Portal:1970s

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

The 1970s Portal

P:1970s

The 1970s (pronounced "nineteen-seventies"; commonly shortened to the "Seventies" or the "'70s") was a decade that began on January 1, 1970, and ended on December 31, 1979.

In the 21st century, historians have increasingly portrayed the 1970s as a "pivot of change" in world history, focusing especially on the economic upheavals^[1] that followed the end of the postwar economic boom.^[2] On a global scale, it was characterized by frequent coups, domestic conflicts and civil wars, and various political upheavals and armed conflicts which arose from or were related to decolonization, and the global struggle between NATO, the Warsaw Pact, and the Non-Aligned Movement. Many regions had periods of high-intensity conflict, notably Southeast Asia, the Mideast, and Africa.

In the Western world, social progressive values that began in the 1960s, such as increasing political awareness and economic liberty of women, continued to grow. In the United Kingdom, the 1979 election resulted in the victory of its Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher, the first female British Prime Minister. Industrialized countries experienced an economic recession due to an oil crisis caused by oil embargoes by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries. The crisis saw the first instance of stagflation which began a political and economic trend of the replacement of Keynesian economic theory with neoliberal economic theory, with the first neoliberal government coming to power with the 1973 Chilean coup d'état. The 1970s was also an era of great technological and scientific advances; since the appearance of the first commercial microprocessor, the Intel 4004 in 1971, the decade was characterised by a profound transformation of computing units – by then rudimentary, spacious machines – into the realm of portability and home accessibility.

On the other hand, there were also great advances in fields such as physics, which saw the consolidation of quantum field theory at the end of the decade, mainly thanks to the confirmation of the existence of quarks and the detection of the first gauge bosons in addition to the photon, the Z boson and the gluon, part of what was christened in 1975 as the Standard Model.

In Asia, the People's Republic of China's international relations changed significantly following its recognition by the United Nations, the death of Mao Zedong and the beginning of market liberalization by Mao's successors. Despite facing an oil crisis due to the OPEC embargo, the economy of Japan witnessed a large boom in this period, overtaking the economy of West Germany to become the second-largest in the world.^[3] The United States withdrew its military forces from the Vietnam War. In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, which led to the Soviet–Afghan War.

The 1970s saw an initial increase in violence in the Middle East as Egypt and Syria declared war on Israel, but in the late 1970s, the situation in the Middle East was fundamentally altered when Egypt signed the Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty. Political tensions in Iran exploded with the Iranian Revolution in 1979, which overthrew the Pahlavi dynasty and established an Islamic republic under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini.

Selected article - show another

An upright cabinet of Pong on display at the Neville Public Museum of Brown County

Pong is a table tennis–themed twitch arcade sports video game, featuring simple two-dimensional graphics, manufactured by Atari and originally released on 29 November 1972. It was one of the earliest arcade video games; it was created by Allan Alcorn as a training exercise assigned to him by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, but Bushnell and Atari co-founder Ted Dabney were surprised by the quality of Alcorn's work and decided to manufacture the game. Bushnell based the game's concept on an electronic ping-pong game included in the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home video game console. In response, Magnavox later sued Atari for patent infringement.

Pong was the first commercially successful video game, and it helped to establish the video game industry along with the Magnavox Odyssey. Soon after its release, several companies began producing games that closely mimicked its gameplay. Eventually, Atari's competitors released new types of video games that deviated from Pong's original format to varying degrees, and this, in turn, led Atari to encourage its staff to move beyond Pong and produce more innovative games themselves. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Did you know (auto-generated) - load new batch

... that in the 1970s, the Shelton Hotel avoided demolition after seven elderly residents and a secretary refused to move out?
... that during the 1960s and 1970s, American artist Robert Bauer painted figures that were a mixture of 20th-century avant-garde funk and 17th-century Dutch realism?
... that until the 1970s, most shōjo manga (Japanese girls' comics) were written by men?
... that Comtal Corporation's products were used by NASA to process digital images of the surface of Mars and flybys of Jupiter in the 1970s?
... that the art of Irma Blank, of "drawing languages without words" and including sounds, was recognised in the 1970s but fell into obscurity until a rediscovery in the 2010s?
... that the oldest surviving synagogue building in Wisconsin was almost razed in the 1970s?

