After the “roaring” ’60s, the ’70s kicked in. The space race was basically over, the Vietnam War was finally ending, the Dutch national football team Oranje reached new heights, and my personal life got turned upside down. These are the events that impressed me or had an impact on me during the ’70s.
Some of this is of course very Dutch!
1970
- The war in Vietnam continuous.
- USA bombs and invades Cambodia.
- NASA’s Apollo 13 Mission “Houston we’ve had a problem” returns safely to earth.
- USSR’s Luna 17 and Lunokhod 1 deploy the first remotely controlled lunar rover at the Moon.
- USSR’s Venera 7 successfully lands on Venus and transmits data back to earth.
- UNIX Time starts counting.
- Feyenoord wins the Europa Cup I and the World Cup, which is the start of the first era of Dutch Football domination with Oranje, Feyenoord and Ajax.
- Pinkpop!
- M*A*S*H the movie, later followed by M*A*S*H 4077 with Alan Alda.
1971
- The war in Vietnam continues.
- South Vietnam and USA invade Laos.
- Intel Corporation introduces the 4004.
- NASA’s Apollo 14 lands on the Moon and returns safely back to Earth.
- NASA’s Apollo 15 lands on the Moon and uses the first lunar rover.
- USSR’s Salyut 1 becomes the first space station on lower orbit around earth.
- USSR’s Soyuz 11 boarded the Salyut becoming the first crew on board space stated, unfortunately the capsule depressurized killing all three crew members.
- NASA’s Mariner 9 becomes the first satellite to orbit Mars.
- New York Times starts publishing parts of the Pentagon Papers.
- Artzen zonder Grenzen, Médecins Sans Frontières founded in France.
- Greenpeace founded in Canada.
1972
- The war in Vietnam continues, although USA continuous to withdraw its troops.
- The napalm girl picture symbolizes the horror caused by the Vietnam War.
- Terror attack killing 11 Israeli athletes during the Munich Olympics.
- SALT I treaty.
- NASA’s Pioneer 10 becomes the first spacecraft to fly through the asteroid belt of Jupiter.
- NASA’s Apollo 16 lands on the Moon.
- NASA’s Apollo 17 becomes the last mission to the Moon.
- President Nixon announces the Space Shuttle program.
- Bloody Sunday.
- Ajax wins the Europe Cup.
1973
- The Vietnam Paris Peace Accord ends USA’s involvement in the Vietnam War. The war continuous.
- The United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark join the EEC.
- Yom Kippur War, Israel again under attack.
- Veronica stranded in Scheveningen.
- Johan Cruijff signs with FC Barcelona.
- OIl crisis, The Netherlands among boycotted over support of Israel.
- Car free Sundays in The Netherlands due to fuel shortages.
1974
- The war in Vietnam continuous although the USA is formally no longer involved.
- Feyenoord wins the UEFA Cup.
- The Dutch National Football Team Oranje with Johan Cruijff reaches 2nd place in the World Cup in Munich, Germany, and I was in the stadium watching the finals!
- Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus, after the cease-fire Turkey permanently controls the north of Cyprus.
- Astronomische Nederlandse Satelliet (ANS), the first Dutch satellite launched to orbit Earth.
- Pirate Radio Veronica stops broadcasting.
- Hostage taking at the French Embassy in Den Haag by Japanese terrorists.
- Coal mining ends in The Netherlands.
- AK-47 introduced.
1975
- Lost my mama, life has never been the same.
- The Vietnam War finally ends, after 20 years of war. Despite the Vietnam Paris Peace Accord, North Vietnam invades South Vietnam and forces South Vietnam to surrender, ending the conflict that lasted from the moment both nations were founded by the Soviet Union (North) and the USA (South). The end of the war is the starting point of punitive cleansing and hundreds of thousands fleeing the country by boat. One of these refugees ended up 4 years later in The Netherlands and became my friend for life.
- Sony introduces Betamax, JVC introduce VHS.
- NASA and USSR launch Apollo and Soyuz on the first Joint Mission to dock in space.
- Suriname gains independence from The Netherlands after a binding referendum.
- The Suez Canal reopens.
- War breaks out in Lebanon.
- Bill Gates and Paul Allen found Microsoft.
- Molukan terrorists attempt to kidnap Queen Juliana.
- Molukan terrorists kidnap a train and the Indonesian consulate in Amsterdam. Both terror actions are ended peaceful.
1976
- Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak found Apple Computer Company.
- First commercial flight of the Concorde.
- NASA’s first Space Shuttle Enterprise!
- NASA’s LAGEOS-1 Satellite launched into orbit to make accurate laser measurements of Earth’s surface.
- NASA’s Viking 1 lands on Mars!
- NASA’s Viking 2 lands on Mars!
- Oranje, the Dutch National Football Team reaches 3rd place at the European Championship.
- Israeli Special Forces liberate hostages during Operation Entebbe.
- War criminal Pieter Menten arrested.
1977
- Atari 2600 launched.
- Commodore PET launched.
- Apple II launched.
- Elvis Presley dies.
- USSR’s Soyuz 24 completes a final mission to the Salyut 5 space station.
- NASA’s Voyager 2 launched.
- Tenerife Canary Island airport disaster.
- Charta 77 signed.
- Summer time introduced in The Netherlands.
- Molukan terrorists kidnap a train and a school. Both acts of terror are ended by force by Special Forces of our Royal Dutch Marines and Royal Dutch Military Police.
- German Special Forces liberate the Lufthansa jet in Mogadishu.
- War criminal Pieter Menten sentenced to 20 year in prison.
1978
- Egypt and Israel sign the Camp David Accords.
- NASA announces that Shannon Lucid, Margaret Rhea Seddon, Kathryn Sullivan, Judith Resnik, Anna Fisher, and Sally Ride will be the first female astronauts to enter training.
- Molukan terrorists take hostages at the Province Hall in Drente. This act of terror is ended by force by Special Forces of our Royal Dutch Military Police.
- Oranje, the Dutch National Football Team reaches 2nd place at the World Championship without Johan Cruijff.
- First heatwave of my life during summer, first snow blizzards of my life during the following winter.
- Oil spills of Amoco Cadiz reach the southern parts of the Dutch coastline.
1979
- Michael Jackson releases Off the Wall.
- USSR and USA sign the SALT II treaty.
- NASA’s Voyager 1 explores Jupiter from the closest approach and sends back information and pictures.
- NASA’s Voyager 2 joins the exploration of Jupiter.
- Israel and Egypt sign peace treaty.
- Nice, France is hit by a Tsunami.
- USSR invades Afghanistan.
- China-Vietnam War after Vietnam invaded Cambodia.
- First election of the European Parliament.
- South Africa and Israel accused of performing nuclear tests on Prince Edward Island near South Africa.
- NATO starts to deploy mid-range nuclear weapons in Europe.