1975

Calendar year From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1975th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 975th year of the 2nd millennium, the 75th year of the 20th century, and the 6th year of the 1970s decade.

From top to bottom, left to right: the Fall of Saigon ends the Vietnam War as North Vietnam captures the capital; the Lebanese Civil War erupts, plunging the country into sectarian conflict; The Cambodian genocide begins under Pol Pot; Viking 1 heads for Mars; the Helsinki Accords are signed by 35 nations; the film Jaws is released; Thousands of Moroccans advance into Spanish Sahara on the Green March, triggering the Western Sahara War; the 1975 Tan Son Nhut C-5 accident kills over 150 during evacuation efforts; and the Spanish transition to democracy begins after Francisco Franco's death.

It was also declared the International Women's Year by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe.

Events

January

Quick facts

1975 in various calendars
Gregorian calendar	1975 MCMLXXV
Ab urbe condita	2728
Armenian calendar	1424 ԹՎ ՌՆԻԴ
Assyrian calendar	6725
Baháʼí calendar	131–132
Balinese saka calendar	1896–1897
Bengali calendar	1381–1382
Berber calendar	2925
British Regnal year	23 Eliz. 2 – 24 Eliz. 2
Buddhist calendar	2519
Burmese calendar	1337
Byzantine calendar	7483–7484
Chinese calendar	甲寅年 (Wood Tiger) 4672 or 4465 — to — 乙卯年 (Wood Rabbit) 4673 or 4466
Coptic calendar	1691–1692
Discordian calendar	3141
Ethiopian calendar	1967–1968
Hebrew calendar	5735–5736
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	2031–2032
- Shaka Samvat	1896–1897
- Kali Yuga	5075–5076
Holocene calendar	11975
Igbo calendar	975–976
Iranian calendar	1353–1354
Islamic calendar	1394–1395
Japanese calendar	Shōwa 50 (昭和５０年)
Javanese calendar	1906–1907
Juche calendar	64
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4308
Minguo calendar	ROC 64 民國64年
Nanakshahi calendar	507
Thai solar calendar	2518
Tibetan calendar	ཤིང་ཕོ་སྟག་ལོ་ (male Wood-Tiger) 2101 or 1720 or 948 — to — ཤིང་མོ་ཡོས་ལོ་ (female Wood-Hare) 2102 or 1721 or 949
Unix time	157766400 – 189302399

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1975.

January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman^[1] and John Ehrlichman^[2] are found guilty of the Watergate cover-up.
January 2
- The Federal Rules of Evidence are approved by the United States Congress.^[3]
- A bomb blast at Samastipur, Bihar, India, fatally wounds Lalit Narayan Mishra, Minister of Railways.^[4]
January 5 – Tasman Bridge disaster: The Tasman Bridge in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, is struck by the bulk ore carrier MV Lake Illawarra, causing a partial collapse resulting in 12 deaths.^[5]
January 15 – Alvor Agreement: Portugal announces that it will grant independence to Angola on November 11.

February

February 4 – The Haicheng earthquake in Haicheng, Liaoning, China, kills 2,041 and injures 27,538, but much of the city has been evacuated in a claimed example of earthquake prediction.^[6]
February 5 – The Argentinian president Isabel Perón decrees Operativo Independencia, aiming to neutralize or annihilate the "subversive elements" in the province of Tucuman. She assumes extraordinary powers.
February 11
- Margaret Thatcher defeats Edward Heath for the leadership of the opposition UK Conservative Party. Thatcher, 49, is Britain's first female leader of any political party.^[7]
- Colonel Richard Ratsimandrava, President of Madagascar, is assassinated.
February 27 – The 2 June Movement kidnaps West German politician Peter Lorenz. He is released on March 4 after most of the kidnappers' demands are met.
February 28
- A major tube train crash at Moorgate station, London kills 43 people.^[8]
- In Lomé, Togo, the European Economic Community and 46 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries sign a financial and economic treaty, known as the first Lomé Convention.
- The National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) approaches the South African Embassy in London and requests 40 to 50 artillery pieces to assist their cause in the Angolan Civil War.