List articles

Category puzzle

Select [►] to view subcategories

Selected biography - show another

Wilson in 1962

James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, PC, FRS, FSS (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British statesman and Labour Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970 and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He was the Leader of the Labour Party from 1963 to 1976, and was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1945 to 1983. Wilson is the only Labour leader to have formed administrations following four general elections.

Born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, to a politically active middle-class family, Wilson studied PPE at Jesus College, Oxford. He was later an Economic History lecturer at New College, Oxford, and a research fellow at University College, Oxford. Elected to Parliament in 1945, Wilson was appointed to the Attlee government as a Parliamentary Secretary; he became Secretary for Overseas Trade in 1947, and was elevated to the Cabinet shortly thereafter as President of the Board of Trade. Following Labour's defeat at the 1955 election, Wilson joined the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Chancellor, and was moved to the role of Shadow Foreign Secretary in 1961. When Labour Leader Hugh Gaitskell died suddenly in January 1963, Wilson won the subsequent leadership election to replace him, becoming Leader of the Opposition. (Full article...)

List of selected biographies

General images - load new batch

The following are images from various 1970s-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Charlie Rich (from 1970s in music)
Image 2Pink Floyd, 1973 (from 1970s in music)
Image 3Willie Nelson became one of the most popular country music artists during the 1970s. (from 1970s in music)
Image 4United States President Jimmy Carter and Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev sign the SALT II treaty, June 18, 1979, in Vienna, Austria (from 1970s)
Image 5Rigo Tovar (from 1970s in music)
Image 6Aerosmith had seven studio albums chart on the Billboard 200 in the 1970s. Their success in the decade, particularly of their albums Toys in the Attic (1975) and Rocks (1976), helped inspire future rock artists such as Slash and Kurt Cobain (from 1970s in music)
Image 7In the 1970s, women's hair was usually worn long with a centre parting (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 8Isabel Perón becomes the first woman President of Argentina in 1974 and the first woman non-monarch head of state in the Western hemisphere. (from 1970s)
Image 9Singer Barry Manilow wears his hair longish in the soft, layered style favoured by men in the 1970s. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 10Viking 1, the first of two spacecraft sent to Mars, takes this picture of the landing site in Chryse Planitia (1978) (from 1970s)
Image 11Magnavox Odyssey (1972) (from 1970s in video games)
Image 12Intellivision (1979) (from 1970s in video games)
Image 13Color TV-Game (1977) (from 1970s in video games)
Image 14 Fairchild Channel F (1976) (from 1970s in video games)
Image 15British rock band Queen (pictured here in 1977) was considered to be one of the most influential bands of the '70s (as well as the '80s), along with American rock band Eagles and others (from 1970s)
Image 16The Vietnam War (1955–1975) (from 1970s)
Image 17The early 1970s' fashions were a continuation of the hippie look from the late 1960s. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 18Honda Civic sold well throughout the decade. (from 1970s)
Image 19A Women's Liberation march in Washington, D.C., 1970 (from 1970s)
Image 20British rock band Killing Floor, 1971. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 21Polistil VG2 Pong clone (1978), made in Italy (from 1970s in video games)
Image 22Swedish model Ulla Jones dressed in a lurex halter top and matching flared trousers (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 23The 1970 Bhola cyclone, considered the 20th century's worst cyclone disaster, kills an estimated 500,000 people in the densely populated Ganges Delta region of East Pakistan during November 1970. (from 1970s)
Image 24Voyager 1 passing by Jupiter's Great Red Spot February 25, 1979 (from 1970s)
Image 25Iranian prince Reza Pahlavi wearing Peacock Revolution-inspired velvet Nehru jacket and geometric print scarf, 1973. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 26King Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (from 1970s)
Image 27Siouxsie Sioux of the English punk group Siouxsie and the Banshees. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 28TRS-80 (1977) (from 1970s in video games)
Image 291973 Volvo P1800 sportwagon. (from 1970s)
Image 30Elton John was one of the most commercially successful solo pop acts of the 1970s (from 1970s in music)
Image 31Apollo 17 Astronaut Gene Cernan becomes the last man on the Moon, December 13, 1972 (from 1970s)
Image 32Pakistan Army Genarel A. A. K. Niazi signing surrender agreement before Sh. Jagjit Singh Aurora of Indian Army after getting defeated in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War against East Pakistan, which eventually liberated as Bangladesh later. (from 1970s)
