Soap'', which broke down television barriers. Many advertising trends of the 1970s also reflected this growing social consciousness trend, such as with Coca-Cola's "Give the World a Coke" and Mcdonalds' "You Deserve a Break" campaigns.
The women's movement ushered in a slew of programming featuring strong, independent females as central characters. Most notable was ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'', which spawned the successful spin-offs ''Rhoda'' and ''Phyllis (TV series), Phyllis'', and also resulted in Mary Tyler Moore becoming the first female to head a television production company of her own, MTM Enterprises, which churned out groundbreaking programming in the late 1970s throughout the 1990s. Women were also established portraying action characters in programs like ''Police Woman (TV series), Police Woman'', ''Wonder Woman (TV series), Wonder Woman'', ''The Bionic Woman'', and others.
Minority-centric television programming also featured prominently during the 1970s. Shows featuring African-Americans as main characters, such as ''Sanford and Son'', ''Maude (TV series), Maude'', ''The Jeffersons'', ''Good Times'', ''Roots (1977 miniseries), Roots'' and ''What's Happening!!'' broke down barriers and became very popular. In addition, ''Soul Train'', the brainchild of Don Cornelius, premiered in 1971 as the African-American counterpart to ''American Bandstand'', giving a forum for Soul music, soul, funk, jazz, Rhythm and blues, R&B,
disco
Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...
, and future rap and Hip hop music, hip hop artists to gain exposure to American audiences, consumers, music lovers, enthusiasts, and those keen on learning new dance moves.
The television western (genre), western, which had been very popular in the 1950s and 1960s, all but died out during the 1970s, with ''Bonanza'', ''The Virginian (TV series), The Virginian'', and ''Gunsmoke'' ending their runs. Replacing westerns were police and detective shows, a trend that would last through the 1980s.
Television still had its medical shows of the 1970s, however, ''Emergency!'' was the first popular medical drama ever to feature both the paramedic program as well as the hospital emergency department, which also encouraged future people in the United States to develop their own paramedic program or hospital emergency department, and acted as an inspiration for many individuals. ''Marcus Welby, M.D.'' and ''Medical Center (TV series), Medical Center'' were other long-running medical dramas popular during the 1970s.
1950s nostalgia and pop culture became a theme in prime time sitcoms with the Garry Marshall-produced ''Happy Days'' and its two Spin-off (media), spin-offs ''Laverne & Shirley'' and ''Mork & Mindy''.
By the mid-to-late 1970s, jiggle television—programs oriented toward sexual gratification and farce comedy and situations—became popular. Such programs included ''Charlie's Angels'', ''The Love Boat'', and perhaps the genre's most popular, ''Three's Company''.
Soap operas expanded their audiences beyond housewives with the rise of ''All My Children'', ''As the World Turns'', ''Somerset'', and ''The Young and the Restless''; with many extending their episodes from 30 minutes to an hour. The soap ''Another World (TV series), Another World'' began a 16-month experiment in March 1979 by screening 90-minute episodes, the only serial to do so.
Game shows such as ''Match Game'', ''The Hollywood Squares'', ''Family Feud'', and many others, saw their golden ages on Daytime television in the United States, daytime television. The height of ''Match Game''s popularity occurred between 1973 and 1977, before it was overtaken by ''Family Feud'' in 1978. Television's current longest-running game show, ''The Price Is Right (U.S. game show), The Price Is Right'', began its run hosted by Bob Barker in 1972.
Another influential genre was the television newscast, which built on its initial widespread success in the 1960s.
The science fiction phenomenon of the late 1970s that began with ''Star Wars (film), Star Wars'' went to television with shows such as ''Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series), Battlestar Galactica''.
Variety shows, a staple of TV programming since the beginning, were also re-engineered to appeal to young viewers. Old standbys such as ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' and ''The Red Skelton Show'' were canceled and replaced by hipper programming like ''Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour'' and ''Donny & Marie (1976 TV series), Donny & Marie''. ''The Carol Burnett Show'' also ended its historic 11-year run in 1978. In the end, rising production costs largely did in variety shows. The exception was ''Saturday Night Live'' (then known as ''NBC's Saturday Night''), which was created by Lorne Michaels and premiered in 1975, with an original cast of Laraine Newman, John Belushi, Jane Curtin, Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, Garrett Morris, and Chevy Chase. The country music variety show ''Hee Haw'', which premiered in 1969, was the only series to survive the "rural purge" and continued throughout the 70s, 80s, and into the 1990s before ending its run, although the series went into syndication after its first three seasons.
''The Dukes of Hazzard'' began its six-year run in 1979. The series was inspired by the car-chase film genre, particularly the 1975 film ''Moonrunners'', on which the series was based, with similar characters and scenes; and both were directed by Gy Waldron and voice-over narrated by country music artist Waylon Jennings.
=Pay television
=
As cable television became more affordable and accessible by U.S. consumers, the race to bring the silver screen to the small screen commenced with the launch of pay television services showing premium content.
HBO launched on November 8, 1972, becoming the nation's first pay-television channel. On September 30, 1975, HBO became the first television network to continuously deliver signals via satellite when it showed the Thrilla in Manila boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.
Star Channel launched its service offerings nationally in 1973 through the delivery of movies on videotapes for cable providers to broadcast. This proved problematic since the videotapes were often riddled with technical difficulties. Star Channel eventually was linked up to satellite in January 1978. Shortly after, Warner Communications acquired the channel and relaunched it on December 1, 1979, in its current form as The Movie Channel.
Media giant Viacom (2005–present), Viacom launched their premium service, Showtime (TV network), Showtime, nationally on July 1, 1976, after a brief, wildly successful test launch on their cable system in Dublin, California.
