1970s
- During the 1970s, environmental thinking took off in earnest, which in Sweden manifested itself, among other things, in the Green wave
- the popularity of the disco music genre and subculture peaks during the mid-to-late 1970s.
- Personal computer
- Heroin abuse starts around this time to become a big problem in the world.
1972 AD
- June 17 – Watergate scandal: Five White House operatives are arrested for burgling the offices of the Democratic National Committee.
1973 AD
- January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. President Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam
- September 11 – Chilean coup d’état
- September 15 – King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden dies and is succeeded by his grandson Carl XVI Gustaf.
1974 AD
- April 6 – Swedish pop group ABBA‘s song “Waterloo” wins the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton, England, UK.
- April 25 – Carnation Revolution: A left-wing military coup in Portugal restores democracy, ending 41 years of the Estado Novo dictatorship in the country. Portuguese Prime Minister Marcelo Caetano flees to Brazil and is granted political asylum by Brazilian President Ernesto Geisel.
- July 20 – August 18 – Turkish invasion of Cyprus
1975 AD
- The Sex Pistols were one of many bands when punk rock broke through at the end of the decade.
1976 AD
- July 28 – Tangshan earthquake
1977 AD
- March 27 – Tenerife airport disaster
1978 AD
- September 17 – The Camp David Accords are signed between Israel and Egypt.
1979 AD
- March 28 – Three Mile Island accident
- December 24 – The Soviet Union covertly launches its invasion of Afghanistan – 3 days later, PDPA general secretary Hafizullah Amin is executed in Operation Storm-333 and Babrak Karmal replaces him, beginning the war.
1980s
- Rubik’s Cube
- Hard rock is late 1960s
1980 AD
- March 23 – Swedish nuclear power referendum
- September 22 – The command council of Iraq orders its army to “deliver its fatal blow on Iranian military targets”, initiating the Iran–Iraq War.
1981 AD
- Mars 12 – Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of Great Britain between 1979 and 1990 and was one of the most influential figures in European politics during the 1980s
- April 12 – The Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Columbia, with NASA astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen, launches on the STS-1 mission, returning to Earth on April 14. It is the first time a crewed reusable spacecraft has returned from orbit
- August 1 – The first 24-hour video music channel MTV (Music Television) is launched in the United States and airs its first video, “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles.
1983 AD
- September 1 – Cold War: Korean Air Lines Flight 007 is shot down by Soviet Union Air Force Su-15 Flagon pilot Major Gennadi Osipovich near Moneron Island when the commercial aircraft enters Soviet airspace. All 269 on board are killed, including U.S. Congressman Larry McDonald.
1985 AD
- November 13 – Armero tragedy: The Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupts, killing an estimated 23,000 people, including 21,000 killed by lahars, in the town of Armero, Colombia.
- November 19 – Cold War: In Geneva, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet for the first time.
- November 27 – Halley’s Comet passes Earth.
1986 AD
- January 28 – Space Shuttle Challenger disaster – STS-51-L: Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates 73 seconds after launch from the United States, killing the crew of seven astronauts, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe.
