1971

1971 in various calendars
Gregorian calendar	1971; MCMLXXI
Ab urbe condita	2724
Armenian calendar	1420; ԹՎ ՌՆԻ
Assyrian calendar	6721
Bahá'í calendar	127–128
Balinese saka calendar	1892–1893
Bengali calendar	1378
Berber calendar	2921
British Regnal year	19 Eliz. 2 – 20 Eliz. 2
Buddhist calendar	2515
Burmese calendar	1333
Byzantine calendar	7479–7480
Chinese calendar	庚戌年 (Metal Dog); 4667 or 4607; — to —; 辛亥年 (Metal Pig); 4668 or 4608
Coptic calendar	1687–1688
Discordian calendar	3137
Ethiopian calendar	1963–1964
Hebrew calendar	5731–5732
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	2027–2028
- Shaka Samvat	1892–1893
- Kali Yuga	5071–5072
Holocene calendar	11971
Igbo calendar	971–972
Iranian calendar	1349–1350
Islamic calendar	1390–1391
Japanese calendar	Shōwa 46; (昭和４６年)
Javanese calendar	1902–1903
Juche calendar	60
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4304
Minguo calendar	ROC 60; 民國60年
Nanakshahi calendar	503
Thai solar calendar	2514
Tibetan calendar	阳金狗年; (male Iron-Dog); 2097 or 1716 or 944; — to —; 阴金猪年; (female Iron-Pig); 2098 or 1717 or 945
Unix time	31536000 – 63071999

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	19th century ; 20th century ; 21st century ;
Decades:	1950s ; 1960s ; 1970s ; 1980s ; 1990s ;
Years:	1968 ; 1969 ; 1970 ; 1971 ; 1972 ; 1973 ; 1974 ;

Last updated August 24, 2019

1971 ( MCMLXXI ) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar , the 1971st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 971st year of the 2nd millennium , the 71st year of the 20th century , and the 2nd year of the 1970s decade. The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6).

Roman numerals Numbers in the Roman numeral system

Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers in this system are represented by combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet. Modern usage employs seven symbols, each with a fixed integer value:

A common year is a calendar year with 365 days, as distinguished from a leap year, which has 366. More generally, a common year is one without intercalation. The Gregorian calendar,, employs both common years and leap years to keep the calendar aligned with the tropical year, which does not contain an exact number of days.

A common year starting on Friday is any non-leap year that begins on Friday, 1 January, and ends on Friday, 31 December. Its dominical letter hence is C. The most recent year of such kind was 2010 and the next one will be 2021 in the Gregorian calendar, or, likewise, 2011 and 2022 in the obsolete Julian calendar. The century year, 2100, will also be a common year starting on Friday in the Gregorian calendar. See below for more. Any common year that starts on Wednesday, Friday or Saturday has only one Friday the 13th; The only Friday the 13th in this common year occurs in August. Leap years starting on Thursday share this characteristic, but also have another one in February.

