What happened in 1971
128 entries recorded for 1971, listed by date. That was 55 years ago.
1971 at a glance
- Years ago
- 55 (as of 2026)
- Century
- 20th century
- Decade
- 1970s
- Generation born
- Generation X
- Entries here
- 128
- Breakdown
- 125 historical events · 3 births
January
- January 2
1971 Ibrox disaster
The second Ibrox disaster kills 66 fans at a Rangers-Celtic association football match.
- January 12
Harrisburg Seven
The Harrisburg Seven: Rev. Philip Berrigan and five other activists are indicted on charges of conspiring to kidnap Henry Kissinger and of plotting to blow up the heating tunnels of federal buildings in Washington, D.C.
- January 21
Emley Moor transmitting station
The current Emley Moor transmitting station, the tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, begins transmitting UHF broadcasts.
- January 22
Singapore Declaration
The Singapore Declaration, one of the two most important documents to the uncodified constitution of the Commonwealth of Nations, is issued.
- January 25
Idi Amin
Idi Amin seized power from Ugandan president Milton Obote in a coup d'état, beginning eight years of military rule.
- January 29
UFOs of Pudasjärvi
The last of its many UFO sightings is made at Pudasjärvi, Finland.
- January 31
Winter Soldier Investigation
The Winter Soldier Investigation, organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize alleged war crimes and atrocities by Americans and allies in Vietnam, begins in Detroit.
- January 31
Apollo program
Apollo program: Apollo 14: Astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell, aboard a Saturn V, lift off for a mission to the Fra Mauro Highlands on the Moon.
February
- February 2
Idi Amin
Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader of Uganda.
- February 2
Ramsar Convention
The international Ramsar Convention for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands is signed in Ramsar, Mazandaran, Iran.
- February 3
Frank Serpico
New York Police Officer Frank Serpico is shot during a drug bust in Brooklyn and survives to later testify against police corruption.
- February 5
Apollo 14
Astronauts land on the Moon in the Apollo 14 mission.
- February 8
Army of the Republic of Vietnam
South Vietnamese ground troops launch an incursion into Laos to try to cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail and stop communist infiltration into the country.
- February 9
Satchel Paige
Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro league player to be voted into the USA's Baseball Hall of Fame.
- February 9
1971 San Fernando earthquake
An earthquake registering 6.6 Mw struck the northern San Fernando Valley near the Los Angeles district of Sylmar, killing 65 people.
- February 9
Apollo program
Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third human Moon landing.
- February 15
Decimalisation
The decimalisation of the currencies of the United Kingdom and Ireland is completed on Decimal Day.
- February 20
Emergency Broadcast System
The United States Emergency Broadcast System is accidentally activated in an erroneous national alert.
- February 21
Convention on Psychotropic Substances
The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.
- February 23
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: South Vietnamese General Đỗ Cao Trí was killed in a helicopter crash en route to taking control of the faltering Operation Lam Son 719.
- February 24
All India Forward Bloc
The All India Forward Bloc holds an emergency central committee meeting after its chairman, Hemantha Kumar Bose, is killed three days earlier. P. K. Mookiah Thevar is appointed as the new chairman.
- February 26
Secretary-General of the United Nations
U.N. Secretary-General U Thant signs United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day.
- February 27
Abortion clinic
Doctors in the first Dutch abortion clinic (the Mildredhuis in Arnhem) start performing artificially-induced abortions.
March
- March 1
President of Pakistan
President of Pakistan Yahya Khan indefinitely postpones the pending national assembly session, precipitating massive civil disobedience in East Pakistan.
- March 7
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, political leader of then East Pakistan (present day-Bangladesh), delivers his historic 7th March speech in the Racecourse Field (Now Suhrawardy Udyan) in Dhaka.
- March 10
John Gorton
John Gorton resigns as Prime Minister of Australia and the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia after a secret ballot vote of confidence, being replaced in both positions by William McMahon.
- March 12
Turkish Armed Forces
The Turkish Armed Forces executed a "coup by memorandum", forcing the resignation of Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel (pictured).
- March 12
1971 Turkish military memorandum
The 1971 Turkish military memorandum is sent to the Süleyman Demirel government of Turkey and the government resigns.
- March 18
Peru
Peru: A landslide crashes into Yanawayin Lake, killing 200 people at the mining camp of Chungar.
- March 25
Army of the Republic of Vietnam
The Army of the Republic of Vietnam abandon an attempt to cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos.
- March 26
East Pakistan
East Pakistan, then a province of Pakistan, declares its independence from Pakistan to form Bangladesh; the Bangladesh War of Independence begins.
April
- April 1
Bangladesh Liberation War
Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army massacre more than a thousand people in Keraniganj Upazila, Bangladesh.
