1st January » Unix time begins at 00:00:00 UTC/GMT.
4th January » A 1970 Tonghai earthquake named magnitude 7.7 earthquake strikes Tonghai County, China, killing at least 15,000 people.
7th January » The Punjab Legislative Council (Abolition) Act, 1969 comes into effect.
12th January » Biafra capitulates, ending the Nigerian Civil War.
15th January » Nigerian Civil War: After a 32-month fight for independence from Nigeria, Biafra surrenders.
15th January » Muammar Gaddafi e.g Moammar Gadhafi is proclaimed premier of Libya.
16th January » Buckminster Fuller receives the AIA Gold Medal called Gold Medal award from the American Institute of Architects.
18th February » The Chicago Seven are found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
2nd March » Rhodesia declares itself a republic, breaking its last links with the British crown.
4th March » French submarine 'French submarine Eurydice (S644) e.g Eurydice' explodes underwater, resulting in the loss of the entire 57-man crew.
5th March » The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations.
6th March » An explosion at the Weather Underground safe house in Greenwich Village kills three.
10th March » Vietnam War: Captain Ernest Medina is charged by the U.S. military with My Lai war crimes.
17th March » My Lai Massacre: The United States Army charges 14 officers with suppressing information related to the incident.
18th March » Lon Nol ousts Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.
18th March » The U.S. postal strike of 1970 begins, one of the largest Wildcat strike action e.g wildcat strikes in U.S. history.
21st March » The first Earth Day proclamation is issued by Mayor of San Francisco Joseph Alioto.
28th March » 1970 Gediz earthquake e.g Gediz earthquake: A 7.2 Moment magnitude scale or magnitude earthquake strikes western Turkey at about 23:05 local time, killed 1,086 and injured 1,260.
6th April » Newhall Incident: Four California Highway Patrol officers are killed in a shootout.
8th April » Bahr el-Baqar incident: Israeli bombers strike an Egyptian school. 46 children are killed.
10th April » Paul McCartney announces that he is leaving The Beatles for personal and professional reasons.
12th April » Soviet submarine K-8, carrying four nuclear torpedoes, sinks in the Bay of Biscay four days after a fire on board.
13th April » An oxygen tank aboard Apollo 13 explodes, putting the crew in great danger and causing major damage to the spacecraft while en route to the Moon.
15th April » During the Cambodian Civil War, massacres of the Vietnamese Cambodian or Vietnamese minority results in 800 bodies flowing down the Mekong River into South Vietnam.
17th April » Apollo program: The ill-fated Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to Earth safely.
21st April » The Hutt River Province Principality secedes from Australia.
24th April » The Gambia becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, with Dawda Jawara as the first Heads of State of The Gambia known as President.
26th April » The Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization enters into force.
28th April » Vietnam War: President of the United States or U.S. President Richard M. Nixon formally authorizes American combat troops to fight communist sanctuaries in Cambodia.
29th April » Vietnam War: United States and South Vietnamese forces Cambodian Campaign or invade Cambodia to hunt National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam named Viet Cong.
1st May » Protests erupt in Seattle, following the announcement by President of the United States called U.S. President Richard Nixon that U.S. Forces in Vietnam would pursue enemy troops into Cambodia, a neutral country.
8th May » The Hard Hat Riot occurs in the Wall Street area of New York City as Blue-collar worker e.g blue-collar construction workers clash with Opposition to the Vietnam War called demonstrators protesting the Vietnam War.
9th May » Vietnam War: In Washington, D.C., 75,000 to 100,000 war protesters demonstrate in front of the White House.
11th May » The Lubbock Tornado, a Fujita scale e.g F5 tornado, hits Lubbock, Texas, killing 26 and causing $250 million in damage.
14th May » The Red Army Faction is established in West Germany.
15th May » President Richard Nixon appoints Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington the first female United States Army General (United States) called Generals.
15th May » Philip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green are killed at Jackson State University by police during Jackson State killings or student protests.
17th May » Thor Heyerdahl sets sail from Morocco on the papyrus boat 'Ra II' to sail the Atlantic Ocean.