Events

January

January 2
- Ibrox disaster: A stairway crush at the Rangers vs. Celtic football match in Glasgow, Scotland, kills 66.
- A ban on radio and television cigarette advertisements goes into effect in the United States.^[2]
Glasgow is the most populous city in Scotland, and the third most populous city in the United Kingdom, as of the 2017 estimated city population of 621,020. Historically part of Lanarkshire, the city now forms the Glasgow City council area, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland; the local authority is Glasgow City Council. Glasgow is situated on the River Clyde in the country's West Central Lowlands. It is the fifth most visited city in the UK.
A cigarette, also known colloquially as a fag in British English, is a narrow cylinder containing psychoactive material, usually tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. Most cigarettes contain a "reconstituted tobacco" product known as "sheet", which consists of "recycled [tobacco] stems, stalks, scraps, collected dust, and floor sweepings", to which are added glue, chemicals and fillers; the product is then sprayed with nicotine that was extracted from the tobacco scraps, and shaped into curls. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opposite end. Most modern cigarettes are filtered, although this does not make them safer. Cigarette manufacturers have described cigarettes as a drug administration system for the delivery of nicotine in acceptable and attractive form. Cigarettes are addictive and cause cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease, and other health problems.
January 3 – BBC Open University begins in the United Kingdom.
January 5 – The first ever One Day International cricket match is played between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
January 8 – Tupamaros kidnap Geoffrey Jackson, British ambassador to Uruguay, in Montevideo, keeping him captive until September.
January 9 – Uruguayan president Jorge Pacheco Areco demands emergency powers for 90 days due to kidnappings, and receives them the next day.
January 12 – The landmark television sitcom All in the Family , starring Carroll O'Connor as Archie Bunker, debuts on CBS.
January 14 – Seventy Brazilian political prisoners are released in Santiago, Chile; Giovanni Enrico Bucher is released January 16.
January 15 – The Aswan High Dam officially opens in Egypt.
January 17 – The Baltimore Colts defeat the Dallas Cowboys 16-13 in Super Bowl V to win the National Football League championship. The Colts scored the winning points on a 32-yard field goal by Jim O'Brien with five seconds remaining.
January 18
- Strikes in Poland demand the resignation of Interior Minister Kazimierz Świtała. He resigns January 23 and is replaced by Franciszek Szlachcic.
- Ivan Koloff defeats Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship ending a Seven and two thirds years reign. (the longest in the Championships history)
Kazimierz Switala was a Polish communist politician. He was the minister of internal affairs from 1968 to 1971, but was forced to resign as a result of the December 1970 massacre of 44 revolting Polish workers. He was a member of the Central Committee of the Polish Communist Party from 1968 to 1971, and the head of the Chancellery of the Sejm of the Polish People's Republic (1972–1986).
Ivan Koloff was a Canadian professional wrestler, best known for once holding the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship. He was known as "The Russian Bear".
Bruno Leopoldo Francesco Sammartino was an Italian-born American professional wrestler, best known for his work with the World Wrestling Federation. There, he held the WWF World Heavyweight Championship for more than 11 years across two reigns, the first of which is the longest single reign in the promotion's history at 2,803 days.
January 19 – Representatives of 23 western oil companies begin negotiations with OPEC in Tehran to stabilize oil prices; February 14 they sign a treaty with 6 Khalij el-Arab countries.
January 24 – The Guinean government sentences to death 92 Guineans who helped Portuguese troops in the failed landing attempts in November 1970; 72 are sentenced to hard labor for life; 58 of the sentenced are hanged the next day.
January 25
- In Uganda, Idi Amin deposes Milton Obote in a coup, and becomes president.
- In Los Angeles, Charles Manson and 3 female "Family" members are found guilty of the 1969 Tate–LaBianca murders.
- Himachal Pradesh becomes the 18th Indian state.
- Intelsat IV (F2) is launched; it enters commercial service over the Atlantic Ocean March 26.
Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a country in East-Central Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, shared with Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda is in the African Great Lakes region. Uganda also lies within the Nile basin, and has a varied but generally a modified equatorial climate.
Idi Amin Dada Oumee was a Ugandan military officer who served as the President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Popularly known as the "Butcher of Uganda," he is considered one of the most brutal despots in world history.
Apollo Milton Obote was a Ugandan political leader who led Uganda to independence in 1962 from British colonial administration. Following the nation's independence, he served as Prime Minister of Uganda from 1962 to 1966 and President of Uganda from 1966 to 1971, then again from 1980 to 1985. He was overthrown by Idi Amin in 1971, but regained power after Amin's 1979 overthrow. His second period of rule was marred by repression and the deaths of many civilians as a result of a civil war known as the Ugandan Bush War.
January 31 – Apollo program: Apollo 14 (carrying astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell) lifts off on the third successful lunar landing mission.

January 2 is the second day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. 363 days remain until the end of the year.

The 1971 Ibrox disaster was a crush among the crowd at an Old Firm football game, which led to 66 deaths and more than 200 injuries. It happened on 2 January 1971 in an exit stairway at Ibrox Park in Glasgow, Scotland. It was the worst British football disaster until the Hillsborough disaster in Sheffield, England, in 1989.

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played with a spherical ball between two teams of eleven players. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies, making it the world's most popular sport. The game is played on a rectangular field called a pitch with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by moving the ball beyond the goal line into the opposing goal.