March

March 1
- Aston Villa win the English Football League Cup at Wembley, beating Norwich City 1–0 in the final.
- Australian television switches to full-time colour.^[9]
March 6
- Algiers Agreement: Iran and Iraq announce a settlement in their border dispute.
- A bomb explodes in the Paris offices of Springer publishers. The March 6 Group (connected to the Red Army Faction) demands amnesty for the Baader-Meinhof Group.
March 9 – Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins.
March 10
- Vietnam War: North Vietnamese troops attack Ban Mê Thuột in South Vietnam on their way to capturing Saigon.
- An extended portion of Sanyō Shinkansen between Okayama Station and Hakata Station opens, giving the Japanese Shinkansen high speed rail network access to the country's second island, Kyushu.
March 11 – The leftist military government in Portugal defeats a rightist coup attempt involving former president António de Spínola, who flees to Brazil.
March 13 – Vietnam War: South Vietnam President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu orders the Central Highlands evacuated. This turns into a mass exodus involving troops and civilians (the "Convoy of Tears").
March 15 – In Brazil, Guanabara State merges into the state of Rio de Janeiro. The state's capital moves from the city of Niterói to the city of Rio de Janeiro.
March 22 – "Ding-a-dong" by Teach-In (music by Dick Bakker, lyrics by Will Luikinga and Eddy Ouwens) wins the 20th Eurovision Song Contest 1975 (staged in Stockholm) for the Netherlands.
March 25 – King Faisal of Saudi Arabia is shot and killed by his nephew.^[10]
March 27 – The South African government announces that it will consolidate the 113 separate homeland areas into 36.
March 28 – A fire in the maternity wing at Kučić Hospital in Rijeka, Yugoslavia (Croatia), kills 25 people.^[11]
March 31 – Süleyman Demirel of AP forms the new government of Turkey (39th government), a four-party coalition, the so-called First National Front (Turkish: Milliyetçi cephe).

April

April 4
- Vietnam War: The first military Operation Babylift flight, C5A 80218, crashes 27 minutes after takeoff, killing 138 on board; 176 survive the crash.
- Bill Gates and Paul Allen found Microsoft (at this time known as Micro-Soft) in Albuquerque, New Mexico and release their Altair BASIC interpreter.^[12] (Microsoft becomes a registered trademark on November 26, 1976.)
  April 4: Allen and Gates four years prior to the founding of Microsoft
April 5 – The Soviet crewed space mission (Soyuz 18a) ends in failure during its ascent into orbit when a critical malfunction occurs in the second and third stages of the booster rocket during staging at an altitude of 192 km, resulting in the cosmonauts and their Soyuz spacecraft having to be ripped free from the vehicle. Both cosmonauts (Vasily Lazarev and Oleg Makarov) survive.
April 9 – Eight people in South Korea, who are involved in the People's Revolutionary Party Incident, are hanged.^[13]
April 9–21: Battle of Xuân Lộc
April 13
- Bus massacre: The Kataeb militia kills 27 Palestinians during an attack on their bus in Ain El Remmeneh, Lebanon, triggering the Lebanese Civil War which lasts until 1990.
- A coup d'état in Chad led by the military overthrows and kills President François Tombalbaye.
April 17 – The Khmer Republic surrenders, when the Communist Khmer Rouge guerilla forces capture Phnom Penh ending the Cambodian Civil War, with mass evacuation of American troops and Cambodian civilians.
April 18 – The Khmer Rouge begins a forcible mass evacuation of the city and starts the Cambodian genocide.
April 19 – Nico Diederichs becomes the 3rd State President of South Africa.^[14]
April 20 – Taman Mini Indonesia Indah opens to the public in Jakarta, Indonesia.
April 24 – West German Embassy siege in Stockholm: Six Red Army Faction terrorists take over the West German embassy in Stockholm, take 11 hostages and demand the release of the group's jailed members; shortly after, they are captured by Swedish police.
April 25 – Vietnam War: As North Vietnamese Army forces close in on the South Vietnamese capital Saigon, the Australian Embassy is closed and evacuated, almost 10 years to the day since the first Australian troop commitment to South Vietnam.
April 29 – Vietnam War: North Vietnam concludes its East Sea Campaign by capturing all of the Spratly Islands that were being held by South Vietnam.
April 30 – Vietnam War – Fall of Saigon: The Vietnam War concludes as Communist forces from North Vietnam take over Saigon, resulting in mass evacuation of the remaining American troops and South Vietnam civilians. As the capital is taken, South Vietnam surrenders unconditionally and is replaced with a temporary Provisional Government.

