What happened in 1978

68 events　World 4, Japan 2, North America 12, Europe 15, USSR / Russia 4, Asia 7, Middle East 6, Latin America 7, Africa 5, Oceania 6

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Highlights of 1978

World4

  • Mar 22Karl Wallenda of The Flying Wallendas dies, after falling off a tight-rope between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
  • Aug 12The Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People's Republic of China is concluded.
  • Sep 17The Camp David Accords are signed between Israel and Egypt.
  • Oct 10A massive short circuit in Seasat's electrical system ends the satellite's scientific mission.

Japan2

  • JulTaito's Space Invaders is released in Japan. It quickly becomes one of the most successful video games of all time, both critically and commercially.
  • Dec 16The Mystery of Mamo is released in cinemas in Japan.

North America12

  • Feb 2the Reunion Tower opens in Dallas Texas.
  • Feb 11Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314, a Boeing 737-200, crashes in Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada, killing 44 of the 50 people on board.
  • Apr 2Dallas debuts on CBS, and gives birth to the modern day primetime soap opera.
  • Apr 3The 50th Academy Awards are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, with Annie Hall winning Best Picture.
  • Jun 19Garfield's first comic strip, originally published locally as Jon in 1976, goes into nationwide syndication.
  • Jun 25The rainbow flag of the LGBT movement flies for the first time (in its original form) at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade.
  • Aug 17Double Eagle II becomes the first balloon to successfully cross the Atlantic Ocean, flying from Presque Isle, Maine, to Miserey, France.
  • Sep 5Camp David Accords: Hosted by U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Israel's Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egypt's President Anwar Sadat met at Camp David in Maryland to discuss a peace agreement between the two nations.
  • Sep 25PSA Flight 182, a Boeing 727, collides with a small private airplane and crashes in San Diego, California; 144 are killed.
  • Oct 2Mommie Dearest, written by Christina Crawford that discusses her adoptive mother Joan Crawford's abusive nature, is published. It is the first celebrity tell-all memoir.
  • Nov 27Moscone-Milk assassinations: San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk are assassinated by disgruntled former Supervisor Dan White.
  • Dec 4Dianne Feinstein succeeds the murdered George Moscone, to become the first woman mayor of San Francisco; she will remain in office until January 8, 1988.

Europe15

  • Mar 8The first radio episode of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams, is transmitted on BBC Radio 4.
  • Mar 11Claude François, French entertainer born 1939, dies by electrocution in his home in Paris.
  • Mar 16Former Italian Premier Aldo Moro is kidnapped by the Red Brigades; 5 bodyguards are killed.
  • Apr 22Izhar Cohen & the Alphabeta win the Eurovision Song Contest 1978 for Israel with their song A-Ba-Ni-Bi.
  • May 9In Rome, the corpse of former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro, is found in a red Renault 4.
  • May 12A group of mercenaries, led by Bob Denard, oust Ali Soilih in the Comoros; ten local soldiers are killed. Denard forms a new government.
  • Jul 11At least 217 tourists die in an explosion of a tanker-truck at a campsite in Costa Daurada, Spain.
  • Aug 26Pope John Paul I succeeds Pope Paul VI as the 263rd Pope.
  • Sep 7In London, UK, a poison-filled pellet, supposedly injected using an umbrella, fatally poisons Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov; he dies four days later.
  • Sep 28Pope John Paul I dies after only 33 days as the Roman Catholic Pontiff.
  • Sep 30Finnair Flight 405 aircraft is hijacked by Aarno Lamminparras in Oulu, Finland.
  • Oct 16Pope John Paul II succeeds Pope John Paul I as the 264th pope, resulting in the first Year of Three Popes since 1605. He is the first Polish pope in history, and the first non-Italian pope since Pope Adrian VI (1522–1523).
  • Nov 28:00 pm – The Republic of Ireland's second television channel RTÉ 2 goes on air (renamed Network 2, 1988; RTÉ Network Two, 1995; N2, 1997; and RTÉ Two in 2004).
  • Dec 6Spanish transition to democracy: The Spanish Constitution officially restores the country's democratic government.
  • Dec 27The Constitution of Spain is approved in a referendum, officially ending 40 years of military dictatorship.