February

February 4
- In Britain, Rolls-Royce goes bankrupt and is nationalised.
- NASDAQ was founded.
February 5 – Apollo 14 lands on the Moon.
February 6 – The 4.6 Mb Tuscania earthquake shook the Italian province of Viterbo with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), causing 24 deaths, 150 injuries, and extreme damage.
February 7
- Switzerland gives women voting rights in state elections, but not in all canton-specific ones.
- Władysław Gomułka is expelled from the Central Council of the Polish Communist Party.
February 8 – A new stock market index called the Nasdaq Composite debuts.
February 9
- The 6.5–6.7 M_w  Sylmar earthquake hits the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing 64 and injuring 2,000.
- Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro League player to become voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame from the Negro League.
- Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third manned Moon landing.
February 10 – A total lunar eclipse was visible from Pacific, Americas, Europe, Africa, and was the 50th lunar eclipse of Lunar Saros 123.
February 11 – The US, UK, USSR and others sign the Seabed Treaty, outlawing nuclear weapons on the ocean floor.
February 11 – February 12 – Palestinian and Jordanian fighters clash in Amman.
February 13 – Vietnam War: Backed by American air and artillery support, South Vietnamese troops invade Laos.
February 15
- Decimal Day: – The United Kingdom and Ireland both switch to decimal currency (see also decimalisation).
- Protesting Belgian farmers bring 3 live cows to crash the EEC meeting in Brussels.
February 16 – In Italy, a local parliament elects the city of Catanzaro as the capital of Calabria; residents of Reggio di Calabria riot for 5 days because of the decision.
February 20
- Fifty tornadoes rage in Mississippi and Louisiana, killing 74 people.
- The U.S. Emergency Broadcast System sends an erroneous warning, meant to be a standard weekly test conducted by NORAD in Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado; many radio stations just ignore it. The most notorious warning was of WOWO (AM) in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
February 21 – The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.
February 25 – A partial solar eclipse was visible from Europe, Africa, Asia, and was the 18th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 149.
February 26 – Secretary General U Thant signs the United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day.
February 27 – Doctors in the first Dutch abortion clinic (Mildredhuis in Arnhem) start to perform abortus provocatus.
February 28 – Evel Knievel sets a world record and jumps 19 cars in Ontario, California.

February 6: Earthquake in Tuscania, Italy. Tuscania.jpg — February 6: Earthquake in Tuscania, Italy.

February 20: Tornadoes kill 74 in Mississippi. Dszpics1.jpg — February 20: Tornadoes kill 74 in Mississippi.

March

March 1
- A bomb explodes in the men's room at the United States Capitol; the Weather Underground claims responsibility.
- Pakistani President Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan indefinitely postpones the pending National Assembly session, precipitating massive civil disobedience in East Pakistan.
- Canadian John Robarts ends his term of office as the 17th Premier of Ontario.
March 4 – The southern part of Quebec, and especially Montreal, receive 16½" (42 cm) of snow in what becomes known as the Century's Snowstorm (la tempête du siècle).
March 5 – The Pakistani army occupies East Pakistan. In Belfast, a Led Zeppelin show includes the first public performance of Stairway to Heaven, a song from the fourth album.
March 6 – A fire in a mental hospital at Burghölzli, Switzerland, kills 28 people.
March 7
- The British postal workers' strike, led by UPW General Secretary Tom Jackson, ends after 47 days.
- Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, political leader of then East Pakistan (present day-Bangladesh), delivers his famous speech in the Racecourse Field in Dhaka, calling on the masses to be prepared to fight for national independence.
March 8
- The Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI breaks into the Media, Pennsylvania offices of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and removes all the files.
- 'Fight of the Century': Boxer Joe Frazier defeats Muhammad Ali in a 15-round unanimous decision at Madison Square Garden.
March 10 – William McMahon replaces John Gorton as the Liberal/Country Coalition Prime Minister of Australia, after Gorton resigned following a vote of confidence that was tied 33-all.
March 12 – Hafez al-Assad becomes president of Syria.
March 12 – 13 – The Allman Brothers Band plays their legendary concert at the Fillmore East.
March 16 – Trygve Bratteli forms a government in Norway.
March 18 – A landslide at Chungar, Peru crashes into Yanawayin Lake, killing 200.
March 23 – General Alejandro Lanusse of Argentina takes power in a military coup.
March 25 – The Pakistani army starts Operation Searchlight in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) from midnight, after President Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan, a military ruler, voids election results that gave the Awami League an overwhelming majority in the parliament.
March 26
- East Pakistan’s (now Bangladesh) independence is declared by Ziaur Rahman on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and transmitted using East Pakistan Rifles (now Border Guards Bangladesh) radio.^[3]
- Nihat Erim (a former CHP member) forms the new government of Turkey (33rd government, composed mostly of technocrats).
March 27 – East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) independence is repeatedly declared by Army Major (later President of Bangladesh) Ziaur Rahman on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from Kalurghat Radio Station, Chittagong.
March 28 – The Ed Sullivan Show airs its final episode.
March 29
- U.S. Army Lieutenant William Calley is found guilty of 22 murders in the My Lai Massacre and sentenced to life in prison (he is later pardoned).
- A Los Angeles jury recommends the death penalty for Charles Manson and female followers Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten.