May

May 3 – West Ham United win the FA Cup at Wembley, beating Fulham 2–0 in the final.^[15]
May 6 – The South African government announces that it will provide all Black children with free and compulsory education.
May 15 – Mayaguez incident: The American merchant ship Mayaguez, seized by Cambodian forces, is rescued by the U.S. Navy and Marines; 38 Americans are killed.
May 16
- Sikkim accedes to India after a referendum and abolishes the Chogyal, its monarchy.
- Junko Tabei from Japan becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
May 25 – Bobby Unser wins the Indianapolis 500 for a second time in a rain-shorted 174 lap, 700 km (430 mi) race.
May 27 – The Dibbles Bridge coach crash near Grassington, North Yorkshire, England, results in 32 deaths (the highest toll in a United Kingdom road accident).
May 28 – Fifteen West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States.

June

June 5 – The Suez Canal opens for the first time since the Six-Day War.
June 6 – The Georgetown Agreement, formally creating the ACP Group, is signed.
June 9 – The Order of Australia is awarded for the first time.
June 11 – After a referendum and seven years of military rule, modern-day Greece is established as the Hellenic Republic.
June 25
- Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declares a state of emergency in India, suspending civil liberties and elections.
- Mozambique gains independence from Portugal.

July

July 1 – The Postmaster-General's Department is disaggregated into the Australian Telecommunications Commission (trading as Telecom Australia) and the Australian Postal Commission (trading as Australia Post).
July 4 – Zion Square refrigerator bombing. A terrorist attack in downtown Jerusalem kills 15 civilians and wounds 77.
July 5 – Cape Verde gains independence after 500 years of Portuguese rule.
July 6 – The Comoros declares and is granted its independence from France.
July 9 – The National Assembly of Senegal passes a law that will pave way for a multi-party system (albeit highly restricted).
July 12 – São Tomé and Príncipe declare independence from Portugal.
July 17 – Apollo–Soyuz Test Project: A crewed American Apollo spacecraft and the crewed Soviet Soyuz spacecraft for the Soyuz 19 mission dock in orbit, marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the 2 nations.
July 21 – The Parliament of India votes to approve Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's declaration of a state of emergency, with a 301–76 vote in the lower house and a 147–32 vote in the upper house.^[16]
July 30 – Typhoon Nina forms over the Philippine Sea.

August

The first Cuban forces arrive in Angola to join Soviet personnel who are there to assist the MPLA that controls less than a quarter of Angolan territory. The United States, Zaire and Zambia request South Africa to provide training and support for the FNLA and UNITA forces.^[17]
August 1 – The Helsinki Accords, which officially recognize Europe's national borders and respect for human rights, are signed in Finland.
August 8 – The Banqiao Dam, in China's Henan Province, fails after Typhoon Nina; over 200,000 people perish.
August 11 – Governor Mário Lemos Pires of Portuguese East Timor abandons the capital Dili, following a UDT coup and the outbreak of civil war between UDT and Fretilin.
August 15
- Founder President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman of Bangladesh is killed during a coup led by Major Syed Faruque Rahman.
- Some members of Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Armageddon will occur this year based on the group's chronology^[18] and some sell their houses and businesses to prepare for the new world paradise which they believe will be created when Jesus establishes God's Kingdom on Earth.
August 20 – Viking program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars.
August 24 – Officers responsible for the military coup in Greece in 1967 are sentenced to death in Athens. The sentences are later commuted to life imprisonment.
August 25 – The Victoria Falls Conference between Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith and the United African National Council is held in a South African Railways coach on the Victoria Falls Bridge, officiated by Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda and South African Prime Minister John Vorster.