Image 33Two punks from the late 1970s (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 34Debbie Harry of Blondie in 1977. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 35Galaxian (1979) (from 1970s in video games)
Image 36Debby Boone song "You Light Up My Life" had the most weeks at number one (from 1970s in music)
Image 371979 Iranian Revolution (from 1970s)
Image 38The Bee Gees, in 1968 (from 1970s in music)
Image 39British girls in 1975 in flared jeans (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 40British singer Rod Stewart, 1976. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 41By the early 1970s, miniskirts had reached an all-time popularity. This young English woman is wearing a fringed suede miniskirt, 1971. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 42El Tri Band founder Alex Lora, on stage with the band in 2006 (from 1970s in music)
Image 43Line at a gas station in Maryland, June 15, 1979. (from 1970s)
Image 44Flared jeans and trousers were popular with both sexes as can be seen at this East German disco party in 1977. In the socialist part of Germany (until 1990), the government regarded western influences on cultural life of their population very critical, but factually tolerated them in many fields. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 45Haile Selassie was overthrown from power in Ethiopia, ending one of the longest-lasting monarchies in world history. (from 1970s)
Image 46Swedish model Efva Attling in a "midi" dress, with Lars Jacob, Kings Road, London, 1971. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 47Margaret Thatcher shortly before becoming the United Kingdom's first woman Prime Minister in 1979. Thatcher's political and economic agenda began the first government committed to neoliberalism. (from 1970s)
Image 48Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat shake hands, Camp David, 1978 (from 1970s)
Image 49Asteroids (1979) (from 1970s in video games)
Image 50Led Zeppelin, 1977 (from 1970s in music)
Image 51Redd Foxx and Demond Wilson from Sanford and Son (from 1970s)
Image 52Bob Marley, 1980 (from 1970s in music)
Image 53Kansas (from 1970s in music)
Image 54Linda Ronstadt in 1976 (from 1970s in music)
Image 55Two women in 1979 wear the trendy tube tops, while the woman on the far left is wearing a rayon strapless dress (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 561976 flyer advertising the racing game Fonz. (from 1970s in video games)
Image 57Park Chung Hee (from 1970s)
Image 58A West German school girl with Schultüte in 1970, with a 'hippyish' outfit on. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 59British rock band Led Zeppelin was one of the most popular and influential bands of the 1970s. The band's heavy, guitar-driven sound has led them to be cited as one of the progenitors of heavy metal. (from 1970s)
Image 601970 Dodge Challenger Trans Am, an example of a muscle car in the earlier part of the decade. (from 1970s)
Image 61Clockwise from top left: U.S. President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office following the Watergate scandal in 1974; The United States was still involved in the Vietnam War in the early decade. The New York Times leaked information regarding the nation's involvement in the war. Political pressure led to America's withdrawal from the war in 1973, and the Fall of Saigon in 1975 leading to evacuations of South Vietnamese that same year; the 1973 oil crisis causes a financial crisis throughout the developed world; both the leaders of Israel and Egypt shake hands after the signing of the Camp David Accords in 1978; in 1971, the Pakistan Armed Forces commits the 1971 Bangladesh genocide to curb independence movements in East Pakistan, killing 300,000 to 3,000,000 people; this consequently leads to the Bangladesh Liberation War; the 1970 Bhola cyclone kills an estimated 500,000 people in the densely populated Ganges Delta region of East Pakistan in November 1970, and became the deadliest natural disaster in 40 years; the Iranian Revolution of 1979 ousts Mohammad Reza Pahlavi who is later replaced by an Islamic theocracy led by Ayatollah Khomeini; the popularity of the disco music genre and subculture peaks during the mid-to-late 1970s.
(from 1970s)
Image 62Idi Amin (from 1970s)
Image 63Loretta Lynn (from 1970s in music)
Image 64The CN Tower was completed in 1976, becoming the world's tallest free-standing structure. (from 1970s)
Image 65Silk scarves were popular fashion accessories for women in the 1970s. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 66Apple II (1977) (from 1970s in video games)
Image 67Henry Mancini (from 1970s in music)
Image 68Pong (1972) (from 1970s)
Image 69America's first space station Skylab in orbit February 8, 1974 (from 1970s)
Image 70Paul Anka in 1961 (from 1970s in music)
Image 71Nixon and Zhou toast, 1972 (from 1970s)
Image 72Three Los Angeles Chicanos in 1974. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 73Singer Billy Preston in 1974 wearing an Afro hairstyle. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 74VT100 (1978) (from 1970s in video games)
Image 75Concorde landing at Farnborough in September 1974 (from 1970s)