April

April 1 – The United Kingdom lifts all restrictions on gold ownership.
April 5
- In Ceylon, a group calling themselves the People's Liberation Front begins a rebellion against the Bandaranaike government.
- Chile and East Germany establish diplomatic relations.
- Mount Etna erupts in Sicily.
April 7 – Greece releases 261 political prisoners, 50 of whom are sent into internal exile.
April 8 – A right-wing coup attempt is exposed in Laos.
April 9 – Charles Manson is sentenced to death; in 1972, the sentence for all California Death Row inmates is commuted to life imprisonment.
April 10 – Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia opens.
April 12 – Palestinians retreat from Amman to the north of Jordan.
April 17
- The People's Republic of Bangladesh forms, under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, at Mujibnagor.
- Libya, Syria and Egypt sign an agreement to form a confederation.
April 19
- The government of Bangladesh flees to India.
- Sierra Leone becomes a republic.
- The Soviet Union launches Salyut 1 .
- Followers of Charles Manson, the Manson Family, are sentenced to the gas chamber.
April 20
- Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education : The Supreme Court of the United States rules unanimously that busing of students may be ordered to achieve racial desegregation.
- Cambodian Prime Minister Lon Nol resigns, but remains effectively in power until the next elections.
April 21
- Siaka Stevens is elected the first president of Sierra Leone.
- François Duvalier, president of Haiti, dies; his son Jean-Claude Duvalier follows him as president-for-life.
April 24
- Soyuz 10 docks with Salyut 1 .
- Five hundred thousand people in Washington, D.C. and 125,000 in San Francisco march in protest against the Vietnam War.
April 25
- Todor Zhivkov is re-elected as the leader of the Bulgarian Communist Party.
- Franz Jonas is re-elected as president of Austria.
April 26 – The government of Turkey declares a state of siege in 11 provinces, Ankara included, due to violent demonstrations.
April 28 – The first number of Il Manifesto is issued in Italy.
April 29 – Bolivia nationalizes the American-owned Matilde zinc mine.
April 30 – The Milwaukee Bucks win the NBA World Championship, sweeping the Baltimore Bullets in 4 straight games.

May

May 1
- Amtrak begins inter-city rail passenger service in the United States.
- The Ceylonese government promises amnesty for those guerillas who surrender before April 5.
May 2 – In Ceylon, left-wing guerillas launch a series of assaults against public buildings.
May 3
- Arsenal F.C. wins the English Division 1 football league championship at the home of their bitter rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, with Ray Kennedy scoring the winner. (Arsenal will go on to win the league and cup 'double' six days later by defeating Liverpool in the FA Cup final).
- The Harris Poll claims that 60% of Americans are against the Vietnam War.
- East German leader Walter Ulbricht resigns as Communist Party leader but retains the position of head of state.
- 1971 May Day Protests: Anti-war militants attempt to disrupt government business in Washington, D.C.; police and military units arrest as many as 12,000, most of whom are later released.
May 5 – The US dollar floods the European currency markets and threatens especially the Deutsche Mark; the central banks of Austria, Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland stop the currency trading.
May 6 – The Ceylon government begins a major offensive against the People's Liberation Front.
May 9
- Arsenal FC beats Liverpool F.C. 2-1 to win the English FA Cup, thus completing the league and cup 'double'.
- Mariner 8 fails to launch.
May 12 – An earthquake in Turkey destroys most of the city of Burdur.
May 15 – Efraim Elrom, Israeli ambassador to Turkey, is kidnapped; he is found killed in Istanbul May 25.
May 16 – A coup attempt is exposed and foiled in Egypt.
May 18
- The U.S. Congress formally votes to end funding for the American Supersonic Transport program.
- The Montréal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Canadiens became only the second team in NHL history to win the Cup in game 7 on the road, and did so after the home team won each of the previous six games in the series. This also marked the last NHL game that the late Jean Béliveau played.
May 19 – Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union.
May 22 – An earthquake lasting 20 seconds destroys most of Bingöl, Turkey – more than 1,000 are killed, 10,000 made homeless.
May 23 – An air crash at Rijeka Airport, Yugoslavia kills 78 people, mostly British tourists.
May 26
- Austria and the People's Republic of China establish diplomatic relations.
- Qantas agrees to pay $500,000 to bomb hoaxer-extortionist Mr. Brown (Peter Macari), who is later arrested.
May 27
- Six armed passengers hijack a Romanian passenger plane and force it to fly to Vienna.
- Christie's auctions a diamond known as Deepdene; it is later found to be artificially colored.
May 28 – Portugal resigns from UNESCO.
May 30 – Mariner program: Mariner 9 is launched toward Mars.
May 31 – The birth of Bangladesh is declared by the government in exile, in territory formerly part of Pakistan.

