  |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||
|
 |
1971
• On 25 January, Idi Amin overthrows President Milton Obote of Uganda and becomes dictator. • On 25 April, 200,000 people demonstrate against the Vietnam War in Washington DC. • In July, US secretary of state Henry Kissinger secretly visits China as President Richard Nixon pursues a policy of détente with the major Communist powers. • In August, the United States suspends the convertibility of the dollar into gold, and ends the Bretton Woods postwar economic system. From now on, the exchange rates of major currencies float. • In September, Jordan expels the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), which moves its headquarters to Lebanon. This leads to the formation of the Black September terrorist group. • On 26 March, civil war breaks out between East and West Pakistan, which results in the creation – on 17 December – of an independent Bangladesh (the former East Pakistan). • One US (Mariner 9) and two Soviet (Mars 2 and Mars 3) space probes both reach Mars. • Film-maker Stanley Kubrick makes the controversially violent film A Clockwork Orange. After media outrage and alleged copy-cat violence, he withdraws it from circulation in Britain. |
|
