What happened in 1980

World3

• Feb 4Abolhassan Banisadr is sworn in as the first President of Iran after winning the January 25 presidential election.
• Feb 16A total solar eclipse is seen in North Africa and West Asia. It was the 50th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 130.
• Apr 1The Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC) is formed in Lusaka, Zambia.

Japan1

• May 22Namco's Pac-Man, the highest-earning arcade game of all time, is released in Japan.

North America10

• Jan 4U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission.
• Feb 13The 1980 Winter Olympics open in Lake Placid, New York.
• Feb 22The US upset the USSR in the Olympics, a hockey game known as the Miracle on Ice. They then proceeded to defeat Finland to secure their first of two gold medals since 1960.
• Mar 21U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces that the United States will boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
• May 18The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington (state) kills 57 and causes US$3 billion in damage.
• May 201980 Quebec referendum: Voters in Quebec reject, by a vote of 60%, a proposal to seek independence from Canada.
• Jun 1The first 24-hour news channel, Cable News Network (CNN), is launched.
• Jun 27U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs Proclamation 4771, requiring 18- to 25-year-old males to register for a peacetime military draft, in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
• Nov 41980 United States presidential election: Republican challenger and former Governor Ronald Reagan of California defeats incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter and is elected the 40th President of the United States.
• Dec 8Murder of John Lennon: Mark David Chapman is arrested following the murder of English musician John Lennon, formerly of the Beatles, outside his New York City apartment building, The Dakota.

Europe17

• Mar 14LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007 crashes during an emergency landing near Warsaw, Poland, killing a 14-man American boxing team and 73 others.
• Apr 14Iron Maiden's debut self-titled album Iron Maiden is released in the U.K.
• Apr 25Dan-Air Flight 1008 crashes in Tenerife, killing all 146 occupants; at the time it was the worst air disaster involving a British-registered aircraft in terms of loss of life.
• Apr 30Iranian Embassy siege: Six Iranian-born terrorists take over the Iranian embassy in London, England. SAS retakes the Embassy on May 5; one terrorist survives.
• May 4Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito dies. The largest state funeral in history is organized, with state delegations from 128 different countries out of 154 UN members at the time.
• Jun 27Itavia Flight 870 crashes into the sea near Ustica island, Italy, killing all 81 people on board. The cause of the accident remains unclear.
• Aug 2Strage di Bologna: A terrorist bombing at the Bologna Centrale railway station in Italy kills 85 people and wounds more than 200.
• Aug 31Victory of the strike in Gdańsk Shipyard, Poland. The Gdańsk Agreement is signed, opening a way to start the first free (i.e. not state-controlled) trade union in the communist bloc, "Solidarity" (Solidarność).
• Sep 5The Gotthard Road Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel, at, stretching from Göschenen to Airolo beneath the Gotthard Pass.
• Sep 17After weeks of strikes at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland, the nationwide independent trade union Solidarity is established.
• Sep 26Oktoberfest bombing: 13 people are killed and 211 injured in a right-wing terror attack in Munich (West Germany).
• Oct 25Proceedings on the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction conclude at The Hague.
• Oct 31The Polish government recognizes Solidarity.
• Nov 23The 6.9 Irpinia earthquake shakes southern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). Officially, there were 2,483 people killed and 8,934 injured, though the deaths may have been as high as 4,900.
• Dec 15The Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (Academy of the Asturian language) is created.

2 more in the app

USSR / Russia1

• Jul 19The 1980 Summer Olympics are held in Moscow, Soviet Union. As 82 countries boycott the Games, athletes from 16 of them participate under a neutral flag.

Asia4

• May 18Gwangju Uprising: Students in Gwangju, South Korea, begin demonstrations, calling for democratic reforms.
• Jun 23Sanjay Gandhi, the politically influential son of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, is killed in a plane crash.
• Oct 14The 6th Congress of the Workers' Party ends, having anointed North Korean President Kim Il Sung's son Kim Jong Il as his successor.
• Oct 31Reza Pahlavi, eldest son of the Shah of Iran, proclaims himself the rightful successor to the Peacock Throne.

Middle East10

• Jan 9In Saudi Arabia, 63 Islamist insurgents are beheaded for their part in the siege of the Great Mosque in Mecca in November 1979.
• Jan 27Canadian Caper: Six United States diplomats, posing as Canadians, manage to escape from Tehran, Iran, as they board a flight to Zürich, Switzerland, on Swissair.
• Feb 23Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament will decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.
• Apr 7The United States severs diplomatic relations with Iran and imposes economic sanctions, following the taking of American hostages on November 4, 1979.
• Apr 24Operation Eagle Claw, a commando mission in Iran to rescue American embassy hostages, is aborted after mechanical problems ground the rescue helicopters. Eight United States troops are killed in a mid-air collision during the failed operation.
• Jul 19Former Turkish Prime Minister Nihat Erim is killed by two gunmen in Istanbul, Turkey.
• Jul 30Israel's Knesset passes the Jerusalem Law.
• Aug 19In one of aviation's worst disasters, 301 people are killed when Saudia Flight 163 catches fire in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
• Sep 12Kenan Evren stages a military coup in Turkey. It stops political gang violence, but begins stronger state violence leading to the execution of many young activists.
• Sep 22The command council of Iraq orders its army to "deliver its fatal blow on Iranian military targets", initiating the Iran–Iraq War.

Latin America7

• Jan 31Burning of the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala: The Spanish Embassy in Guatemala is invaded and set on fire, killing 36 people. In the United States, it is dubbed "Spain's own Tehran".
• Feb 27M-19 guerrillas begin the Dominican embassy siege in Colombia, holding 60 people hostage, including 14 ambassadors.
• Apr 27The Dominican embassy siege in Colombia ends with all remaining hostages released after the guerrillas are allowed to escape to Cuba.
• May 14The Sumpul River massacre occurs in Chalatenango, El Salvador.
• May 17Internal conflict in Peru: On the eve of presidential elections, Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path attacks a polling location in the town of Chuschi, Ayacucho.
• Aug 4Hurricane Allen (category 5) pounds Haiti, where it kills more than 200 people.
• Dec 2A missionary (Jean Donovan) and three Roman Catholic nuns (Maura Clarke, Ita Ford, Dorothy Kazel), all Americans, are murdered by a military death squad in El Salvador while doing charity work during that country's civil war.

Africa5

• Mar 4Robert Mugabe is elected Prime Minister of Zimbabwe.
• Apr 121980 Liberian coup d'état: Samuel K. Doe overthrows the government of Liberia in a violent coup d'état, executing President William Tolbert and ending over 130 years of democratic presidential succession in that country.
• Apr 18Zimbabwe gains de jure independence from the United Kingdom with Robert Mugabe as its first Prime Minister.
• Sep 3Zimbabwe breaks diplomatic and consular relations with South Africa, even though it maintains a commercial mission in Johannesburg.
• Oct 10The 7.1 El Asnam earthquake shakes northern Algeria with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 2,633–5,000 and injuring 8,369–9,000.

Oceania4

• Feb 15In Vanuatu, followers of John Frum's cargo cult on the island of Tanna declare secession as the nation of Tafea.
• May 26John Frum supporters in Vanuatu storm government offices on the island of Tanna. Vanuatu government troops land the next day and drive them away.
• Jul 30Vanuatu gains independence.
• Aug 17In Australia, baby Azaria Chamberlain disappears from a campsite at Ayers Rock (Uluru), reportedly taken by a dingo.