Image 76Couple prom in late 1970s men wear Powder Tuxedo women wear Sleeve dress. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 77Singer Rod Stewart performing in 1976. He was one of the major British soft rock artists of the 1970s (from 1970s in music)
Image 78Mid-70s Western-inspired outifts worn by country music group Asleep at the Wheel. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 79The British band The Bee Gees were one of the biggest musical acts of the 1970s leading the disco phenomenon (from 1970s in music)
Image 80Nixon displays the V-for-victory sign as he departs the White House after resigning (from 1970s)
Image 81Susana Giménez wearing hotpants, 1977 (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 82Egyptian military vehicles crossing the Suez Canal on October 7, 1973, during the Yom Kippur War. (from 1970s)
Image 83The world map of military alliances in 1970s: Western allies (blue), Non-aligned countries (green) and Soviet allies (red) (from 1970s)
Image 84David Bowie in the early 1970s. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 85Bruce Lee fostered the popularity of martial arts cinema (from 1970s)
Image 86Typical mid to late 1970s Ted gear, as worn by Shakin' Stevens. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 87Queen, 1977 (from 1970s in music)
Image 88Woman in miniskirt, 1970 (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 89Jose Jose (from 1970s in music)
Image 90Girl in 1973 with a "flicked" hairstyle. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 91Pink Floyd performing The Dark Side of the Moon in 1973, the highest-selling album of the decade and one of the highest-selling of all time. (from 1970s)
Image 92Steve McQueen with sideburns, 1972. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 93American casual attire, 1974. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 94In 1971 hotpants and bell-bottomed trousers were popular fashion trends (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 95Anti-war protest against the Vietnam War in Washington, D.C., on April 24, 1971. (from 1970s)
Image 96Pong arcade machine (1972) (from 1970s in video games)
Image 97Punk pioneer Lene Lovich in 1979, with her trademark long plaited hair. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 98A wrap dress Diane von Fürstenberg designed in the 1970s (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 99An artist impression of an American Apollo spacecraft and Soviet Soyuz spacecraft docking, a propaganda portrait for the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project mission (from 1970s)
Image 100Microvision (1979) (from 1970s in video games)
Image 101Aldo Moro (from 1970s)
Image 102Commodore PET (1977) (from 1970s in video games)
Image 103Fashion models in Leipzig, GDR, 1972. One of the girls is modelling a "maxi" dress. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 104Home Pong console (museum recreation) (from 1970s in video games)
Image 105Salah Zulfikar and Zubaida Tharwat in The Other Man (1973) (from 1970s)
Image 106The Swedish band ABBA was one of the most commercially successful European bands of the 1970s (from 1970s in music)
Image 107John Denver, 1975 (from 1970s in music)
Image 108Death Race (1976) (from 1970s in video games)
Image 109Hank Williams (from 1970s in music)
Image 110Alan Bennett in 1973, wearing a wide necktie (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 111Mao Zedong wearing gray Zhongshan suit, 1972. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 112Footballer George Best wore long hair in 1976. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 113The Eagles (from 1970s in music)
Image 114A young woman wearing a wrap dress. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 115English girl in the mid-1970s wearing a wide-sleeved shirt, belted at the waist. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 116Ramones's lead guitarist Johnny Ramone performing in Toronto, 1977 (from 1970s in music)
Image 117African American couple, Michigan Avenue, Chicago, July 1975 (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 118Microvision (1979) is the first handheld game console that used interchangeable cartridges. (from 1970s)
Image 119Frisbee player Ken Westerfield wearing draw string bell bottoms in the 1970s (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 120Los Angeles high school students, 1973. The tousled, blond surfer hair was popular for young men in southern California. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 121Example of glam rock costume worn by Roy Wood and Wizzard, early 1970s. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 122Actress Camille Keaton in 1972. Throughout most of the decade, women preferred light, natural-looking make-up for the daytime. (from 1970s in fashion)
Image 123AC/DC, August 1979 (from 1970s in music)
Image 124American First Lady Pat Nixon wears a shirt with the wide collar that was popular until the final years of the decade. (from 1970s in fashion)

Related portals

Wikiprojects

You are invited to participate in WikiProject Years, a WikiProject dedicated to developing and improving articles about years, decades, centuries, and millennia.