What happened in 1974

World3

• Feb 8After a record 84 days in orbit, the crew of Skylab 4 returns to Earth.
• Mar 18End of five-month oil embargo by most OPEC nations against the United States, Europe, and Japan which had caused the 1973 oil crisis.
• Jun 29Isabel Perón is sworn in as the first female President of Argentina, replacing her sick husband Juan Perón, who dies 2 days later.

Japan1

• Aug 30The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries building in Tokyo is bombed by radical far-left terrorists, killing 8 and wounding more than 376.

North America7

• Apr 3An enormous tornado outbreak strikes the central parts of the United States, killing around 319 and injuring about 5,484.
• Apr 5Carrie, the debut novel by Stephen King, is published.
• May 4The Expo '74 world's fair opens in Spokane, Washington.
• Aug 8U.S. President Richard Nixon announces his resignation on August 8, effective at noon on August 9.
• Sep 8President Gerald Ford signs Proclamation 4311, granting a full and unconditional pardon to Richard Nixon, his predecessor.
• Nov 16Arecibo message: The radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory on Puerto Rico sends an interstellar radio message towards Messier 13, the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules. The message will reach its destination around the year 27,000.
• Dec 1Two Boeing 727s, TWA Flight 514 and Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 6231, crash on the same day in the Eastern United States resulting in a combined deaths of 95 people.

Europe19

• Mar 3Turkish Airlines Flight 981, travelling from Paris to London, crashes in the woods near Paris, killing all 346 aboard. This was the deadliest aircraft accident in history up to this time, and remains the deadliest single aircraft accident with no survivors.
• Apr 6Swedish pop group ABBA's song "Waterloo" wins the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton, England, UK.
• Apr 25Carnation Revolution: A left-wing military coup in Portugal restores democracy, ending 41 years of the Estado Novo dictatorship in the country. Portuguese Prime Minister Marcelo Caetano flees to Brazil and is granted political asylum by Brazilian President Ernesto Geisel.
• May 17The Troubles: The Dublin and Monaghan bombings are carried out by the Ulster Volunteer Force, when they explode four car bombs in counties Dublin and Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland. The attacks kill 33 civilians and wound almost 300, the highest number of casualties in any single event during the conflict.
• Jul 7West Germany beats the Netherlands 2–1 to win the 1974 FIFA World Cup. The West German football team is awarded the new FIFA World Cup Trophy.
• Jul 15The Greek military junta sponsors a coup d'état in Cyprus, replacing President Makarios III with Nikos Sampson. On that same day, reporter Christine Chubbuck commits suicide for the first-time-ever on live television.
• Jul 20The Turkish invasion of Cyprus occurs.
• Jul 23The Greek military junta is replaced by a civilian government, the metapolitefsi.
• Sep 8TWA Flight 841 crashes into the Ionian Sea 18 minutes after takeoff from Athens on an Israel–New York flight after a bomb explodes in the cargo hold, and kills 88 people.
• Nov 1The World Tourism Organization (WTO) is established.
• Nov 17The 1974 Greek legislative election, the first election since the fall of the Greek junta of 1967–1974, is held and the newly formed New Democracy party wins 220 of 300 seats in the Hellenic Parliament.
• Nov 18The International Energy Agency is founded.
• Nov 21Birmingham pub bombings: In Birmingham, England, two pubs are bombed, killing 21 people in an attack widely believed at the time to be linked to the Provisional Irish Republican Army. The Birmingham Six are later sentenced to life in prison for this, but their convictions are quashed after a lengthy campaign.
• Dec 81974 Greek republic referendum: Greeks vote in a 2 to 1 margin to reject the monarchy, solidifying the country's republican form of government.
• Rubik's Cube puzzle is invented by Hungarian architecture professor Ernő Rubik.

4 more in the app

Asia3

• Jan 31The People's Republic of China released Gerald Emil Kosh, a U.S. civilian captured during the Battle of the Paracel Islands.
• May 11A violent 7.1 earthquake shakes the Chinese city of Zhaotong causing between 1,600 and 20,000 deaths.
• May 18Nuclear weapons testing: Under Project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon, becoming the 6th nation to do so.

Middle East3

• Jan 31Two members of the Japanese Red Army (JRA) and two members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) made a failed attempt to blow up oil tanks at the Shell oil refinery complex on Pulau Bukom at Singapore. The terrorists then hijacked the ferry Laju and took its five crew members hostage.
• Apr 11The Kiryat Shmona massacre takes place in Israel.
• Aug 14Turkey invades Cyprus for the second time, occupying 37% of the island's territory.

Latin America2

• Feb 1Fire breaks out in the Joelma Building in São Paulo, Brazil; 177 die, 293 are injured, 11 die later of their injuries.
• Jun 27The head of the Chilean Military Junta, Army General Augusto Pinochet, assumes the office of "Supreme Chief of the Nation". On December 17, via a Supreme Decree amendment, he will be formally designated President of Chile.

Africa4

• Sep 10The Portuguese military junta grants independence to Guinea-Bissau.
• Sep 12African Youth Amílcar Cabral is founded in Guinea-Bissau.
• Sep 12Ethiopian Revolution: Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia is deposed by the Derg, bringing an end to the Solomonic dynasty's rule since 1270. The Ethiopian Civil War begins.
• Nov 20Lufthansa Flight 540 crashes in Nairobi, Kenya, due to a mechanical failure, killing 59 of its 157 occupants.

Oceania1

• Dec 24Darwin, Australia is almost completely destroyed by Cyclone Tracy.