Australia
In 1974, Australian TV tested color transmissions (full-time color came in 1975). Popular shows during the decade include, ''Young Talent Time'', ''Number 96 (TV series), Number 96'', ''The Aunty Jack Show'', ''Class of '74'', ''The Sullivans'', ''The Don Lane Show'', ''Cop Shop'', ''The Naked Vicar Show'', ''The Paul Hogan Show'' and ''Countdown (Australian TV series), Countdown''.
South Africa
South Africa saw nationwide television service for the first time on January 5, 1976, although limited-view, locally available television began on May 5, 1975.
Japan
The original anime television series ''Vicky the Viking'', ''Heidi, Girl of the Alps, Heidi'', ''Maya the Honey Bee, Maya the Bee'' and ''Doraemon (1979 TV series), Doraemon'' in both 1974, 1975 and 1979, respectively.
Computer and video games

* Popular and notable video games of the 1970s include: ''Space Invaders'', ''Asteroids (video game), Asteroids'', ''Pong'', and ''Breakout (video game), Breakout''.
* Golden age of video arcade games
* ''Gun Fight'' was the first video game to contain a microprocessor.
* ''The Oregon Trail (1971 video game), The Oregon Trail'' was the first publicly available educational video game made available for widespread use in schools on December 3, 1971. The game is a cult classic and is still used today, in a wide variety of formats, through emulators and on smartphones.
* The first commercially available video game console, entitled Magnavox Odyssey, was released in September 1972, created by Ralph H. Baer.
*1974 in video gaming, 1974: Both ''Maze War'' (on the Imlac PDS-1 at the NASA Ames Research Center in California) and ''Spasim'' (on PLATO) appeared, pioneering examples of early multiplayer 3D first-person shooters.
* In 1976, Mattel introduced the first handheld electronic game with the release of Mattel Auto Race.
* Then, in 1976, William Crowther (computer programmer), William Crowther wrote the first modern text adventure game, Colossal Cave Adventure.
* Apple, Inc. ushered in the modern personal computing age with its June 1, 1977, launch of the first mass-produced personal computer, the Apple II. Although many business-focused personal workstations were available to corporations years earlier, the Apple II has the distinction of being the first to produce personal computers specifically targeted to home users, beating the Commodore PET and Atari 400 to the market by five months. The original retail price of the computer was US$1298 (with 4 KB of RAM) and US$2638 (with the maximum 48 KB of RAM).
* The Atari 2600 was released in October 1977 and was a huge commercial success. It was challenged by the Magnavox Odyssey² and Intellivision.
* Fairchild Channel F from 1976 becomes the first programmable ROM cartridge-based video game console.
* The Microvision was the first hand-held game console using interchangeable cartridges. It was released by the Milton Bradley Company in November 1979.
Sports
The
1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...
in Munich, Germany saw swimmer Mark Spitz set seven World Records and won a record seven gold medals. The 1976 Summer Olympics were held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Brazil won the FIFA World Cup 1970, 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, West Germany won the FIFA World Cup 1974, 1974 FIFA World Cup in West Germany, and Argentina won the FIFA World Cup 1978, 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina. The 1970 FIFA World Cup was the first world cup to be televised in color.
On April 9, 1975, Asia's first professional basketball league, the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) had its first game at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City, Philippines.
United States

The Oakland Athletics three-peated at the World Series in 1972 World Series, 1972–1974 World Series, 1974.
The Cincinnati Reds go to the World Series in 1970 World Series, 1970, 1972 World Series, 1972, 1975 World Series, 1975, and 1976 World Series, 1976, led by the Big Red Machine winning two out of four.
The New York Yankees won the World Series in 1977 World Series, 1977 and 1978 World Series, 1978 after losing in 1976 World Series, 1976.
The Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburgh Steelers dominated the decade in the NFL. Steelers were led by Terry Bradshaw and Chuck Noll, and the Cowboys were led by Roger Staubach and Tom Landry, while the Miami Dolphins became the only team in NFL history to go "all the way," winning the Super Bowl with an 1972 Miami Dolphins season, undefeated record—a feat that remains unmatched to this day.
The Philadelphia Flyers won the Stanley Cup in 1974 Stanley Cup Finals, 1974 and 1975 Stanley Cup Finals, 1975, a team best remembered as "The Broad Street Bullies".
Disc sports (Frisbee)
As numbers of young people became alienated from social norms, they resisted and looked for alternatives. They would form what would become known as the counterculture. The forms of escape and resistance would manifest in many ways including social activism, alternative lifestyles, experimental living through foods, dress, music and alternative recreational activities, including that of throwing a frisbee. What started with a few players like Victor Malafronte, Z Weyand and Ken Westerfield experimenting with new ways of throwing and catching a frisbee, later would become known as playing Flying disc freestyle, freestyle. Organized disc sports, in the 1970s, began with promotional efforts from Wham-O and Irwin Toy (Canada), a few tournaments and professionals using frisbee show tours to perform at universities, fairs and sporting events. Disc sports such as freestyle, double disc court, Guts (flying disc game), guts, Ultimate (sport), disc ultimate and disc golf became this sports first events.
Literature

Fiction in the early 1970s brought a return to old-fashioned storytelling, especially with Erich Segal's ''Love Story (1970 film), Love Story''. The seventies also saw the decline of previously well-respected writers, such as Saul Bellow and Peter De Vries, who both released poorly received novels at the start of the decade. Racism remained a key literary subject. John Updike emerged as a major literary figure. Reflections on the 1960s experience also found roots in the literature of the decade through the works of Joyce Carol Oates and Wright Morris. With the rising cost of hard-cover books and the increasing readership of genre fiction, the paperback became a popular medium. Criminal non-fiction also became a popular topic. Irreverence and satire, typified in Kurt Vonnegut's ''Breakfast of Champions'', were common literary elements. The horror genre also emerged, and by the late 1970s Stephen King had become one of the most popular genre novelists. The postmodern author Thomas Pynchon published his most famous work, ''Gravity's Rainbow'', in 1973.