- April 5
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
In Sri Lanka, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna launches a revolt against the United Front government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike.
- April 17
Provisional Government of Bangladesh
The Provisional Government of Bangladesh is formed.
- April 19
Salyut 1
Salyut 1, the first space station, was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome near Tyuratam in the Soviet Union.
- April 19
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone becomes a republic, and Siaka Stevens the president.
- April 19
The Doors
The Doors (pictured) released L.A. Woman, their final album during their lead vocalist Jim Morrison's lifetime.
- April 19
Charles Manson
Charles Manson is sentenced to death (later commuted to life imprisonment) for conspiracy in the Tate–LaBianca murders.
- April 20
Mikey Welsh
Mikey Welsh, American bassist and painter (died 2011)
- April 20
Allan Houston
Allan Houston, American basketball player
- April 23
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones released Sticky Fingers, the first album on their own label, Rolling Stones Records.
- April 23
Bangladesh Liberation War
Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army and Razakars massacre approximately 3,000 Hindu emigrants in the Jathibhanga area of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
May
- May 3
Erich Honecker
Erich Honecker became First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, the governing party of East Germany.
- May 19
Soviet Mars program
Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union.
- May 20
Chuknagar massacre
In the Chuknagar massacre, Pakistani forces massacre thousands, mostly Bengali Hindus.
- May 23
Aviogenex Flight 130
Seventy-eight people are killed when Aviogenex Flight 130 crashes on approach to Rijeka Airport in present-day Rijeka, Croatia (then the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia).
- May 23
Grand Hotel Bucharest
The Intercontinental Hotel in Bucharest opens, becoming the second-tallest building in the city.
- May 25
Killing of Joetha Collier
Joetha Collier, a recent high school graduate, was killed in Drew, Mississippi, in a case that attracted widespread attention from civil rights activists.
- May 26
Bangladesh Liberation War
Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army slaughters at least 71 Hindus in Burunga, Sylhet, Bangladesh.
- May 27
Bengali Hindus
Pakistani forces massacre over 200 civilians, mostly Bengali Hindus, in the Bagbati massacre.
- May 27
Dahlerau train disaster
The Dahlerau train disaster, the worst railway accident in West Germany, kills 46 people and injures 25 near Wuppertal.
- May 30
Mariner program
Mariner program: Mariner 9 is launched to map 70% of the surface, and to study temporal changes in the atmosphere and surface, of Mars.
- May 31
Uniform Monday Holiday Act
In accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1968, observation of Memorial Day occurs on the last Monday in May for the first time, rather than on the traditional Memorial Day of May 30.
June
- June 6
Hughes Airwest Flight 706
Hughes Airwest Flight 706 collided with a US Marine Corps jet near Duarte, California, killing 50 people.
- June 6
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: Australian forces attacked a heavily fortified North Vietnamese base camp at the Battle of Long Khánh.
- June 6
Soyuz 11
Soyuz 11 is launched. The mission ends in disaster when all three cosmonauts, Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev are suffocated by uncontrolled decompression of the capsule during re-entry on 29 June.
- June 7
Allegheny Airlines Flight 485
Allegheny Airlines Flight 485 crashes on approach to Tweed New Haven Airport in New Haven, Connecticut, killing 28 of 31 aboard.
- June 7
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
The Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Division of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service raids the home of Ken Ballew for illegal possession of hand grenades.
- June 7
Cohen v. California
The United States Supreme Court overturns the conviction of Paul Cohen for disturbing the peace, setting the precedent that vulgar writing is protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
- June 11
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The U.S. Government forcibly removes the last holdouts to the Native American Occupation of Alcatraz, ending 19 months of control.
- June 13
The New York Times
The New York Times published the first excerpts from the Pentagon Papers, a 7,000-page classified Department of Defense history of the United States' political and military involvement in the Vietnam War.
- June 17
Richard Nixon
U.S. president Richard Nixon in a televised press conference calls drug abuse "America's public enemy number one", starting the war on drugs.
- June 29
Soviet Union
Prior to re-entry (following a record-setting stay aboard the Soviet Union's Salyut 1 space station), the crew capsule of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft depressurizes, killing the three cosmonauts on board. Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev are the first humans to
- June 29
Soyuz 11
The Soyuz 11 spacecraft experienced uncontrolled decompression during preparations for reentry, killing Soviet cosmonauts Vladislav Volkov, Georgy Dobrovolsky and Viktor Patsayev—the only human deaths to have occurred in space.
- June 30
Soviet Union
The crew of the Soviet Soyuz 11 spacecraft are killed when their air supply escapes through a faulty valve.
