Important Historical Events of the year 1981, Year 1981 in History

1. Birthday Age Calculator
2. Historical Events By Year
3. 20th Century Years
4. Important Historical Events of the year 1981

List of 1981 Major News Events in History, Most Important Historical Events in 1981

What happened in the year 1981?

Date	Event
January 1, 1981	Greece is admitted into the European Community.
January 2, 1981	One of the largest investigations by a British police force ends when serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, the "Yorkshire Ripper", is arrested in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
January 8, 1981	A local farmer reports a UFO sighting in Trans-en-Provence, France, claimed to be "perhaps the most completely and carefully documented sighting of all time".
January 10, 1981	Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensive, gaining control of most of Morazán and Chalatenango departments
January 15, 1981	Pope John Paul II receives a delegation from the Polish trade union Solidarity at the Vatican led by Lech Wałęsa.
January 17, 1981	President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos lifts martial law eight years and five months after declaring it.
January 18, 1981	Phil Smith and Phil Mayfield parachute off a Houston skyscraper, becoming the first two people to BASE jump from objects in all four categories: buildings, antennae, spans (bridges), and earth (cliffs).
January 19, 1981	Iran hostage crisis: United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity.
January 20, 1981	Twenty minutes after Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as the 40th President of the United States of America, Iran releases 52 American hostages.
January 21, 1981	Production of the iconic DeLorean sports car begins in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
January 28, 1981	Ronald Reagan lifts remaining domestic petroleum price and allocation controls in the United States, helping to end the 1979 energy crisis and begin the 1980s oil glut.
February 6, 1981	The National Resistance Army of Uganda launches an attack on a Ugandan Army installation in the central Mubende District to begin the Ugandan Bush War.
February 8, 1981	Twenty-one association football spectators are trampled to death at Karaiskakis Stadium in Neo Faliro, Greece, after a football match between Olympiacos F.C. and AEK Athens F.C.
February 13, 1981	A series of sewer explosions destroys more than two miles of streets in Louisville, Kentucky.
February 23, 1981	In Spain, Antonio Tejero attempts a coup d'état by capturing the Spanish Congress of Deputies.
February 24, 1981	The 6.7 .mw-parser-output .tooltip-dotted{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}Ms Gulf of Corinth earthquake affected Central Greece with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). Twenty-two people were killed, 400 were injured, and damage totaled $812 million.
March 1, 1981	Provisional Irish Republican Army member Bobby Sands begins his hunger strike in HM Prison Maze.
March 5, 1981	The ZX81, a pioneering British home computer, is launched by Sinclair Research and would go on to sell over 1.mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden
March 11, 1981	Hundreds of students protest in the University of Pristina in Kosovo, then part of Yugoslavia, to give their province more political rights. The protests then became a nationwide movement.
March 26, 1981	Social Democratic Party (UK) is founded as a party.
March 27, 1981	The Solidarity movement in Poland stages a warning strike, in which at least 12 million Poles walk off their jobs for four hours.
March 30, 1981	U.S. President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley, Jr.; three others are wounded in the same incident.
April 3, 1981	The Osborne 1, the first successful portable computer, is unveiled at the West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco.
April 4, 1981	Iran–Iraq War: The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force mounts an attack on H-3 Airbase and destroys about 50 Iraqi aircraft.
April 9, 1981	The U.S. Navy nuclear submarine USS George Washington accidentally collides with the Nissho Maru, a Japanese cargo ship, sinking it and killing two Japanese sailors.
April 11, 1981	A massive riot in Brixton, south London results in almost 300 police injuries and 65 serious civilian injuries.
April 12, 1981	The first launch of a Space Shuttle (Columbia) takes place: The STS-1 mission.
April 14, 1981	STS-1: The first operational Space Shuttle, Columbia completes its first test flight.
April 25, 1981	More than 100 workers are exposed to radiation during repairs of at the Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant in Japan.
April 26, 1981	Dr. Michael R. Harrison of the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center performs the world's first human open fetal surgery.
April 27, 1981	Xerox PARC introduces the computer mouse.
May 5, 1981	Bobby Sands dies in the Long Kesh prison hospital after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27.
May 13, 1981	Mehmet Ali Ağca attempts to assassinate Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square in Rome. The Pope is rushed to the Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic to undergo emergency surgery and survives.
May 21, 1981	The Italian government releases the membership list of Propaganda Due, an illegal pseudo-Masonic lodge that was implicated in numerous Italian crimes and mysteries.