In non-fiction, several books related to Nixon and the
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the Presidency of Richard Nixon, administration of President Richard Nixon. The scandal began in 1972 and ultimately led to Resignation of Richard Nixon, Nix ...
topped the best-selling lists. 1977 brought many high-profile biographical works of literary figures, such as those of Virginia Woolf, Agatha Christie, and J. R. R. Tolkien.
The List of fake memoirs and journals, fake memoir ''Go Ask Alice'' was released in 1971. Upon its initial release the book was marketed as a real diary of a teenage girl who overdosed in the 1960s. However, it was later revealed that the book was actually written by Beatrice Sparks.
Jorge Luis Borges published '':es:El informe de Brodie, Dr. Brodie's Report'' in 1970 and ''The Book of Sand (short story collection), The Book Of Sand'' in 1975.
Julio Cortázar published Octaedro in 1974.
Ernesto Sabato, Ernesto Sábato published ''Abaddón el exterminador, Abaddón The Exterminator,'' his last novel, in 1974.
Architecture

Architecture in the 1970s began as a continuation of styles created by such architects as Frank Lloyd Wright and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Early in the decade, several architects competed to build the tallest building in the world. Of these buildings, the most notable are the John Hancock Center and Sears Tower in Chicago, both designed by Bruce Graham and Fazlur Khan, and the World Trade Center (1973–2001), World Trade Center towers in New York by American architect Minoru Yamasaki. The decade also brought experimentation in geometric design, pop-art, postmodernism, and early deconstructivism.
Design trends in the 1970s were marked by a backlash against the bright colors and futurism of the 1950s and 1960s and a rise in popularity of dark, earthy tones with extensive use of brown, green, purple, and orange. Wood decor and paneling was integral to 1970s interior design as well, replacing the obsession of the 1950s and 1960s with chrome and aluminum. Darker colors not only reflected the back-to-nature mindset of the decade, but the sluggish world economy with its lowered optimism and expectations for the future.
In 1974, Louis Kahn's last and arguably most famous building, the National Assembly Building of Dhaka, Bangladesh, was completed. The building's use of open spaces and groundbreaking geometry brought rare attention to the small South Asian country. Hugh Stubbins's Citigroup Center, Citicorp Center revolutionized the incorporation of solar panels in office buildings. The seventies brought further experimentation in glass and steel construction and geometric design. Chinese architect I. M. Pei's John Hancock Tower in Boston, Massachusetts, is an example, although like many buildings of the time, the experimentation was flawed and glass panes fell from the façade. In 1976, the completed CN Tower in Toronto became the world's tallest free-standing structure on land, an honor it held until 2007. The fact that no taller tower had been built between the construction of the CN Tower and the Burj Khalifa shows how innovative the architecture and engineering of the structure truly were.
Modern architecture was increasingly criticized as the decade went on from the point of view of postmodern architects, such as Philip Johnson, Charles Moore, and Michael Graves, who advocated a return to pre-modern styles of architecture and the incorporation of pop elements as a means of communicating with a broader public. Other architects, such as Peter Eisenman of the New York Five, advocated the pursuit of form for the sake of form and drew on semiotics theory for support.
"High Tech" architecture moved forward as Buckminster Fuller continued his experiments in geodesic domes, while the Centre Georges Pompidou, Georges Pompidou Center, designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, which opened in 1977, was a prominent example. As the decade drew to a close, Frank Gehry broke out in a new direction with his own house in Santa Monica, a highly complex structure, half excavated out of an existing bungalow and half cheaply built construction using materials such as chicken wire fencing.
Terracotta Army figures, dating from 210 BC, were discovered in 1974 by some local farmers in Lintong District, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China, near the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor (Chinese: 秦始皇陵; pinyin: Qín Shǐhuáng Ling). In 1978, electrical workers in Mexico City found the remains of the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in the middle of the city.
Fashion
Clothing styles during the 1970s were influenced by outfits seen in popular music groups and in Hollywood films.
[ 1970s". ''Collectors Weekly'', undated">"Time Machine > 1970s". ''Collectors Weekly'', undated]
, retrieved on 2009-01-06. In clothing, prints, especially from India and other parts of the world, were fashionable.
[
Much of the 1970s fashion styles were influenced by the History of the hippie movement#1970 to present, hippie movement. As well as the hippie look, the 70s also gave way to glam rock styles, started off by David Bowie who was named the King of Glam Rock. Glam was a genderbent and outlandish style.
Significant fashion trends of the 1970s include:
* Bell-bottoms, Bell-bottomed pants remained popular throughout the decade. These combined with Polo neck, turtle necked shirts and flower-prints to form the characteristic 1970s look. In the later part of the decade, this gave way to three-piece suits, in large part because of the movie ''Saturday Night Fever''.
* Sideburns were popular for men, particularly mutton chops; as were beards and mustaches which had been out of fashion since the 19th and early 20th century.
* Women's hairstyles went from long and straight in the first half of the decade to the feathery cut of Farrah Fawcett, a trend that continued through the first half of the 1980s.
* Miniskirts and minidresses were still popular in the first half of the decade, particularly with pleated "rah-rah" skirts with higher hemlines; but they were quickly phased out by the mid-70s in favor of hot pants. However, miniskirts and minidresses never totally went away, and they made a return to mainstream fashion in the mid-1980s and has remained a fashion staple in the decades since.
* Crop tops and hot pants became popular summer outfits among young women and teenage girls in the second half of the decade.