July
- July 6
Nicolae Ceaușescu
After visiting several Asian communist countries, Romanian leader Nicolae Ceaușescu (pictured) gave a speech on a number of neo-Stalinist and socialist-realist ideals, which became known as the July Theses.
- July 11
Chilean nationalization of copper
The nationalization of all large copper mines in Chile is completed.
- July 12
Australian Aboriginal flag
The Australian Aboriginal flag is flown for the first time.
- July 14
Bubba Ray Dudley
Bubba Ray Dudley, American professional wrestler
- July 15
United Red Army
The United Red Army is founded in Japan.
- July 25
Sohagpur massacre
The Sohagpur massacre is perpetrated by the Pakistan Army.
- July 26
Apollo program
Apollo program: Launch of Apollo 15 on the first Apollo "J-Mission", and first use of a Lunar Roving Vehicle.
- July 30
Apollo program
Apollo program: On Apollo 15, David Scott and James Irwin in the Apollo Lunar Module Falcon land on the Moon with the first Lunar Rover.
- July 31
Apollo program
Apollo program: The Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover.
August
- August 1
The Concert for Bangladesh
The Concert for Bangladesh, a pair of benefit concerts organised by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar for refugees of the Bangladesh genocide, took place at Madison Square Garden in New York.
- August 2
The Who
The English rock band the Who released Who's Next, their only album to top the UK charts.
- August 3
Fighting Dinosaurs
Fighting Dinosaurs, a fossil specimen featuring a Velociraptor and a Protoceratops in combat, was unearthed in the Djadochta Formation of Mongolia.
- August 5
Pacific Islands Forum
The first Pacific Islands Forum (then known as the "South Pacific Forum") is held in Wellington, New Zealand, with the aim of enhancing cooperation between the independent countries of the Pacific Ocean.
- August 9
The Troubles
The Troubles: British forces began arresting and interning suspected Irish republican militants in Northern Ireland.
- August 14
Bahrain
Bahrain declares independence from Britain.
- August 18
Vietnam
Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.
- August 21
San Quentin Six
Six people were killed during an escape attempt and riot at San Quentin State Prison in California; the subsequent trial of six inmates was the longest in state history at the time.
- August 21
Liberal Party (Philippines)
A bomb exploded in the Liberal Party campaign rally in Plaza Miranda, Manila, Philippines with several anti-Marcos political candidates injured.
- August 22
J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover and John Mitchell announce the arrest of 20 of the Camden 28.
- August 27
Coup d'état
An attempted coup d'état fails in the African nation of Chad. The Government of Chad accuses Egypt of playing a role in the attempt and breaks off diplomatic relations.
September
- September 3
Qatar
Qatar becomes an independent state.
- September 4
Alaska Airlines Flight 1866
Alaska Airlines Flight 1866 crashes near Juneau, Alaska, killing all 111 people on board.
- September 8
Kennedy Center
In Washington, D.C., the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is inaugurated, with the opening feature being the premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Mass.
- September 9
Imagine (John Lennon album)
Imagine, the second solo album by John Lennon (pictured), was released.
- September 9
Attica Prison riot
The four-day Attica Prison riot begins, eventually resulting in 39 dead, most killed by state troopers retaking the prison.
- September 13
National Guard (United States)
State police and National Guardsmen storm New York's Attica Prison to quell a prison revolt, which claimed 43 lives.
- September 13
Mao Zedong
Chairman Mao Zedong's second in command and successor Marshal Lin Biao flees China after the failure of an alleged coup. His plane crashes in Mongolia, killing all aboard.
- September 13
Project 571
Following a failed coup attempt, Mao Zedong's second-in-command Lin Biao died in a plane crash while attempting to flee China.
- September 15
Greenpeace
The first Greenpeace ship departs from Vancouver to protest against the upcoming Cannikin nuclear weapon test in Alaska.
- September 20
Hurricane Irene–Olivia
Hurricane Irene (satellite image pictured) moved into the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic, making it the first actively tracked tropical cyclone to do so.
October
- October 2
British European Airways Flight 706
British European Airways Flight 706 crashes near Aarsele, Belgium, killing 63.
- October 2
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu was re-elected unopposed as President of South Vietnam.
- October 10
Aeroflot Flight 773
Aeroflot Flight 773 is destroyed by a bomb over Moscow Oblast, killing 25.
- October 21
Clarkston explosion
A gas explosion kills 22 people at a shopping centre near Glasgow, Scotland.
- October 25
China
The People's Republic of China replaces the Republic of China at the United Nations.
- October 27
First Congolese Republic
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is renamed Zaire.
- October 28
Prospero (spacecraft)
Prospero (flight spare pictured), the first British satellite launched on a British rocket, lifted off from Launch Area 5B in Woomera, South Australia.
