1981
News
January 5, 1981: News - In the U.S., to combat inflation Paul Volcker of the Federal Reserve Board is holding interest rates high, at 13 percent.
January 20, 1981: News - Ronald Reagan is sworn in as President of the United States. In his inaugural address he promises a "healthy, vigorous, growing economy that provides equal opportunity for all Americans, with no barriers born of bigotry or discrimination."
February 12, 1981 : News - Purchase of The Times and The Sunday Times from The Thomson Corporation by Rupert Murdoch's News International is confirmed
March 30, 1981 : News - Reagan assassination attempt: At 2:25 pm, U.S. President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest as he walks out of the Washington Hilton Hotel to his limousine. John Hinckley, Jr. fires six shots from a Röhm RG-14 .22 caliber pistol, striking Press Secretary James Brady and Washington D.C. police officer Thomas Delahanty with the first two bullets, Secret Service Agent Tim McCarthy with the fourth, and the presidential limousine with the last two shots. The sixth bullet ricocheted off of the limo and strike Reagan. Reagan is rushed into surgery at 3:24 pm and remains in the hospital for two weeks
April 12, 1981: News- The Space Shuttle Columbia become the first space vehicle to be reused, launching at 10:09 am from Cape Canaveral with astronauts Joe Engle and Richard Truly. It is only the second shuttle mission overall. A failure of some of the fuel cells force the early end of the mission, and Engle and Truly land two days later
May 11, 1981: News- Reggae’s Singer Bob Marley dies at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami, at the age of 36.
July 29, 1981: News - Lady Diana Spencer, Britain's Prince Charles has found a wife who meets royal expectations: She has royal or noble blood, is a Protestant and said to be a virgin. They marry in St. Paul's Cathedral in London. The event is the one with most wievers of th 20th Century.
August 1, 1981 : News - MTV debuts on cable television in the United States, playing Pop music videos twentyfour hours a day.
August 3, 1981: News - In the U.S. 11,500 air traffic controllers strike for better working conditions, better pay and a 32-hour workweek. It is illegal for them to strike, and President Reagan warns that he will fire those who do not return to work.
August 5, 1981: News - President Reagan begins firing 11,500 air traffic controllers who are on strike and substitute them with Air Force Air Controllers.
August 12, 1981: News - The IBM PC is introduced at a press conference at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, and with it MS-DOS software owned by Microsoft. Though the product of International Business Machines personal computer is not the first desktop, it is the most first designed for the ordinary user to use. The original IBM PC had 16 kilobytes of random access memory and a base price of $1,565. In the first four months, 35,000 are sold, and by the end of 1982, more than 800,000 have been purchased.
September 17, 1981: News - In the U.S., inflation is still almost 11 percent. Paul A. Volcker, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, tells Congress that cuts in spending is the best way to shrink the budget deficit and to bring down high interest rates. Volcker rejects the suggestion of some Democrats that taxes should be increased. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has been flat, around 900.
September 30, 1981: News - The United States' debt ceiling is raised to one trillion dollars for the first time in history, the day after the U.S. Senate, by a margin of 64-34, approves an increase of the government's credit limit from $985 billion to $1,079,000,000,000.
October 1, 1981: News - The first cellular telephone system is inaugurated. Nordic Mobile Telephone (Nordisk MobilTelephoni), NMT, set up the network in Sweden
December 10, 1981: News- Javier Perez de Cuellar of Peru is nominated as the fifth Secretary General of the United Nations by the U.N. Security Council, approved his nomination 10-1, with four abstentions. Perez has been the only one of seven candidates whose application has not been vetoed by at least one of the five permanent members of the Security Council. On the first 18 ballots, incumbent Kurt Waldheim of Austria, is repeatedly vetoed by China in his bid for a third five-year term, while Tanzanian Foreign Minister Salim Salim is blocked by U.S. vetoes. Sadruddin Aga Khan is runner up to Perez, but a 9-2 vote in his favor includes one veto among the no votes. The General Assembly approves Perez by acclamation the next day.