* Platform shoes
* Leisure suits
* Mohawk hairstyle was associated with punk subculture
* Flokati rugs
* Lava lamps
* Papasan chairs
File:Redhead Beach Bell Bottoms.jpg, Bell-bottoms, Bell-bottomed pants were especially popular throughout the decade
File:Farrah_Fawcett_1977.JPG, The Farrah Fawcett hairstyle was considered particularly fashionable during the decade
File:Young-Dolly-Parton.jpg, Denim jackets and headbands were also a trend, modeled here by Dolly Parton in 1977
File:Blue disco quad roller skates.jpg, Roller-skating was at its peak in the 1970s, and was closely associated with disco music and roller discos
File:A girl in Kensington.JPG, Miniskirts were still popular in the first half of the decade
File:Billy Preston.jpg, Billy Preston sporting an afro in 1974
]
People
Actors / Entertainers
* Mario Adorf
* Jack Albertson
* Alan Alda
* Nancy Allen (actress), Nancy Allen
* Woody Allen
* John Amos
* Ursula Andress
* Julie Andrews
* Alan Arkin
* Bea Arthur
* Ed Asner
* Richard Attenborough
* Margaret Avery
* Dan Aykroyd
* Amitabh Bachchan
* Conrad Bain
* Tom Baker
* Martin Balsam
* Ned Beatty
* Warren Beatty
* Jean-Paul Belmondo
* John Belushi
* Jane Birkin
* Jacqueline Bisset
* Bill Bixby
* Karen Black
* Linda Blair
* Ernest Borgnine
* Tom Bosley
* Peter Boyle
* Marlon Brando
* Eric Braeden
* Beau Bridges
* Jeff Bridges
* Eileen Brennan
* James Brolin
* Mel Brooks
* Charles Bronson
* Jim Brown
* Roscoe Lee Browne
* Yul Brynner
* Carol Burnett
* Ellen Burstyn
* Richard Burton
* Raymond Burr
* Gary Busey
* James Caan
* Sid Caesar
* Michael Caine
* Colleen Camp
* John Candy
* David Carradine
* Keith Carradine
* George Carlin
* Diahann Carroll
* Johnny Carson
* Lynda Carter
* David Cassidy
* John Cassavetes
* Richard Chamberlain
* Geraldine Chaplin
* Jackie Chan
* Chevy Chase
* Julie Christie
* Jill Clayburgh
* John Cleese
* James Coburn
* James Coco
* Joan Collins
* Sean Connery
* Mike Connors
* Tim Conway
* Bill Cosby
* Richard Crenna
* Billy Crystal
* Jamie Lee Curtis
* Tony Curtis
* Peter Cushing
* Rodney Dangerfield
* Blythe Danner
* Bruce Davison
* Dom DeLuise
* Alain Delon
* Catherine Deneuve
* Brian Dennehy
* Robert De Niro
* Gérard Depardieu
* Bruce Dern
* Danny DeVito
* Joyce DeWitt
* Kirk Douglas
* Michael Douglas
* David Doyle (actor), David Doyle
* Richard Dreyfuss
* Faye Dunaway
* Charles Durning
* Robert Duvall
* Shelley Duvall
* Clint Eastwood
* Barbara Eden
* Britt Ekland
* Peter Falk
* Mia Farrow
* Farrah Fawcett
* José Ferrer
* Sally Field
* Albert Finney
* Laurence Fishburne
* Carrie Fisher
* Louise Fletcher
* Jane Fonda
* Peter Fonda
* Harrison Ford
* Frederic Forrest
* Robert Forster
* Jodie Foster
* Redd Foxx
* Anthony Franciosa
* Morgan Freeman
* James Garner
* Richard Gere
* Henry Gibson
* Terry Gilliam
* Louis Gossett Jr.
* Elliott Gould
* Pam Grier
* Merv Griffin
* Robert Guillaume
* Alec Guinness
* Gene Hackman
* Larry Hagman
* Mark Hamill
* Valerie Harper
* Richard Harris
* Goldie Hawn
* Katherine Helmond
* Sherman Hemsley
* Florence Henderson
* Jim Henson
* Charlton Heston
* Dustin Hoffman
* Paul Hogan
* Hal Holbrook
* William Holden
* Ian Holm
* James Hong
* Anthony Hopkins
* Dennis Hopper
* Ron Howard
* Susan Howard
* Rock Hudson
* John Hurt
* Eric Idle
* Glenda Jackson
* Kate Jackson
* Olivia Newton-John
* James Earl Jones
* Shirley Jones
* Terry Jones
* Madeline Kahn
* Carol Kane
* Gabe Kaplan
* Casey Kasem
* Julie Kavner
* Stacy Keach
* Diane Keaton
* Harvey Keitel
* Sally Kellerman
* George Kennedy
* Margot Kidder
* Richard Kiel
* Sally Kirkland
* Jack Klugman
* Don Knotts
* Yaphet Kotto
* Kris Kristofferson
* Cheryl Ladd
* Burt Lancaster
* Martin Landau
* Michael Landon
* Vicki Lawrence
* George Lazenby
* Cloris Leachman
* Bruce Lee
* Christopher Lee
* Jack Lemmon
* Jerry Lewis
* Hal Linden
* Christopher Lloyd
* Jack Lord
* Sophia Loren
* Shirley MacLaine
* Gavin MacLeod
* Lee Majors
* Ann-Margret
* Penny Marshall
* Dean Martin
* Steve Martin
* Lee Marvin
* James Mason
* Marcello Mastroianni
* Walter Matthau
* Rue McClanahan
* Roddy McDowall
* Malcolm McDowell
* Steve McQueen
* Ian McShane
* Burgess Meredith
* Lee Meriwether
* Liza Minnelli
* Ricardo Montalbán
* Roger Moore
* Mary Tyler Moore
* Jeanne Moreau
* Rita Moreno
* Harry Morgan
* Pat Morita
* Bob Newhart
* Paul Newman
* Olivia Newton-John
* Jack Nicholson
* Leslie Nielsen
* Nick Nolte