USSR / Russia4

  • Jan 24Soviet satellite Kosmos 954 burns up in Earth's atmosphere, scattering radioactive debris over Canada's Northwest Territories.
  • Mar 2Soyuz 28 (Aleksei Gubarev, Vladimír Remek) is launched on a rendezvous with Salyut 6, with the first cosmonaut from a country other than the US or USSR (Czechoslovak Vladimír Remek).
  • Mar 10Soyuz 28 lands.
  • Apr 14Thousands of Georgians demonstrate against an attempt by Soviet authorities to change the constitutional status of the Georgian language.

Asia7

  • Jan 1Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213.
  • Apr 18The Khmer Rouge massacres 3,157 civilians in Ba Chúc, Vietnam.
  • Apr 20A Soviet air defense plane shoots down Korean Air Lines Flight 902; the plane makes an emergency landing on a frozen lake.
  • Sep 8Iranian Army troops open fire on rioters in Tehran, killing 122, wounding over 200.
  • Oct 5Brother Eddie Villanueva and 15 others from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines begin the Jesus Is Lord Church.
  • Dec 22The pivotal Third Plenum of the 11th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party is held in Beijing, with Deng Xiaoping reversing Mao-era policies to pursue the reform and opening up.
  • Dec 25Vietnam launches a major offensive against the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia.

Middle East6

  • Feb 19Egyptian raid on Larnaca International Airport: Egyptian Special Forces attempt to rescue several hostages in Larnaca, Cyprus; 20 Egyptian commandos are injured or killed.
  • Mar 11Coastal Road massacre: Palestinian terrorists kill 34 Israelis.
  • Mar 14Operation Litani: Israeli forces invade Lebanon.
  • Apr 27Saur Revolution – Afghanistan's president Mohammad Daoud Khan and his family are murdered; Nur Muhammad Taraki succeeds him, beginning the Afghan conflict.
  • Apr 30The "Democratic Republic of Afghanistan" is proclaimed, under pro-communist leader Nur Muhammad Taraki.
  • Sep 16The 7.4 Tabas earthquake killed at least 15,000 people in the city of Tabas in Iran. The quake was measured with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent).

Latin America7

  • Jan 10Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, a critic of the Nicaraguan government, is assassinated; riots erupt against Somoza's government.
  • Apr 22The One Love Peace Concert is held at National Heroes Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica.
  • Jun 1The 1978 FIFA World Cup starts in Argentina.
  • Jun 25Argentina defeats the Netherlands 3–1 after extra time to win the 1978 FIFA World Cup.
  • Nov 3Dominica gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
  • Nov 18In Guyana, Jim Jones leads his Peoples Temple cult in a mass murder–suicide in his commune, Jonestown, that claims 918 lives in all, 909 of them at Jonestown itself, including over 270 children. Representative Leo J. Ryan is assassinated by members of Peoples Temple shortly beforehand.
  • Dec 22Argentina begins Operation Soberanía against Chile, but Argentinian forces quickly withdraw.

Africa5

  • Mar 15Somalia and Ethiopia sign a truce to end the Ethio-Somali War.
  • May 4South African Border War: The Battle of Cassinga occurs in southern Angola.
  • May 12Shaba II: In Zaire, rebels occupy the city of Kolwezi, the mining centre of the province of Shaba. The Zairean government asks the U.S., France and Belgium to restore order.
  • May 29Ali Soilih is found dead in the Comoros, allegedly shot when trying to escape.
  • Aug 22Kenya's first president and founding father, Jomo Kenyatta, dies aged 89 in Mombasa.

Oceania6

  • Feb 13Sydney Hilton Hotel bombing: A bomb explodes outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, killing a policeman and two civilians, and injuring several other people.
  • Jul 7The Solomon Islands become independent from the United Kingdom.
  • Sep 19The Solomon Islands join the United Nations.
  • Oct 1Tuvalu becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
  • Oct 20The first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is held as a protest march and commemoration of the Stonewall riots.
  • Oct 21Australian civilian pilot Frederick Valentich vanishes in a Cessna 182 Skylane over the Bass Strait south of Melbourne, after reporting contact with an unidentified aircraft.