Central Front/ Europe
January 21, 1981: Central Front/Europe- President Reagan says that the Soviet Union's leaders "have openly and publicly declared that the only morality they recognize is what will further their cause, meaning they reserve unto themselves the right to commit any crime, to lie, to cheat ...".
February 9, 1981 : Central Front/Europe- Polish Prime Minister Józef Pinkowski resigns and is replaced by General Wojciech Jaruzelski. He was forced by the Soviet, after a KGB bug caught him criticizing the Soviets for continuing to rely on an economic model that "failed the test," saying it could cost them any advantage they had over the United States.
February 23, 1981: Central Front/Europe - In Spain, 200 members of the Civil Guard, with a few army allies, invade parliament and take the legislators hostage. King Juan Carlos speaks to the nation on behalf of democracy and the coup ends.
February 23, 1981 : Central Front/Europe- Polish Prime Minister Jaruzelski meet with Solidarity head Lech Walesa and Catholic primate Józef Glemp, and hinted that he wants to bring the church and the union in a sort of coalition government.
April 7, 1981 : Central Front/Europe- The "Soyuz '81" maneuvers by armies of the Warsaw Pact nations come to an end, allaying fears that they are a prelude to an invasion of Poland to suppress the Solidarity union. Earlier in the day, Pact commander General Kulikov has a closed meeting with Polish leaders Stanislaw Kania and Jaruselski for a commitment to get the union movement under control.
April 23, 1981 : Central Front/Europe- American CIA Director William J. Casey has an audience with Pope John Paul II in Rome concerning United States support for the Solidarity union in Poland. On the same day, Soviet Politburo members Mikhail Suslov and K.V. Rusakov meet in Warsaw with the entire Politburo of Poland's Communist Party on its failure to control Solidarity
May 10, 1981: Central Front/Europe-In the second round of the presidential elections in France, François Mitterrand beats Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. It is the first time a member of the Socialist party rise to this role.
May 13, 1981: Central Front/Europe- Pope John Paul II is shot and nearly killed by Mehmet Ali Ağca, a Turkish gunman, as he enters St. Peter's Square in Vatican City to address a general audience.
June, 1981: Central Front/Europe- Communist Party is a member of the new government in France this creates great anxiety in the US administration.
June 18, 1981: Central Front/Europe- The F-117A Nighthawk "Stealth" fighter makes its first flight, with Lockheed test pilot Hal Farley at the controls. The airplane is part of a secret program with the airplane capable of not been detected by radars and therefore the press is not informed.
June 28, 1981: Central Front/Europe- Giovanni Spadolini is the first Prime Minister of the Italian Republic not coming from the Democratic Christian Party, he will held the position up to December 1 1982.
July 14, 1981: Central Front/Europe- Italian Carabinieri finds in a Red Brigade cove evidence of their links with the STASI for training and support.
July 19, 1981: Central Front/Europe- At the summit of Western leaders in Ottawa, French President François Mitterrand reveals to U.S. President Ronald Reagan the existence of the Farewell Dossier, 4,000 pages of Soviet documents that have been supplied to France by former KGB Colonel Vladimir Vetrov, codenamed "Farewell". The material shows that the Soviets have, after years of infiltration, been stealing American technological research and development. While other advisers to the National Security Council are looking for ways to stop the leaks, Gus Weiss proposes the idea of creating defective technology and allowing it to be stolen. The first trial is for computer programs which, months after being applied to operate the Siberian gas pipeline, begin to fail.
October 2, 1981 : Central Front/Europe- U.S. President Reagan announces his plans to resurrect the B-1 bomber program that has been scrapped by President Carter, with one hundred of the planes to be built by 1987, and another plan to deploy 100 MX missiles.
October 24, 1981 : Central Front/Europe- A weekend of anti-nuclear protests begin in cities throughout Europe, as 200,000 march in Rome and another 150,000 in London to protest the deployment of American Pershing II missiles at bases in five European nations. On Sunday, a crowd of 200,000 turn out in Brussels for the largest demonstration since World War II, and smaller crowds march in Paris, Berlin and Oslo.