* Aaron Norris
* Chuck Norris
* Carroll O'Connor
* Ryan O'Neal
* Jennifer O'Neill
* Peter O'Toole
* Al Pacino
* Michael Palin
* Jack Palance
* Gregory Peck
* Anthony Perkins
* Jon Pertwee
* Mackenzie Phillips
* Michelle Phillips
* Donald Pleasence
* Suzanne Pleshette
* Christopher Plummer
* Sidney Poitier
* Richard Pryor
* Randy Quaid
* Anthony Quinn
* Gilda Radner
* Tony Randall
* Robert Redford
* Vanessa Redgrave
* Robert Reed
* Christopher Reeve
* Rob Reiner
* Burt Reynolds
* Don Rickles
* John Ritter
* Joan Rivers
* Jason Robards
* Cliff Robertson
* Richard Roundtree
* Marion Ross
* Kurt Russell
* Isabel Sanford
* Susan Sarandon
* John Savage (actor), John Savage
* Telly Savalas
* John Saxon
* Roy Scheider
* Maximilian Schell
* Arnold Schwarzenegger
* George C. Scott
* Jean Seberg
* George Segal
* Peter Sellers
* Jane Seymour (actress), Jane Seymour
* Omar Sharif
* William Shatner
* Robert Shaw (actor), Robert Shaw
* Martin Sheen
* Cybill Shepherd
* Talia Shire
* Tom Skerritt
* Jaclyn Smith
* Suzanne Somers
* Sissy Spacek
* Joe Spinell
* Robert Stack
* Sylvester Stallone
* Terence Stamp
* Harry Dean Stanton
* Susan Strasberg
* Jean Stapleton
* Dean Stockwell
* Meryl Streep
* Barbra Streisand
* Sally Struthers
* Donald Sutherland
* Loretta Swit
* Max von Sydow
* Elizabeth Taylor
* Richard Thomas (actor), Richard Thomas
* Lily Tomlin
* Rip Torn
* John Travolta
* Jean-Louis Trintignant
* Cicely Tyson
* Liv Ullmann
* Dick Van Dyke
* Robert Vaughn
* Hervé Villechaize
* Jon Voight
* Lindsay Wagner
* Robert Wagner
* Ralph Waite
* Christopher Walken
* Robert Wall
* Eli Wallach
* M. Emmet Walsh
* Jack Warden
* Sam Waterston
* John Wayne
* Carl Weathers
* Raquel Welch
* Betty White
* Gene Wilder
* Cindy Williams
* Billy Dee Williams
* Robin Williams
* Treat Williams
* Fred Williamson
* Demond Wilson
* Paul Winfield
* Henry Winkler
* Jonathan Winters
* Shelley Winters
* Joanne Woodward
* James Woods
* Bolo Yeung
* Michael York
* Burt Young
File:Pacino as Serpico in 1973.jpg, Al Pacino
File:Sylvester Stallone 1978 (cropped).jpg, Sylvester Stallone
File:Robert De Niro (cropped).jpg, Robert De Niro
File:John Travolta 1976 (cropped).jpg, John Travolta
File:Jack Nicholson - 1976 (new).jpg, Jack Nicholson
Filmmakers
* Sylvester Stallone
* Lo Wei
* Woody Allen
* Robert Altman
* Michelangelo Antonioni
* Dario Argento
* Ingmar Bergman
* Bernardo Bertolucci
* John Boorman
* Luis Buñuel
* Michael Cimino
* Jack Clayton
* Francis Ford Coppola
* John Carpenter
* Richard Donner
* Clint Eastwood
* Richard Fleischer
* Miloš Forman
* Bob Fosse
* William Friedkin
* Ridley Scott
* Steven Spielberg
* Martin Scorsese
* Stanley Kubrick
* Joseph L. Mankiewicz
* George Lucas
* Akira Kurosawa
* Brian De Palma
* Roman Polanski
* Sergio Leone
* Terry Gilliam
* Werner Herzog
* Sidney Lumet
* Andrei Tarkovsky, Andreï Tarkovsky
* Arthur Penn
* Alan Parker
* Terrence Malick
* Tobe Hooper
* John Huston
* Ettore Scola
* David Lean
* Sam Peckinpah
* Tonino Valerii
* François Truffaut
* Pier Paolo Pasolini
* Don Siegel
* Dalton Trumbo
* Luchino Visconti
* David Lynch
* Federico Fellini, Frederico Fellini
* George A. Romero
* Sydney Pollack
* Alan J. Pakula
* John Schlesinger
* Alfred Hitchcock
* George Miller (director), George Miller
* Bob Rafelson
* Alejandro Jodorowsky
* Franklin J. Schaffner
* Costa-Gavras
* Elia Kazan
* Norman Jewison
* Peter Weir
* Melvin Van Peebles
File:Sergio Leone 1975.jpg, Sergio Leone
File:Francis Ford Coppola -1976.jpg, Francis Ford Coppola
File:George Lucas 1986 (cropped).jpg, George Lucas
Musicians
* Bill Anderson (singer), Bill Anderson
* Lynn Anderson
* Paul Anka
* Chet Atkins
* Joan Baez
* Jeff Beck
* Captain Beefheart
* Tony Bennett
* George Benson
* Bobby Bland
* Marc Bolan
* Pat Boone
* David Bowie
* James Brown
* Jackson Browne
* Peabo Bryson
* Jimmy Buffett
* Eric Burdon
* Jerry Butler
* Glen Campbell
* John Cale
* Johnny Cash
* David Cassidy
* Harry Chapin
* Ray Charles
* Sonny & Cher
* Lou Christie
* Eric Clapton
* Roy Clark
* Joe Cocker
* David Allan Coe
* Leonard Cohen
* Rita Coolidge
* Alice Cooper
* Elvis Costello
* Jim Croce
* David Crosby
* Roger Daltrey
* Charlie Daniels
* Bobby Darin
* Miles Davis
* John Denver
* Neil Diamond
* Nick Drake
* George Duke
* Bob Dylan
* Donovan
* Peter Frampton
* Bryan Ferry
* Roberta Flack
* Aretha Franklin
* Rory Gallagher
* Marvin Gaye
* Crystal Gayle
