| |
| 1978 |
| |
| MIDDLE EAST PEACE NEGOTIATIONS between Egypt and Israel continued throughout the year. When they became deadlocked, U.S. president Carter intervened and hosted intensive negotiation sessions at CAMP DAVID (Sept.). The accords provided the basis for a later peace treaty. | 1 |
| SPACE MILESTONES included the successful docking of Soviet spacecraft with the Salyut 6 manned space laboratory (Jan.) and a new endurance record of 139 days and 14 hours in space, set by two Soviet astronuats (Nov.). | 2 |
| ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH experienced changes in leadership. Pope Paul VI died (Aug.) and Cardinal Luciani was elected his successor as Pope John Paul I. The sudden death of the newly elected Pope in Sept. led to the election of Cardinal Wojtyla as Pope John Paul II. Wojtyla, the archbishop of Kraków, was the first non-Italian to be elected pope since 1522. | 3 |
| ISLAMIC REVOLUTION IN IRAN began with a series of antigovernment demonstrations throughout the year. By the end of the year, the shah, Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, had clearly lost control, and power passed to the revolutionary movement led by AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI. This revolution marked the emergence to global prominence of Islamic revivalist forces and a major change in Middle Eastern and global power relationships. | 4 |
| |
| May–June |
| |
| Special session of the UN General Assembly convened to consider DISARMAMENT. UN organizations dealing with disarmament were restructured. | 5 |
| |
| July |
| |
| The first documented birth of a “test-tube baby,” a human conceived outside of its mother's body, occurred in England. The Organization of African Unity (OAU) met in Khartoum. The presence of foreign troops in African conflicts dominated discussions, with radical states supporting Cuban and Soviet military involvement in Ethiopia, Angola, and elsewhere. | 6 |
| |
| Nov |
| |
| A religious commune in Guyana led by Jim Jones came to an end with the mass suicide of more than 900 followers. The San Francisco–based sect had established the commune, called Jonestown, in the mid-1970s. | 7 |
| |
| |