October 27, 1981 : Central Front/Europe- Soviet submarine S-363 runs aground outside the Karlskrona, Sweden military base. The Swedish Government protests against USSR.
October 30, 1981 : Central Front/Europe- Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the PCUS suffers a stroke but after a week in hospital, despite his already severe condition, refuses to retire.
November 5, 1981: Central Front/Europe- The first production Dassault Mirage 2000 make its maiden flight under Armee de l’Air test establishment.
November 30, 1981: Central Front/Europe- In Geneva, representatives from the United States and the Soviet Union begin negotiating the details for the elimination in Europe of intermediate-range nuclear weapon.
December 3, 1981: Central Front/Europe- Moscow announces the deployment of Soviet RSD-10 Pioneer ballistic missiles targeting Western Europe.
December 12, 1981 : Central Front/Europe- Meeting in Gdansk, the national commission of the Polish independent union Solidarity discuss lobbying for a referendum to set up multiparty elections in Communist Poland. By then, police across the nation have been informed by the government that the first phase of arrests will begin at 11:30 pm. At 11:57 pm, all 3.4 million private telephones in Poland are cut off.
December 13, 1981: Central Front/Europe- Wojciech Jaruzelski, under threat from a military intervention of the Soviet Union, like Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968, declares martial law in Poland, to prevent the dismantling of the communist system by Solidarity and citing recordings of Solidarity leaders planning a coup (which later turned out to be forgeries).
December 17, 1981: Central Front/Europe- In an a speech during the delivery of the first F20 Tigershark to USAF Reagan launches major programs for weapons, like LGM-118 Peacekeepers, installs US cruise missiles in Europe, and announces his experimental Strategic Defense Initiative.
December 17, 1981: Central Front/Europe -James Lee Dozier a US Army general officer is kidnapped in Italy by the Red Brigades.
December 19, 1981 : Central Front/Europe- The Tupolev Tu-160 "Blackjack" long range strategic bomber make its first flight.
December 30, 1981: Central Front/Europe- Italy's Communist Party, concerned about maintaining what support it has in Italy, distances itself from the Soviet Union, a spokesperson saying that "martial law in Poland means that the Soviet revolution has ceased to be a vital force in the world."
Middle East
January 10-31, 1981: Middle East-Responding to increased harassment of their troops by Christian soldiers. Syria (in control of two thirds of Lebanon) lay siege to the Greek-Catholic town of Zahle.
April 2, 1981: Middle East-Lebanese Civil War: Syrian airplanes bombed Lebanese Christian strongholds in Zahlé and East Beirut, renewing a war that had been on hiatus since 1976
April 28, 1981: Middle East- In a show of support for the Christians, for the first time, Israel intervenes directly in the war between Syria and Lebanese Christians, as Israeli jets shot down two Syrian helicopters, killing four crewmen, engaged in counter guerrilla operations near the city. Syria responds by placing fourteen batteries of Soviet-supplied SA-6 anti aircraft missiles in the Beka’a Valley
July 10-21, 1981: Middle East- Israeli aircraft and artillery have been bombarding Palestinian positions in Lebanon in retaliation for PLO attacks against Israel. Israeli bombers destroy the PLO headquarters in Beirut. PLO chief, Yaser Arafat, pledges to fight back against the ''barbarian, inhumanitarian war'' that he says has been started by Israel.
October 1, 1981: Middle East- Eighty-three people are killed and more than three hundred injured when a car bomb explodes outside of the Beirut headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization's intelligence center. The "Front for the Liberation of Lebanon from Foreigners", which the PLO assert is a front for Israel, took credit for the attack.
October 6, 1981: Middle East- Egypt's President Anwar Sadat is assassinated at Nasr City while watching the annual Armed Forces Day parade. As a squadron of jets flies overhead in formation at 12:40 pm, a military vehicle halts in front of the reviewing stand, and six of the men jumped out, hurling stun grenades and firing machine guns. Sadat is hit by two bullets and dies at a hospital two hours later. The terrorists belong to the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organization; they opposed his negotiations with Israel.