24th May » The scientific drilling known as drilling of the Kola Superdeep Borehole begins in the Soviet Union.
26th May » The Soviet Union named Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 becomes the first commercial transport to exceed speed of sound called Mach 2.
31st May » The 1970 Ancash earthquake or Ancash earthquake causes a landslide that buries the town of Yungay, Peru; more than 47,000 people are killed.
4th June » Tonga gains independence from the United Kingdom.
11th June » After being appointed on May 15, Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington officially receive their ranks as United States Army called U.S. Army Generals, becoming the first females to do so.
15th June » Charles Manson goes on trial for the Sharon Tate murders.
19th June » The Patent Cooperation Treaty is signed.
21st June » Penn Central declares Section 77 bankruptcy, largest ever US corporate bankruptcy up to this date.
1st July » President General Yahya Khan abolishes One-Unit of West Pakistan restoring the provinces.
3rd July » The Troubles: The "Falls Curfew" begins in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
8th July » Richard Nixon delivers a special congressional message enunciating Native American self-determination as official US Indian policy, leading to the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975.
12th July » A fire consumes the wooden home of Norwegian composer Geirr Tveitt and irretrievably destroys about 90 percent of his output.
21st July » After 11 years of construction, the Aswan Dam known as Aswan High Dam in Egypt is completed.
23rd July » Qaboos bin Said al Said becomes Sultan of Oman after overthrowing his father, Said bin Taimur initiating massive reforms, modernization programs and end to a decade long civil war.
31st July » Black Tot Day: The last day of the officially sanctioned Rum Naval rum or rum ration in the Royal Navy.
7th August » California judge Harold Haley is taken hostage in his courtroom and killed during an effort to free George Jackson (Black Panther) or George Jackson from police custody.
15th August » Patricia Palinkas becomes the first woman to play professionally in an American football game.
17th August » Venera program: 'Venera 7' launched. It will later become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet (Venus).
23rd August » Organized by Mexican American trade union named labor union leader César Chávez, the Salad Bowl strike, the largest farm worker strike action e.g strike in U.S. history, begins.
29th August » Chicano Moratorium against the Vietnam War, East Los Angeles, California. Police riot kills three people, including journalist Rubén Salazar.
1st September » Attempted assassination of King Hussein of Jordan by Palestinian guerrillas, who attack his motorcade.
2nd September » NASA announces the Canceled Apollo missions cancellation of two Apollo program Apollo missions to the Moon, Apollo 15 (the designation is re-used by a later mission), and Canceled Apollo missions Apollos 18–20 Apollo 19.
4th September » Salvador Allende is elected President of Chile.
5th September » Vietnam War: Operation Jefferson Glenn begins: The 101st Airborne Division or United States 101st Airborne Division and the South Vietnamese 1st Division (South Vietnam) e.g 1st Infantry Division initiate a new operation in Thừa Thiên–Huế Province.
7th September » Fighting between Arab guerrillas and government forces in Amman, Jordan.
7th September » Bill Shoemaker sets record for most lifetime wins as a jockey (passing Johnny Longden).
16th September » King Hussein of Jordan declares military rule following the hijacking of four civilian airliners by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). This results in the formation of the Black September Organization e.g Black September Palestinian
19th September » Kostas Georgakis, a Greek student of geology, sets himself ablaze in Matteotti Square in Genoa, Italy, as a protest against the Greek military junta of 1967–1974 known as dictatorial regime of Georgios Papadopoulos.
20th September » Syrian tanks roll into Jordan in response to continued fighting between Jordan and the fedayeen.
25th September » Cease-fire between Jordan and the Fedayeen ends fighting triggered by four hijackings on September 6 and September 9 called 9.
26th September » The Laguna Fire starts in San Diego County, California, burning convert 175,425 acre km2.
2nd October » A plane carrying the Wichita State University football team, administrators, and supporters Wichita State University football team plane crash e.g crashes in Colorado killing 31 people.
5th October » The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is founded.
5th October » Montreal: British Trade Commissioner James Cross is kidnapped by members of the Front de libération du Québec e.g FLQ terrorist group, triggering the October Crisis.
9th October » The Khmer Republic is proclaimed in Cambodia.