* Dizzy Gillespie
* Mickey Gilley
* Eddy Grant
* Al Green
* Simon & Garfunkel
* Hall & Oates
* Merle Haggard
* Johnny Hallyday
* George Harrison
* Emmylou Harris
* Isaac Hayes
* Jimi Hendrix
* Wanda Jackson
* Etta James
* Rick James
* Sonny James
* Al Jarreau
* Waylon Jennings
* Billy Joel
* Elton John
* Janis Joplin
* George Jones
* Quincy Jones
* Tom Jones (singer), Tom Jones
* B.B. King
* Ben E. King
* Carole King
* Kris Kristofferson
* Patti LaBelle
* Brenda Lee
* Jerry Lee Lewis
* John Lennon
* Gordon Lightfoot
* Meat Loaf
* Kenny Loggins
* Loretta Lynn
* Barbara Mandrell
* Barry Manilow
* Bob Marley
* Johnny Mathis
* Curtis Mayfield
* John Mayall
* Paul McCartney
* Don McLean
* Bette Midler
* Roger Miller
* Ronnie Milsap
* Charles Mingus
* Joni Mitchell
* Eddie Money
* Van Morrison
* Anne Murray
* Johnny Nash
* Willie Nelson
* Olivia Newton-John
* Harry Nilsson
* Ted Nugent
* Yoko Ono
* Roy Orbison
* Buck Owens
* Gilbert O'Sullivan
* Robert Palmer (singer), Robert Palmer
* Dolly Parton
* Johnny Paycheck
* Teddy Pendergrass
* Wilson Pickett
* Iggy Pop
* Elvis Presley
* Billy Preston
* Ray Price (musician), Ray Price
* Charley Pride
* Eddie Rabbitt
* Lou Rawls
* Jerry Reed
* Lou Reed
* Helen Reddy
* Charlie Rich
* Cliff Richard
* Little Richard
* Jeannie C. Riley
* Smokey Robinson
* Marty Robbins
* Kenny Rogers
* Linda Ronstadt
* Diana Ross
* Leon Russell
* Carlos Santana
* Leo Sayer
* Jeannie Seely
* Neil Sedaka
* Bob Seger
* Carly Simon
* Paul Simon
* Nina Simone
* Nancy Sinatra
* Connie Smith
* Patti Smith
* Ringo Starr
* Rod Stewart
* Cat Stevens
* Barbra Streisand
* Bruce Springsteen
* Dusty Springfield
* Rick Springfield
* Donna Summer
* James Taylor
* Captain & Tennille
* Ike & Tina Turner
* Mel Tillis
* Peter Tosh
* Conway Twitty
* Luther Vandross
* Porter Wagoner
* Dionne Warwick
* Dottie West
* Barry White
* Bill Withers
* Andy Williams
* Don Williams
* Nancy Wilson (jazz singer), Nancy Wilson
* Johnny Winter
* Bobby Womack
* Stevie Wonder
* Gary Wright
* Tammy Wynette
* Faron Young
* Neil Young
* Frank Zappa
* Marc Bolan
* Cher
File:Stevie Wonder 1973.JPG, Stevie Wonder, 1973
File:Marvin Gaye (1973 publicity photo).jpg, Marvin Gaye, 1973
File:David Bowie - TopPop 1974 08.png, David Bowie, 1975
File:Elton john cher show 1975.JPG, Elton John, 1975
File:Patti Smith.jpg, Patti Smith, 1978
Bands
* ABBA
* AC/DC
* Aerosmith
* The Allman Brothers Band
* America (band), America
* The B-52's
* The Band
* Bay City Rollers
* The Beach Boys
* Bee Gees
* The Bellamy Brothers
* Black Sabbath
* Blondie (band), Blondie
* Blue Öyster Cult
* Boston (band), Boston
* Bread (band), Bread
* The Byrds
* The Cars
* Chicago (band), Chicago
* The Clash
* Commodores
* Creedence Clearwater Revival
* Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
* Deep Purple
* Devo
* Dire Straits
* The Doobie Brothers
* The Doors
* Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show
* Eagles (band), Eagles
* Earth, Wind & Fire
* Electric Light Orchestra
* Emerson, Lake & Palmer
* Fleetwood Mac
* Foreigner (band), Foreigner
* Genesis (band), Genesis
* Grateful Dead
* Heart (band), Heart
* The Hollies
* The Jackson 5
* The Jam
* Jefferson Starship
* Jethro Tull (band), Jethro Tull
* Journey (band), Journey
* Kansas (band), Kansas
* The Kinks
* Kiss (band), Kiss
* Gladys Knight & the Pips
* Kool & the Gang
* Kraftwerk
* King Crimson
* Led Zeppelin
* Lynyrd Skynyrd
* The Marshall Tucker Band
* Paul McCartney and Wings
* MFSB
* Motörhead
* The Oak Ridge Boys
* Plastic Ono Band
* The Osmonds
* The Alan Parsons Project
* Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
* Tony Orlando and Dawn
* Pink Floyd
* The Police
* Queen (band), Queen
* Rainbow (rock band), Rainbow
* Ramones
* T. Rex (band), T. Rex
* The Tubes
* The Rolling Stones
* Rush (band), Rush
* Seals & Crofts
* Sex Pistols
* Sly and the Family Stone
* The Staple Singers
* The Statler Brothers
* Steve Miller Band
* Styx (band), Styx
* Supertramp
* The Supremes
* Talking Heads
* The Temptations
* Thin Lizzy
* Van Halen
* Village People
* The Walker Brothers
* The Who
* Yes (band), Yes
* ZZ Top
File:Crosby Stills Nash and Young 1970.JPG, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, 1970
File:Rolling Stones 23 July, 1975.jpg, The Rolling Stones, 1975
File:Ramones Toronto 1976.jpg, Ramones, 1976
File:Kiss (live in 1979).png, Kiss (band), Kiss, 1979