October 14, 1981: Middle East- Vice President Hosni Mubarak is elected President of Egypt one week after Anwar Sadat's assassination.
November, 1981: Middle East- In a meeting with Israel government and military start the planning of the invasion of Lebanon.
Central America
January 10, 1981 :Central America- The FMLN's first, major attack establish their control of most of Morazán and Chalatenango departments for the war's duration.
January 23, 1981:Central America- Right after taking its power the Reagan administration suspends all United States aid to Nicaragua.
February 14, 1981: Central America- In El Salvador, the countrywide rising that the FMLN guerrillas expect with their offensive last month has not materialized. But they have gained in some areas. They launch attacks around the capital, San Salvador.
March 2, 1981: Central America- The Reagan administration has been complaining about weapons going from the Soviet Union to El Salvador through Cuba and Nicaragua. He wants to prevent a Communist takeover in El Salvador and is opposed to a negotiated settlement there. His administration is sending 20 more advisors and $25 million more in military aid to El Salvador. He tries to allay public fears and says El Salvador is not going to become another Vietnam.
April 7, 1981: Central America- National Guardsmen in El Salvador drive into the San Salvador neighborhood of Monte Carmelos, pull out residents accused of rebellion against the government, and execute them. Reporters who arrives later found thirty bodies in the streets.
April 21, 1981: Central America- Soldiers of the Army of Guatemala entere the village of Acul, near Santa Maria Nebaj in the Guatemalan highlands, and execute most of the adult men for suspected collaboration with leftist guerillas.
June, 1981: Central America- El Salvador and Honduras start to receive the first US military aids such as Bell Cobra attack helicopters.
July 28, 1981: Central America- In rural Guatemala, the Reverend Stanley Rother, a 46-year-old Roman Catholic priest from Oklahoma, is shot to death by a paramilitary death squad.
August, 1981: Central America- The CIA and Argentine intelligence, seek to unify the anti-Sandinista cause before initiating large-scale aid, persuaded the 15 September Legion, the UDN and several former smaller groups to merge in as the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (Fuerza Democrática Nicaragüense, FDN). Although the FDN had its roots in two groups made up of former National Guardsmen (of the Somoza regime), its joint political directorate was led by businessman and former anti-Somoza activist Adolfo Calero Portocarrero. Based in Honduras, Nicaragua's northern neighbor, under the command of former National Guard Colonel Enrique Bermúdez, the new FDN commenced to draw in other smaller insurgent forces in the north. Largely financed, trained, equipped, armed and organized by the U.S., it emerged as the largest and most active contra group.
August 3, 1981: Central America- The acting archbishop of San Salvador criticizes El Salvador's ruling junta today for being lax in its investigation of the murders of four American women last December.
August 8, 1981: Central America- In Mexico, President Jose Lopez Portillo of Mexico announces a deal with USSR that includes T72 tanks, attack Helicopter such as the Mi24 Hind, attack airplane as the Su25 Frogfoot and the fighter MiG23 Flogger, it is a major blow to US intelligence that failed to get any insight of the closer links between the two nations.
August 29, 1981: Central America- Mexico and France recognize El Salvador's FMLN opposition as a ''representative political force.''
September 13, 1981: Central America- The Salvadorian government loses control of the eastern part of the country to the communist rebels
October 5, 1981: Central America- In Nicaragua, the Sandinista government complains about editorials in La Prensa and threatens to close the newspaper again.
November 23, 1981: Central America- Iran-Contra scandal: Ronald Reagan signs the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), authorizing the Central Intelligence Agency to recruit and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
December 11, 1981: Central America- El Mozote massacre: In El Salvador, army units kill 900 civilians, this will trigger the final insurrection against the Government.
December 15, 1981: Central America- Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launch a major war against the government of El Salvador. At 6:30 pm, after radio stations in San Salvador are seized and FMLN leader Cayetano Carpio announces "The hour... for the taking of power by the people... has arrived." and attacks are launched at multiple locations.
South America
April 28, 1981: South America – Falklands War- General Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri, (then Argentine army chief, later, during the Falklands war, President of Argentina), closes the border to Chile without any consultation with his own president.