May 21, 1981	Transamerica Corporation agrees to sell United Artists to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for $380 million after the box office failure of the 1980 film Heaven's Gate.
May 24, 1981	Ecuadorian president Jaime Roldós Aguilera, his wife, and his presidential committee die in an aircraft accident while travelling from Quito to Zapotillo minutes after the president gave a famous speech regarding the 24 de mayo anniversary of the Battle of Pichincha.
May 25, 1981	In Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council is created between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
May 26, 1981	Italian Prime Minister Arnaldo Forlani and his coalition cabinet resign following a scandal over membership of the pseudo-masonic lodge P2 (Propaganda Due).
May 26, 1981	An EA-6B Prowler crashes on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, killing 14 crewmen and injuring 45 others.
June 5, 1981	The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that five people in Los Angeles, California, have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems, in what turns out to be the first recognized cases of AIDS.
June 7, 1981	The Israeli Air Force destroys Iraq's Osiraq nuclear reactor during Operation Opera.
June 11, 1981	A magnitude 6.9 earthquake at Golbaf, Iran, kills at least 2,000.
June 12, 1981	The first of the Indiana Jones film franchise, Raiders of the Lost Ark, is released in theaters.
June 13, 1981	At the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London, a teenager, Marcus Sarjeant, fires six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II.
June 16, 1981	US President Ronald Reagan awards the Congressional Gold Medal to Ken Taylor, Canada's former ambassador to Iran, for helping six Americans escape from Iran during the hostage crisis of 1979–81; he is the first foreign citizen bestowed the honor.
June 18, 1981	The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, the first operational aircraft initially designed around stealth technology, makes its first flight.
June 24, 1981	The Humber Bridge opens to traffic, connecting Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. It remained the world's longest bridge span for 17 years.
June 25, 1981	Microsoft is restructured to become an incorporated business in its home state of Washington.
June 26, 1981	Dan-Air Flight 240, flying to East Midlands Airport, crashes in Nailstone, Leicestershire. All three crew members perish.
June 27, 1981	The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party issues its "Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China", laying the blame for the Cultural Revolution on Mao Zedong.
June 28, 1981	A powerful bomb explodes in Tehran, killing 73 officials of the Islamic Republican Party.
July 7, 1981	US President Ronald Reagan nominates Sandra Day O'Connor to become the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States.
July 17, 1981	A structural failure leads to the collapse of a walkway at the Hyatt Regency in Kansas City, Missouri, killing 114 people and injuring more than 200.
July 18, 1981	A Canadair CL-44 and Sukhoi Su-15 collide in mid-air near Yerevan, Armenia, killing four.
July 19, 1981	In a private meeting with U.S. President Ronald Reagan, French President François Mitterrand reveals the existence of the Farewell Dossier, a collection of documents showing the Soviet Union had been stealing American technological research and development.
July 20, 1981	Somali Airlines Flight 40 crashes in the Balad District of Somalia, killing 40 people.
July 27, 1981	While landing at Chihuahua International Airport, Aeromexico Flight 230 overshoots the runway. Thirty-two of the 66 passengers and crew on board the DC-9 are killed.
July 29, 1981	A worldwide television audience of around 750 million people watch the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul's Cathedral in London.
July 29, 1981	After impeachment on June 21, Abolhassan Banisadr flees with Massoud Rajavi to Paris, in an Iranian Air Force Boeing 707, piloted by Colonel Behzad Moezzi, to form the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
July 30, 1981	As many as 50,000 demonstrators, mostly women and children, took to the streets in Łódź to protest food ration shortages in Communist Poland.
August 1, 1981	MTV begins broadcasting in the United States and airs its first video, "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles.
August 3, 1981	Senegalese opposition parties, under the leadership of Mamadou Dia, launch the Antiimperialist Action Front – Suxxali Reew Mi.
August 5, 1981	President Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.
August 7, 1981	The Washington Star ceases all operations after 128 years of publication.
August 10, 1981	Murder of Adam Walsh: The head of John Walsh's son is found. This inspires the creation of the television series America's Most Wanted and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
August 12, 1981	The IBM Personal Computer is released.
August 19, 1981	Gulf of Sidra Incident: United States F-14A Tomcat fighters intercept and shoot down two Libyan Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets over the Gulf of Sidra.
August 22, 1981	Far Eastern Air Transport Flight 103 disintegrates in mid-air and crashes in Sanyi Township, Miaoli County, Taiwan. All 110 people on board are killed.
August 24, 1981	Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for murdering John Lennon.