June

June – Massachusetts passes its Chapter 766 laws enacting Special Education.
June 1 – Vietnam War: Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace, claiming to represent the majority of U.S. veterans who served in Southeast Asia, speak against war protests.
June 6
- Soyuz program: Soyuz 11 (Vladislav Volkov, Georgi Dobrovolski, Viktor Patsayev) is launched.
- A midair collision between Hughes Airwest Flight 706 Douglas DC-9 jetliner and a U.S. Marine Corps McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom jet fighter near Duarte, California, claims 50 lives.
June 10
- The U.S. ends its trade embargo of China.
- Corpus Thursday: A student rally on the streets of Mexico City is roughly dispersed.
June 11 – Neville Bonner becomes the first Indigenous Australian to sit in the Australian Parliament.
June 13
- Vietnam War: The New York Times begins to publish the Pentagon Papers. .
- Gijs van Lennep (The Netherlands) and co-driver Helmut Marko (Austria) win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the Martini Racing Porsche 917K.
June 14 – Norway begins oil production in the North Sea.
June 17
- Representatives of Japan and the United States sign the Okinawa Reversion Agreement, whereby the U.S. will return control of Okinawa.^[4]
- President Richard Nixon declares the U.S. War on Drugs.
June 18 – Southwest Airlines, a low-cost carrier, begins its first flights between Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio.
June 20 – Britain announces that Soviet space scientist Anatoli Fedoseyev has been granted asylum.
June 21 – Britain begins new negotiations for EEC membership in Luxembourg.
June 25 – Madagascar accuses the U.S. of being connected to the plot to oust the government; the U.S. recalls its ambassador.
June 27 – Concert promoter Bill Graham closes the legendary Fillmore East, which first opened on 2nd Avenue (between 5th and 6th Streets) in New York City on March 8, 1968.
June 28 – Assassin Jerome A. Johnson shoots Joe Colombo in the head in a middle of an Italian-American rally, putting him in a coma.
June 30
- After a successful mission aboard Salyut 1 , the world's first manned space station, the crew of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft are killed when their air supply leaks out through a faulty valve.
- New York Times Co. v. United States : The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Pentagon Papers may be published, rejecting government injunctions as unconstitutional prior restraint.
- The classical musical fantasy family film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory , based on the novel Charlie & the Chocolate Factory and starring Gene Wilder and Jack Albertson is released.

July

July – Nordic Council secretariat inaugurated.
July 3 – Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors is found dead in his bathtub in Paris, France.
July 4 – Michael S. Hart posts the first e-book, a copy of the United States Declaration of Independence, on the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign's mainframe computer, the origin of Project Gutenberg.^[5]
July 5 – Right to vote: The 26th Amendment to the United States Constitution, formally certified by President Richard Nixon, lowers the voting age from 21 to 18.
July 6 – Hastings Banda is proclaimed President for Life of Malawi.
July 9 – The United Kingdom increases its troops in Northern Ireland to 11,000.
July 10 – 11 – Coup attempt in Morocco: 1,400 cadets take over the king's palace for three hours and kill 28 people; 158 rebels die when the king's troops storm the palace (ten high-ranking officers are later executed for involvement).
July 10 – Gloria Steinem makes her Address to the Women of America.
July 11 – Copper mines in Chile are nationalized.
July 13
- Ólafur Jóhannesson forms a government in Iceland.
- Jordanian army troops launch an offensive against Palestinian guerillas in Jordan.
- The Yugoslavian government begins allowing foreign companies to take their profits from the country.
- Paced by a prodigious home run by Reggie Jackson, which hits a transformer on the roof of Tiger Stadium, the American League defeats the National League 6-4 in the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Detroit.
July 14 – Libya severs its diplomatic ties with Morocco.
July 15 – American President Richard Nixon announces his 1972 visit to China.
July 17 – Italy and Austria sign a treaty that ends the schism about South Tyrol.
July 18 – The Trucial States are formed in the Persian Gulf.
July 19 – The South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City is topped out at 1,362 feet (415 m), making it the second tallest building in the world.
July 19 – 23 – Major Hashem al-Atta ousts Jaafar Muhammad al-Nimeiri in a military coup in Sudan. Fighting continues until on July 22, when pro-Nimeiri troops win. Al-Atta and three officers are executed.
July 22 – A partial solar eclipse was visible from Asia and North America, and was the 70th and final solar eclipse of Solar Saros 116.
July 24 – Georgina Rizk of Lebanon will be crowned Miss Universe 1971.
July 25 – 30 – Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli records in Munich two Debussy works for Deutsche Grammophon; it's his fifth recording.
July 26 – Apollo 15 (carrying astronauts David Scott, Alfred Worden, and James Irwin) is launched.
July 28 – Abdel Khaliq Mahjub, Sudanese communist leader, is hanged.
July 29 – The United Kingdom opts out of the Space Race, with the cancellation of its Black Arrow launch vehicle.
July 30 – In Japan, an All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 collides with a Japanese fighter jet; 162 people are killed.
July 31 – Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin become the first to ride in the Lunar Roving Vehicle, a day after landing on the Moon.