June, 1981: South America – Falklands War- President Galtieri, as head of the military government, aims to counter public concern over economic and human rights issues by means of a speedy victory over the Falklands which would appeal to popular nationalistic sentiment. Argentina exerts pressure at the United Nations by raising subtle hints of a possible invasion, but the British either miss or ignor this threat and did not react. The Argentines assume that the British would not use force if the islands were invaded.
October, 1981: South America – Falklands War- Argentina leadership interpret the failure of the British to react as a lack of interest in the Falklands due to the planned withdrawal of the last of the Antarctic Supply vessels, HMS Endurance, and by the British Nationality Act of 1981, which replaces the full British citizenship of Falkland Islanders with a more limited version.
December 15, 1981: South America – Falklands War- Argentina's Chief of Naval Operations, Juan Jose Lombardo, is asked by President Galtieri to draw up plans to recapture the Falkland Islands from the United Kingdom. Lombardo's proposal is completed in five days.
December 22-29, 1981: South America – Falklands War- Argentina and Israel enters in secret negotiation for a military equipment deal. Israel Government is sceptical on the deal, but PM Begin pushes to accept it when he is notified by Mossad that Argentina is planning an attack on Falkland, he is still sour on England from 1948.
Southern Africa
January, 1981: Southern Africa- Failure of UN-sponsored talks on the future of Namibia.
January 30, 1981: Southern Africa- Commandos from the South African Defence Force cross over into Mozambique and attack the town of Matola in a raid against three houses occupied by African National Congress members. "Operation Beanbag" kills fifteen ANC members and a Portuguese technician. The SADF loose three members in their first cross-border raid.
July 8, 1981: Southern Africa- A pilot of Forca Aerea Populare de Mocambique defect to South Africa and reports the delivery of further twentyfour MiG-17 and eight Antonov An24 from East Germany.
August 23, 1981: Southern Africa- SADF launch an invasion “Operation Protea” with eleven thousand troops penetrating 120 kilometers into southwestern Angola and occupying about 40,000 km² in southern Cunene. Bases are established in Xangongo and N’Giva.
December 4, 1981 : Southern Africa- The Republic of Ciskei become the fourth "homeland" to be granted independence, joining Transkei, Bophuthatswana and Venda as independent nations for black residents of white-ruled South Africa. No other nations recognize the independence of Ciskei.
Afghanistan
March-April, 1981 : Afghanistan-Soviet offensive named Panjseher III fails. It is a small-scale operations, involving only four battalions. The Mujahideens, who are not strong enough to confront the Soviet army in the open, blend in with the local population and generally wait until the Soviets have left to resume their activities. Soviet offensives into the Panjshir Valley have three main tactical features. There is the concentration of air assets, including extensive aerial bombardment of a target area followed by the landing of helicopter forces to stop the withdrawal of enemy forces and engage the enemy from unexpected directions and a drive by of mechanized forces into areas of guerilla support in conjunction with the helicopter landing parties.
June, 1981 : Afghanistan-United States increase military aids to Pakistan, tanks, armoured vehicles and Phantom fighters are sent to Pakistani army and Air Force.
July, 1981 : Afghanistan-A strong Soviet drive against Paghman, north of Kabul, result in a Mujiaideen guerrilla victory. 108th MRD offensive in Sarobi Valley. Heavy fighting in Heart.
October 5, 1981 : Afghanistan- MRD sweeps around Herat. Unsuccessful DRA operation at Marmoul Gorge, Balkh province. Soviet offensive in Kandahar
September, 1981 : Afghanistan-The second major Soviet offensive named Panjseher IV fails as the previous one. By this time, Massoud, one of the Mujiaideen leader, has mustered enough men to openly resist the Soviet assault. During this offensive, to avoid losing vehicles to land mines, the Soviets sent their sapper units to clear the way in front of the main force. This tactic proves costly, and the attack force penetrates only 25 km into the valley before retiring, after having suffered 100 casualties.