File:ACDC-Hughes-long ago.jpg, AC/DC, 1979
Writers
* Douglas Adams
* Maya Angelou
* Isaac Asimov
* James Baldwin
* Amiri Baraka
* Peter Benchley
* Judy Blume
* Jorge Luis Borges
* Ray Bradbury
* André Brink
* Octavia E. Butler
* Anthony Burgess
* John le Carré
* Arthur C. Clarke
* Jackie Collins
* Michael Crichton
* Robertson Davies
* Richard Dawkins
* Samuel R. Delany
* Philip K. Dick
* James Dickey
* E. L. Doctorow
* Oriana Fallaci
* Ken Follett
* Frederick Forsyth
* John Fowles
* Carlos Fuentes
* Eduardo Galeano
* Nikki Giovanni
* William Goldman
* Nadine Gordimer
* Günter Grass
* Ursula K. Le Guin
* Seamus Heaney
* Robert A. Heinlein
* Frank Herbert
* Eleanor Hibbert
* Jack Higgins
* John Irving
* P. D. James
* Ryszard Kapuściński
* Stephen King
* Jack Kirby
* Stan Lee
* Robert Ludlum
* Norman Mailer
* Gabriel García Márquez
* George R. R. Martin
* James A. Michener
* Toni Morrison
* Iris Murdoch
* V. S. Naipaul
* Terry Pratchett
* Mario Puzo
* Thomas Pynchon
* Ruth Rendell
* Harold Robbins
* Philip Roth
* Erich Segal
* Maurice Sendak
* Dr. Seuss
* Irwin Shaw
* Sidney Sheldon
* Josef Škvorecký
* William Styron
* Jacqueline Susann
* Hunter S. Thompson
* John Updike
* Gore Vidal
* Kurt Vonnegut
* Alice Walker
* Tom Wolfe
* Herman Wouk
* Roger Zelazny
File:Toni Morrison (The Bluest Eye author portrait).jpg, Toni Morrison, 1970
File:Hunter S. Thompson, Las Vegas 1971.jpg, Hunter S. Thompson, 1971
File:Kurt Vonnegut 1972.jpg, Kurt Vonnegut, 1972
Sports figures
* André the Giant
* Hank Aaron
* Giacomo Agostini
* Mario Andretti
* Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
* Carlos Alberto Torres
* Bobby Allison
* Muhammad Ali
* Nikolai Andrianov
* Nate Archibald
* Arthur Ashe
* Mykola Avilov
* Gordon Banks
* Rick Barry
* Shirley Babashoff
* Bob Backlund
* Franz Beckenbauer
* Johnny Bench
* Sergey Belov
* George Best
* Dave Bing
* Björn Borg
* Valeriy Borzov
* Bill Bradley
* Terry Bradshaw
* Lou Brock
* Karin Büttner-Janz
* Bobby Charlton
* Jack Charlton
* Wilt Chamberlain
* Bobby Clarke
* Roberto Clemente
* Nadia Comăneci
* Jimmy Connors
* Roger De Coster
* Hasely Crawford
* Billy Cunningham
* Dave Cowens
* Johan Cruyff
* Larry Csonka
* Kenny Dalglish
* Drazen Dalipagic
* Dave DeBusschere
* Eusébio
* Roy Emerson
* Julius Erving
* Phil Esposito
* Chris Evert
* Carlton Fisk
* Bobby Fischer
* Emerson Fittipaldi
* Ric Flair
* George Foreman
* Joe Frazier
* Walt Frazier
* Claudio Gentile
* George Gervin
* Bob Gibson
* Artis Gilmore
* Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Evonne Goolagong
* Gail Goodrich
* "Superstar" Billy Graham
* Dorothy Hamill
* John Havlicek
* Connie Hawkins
* Bob Hayes
* Elvin Hayes
* Spencer Haywood
* Ottmar Hitzfeld
* Uli Hoeneß
* Larry Holmes
* James Hunt
* Denny Hulme
* Jacky Ickx
* Antonio Inoki
* Dan Issel
* Reggie Jackson
* Jairzinho
* Caitlyn Jenner (then known as Bruce Jenner)
* Alberto Juantorena
* Sawao Katō
* Kevin Keegan
* Kipchoge Keino
* Mario Kempes
* Eizo Kenmotsu
* Billie Jean King
* Olga Korbut
* Guy Lafleur
* Niki Lauda
* Rod Laver
* Moses Malone
* Pete Maravich
* Roland Matthes
* Bob McAdoo
* Willie McCovey
* John McEnroe
* Dino Meneghin
* Pietro Mennea
* Earl Monroe
* Pedro Morales
* Joe Morgan
* Edwin Moses
* Gerd Müller
* Calvin Murphy
* John Naber
* Akinori Nakayama
* Johan Neeskens
* Jack Nicklaus
* Ángel Nieto
* Chuck Norris
* Ken Norton
* Tom Okker
* Bobby Orr
* Wolfgang Overath
* Arnold Palmer
* Jim Palmer
* Bernie Parent
* Pat Patterson (wrestler), Pat Patterson
* Walter Payton
* David Pearson (racing driver), David Pearson
* Pelé
* Tony Pérez
* Ronnie Peterson
* Richard Petty
* Roddy Piper
* Annemarie Moser-Pröll
* Harley Race
* Willis Reed
* Clay Regazzoni
* Carlos Reutemann
* Dusty Rhodes
* Rivellino
* Kenny Roberts
* Oscar Robertson
* Frank Robinson
* Larry Robinson
* Pete Rose
* Ken Rosewall
* Nolan Ryan
* Börje Salming
* Bruno Sammartino
* Viktor Saneyev
* Randy Savage
* Jody Scheckter
* Mike Schmidt
* Arnold Schwarzenegger
* Tom Seaver
* Earnie Shavers
* O. J. Simpson
* Stan Smith
* Sócrates
* Leon Spinks
* Mark Spitz
* Ken Stabler
* Willie Stargell
* Roger Staubach
* Jackie Stewart
* Big John Studd
* The Iron Sheik
* Jean-Luc Thérier
* Nate Thurmond
* Ludmilla Tourischeva
* Mitsuo Tsukahara
* Wes Unseld
* Guillermo Vilas
* Lasse Virén
* Gilles Villeneuve
* Berti Vogts
* Nikolai Volkoff
* Björn Waldegård
* Bill Walton