August 25, 1981	Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Saturn.
August 30, 1981	President Mohammad-Ali Rajai and Prime Minister Mohammad-Javad Bahonar of Iran are assassinated in a bombing committed by the People's Mujahedin of Iran.
September 1, 1981	Central African President David Dacko is ousted from power in a bloodless military coup led by General André Kolingba.
September 3, 1981	The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, an international bill of rights for women, is instituted by the United Nations.
September 5, 1981	The first women arrive at what becomes Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp in the UK.
September 15, 1981	The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approves Sandra Day O'Connor to become the first female justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
September 15, 1981	The John Bull becomes the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world when the Smithsonian Institution operates it under its own power outside Washington, D.C.
September 18, 1981	The Assemblée Nationale votes to abolish capital punishment in France.
September 21, 1981	Belize is granted full independence from the United Kingdom.
September 21, 1981	Sandra Day O'Connor is unanimously approved by the U.S. Senate as the first female Supreme Court justice.
September 25, 1981	Belize joins the United Nations.
September 26, 1981	Nolan Ryan sets a Major League record by throwing his fifth no-hitter.
September 29, 1981	An Iranian Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft crashes into a firing range near Kahrizak, Iran, killing 80 people.
October 3, 1981	The hunger strike at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland ends after seven months and ten deaths.
October 6, 1981	Egyptian President Anwar Sadat is murdered by Islamic extremists.
October 6, 1981	NLM CityHopper Flight 431 crashes in Moerdijk after taking off from Rotterdam The Hague Airport in the Netherlands, killing all 17 people on board.
October 9, 1981	President François Mitterrand abolishes capital punishment in France.
October 14, 1981	Vice President Hosni Mubarak is elected as the President of Egypt, one week after the assassination of Anwar Sadat.
October 20, 1981	Two police officers and a Brink's armored car guard are killed during an armed robbery carried out by members of the Black Liberation Army and Weather Underground in Nanuet, New York.
October 21, 1981	Andreas Papandreou becomes Prime Minister of Greece, ending an almost 50-year-long system of power dominated by conservative forces.
October 22, 1981	The United States Federal Labor Relations Authority votes to decertify the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) for its strike the previous August.
October 27, 1981	Cold War: The Soviet submarine S-363 runs aground on the east coast of Sweden.
November 1, 1981	Antigua and Barbuda gains independence from the United Kingdom.
November 8, 1981	Aeroméxico Flight 110 crashes near Zihuatanejo, Mexico, killing all 18 people on board.
November 11, 1981	Antigua and Barbuda joins the United Nations.
November 12, 1981	Space Shuttle program: Mission STS-2, utilizing the Space Shuttle Columbia, marks the first time a crewed spacecraft is launched into space twice.
November 23, 1981	Iran–Contra affair: Ronald Reagan signs the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), giving the Central Intelligence Agency the authority to recruit and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
November 25, 1981	Pope John Paul II appoints Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI) Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
November 30, 1981	Cold War: In Geneva, representatives from the United States and the Soviet Union begin to negotiate intermediate-range nuclear weapon reductions in Europe. (The meetings end inconclusively on December 17.)
December 1, 1981	Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 1308, a McDonnell Douglas MD-80, crashes in Corsica, killing all 180 people on board.
December 4, 1981	South Africa grants independence to the Ciskei "homeland" (not recognized by any government outside South Africa).
December 11, 1981	El Mozote massacre: Armed forces in El Salvador kill an estimated 900 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign during the Salvadoran Civil War.
December 13, 1981	General Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland, largely due to the actions by Solidarity.
December 14, 1981	Arab–Israeli conflict: Israel's Knesset ratifies the Golan Heights Law, extending Israeli law to the Golan Heights.
December 15, 1981	A suicide car bombing targeting the Iraqi embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, levels the embassy and kills 61 people, including Iraq's ambassador to Lebanon. The attack is considered the first modern suicide bombing.
December 17, 1981	American Brigadier General James L. Dozier is abducted by the Red Brigades in Verona, Italy.
December 18, 1981	First flight of the Russian heavy strategic bomber Tu-160, the world's largest combat aircraft, largest supersonic aircraft and largest variable-sweep wing aircraft built.
December 19, 1981	Sixteen lives are lost when the Penlee lifeboat goes to the aid of the stricken coaster Union Star in heavy seas.
December 31, 1981	A coup d'état in Ghana removes President Hilla Limann's PNP government and replaces it with the Provisional National Defence Council led by Flight lieutenant Jerry Rawlings.