1973

Previous year | Timeline | Next year

• On 1 January, Britain – and Ireland and Denmark – join the European Economic Community.

• On 27 January, the United States, North and South Vietnam and the Vietcong sign the Paris Agreement, instituting a ceasefire in Indochina.

• On 29 March, the last US troops leave Vietnam.

• The Watergate hearings begin in Washington DC on 17 May. These initially investigate the alleged involvement of White House staff in the break-in at the Democratic party headquarters at the Watergate complex on 17 June 1972.

• On 17 July, Afghan prime minister Muhammad Daoud overthrows the monarchy and declares himself president of the new republic.

• In Chile on 11/12 September, President Salvador Allende is killed when General Augusto Pinochet (backed by the US Central Intelligence Agency) leads a military coup that ends the republic.

• On 23 September, Juan Perón is re-elected president of Argentina, but dies the following year.

• On 6 October, Egypt and Syria invade Israel; the Yom Kippur War begins. Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Jordan soon join in. The conflict continues until a ceasefire – and Israeli victory – on 24 October. One result of the war is a large increase in the price of Arab oil, which creates economic problems in the West.

• On 10 October, US vice president Spiro Agnew resigns after pleading nolo contendere to tax evasion charges.

• Italian film-maker Bernardo Bertolucci makes Last Tango in Paris, which is controversial because of its explicit sex scenes.

• British psychedelic pop group Pink Floyd releases Dark Side of the Moon.

Top