August

August – Camden, New Jersey erupts in race riots following the beating death of a Puerto Rican motorist by city police. Looting and arson occurred. This is a turning point in Camden's decline to one of the poorest and highest-crime municipalities in the United States. Camden was, however, the site of a 1949 shooting rampage by Howard Unruh, considered by some to be the first mass murderer in the United States. The riots result in the demise of Camden's Sears and A&P branches. Also in 1971, Philadelphia International Records is established, with Camden native Leon Huff as co-founder.
August 1 – In New York City, 40,000 attend The Concert for Bangladesh.
August 2 – J. C. Penney debuts its trademark Helvetica wordmark which has been used ever since.
August 5 – The South Pacific Forum (SPF) is established.
August 6 – A total lunar eclipse lasting 1 hour, 40 minutes, and 4 seconds is observed, was visible from South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and was the 38th lunar eclipse of Lunar Saros 128.
August 7 – Apollo 15 returns to Earth.
August 9
- India signs a 20-year treaty of friendship and cooperation with the Soviet Union.
- Internment in Northern Ireland: British security forces arrest hundreds of nationalists and detain them without trial in Long Kesh prison; 20 people die in the riots that follow.
August 11 – Construction begins on the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans.
August 12
- Three thousand people from Belfast and Derry flee to the Republic of Ireland because of the violence.^{[ citation needed ]}
- Syria severs diplomatic relations with Jordan because of border clashes.
August 14
- British troops are stationed on the Ireland border to stop arms smuggling.
- Bahrain declares independence as the State of Bahrain (As of 2018^[update] officially the Kingdom of Bahrain).
August 15
- Jackie Stewart becomes Formula One World Drivers' Champion in the Tyrrell 003-Cosworth.
- The number of British troops in Northern Ireland is raised to 12,500.
- President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will no longer convert dollars to gold at a fixed value, effectively ending the Bretton Woods system. He also imposes a 90-day freeze on wages, prices and rents.
August 18
- Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.
- British troops are engaged in a firefight with the IRA in Derry, Northern Ireland.
August 19 – 22 – A right-wing coup ignites a rebellion in Bolivia. Miners and students join troops to support president Juan José Torres, but eventually Hugo Banzer takes over.
August 20
- International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Intelsat) (effective February 12, 1973).
- The USS Manatee spills 1,000 US gallons (3,800 L) of fuel oil on President Nixon's Western White House beach in San Clemente, California.
- A partial solar eclipse was visible from Southern Ocean, and was the 4th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 154.
August 21 – A bomb made of two hand grenades by communist rebels explodes in the Liberal Party campaign party in Plaza Miranda in Quiapo, Manila the Philippines, injuring several anti-Marcos political candidates.
August 25
- Border clashes occur between Tanzania and Uganda.
- Bangladesh and eastern Bengal are flooded; thousands flee the area.
August 26 – A civilian government takes power in Greece.
August 30 – The Progressive Conservatives under Peter Lougheed defeat the Social Credit government under Harry E. Strom in a general election, ending 36 years of uninterrupted power for Social Credit in Alberta.

