1975 In East Germany

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

* January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are found guilty of the Watergate cover-up.
* January 2
** The Federal Rules of Evidence are approved by the United States Congress.
** Bangladesh revolutionary leader Siraj Sikder is killed by police while in custody.
** A bomb blast at Samastipur, Bihar, India, fatally wounds Lalit Narayan Mishra, Minister of Railways.
* January 5 – Tasman Bridge disaster: The Tasman Bridge in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, is struck by the bulk ore carrier , killing 12 people.
* January 7 – OPEC agrees to raise crude oil prices by 10%.
* January 10– February 9 – The flight of ''Soyuz 17'' with the crew of Georgy Grechko and Aleksei Gubarev aboard the ''Salyut 4'' space station.
* January 15 – Alvor Agreement: Portugal announces that it will grant independence to Angola on November 11.
* January 19 – The 6.8 Kinnaur earthquake affected Himachal Pradesh in India with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''), killing 47.
* January 20
** In Hanoi, North Vietnam, the Politburo approves the final military offensive against South Vietnam.
** Work is abandoned on the British end of the Channel Tunnel.
* January 24 – Jazz pianist Keith Jarrett plays the solo improvisation '' The Köln Concert'' at the Cologne Opera. The live recording becomes the best-selling piano recording in history.

February

* February 4 – The Haicheng earthquake, the first successfully predicted earthquake, kills 2,041 and injures 27,538 in Haicheng, Liaoning, China.
* February 5 – The Argentinian president Isabel Perón decrees Operativo Independencia, aiming to neutralize or annihilate the "subversive elements" in the province of Tucuman. Isabelita takes advantage to take a self-coup and assume 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.
** Colonel Richard Ratsimandrava, President of Madagascar, is assassinated.
* February 13 – A "Turkish Federated State of North Cyprus" is declared as an unsuccessful first step to international recognition of a Turkish Cypriot separatist state in Cyprus.
* February 21 – Watergate scandal: Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell, and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, are sentenced to between 30 months and 8 years in prison.
* 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.
** 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 Football League Cup at Wembley, beating Norwich City 1–0 in the final.
** Australian television switches to full-time colour.
* March 4 – A Canadian parliamentary committee is televised for the first time.
* March 6
** Algiers Accord: Iran and Iraq announce a settlement in their border dispute.
** A bomb explodes in the Paris offices of the Springer Press. The March 6 Group (connected to the Red Army Faction) demands amnesty for the Baader-Meinhof Group.
* March 8 – The United Nations proclaims International Women's Day.
* March 9 – Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins.
* March 10
** Vietnam War: North Vietnamese troops attack Ban Mê Thuột, South Vietnam, on their way to capturing Saigon.
** An extended portion of '' Sanyō Shinkansen'' between Okayama Station and Hakata Station opens, thus making Shinkansen reach the second island, Kyushu, Japan.
* March 11 – The leftist military government in Portugal defeats a rightist coup attempt in head of the former president António de Spínola.
* 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, text by Will Luikinga and Eddy Ouwens) wins the 20th Eurovision Song Contest 1975 for the Netherlands.
* March 25 – King Faisal of Saudi Arabia is shot and killed by his nephew.
* 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 (now Croatia), kills 25 people.
* March 31 – Süleyman Demirel of AP forms the new government of Turkey (39th government), a four-party coalition, so-called First National Front ( tr, Milliyetçi cephe, links=no)).

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 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

* April 5 – The Soviet manned 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
** Asia's first professional basketball league, the Philippine Basketball Association, plays its first game at the Araneta Coliseum.
** Eight people in South Korea, who are involved in the People's Revolutionary Party Incident, are hanged.

* 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 genocide.
* April 19 – Nico Diederichs becomes the 3rd State President of South Africa.Archontology.org: A Guide for Study of Historical Offices: South Africa: Heads of State: 1961–1994
(Accessed on April 14, 2017)
* April 20 – Taman Mini Indonesia Indah opens to the public in Jakarta, Indonesia.
* April 24 – 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 (See West German Embassy siege).
* 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 – The Vietnam War ends with the Fall of Saigon: The Vietnam War concludes as Communist forces from North Vietnam take 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 2 – The Khmer Rouge raids several Vietnamese towns, which eventually leads to the Cambodian–Vietnamese War.
* May 3 – West Ham United wins the FA Cup at Wembley, beating Fulham 2–0 in the final. Both goals are scored by Alan Taylor. West Ham legend Bobby Moore, appears for Fulham.
* 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, race.
* May 27 – The Dibbles Bridge coach crash near Grassington, North Yorkshire, UK, results in 32 deaths (the highest ever 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 7 - June 21 – The first ever Cricket World Cup, 1975 Cricket World Cup is held in England with West Indies defeating Australia in the final.
* 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.
** Sydney newspaper publisher Juanita Nielsen disappears, and is presumed to have been murdered.
* 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 manned American Apollo spacecraft and the manned Soviet Soyuz spacecraft for the '' Soyuz 19'' mission dock in orbit, marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the 2 nations.

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. In response, the United States, Zaire and Zambia request South Africa to provide training and support for the FNLA and UNITA forces.
* 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 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.
* September 6 – An earthquake of magnitude 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 27 – Francoist Spain executes five ETA and FRAP members, the last executions in Spain to date.
* September 30 – The Hughes Helicopters (later McDonnell-Douglas, now Boeing IDS) AH-64 Apache makes its first flight.

October

* October 1 – ''Thrilla in Manila'': Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in a boxing match in Manila, Philippines.
* 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.Malan, Magnus (2006). ''My lewe saam met die SA Weermag'' (1st ed.). Pretoria: Protea Boekhuis. p. 121. .
** An RAF Avro Vulcan bomber explodes and crashes over Żabbar, Malta after an aborted landing, killing five crew members and one person on the ground.
* 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.Image caption of U.S. Centers for Disease Controlbr>Public Health Image LibraryC image number 7762

* 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 Spain's transition to democracy.
* October 31
** The Racial Discrimination Act 1975 takes effect in Australia.
** Tun Mustapha resigned 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.
* 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 Jews around the world. It is repealed in 1991.
** The -long freighter sinks during a storm 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 USSR.
* November 11
** Angola becomes independent from Portugal and civil war erupts.
** Australian constitutional crisis of 1975: Governor-General of Australia