September

September–October – In New Zealand, Māori leader Whina Cooper leads a march of 5,000 people, in support of Maori claims to their land.
September 5
- In Sacramento, California, Lynette Fromme attempts to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford, but is thwarted by a Secret Service agent.
- The London Hilton Hotel is bombed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army; two people are killed and 63 injured.^[19]
September 6 – An earthquake of magnitude M_s 6.7 kills at least 2,085 in Diyarbakır and Lice, Turkey.
September 14 – Rembrandt's painting The Night Watch is slashed a dozen times at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
September 15 – The French department of Corse, comprising the entire island of Corsica, is divided into two departments: Haute-Corse (Upper Corsica) and Corse-du-Sud (Southern Corsica).

September 16
- Papua New Guinea gains its independence from Australia.
- Cape Verde, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe join the United Nations.
September 19 – General Vasco Gonçalves is ousted as Prime Minister of Portugal.
September 20 – The term of Tuanku Al-Mutassimu Billahi Muhibbudin Sultan Abdul Halim Al-Muadzam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah, as the 5th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, ends.
September 21 – Sultan Yahya Petra ibni Almarhum Sultan Ibrahim Petra of Kelantan, becomes the 6th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
September 22 – In San Francisco, Sara Jane Moore tries to assassinate U.S. President Ford, but is foiled by the Secret Service.
September 27 – Francoist Spain executes five ETA and FRAP members, the last executions in Spain to date.
September 30
- The Hughes Helicopters (later McDonnell-Douglas and Boeing IDS) AH-64 Apache makes its first flight.
- (US time) Home Box Office becomes the first pay television network to deliver a continuous signal via satellite by broadcasting the "Thrilla in Manila" boxing match live.^[20]

October

October 1 – "Thrilla in Manila": Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in a boxing match in Manila, Philippines. The fight is viewed live by well over 100 million people worldwide.
October 14
- The South African Defence Force invades Angola during Operation Savannah in support of the FNLA and UNITA prior to the Angolan elections scheduled for November 11.^[21]
- A British Royal Air Force Avro Vulcan bomber explodes and crashes over Żabbar, Malta after an aborted landing, killing five crew members and one person on the ground.^[22]
October 16
- The "Balibo Five", Australian television journalists are killed at Balibo by Indonesian Army special forces in the buildup to the Indonesian invasion of East Timor.
- The last naturally occurring case of smallpox is diagnosed and treated, the victim being two-year-old Rahima Banu in Bangladesh.^[23]
October 30 – Juan Carlos I of Spain becomes acting head of state after General Francisco Franco concedes that he is too ill to govern. His death on November 20 effectively marks the end of the dictatorship established following the Spanish Civil War and the beginning of the Spanish transition to democracy.^[24]
October 31
- The Racial Discrimination Act 1975 takes effect in Australia.
- Tun Mustapha resigns as Chief Minister of Sabah, a state in Malaysia, bringing to an end speculation that he would attempt to lead secession for Sabah to become an independent nation.

November

November 6 – The Green March begins: 300,000 unarmed Moroccans converge on the southern city of Tarfaya and wait for a signal from King Hassan II of Morocco to cross into Western Sahara.
November 7 – A vapor cloud explosion at a petroleum cracking facility in Geleen, Netherlands, leaves 14 dead and 109 injured, with fires lasting for five days.^[25]
November 10
- United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379: By a vote of 72–35 (with 32 abstentions), the United Nations General Assembly approves a resolution equating Zionism with racism. The resolution provokes an outcry among Zionists. It is repealed in 1991.
- The Treaty of Osimo is signed between Italy and Yugoslavia, resolving their dispute over Trieste. Under the agreement, a majority of the land area and residents go to Italy.^[26]
- The 729-foot (222 m)-long freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks during a storm 27 kilometres (17 mi) from the entrance to Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew members on board (an event immortalized in song by Gordon Lightfoot).
- Lev Leshchenko revives "Den Pobedy", one of the most popular World War II songs in the Soviet Union.
November 11
- Angola becomes independent from Portugal and civil war erupts.
  Flag of Angola
- Australian constitutional crisis of 1975: Governor-General of Australia Sir John Kerr controversially dismisses the Whitlam Labor government and commissions Malcolm Fraser of the Liberal/National Country Coalition as caretaker Prime Minister.
- The first annual Vogalonga rowing "race" is held in Venice, Italy.
November 12 – The Comoros joins the United Nations.
November 14 – Madrid Accords: Spain agrees to hand over power of the Spanish Sahara to Morocco and Mauritania by the end of February 1976.^[27]
November 15 – The "Group of 6" industrialized nations (G-6) is formed and holds its 1st summit at the Château de Rambouillet in France.
November 16 – Beginning of the Third Cod War between UK and Iceland, which lasts until June 1976.
November 19 – The United States Congress approves the Clark Amendment, ending aid to the FNLA and UNITA.
November 22 – Juan Carlos is declared King of Spain following the death of General Francisco Franco; he will reign until his abdication in 2014.