September

September – Operation Sourisak Montry VIII opens when forces of the Royal Thai Army recapture several positions in the territory of Laos on the south bank of the Mekong in response to an encroaching Chinese presence to the north.
September 3
- Qatar gains independence from the United Kingdom. Unlike most nearby emirates, Qatar declines to become part of either the United Arab Emirates or Saudi Arabia.
- Manlio Brosio resigns as NATO Secretary General.
September 4 – A Boeing 727 (Alaska Airlines Flight 1866) crashes into the side of a mountain near Juneau, Alaska, killing all 111 people on board.
September 8 – 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 – 13 – Attica Prison riot: – A revolt breaks out at the maximum-security prison in Attica, New York. In the end, state police and the United States National Guard storm the facility; 42 are killed, 10 of them hostages.
September 17 – Hugo L. Black retires as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States after serving for 34 years, at the time a record for longevity. Black died eight days later.
September 19 – Trams in Ballarat (Victoria, Australia) cease to run.
September 21 – Pakistan declares a state of emergency.
September 24 – Britain expels 90 KGB and GRU officials; 15 are not allowed to return.
September 27 – October 11 – Japanese Emperor Hirohito travels abroad.
September 28 – Cardinal József Mindszenty, who has taken refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Budapest since 1956, is allowed to leave Hungary.
September 29 – A cyclone in the Bay of Bengal, in the Indian state of Odisha, kills 10,000.

October

Over a four-day period, Pink Floyd recorded their groundbreaking film, Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii at the Amphitheatre of Pompeii.
October 1 – Walt Disney World opens in Orlando, Florida.
October 13 – The Pittsburgh Pirates defeat the Baltimore Orioles 4-3 in Game 4 of the World Series at home in the first ever Major League Baseball postseason game played at night. The Pirates defeated the Orioles 2-1 in the decisive Game 7 at Baltimore four days later.
October 14 – Greenpeace is founded in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
October 18 – In New York City, the Knapp Commission begins public hearings on police corruption.

October 21
- U.S. President Richard Nixon nominates Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. and William H. Rehnquist to the U.S. Supreme Court.
- The Clarkston explosion in Scotland kills 22 people.
October 24 – Texas Stadium opens in Irving, Texas. In the inaugural game, the host Dallas Cowboys defeat the New England Patriots 44-21.
October 25 – The United Nations General Assembly admits the People's Republic of China and expels the Republic of China (or Taiwan).
October 27 – The Democratic Republic of the Congo is renamed Zaire.
October 28
- The House of Commons of the United Kingdom votes 356–244 in favour of joining the European Economic Community.
- The United Kingdom becomes the sixth nation successfully to launch a satellite into orbit using its own launch vehicle, the Prospero (X-3) experimental communications satellite, using a Black Arrow carrier rocket from Woomera, South Australia.
- The Khedivial Opera House in Cairo (Egypt) burns down.
October 29 – Vietnam War – Vietnamization: The total number of American troops still in Vietnam drops to a record low of 196,700 (the lowest since January 1966).
October 30 – Rev. Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party is founded in Northern Ireland.
October 31 – A bomb explodes at the top of the Post Office Tower in London.

November

Erin Pizzey establishes the world's first domestic violence shelter in Chiswick, London.^[6]^[7]
November 3 – The UNIX Programmer's Manual is published.
November 6 – Operation Grommet: The U.S. tests a thermonuclear warhead at Amchitka Island in Alaska, code-named Project Cannikin. At around 5 megatons, it is the largest ever U.S. underground detonation.
November 8 – Led Zeppelin releases their fourth studio album Led Zeppelin IV , which goes on to sell 23,000,000 copies in the United States.
November 9 – A Royal Air Force C-130 crashes into the Ligurian Sea near Leghorn, Italy, killing all 51 people on board.
November 10 – In Cambodia, Khmer Rouge forces attack Phnom Penh and its airport, killing 44, wounding at least 30 and damaging 9 airplanes.
November 12 – Vietnam War – Vietnamization: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon sets February 1, 1972, as the deadline for the removal of another 45,000 American troops from Vietnam.
November 13 – Mariner program: Mariner 9 becomes the first spacecraft to enter Mars orbit successfully.
November 14 – Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria is enthroned.
November 15
- Intel releases the world's first microprocessor, the Intel 4004.
- International Organization and System of Space Communications (Intersputnik) (effective July 12, 1972).
November 18 – Oman gains independence from the United Kingdom.
November 20 – A bridge still in construction, called Elevado Engenheiro Freyssinet, falls over the Paulo de Frontin Avenue, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; 48 people are killed and several injured. Reconstructed, the bridge is a part of the Linha Vermelha elevate.
November 22 – In Britain's worst mountaineering tragedy, the Cairngorm Plateau Disaster, five children and one of their leaders are found dead from exposure in the Scottish mountains.
November 23 – The People's Republic of China takes the Republic of China's seat on the United Nations Security Council (see China and the United Nations).
November 24
- During a severe storm over Washington State, a man calling himself D. B. Cooper parachutes from the Northwest Orient Airlines plane he'd hijacked, with US$200,000 in ransom money, and is never seen again (as of March 2008, this case remains the only unsolved skyjacking in history).
- A Brussels court sentences pretender Alexis Brimeyer to 18 months in jail for falsely using a noble title; Brimeyer has already fled to Greece.
November 28 – The 59th Grey Cup Game sees the Calgary Stampeders beat the Toronto Argonauts 14-11.
November 30 – Iranian forces occupy the Persian Gulf islands of Abu Musa (joint occupation by agreement with Sharjah) and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs (taken by force from Ras Al Khaimah).^[8]