December, 1981: Afghanistan- USSR sends more troops to Afghanistan. Combined sweeps with DRA and 66th MRB in Nangahar. Fighting continues in Herat.
Iran-Iraq
January 5, 1981 : Iran-Iraq- Battle of Dezful; For the first time since Iraq has invaded its territory in September, Iran launch a counterattack, concentrating its armies at Sousangerd. After eighteen months, Iraqi forces have been driven out of Iran, which then begin a drive toward capturing Iraqi territory.
January 19, 1981: Iran-Iraq- The United States and Iran sign an agreement in Algiers. Iran is to release the fiftythree Americans hostages held during the past fourteen months. The United States is to end trade sanctions and its freeze on Iranian assets.
March, 1981 : Iran-Iraq- The Iraqi invasion has encountered unexpected resistance and stalled. The Iraqi Air Force, having been badly damaged by the Iranian war effort, is moved to the "H3" Al Waleed Airfield in Western Iraq, near the Jordanian border, far from Iran.
March 22-28, 1981 : Iran-Iraq- The Iranians launch Operation Undeniable Victory. They intend to use a pincer movement to encircle Iraqi forces around the Iranian town of Shush, which is under Iraqi control. The Iranians launch an armoured thrust on the night of the 22nd followed by constant human-wave attacks by Pasdaran brigades, composed each of about 1,000 fighters. The Iranians keep up the momentum against the Iraqi forces and, after heavy Iraqi losses, Saddam order a retreat on the 28th. Three Iraqi divisions are encircled in the operation and destroyed within a week.
April 3, 1981 : Iran-Iraq- The Iranian airforce using eight F-4 Phantom fighter bombers, four F-14 Tomcats, three Boeing 707 refuelling tankers, and one Boeing 747 command plane launch a surprise Attack on H3, destroying fifty Iraqi fighter jets. While unknown outside of Iran, this is one of the most skilled air attacks since World War II, and it give Iran air supremacy for the next year and a half before Iraq receives more fighter jets, allowing Iran to conduct its operations against the Iraqi army in Khuzestan with ease.
May 24, 1981 : Iran-Iraq- The Liberation of Khorramshahr is the Iranian recapture of the port city of Khorramshahr from the Iraqis. The Iraqis have captured the city early in the war on October 26, 1980. The successful retaking of the city is part of Operation Beit ol-Moqaddas. It is perceived as a turning point in the war and the liberation is celebrated in Iran on its anniversary, 24 May.
June 7, 1981: Iran-Iraq- The Israeli Air Force destroys Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor. At least eight of the sixteen released bombs struck the containment dome of the reactor. Ten Iraqi soldiers and one French civilian are killed in the attack.
June 8, 1981: Iran-Iraq-Iran's President, Abulhassan Banisadr make a speech at the Iranian Air Force base in Shiraz, exhorting officers and airmen to "resistance of dictatorship". The speech outrages Iran's de facto leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini, who removes Banisadr from command of the armed forces two days later.
June 12, 1981: Iran-Iraq- Banisadr goes into hiding as opponents called for his execution, finally escaping to France on July 29. Many of his supporters are arrested and executed in the months that followed the critical speech.
September 27-29, 1981: Iran-Iraq- Iran breaks siege of Abadan.
November 29-December 7, 1981: Iran-Iraq- On 29 November 1981 Iran begin Operation Tariq al-Qods (Operation Jerusalem Way) with three Army brigades and seven Revolutionary Guard brigades retaking the town of Bostan from the Iraqi division that was holding it by 7 December.
Far East/Oceania
January 7, 1981: Far East-China- The preparation for the war is ende. The PLA has massed a force of 560’000 troops, divided into 9 corps, 29 infantry divisions, 2 artillery divisions and 2 AA divisions.
January 23, 1981: Far East- Following international pressure, South Korea's authoritarian regime commutes the death sentence against pro-democracy leader Kim Dae Jung to life imprisonment.
