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| 1964 |
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| The Somali Youth League (SYL), the nationalist movement that pursued independence, won the country's first elections. | 1 |
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| 1969, Oct |
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| Clan rivalry for political power led to the assassination of Prime Minister Abdirashid Ali Shirmake and the accession of a military council under Maj. Gen. Muhammad Siad Barre. | 2 |
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| 1976 |
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| Siad Barre became president following one-party elections. Siad Barre allied Somalia with the Soviet Union and adopted centralized socialist policies. | 3 |
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| 1977–78 |
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| Superpower rivalries influenced events in the Ogaden region. In a war for control over Ogaden, Ethiopia was aided by the USSR and Cuba, Somalia by the U.S. By the end of 1978, Ethiopia had regained Ogaden with the aid of Soviet and Cuban troops. | 4 |
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| 1978 |
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| Guerrilla movements representing clan groups were excluded from Barre's government; especially the Isaq (which formed the Somali National Movement (SNM) in 1981), Somalia's largest clan, began to oppose the government. | 5 |
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| 1979–82 |
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| The government responded to guerrilla movements with a state of emergency. | 6 |
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| 1986 |
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| Siad Barre was severely injured in an automobile accident, raising the issue of succession. The government was heavily dominated by Siad Barre's immediate family. | 7 |
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| 1988, April |
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| Somalia renounced its claims to Ogaden and concluded a treaty with Ethiopia, depriving the SNM of bases in Ethiopia and freeing the latter to concentrate on its fight with the EPLF. The SNM thereupon launched an invasion of northern Somalia. The government response left 15,000 dead, using South African and Zimbabwean mercenaries against the civilian population. The Isaq were purged and detained in the capital, Mogadishu. | 8 |
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| 1991, Jan. 26 |
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| Pres. Siad Barre was ousted and forced into exile, but war among contending factions continued. | 9 |
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| 1992, Dec |
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| The U.S. sent troops to Somalia to assist in famine relief. | 10 |
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| 1993, June 12–16 |
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| U.S. and UN forces attacked those of Somali general Mohammed Farah Aidid in an abortive attempt to capture him, in response to an earlier attack on UN soldiers. UN soldiers fired on a crowd, killing 20 civilians. | 11 |
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| 1994, Jan |
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| Following a series of attacks on humanitarian agencies in Somalia, two UN relief groups pulled out; the U.S. said it would maintain standby troops. UN secretary general Boutros Boutros-Ghali recommended that 16,000 UN troops remain in Somalia after the scheduled withdrawal of U.S. forces. | 12 |
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| Jan. 16 |
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| Two factions in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, reached a peace accord. | 13 |
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