November
- November 6
United States Atomic Energy Commission
The United States Atomic Energy Commission tests the largest U.S. underground hydrogen bomb, code-named Cannikin, on Amchitka Island in the Aleutians.
- November 8
Led Zeppelin
English rock group Led Zeppelin released their fourth album, which became one of the best-selling albums worldwide.
- November 9
John List (murderer)
American banker John List murdered his wife, mother, and three children with a pair of handguns.
- November 10
Cambodia
In Cambodia, Khmer Rouge forces attack the city of Phnom Penh and its airport, killing 44, wounding at least 30 and damaging nine aircraft.
- November 18
Oman
Oman declares its independence from the United Kingdom.
- November 22
Cairngorm Plateau disaster
In Britain's worst mountaineering disaster, five teenage students and one of their leaders were found dead from exposure on the Cairngorm Plateau in the Scottish Highlands.
- November 24
D. B. Cooper
After collecting a ransom payout of $200,000, D. B. Cooper (depicted) parachuted out of the rear stairway of the airplane he had hijacked over the Pacific Northwest and disappeared.
- November 24
Washington (state)
During a severe thunderstorm over Washington state, a hijacker calling himself Dan Cooper (aka D. B. Cooper) parachutes from a Northwest Orient Airlines plane with $200,000 in ransom money. He has never been found.
- November 28
Wasfi Tal
Wasfi al-Tal, Prime Minister of Jordan, is assassinated by the Black September unit of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
- November 28
Tsilhqotʼin
Fred Quilt, a leader of the Tsilhqot'in First Nation suffers severe abdominal injuries allegedly caused by Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers; he dies two days later.
- November 30
Pahlavi dynasty
Iran seizes the Greater and Lesser Tunbs from the Emirates of Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah.
December
- December 1
Croatian Spring
A period of political and economic reforms in the Socialist Republic of Croatia came to an end as the League of Communists of Yugoslavia decided to purge the state's reformist leadership.
- December 2
Emirate of Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, Dubai, and Umm al-Quwain form the United Arab Emirates.
- December 3
Pakistan Air Force
With the Pakistani Air Force launching the unsuccessful pre-emptive airstrikes on several forward Indian Air Force airbases and radar installations, the 1971 India-Pakistan War begins and India also joins the Bangladesh Liberation War, siding with Bangladesh.
- December 4
India–Pakistan war of 1971
Indo-Pakistani War: The Indian Navy launched a successful attack against the Pakistan Navy at Karachi, sinking three ships with no Indian casualties.
- December 4
The Troubles
The Troubles: The Ulster Volunteer Force, an Ulster-loyalist paramilitary group, detonated a bomb at a Catholic-owned pub in Belfast, Northern Ireland, killing 15 people.
- December 5
Battle of Gazipur
Battle of Gazipur: Pakistani forces are defeated as India cedes Gazipur to Bangladesh.
- December 6
India–Pakistan war of 1971
Pakistan severs diplomatic relations with India, initiating the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
- December 7
Battle of Sylhet
The Battle of Sylhet is fought between the Pakistani military and the Indian Army.
- December 9
India–Pakistan war of 1971
Indo-Pakistani War: The Indian Air Force executes an airdrop of Indian Army units, bypassing Pakistani defences.
- December 14
Bangladesh Liberation War
Bangladesh Liberation War: Over 200 of East Pakistan's intellectuals are executed by the Pakistan Army and their local allies. (The date is commemorated in Bangladesh as Martyred Intellectuals Day.)
- December 16
Bahrain
The United Kingdom recognizes Bahrain's independence, which is commemorated annually as Bahrain's National Day.
- December 16
Bangladesh Liberation War
Bangladesh Liberation War and Indo-Pakistani War of 1971: The surrender of the Pakistan Army brings an end to both conflicts. This is commemorated annually as Victory Day in Bangladesh and Vijay Diwas in India respectively.
- December 16
Pakistan
The surrender of Pakistani forces in Dacca, East Pakistan, concluded the Bangladesh Liberation War and the India-Pakistan War.
- December 24
LANSA Flight 508
LANSA Flight 508 is struck by lightning and crashes in the Puerto Inca District in the Department of Huánuco in Peru, killing 91.
- December 25
Daeyeonggak Hotel fire
A fire at the Daeyeonggak Hotel in Seoul, South Korea kills 164 people.
Questions about 1971
What happened in 1971?
This site records 128 entries for 1971, including 1971 Ibrox disaster on January 2. They are listed below by date.
How long ago was 1971?
55 years ago, counting from 2026. Anyone born in 1971 turns 55 this year.
Which century is 1971 in?
1971 falls in the 20th century, in the 1970s.
Which generation was born in 1971?
Generation X (1965–1980). The latch-key generation; first to grow up with personal computers.
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