February 17, 1981: Far East- The People's Republic of China invades northern Vietnam, launching the Sino-Vietnamese War. China chooses this day to send about eighty thousand soldiers and three hundred tanks into northern Vietnam. Offcially China describes as reasons for the attack Vietnam's mistreatment of its ethnic Chinese minority and Vietnamese occupation of the Spratly Islands, which are claimed by China. Western analysts believe that China wants to punish Vietnam for its war against the Khmer Rouge and to teach the Vietnamese that they should consider China's desires concerning the region.
February 22, 1981: Far East- After five days of attack PLA 11th, 13th and 14th Division are able to enter the town of Lao Cai on the western front.
March 2, 1981: Far East- Fierce fightings between PLA and PAVN happens around the old French fort at Dong Deng but at the end PAVN 308th Division is annihilated.
March 5, 1981 : Far East- After achieving its strategic objectives the PLA declares a ceasefire and starts to withdrawn from Vietnam.
March 14, 1981: Far East- The hijacking of Pakistan International Airlines Flight 326 ends, as gunmen free more than one hundred hostages who have been held captive on the jet for nearly two weeks. Three gunmen have seized the Boeing 720 jet during a flight from Karachi to Peshawar on March 2 and commandeer the jet to Kabul, and one passenger is murdered. Pakistan released fiftyfive prisoners to secure the release of the hostages.
March 16, 1981 : Far East- The Chinese in Vietnam have suffered against Vietnam's military. They withdraw. Their casualties will be estimated at more than 60,000, including about 26,000 killed.
April 3, 1981: Far East- After two days, the attempted coup d'état in Thailand is put down as thousands of troops take back control of Bangkok without a fight. Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanonda has taken King Bhumibol Adulyadej and the royal family with him to the city of Korat after General Sant Chipatima has seized control on Wednesday.
June 30, 1981: Far East- China- China's Communist Party describes the former leader, the late Mao Zedung, as having made contributions that ''far outweigh'' his mistakes but that his mistakes were monumental.
Mediterran / North Africa
January 6-15, 1981: Mediterrean / North Africa- A joint comuniqué is issued in Tripoli by Gaddafi and Goukouni that Libya and Chad have decided "to work to achieve full unity between the two countries". The merger plan causes strong adverse reaction in Africa, and is immediately condemned by France, that on January 11 offers to strengthen French garrisons in friendly African states and on January 15 places the French Mediterranean fleet on alert.
February, 1981: Mediterrean / North Africa- In the meantime, relations between Goukouni and Gaddafi start deteriorating. Libyan troops are stationed in various points of northern and central Chad, in numbers that have reached by January–February about 14,000 troops. The Libyan forces in the country create considerable annoyance in the GUNT, by supporting Acyl's faction in its disputes with the other militias, including the clashes hold in late April with Goukouni's FAP. There are also attempts to Libyanize the local population, that make many conclude that "unification" for Libya meant Arabization and the imposition of Libyan political culture, in particular of The Green Book.
March 17, 1981: Mediterrean / North Africa- In Italy, the scandal of Propaganda Due begins when police raided the villa of Licio Gelli villa at Arezzo, and discovered a list of 962 members of the secret society "P2", suspected in the embezzlement by Roberto Calvi of hundreds of millions of dollars from the Banco Ambrosiano.
August 19, 1981 : Mediterrean / North Africa - Gulf of Sidra incident : Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi sends two Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets to intercept twi U.S. fighters over the Gulf of Sidra. The American jets destroy the Libyan fighters.
October, 1981: Mediterrean / North Africa- Amid fighting between Gaddafi's Islamic Legionnaires and Goukouni's troops, and rumors that Acyl is planning a coup d'état to assume the leadership of the GUNT, Goukouni demands on October 29 the complete and unequivocal withdrawal of Libyan forces from Chadian territory, which, beginning with the capital, has to be completed by December 31. The Libyans are to be replaced by an Organization for African Unity (OAU) Inter-African Force (IAF).
Novemebr 16, 1981: Mediterrean / North Africa- Gaddafi complies, and by November 16 all Libyan forces have left Chad, redeploying in the Aouzou Strip.