December

December 1 – Cambodian Civil War: Khmer Rouge rebels intensify assaults on Cambodian government positions, forcing their retreat from Kompong Thmar and nearby Ba Ray, 10 kilometers northeast of Phnom Penh.
December 2
- Six of the seven Trucial States combine in an act of union to found the United Arab Emirates.
- The Soviet Mars 3 lander reaches the surface of Mars, transmits for a few seconds and then goes silent. It is the first spacecraft to reach the planet.
December 3 – The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 begins with Operation Chengiz Khan as Pakistan launches preemptive attacks on nine Indian airbases. The next day India launches a massive invasion of East Pakistan.
December 3 – 4 – The Pakistani submarine PNS Ghazi (former USS Diablo) sinks mysteriously near the Indian coast while laying mines.
December 4
- The Montreux Casino burns down during a Frank Zappa concert (the event is memorialized in the Deep Purple song "Smoke on the Water"). The casino is rebuilt in 1975.
- The McGurk's Bar bombing by the Ulster Volunteer Force in Belfast kills 15.
December 7 – Battle of Sylhet rages between the Pakistani military and the Mukti Bahini.^[9]
December 8 – U.S. President Richard Nixon orders the 7th Fleet to move towards the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean.
December 10 – The John Sinclair Freedom Rally in support of the imprisoned activist features a performance by John Lennon at Crisler Arena, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
December 11 – Nihat Erim forms the new government of Turkey (34th government; Nihat Erim has served two times as prime minister).
December 16 –Victory Day of Bangladesh: The Pakistan Army in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) surrenders to the joint forces of India and the Bengali nationalist separatists, ending the Bangladesh Liberation War.
December 18
- The U.S. dollar is devalued for the second time in history.
- The world's largest hydroelectric plant in Krasnoyarsk, Soviet Union, begins operations.
December 19
- Clube Atlético Mineiro wins the Brazil Football Championship.
- Intelsat IV (F3) is launched; it enters commercial service over the Atlantic Ocean February 18, 1972.
- The controversial dystopian crime film A Clockwork Orange , directed by Stanley Kubrick is released in New York City.
December 20 – Two groups of French doctors involved in humanitarian aid merge to form Médecins Sans Frontières.
December 24
- Giovanni Leone is elected President of the Italian Republic.
- Juliane Koepcke survives a fall of 10,000 feet following disintegration of LANSA Flight 508.
December 25
- In the longest American football game in National Football League history, the Miami Dolphins beat the Kansas City Chiefs 27-24 after 82 minutes, 40 seconds of playing time. Garo Yepremian kicked the winning 37-yard field goal after 7:40 of the second overtime period.
- A fire at a 22-story hotel in Seoul, South Korea kills 158 people.
December 29 – The United Kingdom gives up its military bases in Malta.
December 30 – The first McDonald's in Australia opens in Yagoona, Sydney.

Date unknown

Ray Tomlinson sends the first ARPANET e-mail between host computers.
The Free State of Christiania is founded.
Seychelles International Airport in Victoria, Seychelles (Mahe) is completed.
Crude oil production peaks in the continental United States at approximately 4.5 million barrels per day (720,000 m³/d).
The Center for Science in the Public Interest is established in the United States.
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism is established in the United States.
The British crime magazine Master Detective, in an attempt to capitalize on the murder of Diane Maxwell, illegally takes photo negatives from Houston, Texas and uses them for a 1971 edition.
Kamuzu Banda, president of Malawi, becomes the first Black President to visit South Africa.