November 25
- Suriname gains independence from the Kingdom of the Netherlands.^[28]
- A failed military coup d'état by far-left activists occurs in Portugal.
November 28
- Portuguese Timor declares its independence from Portugal as East Timor.
- South African Navy frigates evacuate 26 SADF members from behind enemy lines at Ambrizete, 160 kilometres (99 mi) north of Luanda in Angola.
November 29
- While disabled, the submarine tender USS Proteus discharges radioactive coolant water into Apra Harbor, Guam. A Geiger counter at two of the harbor's public beaches shows 100 millirems/hour, 50 times the allowable dose.
- 1975 New Zealand general election: The New Zealand National Party led by Robert Muldoon defeats the incumbent New Zealand Labour Party led by Prime Minister Bill Rowling.

December

December 2 – In Laos, the Second Indochina War ends, when the communist party of the Pathet Lao takes over Vientiane and defeats the Kingdom of Laos, forcing King Sisavang Vatthana to abdicate and creating the Lao People's Democratic Republic. This ends the Laotian Civil War, with mass evacuation of American troops and Laotian civilians, but effectively begins the Insurgency in Laos with the Pathet Lao fighting the Hmong people, Royalist-in-exile and the Right-wings.
December 3 – Wreck of HMHS Britannic (sunk by mine 1916) is found in the Kea Channel by Jacques Cousteau.
December 7 – Indonesian invasion of East Timor: Indonesia invades East Timor; the occupation continues until 1999 when U.N. peacekeepers take control, which they did until 2002.^[29]
December 13
- 1975 Australian federal election: The Liberal/National Country Coalition led by Malcolm Fraser defeats the recently dismissed Labor government led by Gough Whitlam. The Fraser government achieves what is so far the largest parliamentary majority in federal Australian political history. Whitlam would subsequently survive a leadership challenge against him.
- The United Nations Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (1961) comes into effect.^[30]
December 18 – The Algerian president Houari Boumediene orders the expulsion of all Moroccans from Algeria.^[31]
December 21 – Six people, including Carlos the Jackal, kidnap delegates of an OPEC conference in Vienna.
December 29 – A bomb explosion at LaGuardia Airport in New York City kills 11 people.^[32]

Date unknown

The Spanish Army quits Spanish Sahara (modern-day Western Sahara), last remnant of the Spanish Empire. The Sahrawi Republic (RASD) is created. Morocco invades the former territory.
Benoit Mandelbrot coins the mathematical term fractal.^[33]
Victoria (Australia) abolishes capital punishment.
South Australia becomes the first Australian state to decriminalize homosexual acts between consenting adults.

World population

More information World population, World ...

World population
	1975	1970		1980
World	4,068,109,000	3,692,492,000	375,617,000	4,434,682,000	366,573,000
Africa	408,160,000	357,283,000	50,877,000	469,618,001	61,458,000
Asia	2,397,512,000	2,143,118,000	254,394,000	2,632,335,000	234,823,000
Europe	675,542,000	655,855,000	19,687,000	692,431,000	16,889,000
South America	321,906,000	284,856,000	37,050,000	361,401,000	39,495,000
North America	243,425,000	231,937,000	11,488,000	256,068,000	12,643,000
Oceania	21,564,000	19,443,000	2,121,000	22,828,000	1,264,000

Births

More information Births ...

Births
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