Sub Saharian Africa
January, 1981: Sub-Saharian Africa- In Uganda Museveni's UPM party is a minor contender in the election, Museveni alleges electoral fraud and declares an armed rebellion against the UNLA (which was now Uganda's national army) and the government of Milton Obote. Museveni and his supporters retreat to the southwest of the country and form the Popular Resistance Army (PRA). The PRA later merged with former president Lule's group, the Uganda Freedom Fighters (UFF), to create the National Resistance Army (NRA) and its political wing, the National Resistance Movement (NRM).
February 6, 1981: Sub-Saharian Africa- In Uganda NRA's bush war begin with an attack on an army installation in the central Mubende District. Museveni, who has guerrilla war experience with the Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO) in Mozambique, and his own Front for National Salvation (FRONASA) formed in Tanzania to fight Idi Amin, campaign in rural areas hostile to Obote's government, especially central and western Buganda and in the regions of Ankole and Bunyoro in western Uganda.
April 6, 1981: Sub-Saharian Africa- Formed in London, by four to five hundred Isaaq émigrés, the Somali National Movement (SNM) is an Isaaq clan-family organization dedicated to ridding the country of Siad Barre. The Isaaq felt deprived both as a clan and as a region, and Isaaq outbursts against the central government have occurred sporadically since independence.
North Ireland
January 16, 1981 : Northern Ireland - In January 1981 it became clear that the prisoners' demands have not been conceded. Prison authorities begin to supply the prisoners with officially issue civilian clothing, whereas the prisoners demand the right to wear their own clothing.
January 21, 1981 : Northern Ireland - Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, who has served as a British MP and an advocate for the rights of Roman Catholics in Northern Ireland, is shot multiple times, along with her husband, by Protestant gunmen of the paramilitary group Ulster Freedom Fighters who has invaded their home. Five days later, Protestant leader Norman Stronge, who has been the last leader of the Northern Ireland parliament, is shot and killed, along with his son, by an eleven member Irish Republican Army unit, at their home, Tynan Abbey
March 1, 1981 : Northern Ireland - Republican prisoners in the Maze begin a second hunger strike, to protest for not being treated as Political prisoners. The second hunger strike began on 1 March, when Bobby Sands, the IRA's former Officer Commanding (OC) in the prison, refuses food. Unlike the first strike, the prisoners join one at a time and at staggered intervals, which they believe would arouse maximum public support and exert maximum pressure on Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
May 5, 1981: Northern Ireland - Bobby Sands, a member of the Irish Republican Army and an elected member of the Irish Parliament, dies in a Northern Ireland prison following his hunger strike and 66 days without food. Prime Minister Thatcher is not moved. She tells the House of Commons: "Mr. Sands was a convicted criminal. He chose to take his own life. It was a choice that his organization did not allow to many of its victims."
May 19, 1981: Northern Ireland - Francis Hughes dies in Maze, resulting in further rioting in nationalist areas of Northern Ireland, in particular Derry and Belfast.
May 19, 1981: Northern Ireland - Five British Army soldiers are killed when their Saracen APC is ripped apart by a PIRA roadside bomb near Bessbrook, County Armagh.
May 21, 1981: Northern Ireland - Following the deaths of Raymond McCreesh and Patsy O’Hara , Tomás Ó Fiaich, by then Primate of All Ireland, criticises the British government's handling of the hunger strike. Despite this, Thatcher still refuses to negotiate a settlement, stating "Faced with the failure of their discredited cause, the men of violence have chosen in recent months to play what may well be their last card", during a visit to Belfast in late May.
July 31, 1981: Northern Ireland - The hunger strike begin to break, when the mother of Paddy Quinn insists on medical intervention to save his life.
October 3, 1981: Northern Ireland - The hunger strike at Maze Prison is called off after seven months by Sinn Féin, the political arm of the Irish Republican Army. Ten IRA prisoners have died, while another seven have given up fasting. The decision, made by prisoner Brendan McFarlane, ends the fasting for the remaining six IRA strikers. Three days later, James Prior, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland James Prior announces that some of the original demands of the strikers, including the right to not wear prison uniforms, will be granted.
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