January, 1979. Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge government in Cambodia is overthrown by the invading Vietnamese.
January 16, 1979. The Shah of Iran is sent into exile as Muslim fundamentalists take over the governing of Iran. Opposition to the Shah has been led by supporters of the Ayatollah Khomeini, a Muslim leader who has been living in exile himself in Paris.
March 26, 1979. Egypt and Israel sign a peace treaty at the White House in Washington, D.C. Palestinians and their Arab supporters in other countries see this agreement as a betrayal since the treaty does not settle the question of a Palestinian state or the future of Jerusalem, the Sinai Peninsula, or Israeli settlements on the West Bank.
May 4, 1979. Conservative Margaret Thatcher becomes prime minister of Great Britain, the first female to ever hold that position. She promises a complete transformation of the British economy along conservative lines.
June, 1979. US President Jimmy Carter and Soveit Premier Leonid Brezhnev sign the SALT II treaty limiting nuclear weapons.
July 1, 1979. A revolutionary new portable stereo system, the Sony Walkman, is launched in Japan. With the help of lightweight plastic earphones the Walkman enables the listener to enjoy radio or music wherever he goes.
July 20, 1979. Sandinista rebels overthrow Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza. Somoza flees to the US, taking with an estimated $20 million from the Nicaraguan treasury.
November, 1979. THe US Embassy in Tehran, Iran is taken over by followers of the Ayatollah Khomeini, and nearly 100 embassy staff members and US marines are taken hostage.
November, 1979. Saudi Arabian troops storm the Great Mosque at Mecca, which had been occupied by Shiite Muslims.
December 27, 179. The USSR invades Afghanistan. The Russians say that they have been asked to provide “urgent political, moral, military, and economic assistance” to the Afghans. The Soviets install a puppet government in Kabul, the capital, but most of the country is controlled by the Mujahideen, Muslim fundamentalist guerillas who want to rule the country in accordance with their interpretation of Muslim law.