* Arsène Wenger
* Jerry West
* Paul Westphal
* Jo Jo White
* Jamaal Wilkes
* Lenny Wilkens
* Mac Wilkins
* Dave Winfield
* Cale Yarborough
* Carl Yastrzemski
* Dino Zoff
* Zico (footballer), Zico
File:Kareem_Abdul-Jabbar_1974.jpeg, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 1974
File:Franz Beckenbauer (1975).jpg, Franz Beckenbauer, 1975
File:Nadia Comăneci Montreal1976f.jpg, Nadia Comăneci, 1976
File:Billie Jean King ©Lynn Gilbert 1978.jpg, Billie Jean King, 1978
See also
* List of decades, centuries, and millennia, List of decades
* 1970s in music
* 1970s in fashion
* 1970s in television
* List of years in literature#1970s, 1970s in literature
* 1970s nostalgia
* Baby boomers, Baby Boomers (the younger members of the first half of the Post-WW II Generation reached adulthood in the early years of the decade).
* Generation Jones (the second half of the Boomer generation came of age in this decade).
Timeline
The following articles contain brief timelines which list the most prominent events of the decade:
1970 • 1971 • 1972 • 1973 • 1974 • 1975 • 1976 • 1977 • 1978 • 1979
References
Further reading
* Borstelmann, Thomas. ''The 1970s: A New Global History From Civil Rights to Economic Inequality'' (Princeton University Press; 2012) 401 pages; looks at new right movements, and the global impact of economic deregulation
excerpt
als
online review
* Ferguson, Niall, and Charles S. Maier, eds. ''The Shock of the Global: The 1970s in Perspective'' (2011) essays by leading scholars; 448 pp
* La Barca, Giuseppe. ''International Trade in the 1970s: The U.S., the EC, and the Growing Pressure of Protectionism'' (London: Bloomsbury, 2013) 224 pp.
* Padva, Gilad. Sexing the Past: Communal Exposure and Self-Examination in ''Gay Sex in the 70s''. In Padva, Gilad, ''Queer Nostalgia in Cinema and Pop Culture'', pp. 58–71 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, ).
* Wheen, Francis. ''Strange Days Indeed: The 1970s: The Golden Days of Paranoia'' (2010) 352pp; looks at general irrationalism (such as UFOs, psychic phenomena, mad cults), and terror (IRA bombings; Black September massacre at the Munich Olympics; Baader-Meinhof Gang in Germany; Symbionese Liberation Army.)
United States
* Berkowitz, Edward D. ''Something Happened: A Political and Cultural Overview of the Seventies'' (Columbia University Press, 2006). 283 pp., liberal perspective
* Carroll, Peter. ''It Seemed Like Nothing Happened: The Tragedy and Promise of America in the 1970s'' (1982)
* Cowie, Jefferson R. ''Stayin' Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class'' (2010) excerpt, on U.S.
* Frum, David. ''How We Got Here: The 70s'' (2000), conservative perspectiv
excerpt and text search
* Haberman, Clyde, ed. ''The New York Times: The Times of the Seventies The Culture, Politics, and Personalities that Shaped the Decade'' (2013)
* Kalman, Laura. ''Right Star Rising: A New Politics, 1974–1980'' (2010) 473pp
excerpt and text search
*Lehman, Katherine J. '' Those Girls: Single Women in Sixties and Seventies Popular Culture'' (University Press of Kansas, 2011). 280 pp
online review
* Sandbrook, Dominic. ''Mad as Hell: The Crisis of the 1970s and the Rise of the Populist Right'' (2012
excerpt and text search
* Schulman, Bruce. ''The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics'' (2001
excerpt and text search
* Stein, Judith. ''Pivotal Decade: How the United States Traded Factories for Finance in the Seventies'' (2010) 384p
excerpt and text search
*
Britain
* Beckett, Andy. ''When the Lights Went Out: Britain in the Seventies'' (2009) 576p
excerpt and textsearch
* Booker, Christopher. ''The Seventies: The Decade That Changed the Future'' (1980)
* Sandbrook, Dominic. ''State of Emergency: The Way We Were: Britain 1970–1974'' (2010)
* Sandbrook, Dominic. ''Mad As Hell: The Crisis of the 1970s and the Rise of the Populist Right'' (2011)
* Sandbrook, Dominic. ''Seasons in the Sun: The Battle for Britain, 1974–1979'' (2012)
* Turner, Alwyn W. ''Crisis? What Crisis?: Britain in the 1970s'' (2009) 336p
excerpt and text search
* Wybrow, Robert J. ''Britain Speaks Out, 1937–87: A social history as seen through the Gallup data'' (1989)
External links
Heroes of the 1970s
– slideshow by ''Life magazine''
www.ultimate70s.com
– Day-by-day news, sports, weather, prime-time TV listings and more!
{{Authority control
1970s,
20th century