10th October » In Montreal, Quebec, a national crisis hits Canada when Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte becomes the second statesman kidnapped by members of the FLQ terrorist group.
12th October » Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas
15th October » Thirty-five construction workers are killed when a section of the new West Gate Bridge in Melbourne collapses.
15th October » The domestic Soviet Union known as Soviet Aeroflot Flight 244 is hijacked and diverted to Turkey.
16th October » In response to the October Crisis terrorist kidnapping, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau of Canada invokes the War Measures Act.
17th October » Montreal, Quebec: Quebec Premier known as Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte murdered by members of the FLQ terrorist group.
20th October » Siad Barre declares Somali Democratic Republic e.g Somalia a socialist state.
23rd October » Gary Gabelich sets a land speed record in a rocket-powered automobile called the Blue Flame (car) called Blue Flame, fueled with natural gas.
30th October » In Vietnam, the worst monsoon to hit the area in six years causes large floods, kills 293, leaves 200,000 homeless and virtually halts the Vietnam War.
1st November » Club Cinq-Sept fire in Saint-Laurent-du-Pont, France kills 146 young people.
4th November » Vietnam War: Vietnamization The United States turns control of the Binh Thuy Air Base in the Mekong Delta over to South Vietnam.
4th November » Genie (feral child) e.g Genie, a 13-year-old feral child is found in Los Angeles, California having been locked in her bedroom for most of her life.
4th November » Salvador Allende takes office as President of Chile, the first Marxist to become president of a Latin American country through open elections.
5th November » Vietnam War: The United States Military Assistance Command in Vietnam reports the lowest weekly American soldier death toll in five years (24).
9th November » Vietnam War: The Supreme Court of the United States votes 6 to 3 against hearing a case to allow Massachusetts to enforce its law granting residents the right to refuse military service in an undeclared war.
10th November » Vietnam War: Vietnamization For the first time in five years, an entire week ends with no reports of United States e.g American combat fatalities in Southeast Asia.
10th November » The Soviet Lunar probe Lunokhod 1 is launched.
12th November » The Oregon Highway Division attempts to destroy a rotting beached Sperm whale with explosives, leading to the now infamous Exploding whale Oregon known as "exploding whale" incident.
12th November » The 1970 Bhola cyclone makes landfall on the coast of East Pakistan becoming the deadliest tropical cyclone in history.
14th November » Soviet Union enters International Civil Aviation Organization called ICAO, making Russian the fourth official language of organization.
14th November » Southern Airways Flight 932 crashes in the mountains near Huntington, West Virginia, killing 75, including members of the Marshall University American football named football team.
17th November » Vietnam War: Lieutenant William Calley goes on trial for the My Lai Massacre.
17th November » Luna programme: The Soviet Union lands 'Lunokhod 1' on Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains) on the Moon. This is the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on another world and is released by the orbiting 'Luna 17' spacecraft.
18th November » U.S. President Richard Nixon asks the Congress of the United States named U.S. Congress for $155 million in supplemental aid for the Cambodian government.
21st November » Vietnam War: Operation Ivory Coast A joint United States Air Force called Air Force and Army team raids the Son Tay prison camp in an attempt to free American prisoners of war thought to be held there.
25th November » In Japan, author Yukio Mishima and one compatriot commit ritualistic seppuku after an unsuccessful coup attempt.
26th November » In Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, 1.5 inches (38.1 mm) of rain fall in a minute, the heaviest rainfall ever recorded.
2nd December » The United States Environmental Protection Agency begins operations.
15th December » Soviet spacecraft 'Venera 7' successfully land on Venus. It is the first successful soft List of landings on extraterrestrial bodies named landing on another planet
15th December » The South Korean ferry 'Namyong Ho' capsizes in the Korea Strait, killing over 300 people.
17th December » Polish 1970 protests: In Gdynia, soldiers fire at workers emerging from trains, killing dozens.
23rd December » The List of tenants in One World Trade Center North Tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York City New York, New York is topped out at convert 1368 ft m, making it the tallest building in the world.
23rd December » The Democratic Republic of the Congo officially becomes a single-party state.