| c. 444 BC | Italy, Greece | Athenian leader Pericles asks the sophist (itinerant teacher of oratory and argument) Protagoras of Abdera to write a constitution for the new colony of Thurii in Italy. Protagoras is famed for his agnosticism, his belief that the existence of God cannot be proved. |
| 235 | Roman Empire | Following the assassination of the emperor Alexander Severus, Rome enters another anarchic period, sometimes known as the 3rd Century Crisis, during which power rests with the legionaries and no fewer than 37 men are declared emperor within 35 years. |
| 529 | Eastern Roman Empire | The first Codex Constitutionum of the eastern Roman emperor Justinian is issued. It is a list of all the enactments of the emperors and their answers to still valid legal questions. It is known later as Codex Iustinianus. |
| 630–668 | India | During the reign of Narasimhavarman I, the Pallava dynasty is the dominant power of southern India. After his death, the Pallava kingdom comes under pressure from the Chalukyas and goes into decline, disappearing about 900. |
| 714–717 | Frankish Kingdom | The Frankish mayor of the palace, Pepin II the Stout, dies. After three years of civil war, his illegitimate son Charles Martel the Hammer makes himself undisputed ruler of the Frankish kingdom, uniting Neustria and Austrasia. Like his father before him, Charles rules in the capacity of mayor of the palace, maintaining the Merovingian king, Chilperic III, as a powerless figurehead. |
| 885 | Armenia | Ashot I the Great is recognized as king of Armenia by both the Abbasid caliphate and the Byzantine Empire. His reign marks the beginning of a century-long golden age of Armenian Christian culture. |
| 16 October 1311 | France | The General Council of Vienne, an ecclesiastical assembly convoked by Pope Clement V under pressure from the French king Philip IV the Fair, opens in Vienne, France. It decides to create chairs in Arabic and Tatar at Paris, Louvain, and Salamanca; to suppresses the religious groups, the Béguins and Beghards; and to abolish the Knights Templars. |
| 1338 | Japan | Ashikaga Takauji restores the shogunate, which remains in his family until 1573. Its control of Japan is never complete and feudal anarchy prevails. He also issues the Kemmu Code to organize his government, which has its capital at Kyoto, Japan. |
| 1356 | Bohemia, Holy Roman Empire | In a campaign to enforce order in Bohemia, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV authorizes commoners to prosecute their lords in courts of law, where Bohemian is to be the official language. |
| 27 January 1377 | England | The ‘bad parliament’ meets in England and reverses the acts of the ‘good parliament’, and grants a poll tax of four shillings on everyone over the age of 14 to fund the continuation of the French wars. |
| 1380 | China | While suppressing a conspiracy, Hung-wu, Ming emperor of China, abolishes the office of prime minister and the central chancellery, thereby introducing a new system in which Chinese emperors assume personal and autocratic rule. |
| 3 February 1388 | England | The ‘merciless parliament’ meets and convicts the courtiers of King Richard II of England, who are accused by the lords appellant. The lords appellant take control of the government. |
| 22 September 1485 | France | Louis, Duke of Orléans and heir to the French throne, submits to the French regent Anne of Beaujeu, ending the noble rebellion known as la Guerre Folle (the ‘Mad War’). |
| 1486–1494 | Japan | Having expelled rampaging feudal armies, leaders of the insurgent Yamashiro Ikki league (in which the gentry have joined with the peasants) meet at Uji, Japan, to formulate a provisional government for the province. |
| 1489 | Holy Roman Empire | Frederick III the Holy Roman Emperor appoints Franz von Taxis as imperial postmaster. He develops a courier service for official mail through his firm ‘Thurn und Taxis’. |
| July 1493 | Poland-Lithuania | The assembly at Piotrków, Poland, of Polish szlachta (nobles) constitutes itself as the first national Sejm (parliament). It confirms noble privileges and restrictions on the peasantry, and limits noble powers. |
| 1582 | Europe | Pope Gregory XIII introduces the Gregorian Calendar, correcting errors in the Julian Calendar. 5 October 1582 becomes 15 October 1582 and the new year is confirmed as starting on 1 January. Protestant countries will retain the Julian calendar until the beginning of the 18th century. |
| 30 July 1619 | North America | Limited representative government comes to the colony of Virginia, North America, in the form of a House of Burgesses, whose decrees are subject to approval by the English crown. This is the first such assembly in North America. |
| 22 November 1641 | UK | The Grand Remonstance is carried in the English House of Commons by 11 votes but is rejected by King Charles I. It demands that the appointment of ministers be subject to parliamentary approval, that the temporal power of bishops be reduced, and that church matters be referred to a synod of Protestant divines. Its perceived extremism rallies many moderates to support Charles and causes the divide between Royalists and parliamentarians to harden. |
| 1642 | France | A decree is issued by the French government which consolidates the trend towards centralization of government functions by ordering the transfer of all duties undertaken by local government finance officers to the intendants, who are given wide powers of punishment. The decree is reinforced by a declaration issued on 16 April 1643. |
| 3 January 1648 | UK | After a long debate in the English House of Commons, the ‘Vote of No Addresses’ is passed, which pledges to discontinue all negotiations with King Charles I of Great Britain and Ireland. |
| 20 January 1649 | UK | The trial of King Charles I of Great Britain and Ireland takes place in Westminster Hall, London, England. He is charged with levying war on Parliament and acting as a tyrant and traitor, but refuses to plead before what he regards as an illegal court. |
| 8 July 1663 | North America, UK | King Charles II of England grants a royal charter to Rhode Island. The charter gives the colony the right to elect its own governor and it also contains a guarantee of religious freedom. |
| 1667–1685 | France | A substantial reform of French law takes place with the introduction of a new Civil Code, the Code Louis, in 1667. It is followed by the Criminal Code in 1670, the Maritime Code in 1672, the Commercial Code in 1673, and the Code Noir in 1685, which caters for slaves in the colonies. It remains the basis of French law until the Code Napoléon is introduced in 1804. |
| 18 October 1685 | France, UK, Brandenburg, Holy Roman Empire, Germany, United Netherlands | After a period of increasing persecution, King Louis XIV of France issues the Edict of Fontainebleau which revokes the Edict of Nantes of 1598 and makes it illegal to be a Protestant in France. As a result, thousands of Huguenot refugees flee to Britain, the United Netherlands, and Brandenburg. |
| 1690–1692 | North America, UK | King William III and Queen Mary II of Britain slowly establish their authority over the British colonies by issuing new charters. James II's policy of centralization and unification in North America is greatly watered down. |
| 1749 | Sweden | Sweden is the first country to introduce a regular national census: it will be taken every three years. |
| 1750–1777 | Portugal | Sebastião José de Carvalho e Mello, the Marquis of Pombal, virtual ruler of Portugal during the reign of José I, carries out a series of extensive reforms aimed at breaking the power of the nobility and revitalizing Portugal's finances, industry, agriculture, and education system. |
| 19 January 1771 | France | The French chancellor, René de Maupéou, abolishes the country's parlements, replacing them with an alternative system of courts under royal control. This coup d'état is fiercely controversial. |
| 16 August 1819 | UK | The ‘Peterloo Massacre’ takes place in England when a crowd of 60,000 people gathered in St Peter's Fields, Manchester, to listen to speeches on parliamentary reform and repeal of the Corn Laws, is charged on by the yeomanry. Eleven people are killed and 400 injured. |
| 6 March 1820 | USA | The ‘Missouri Compromise’ is decided by the US Congress, allowing Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state and Maine as a nonslave state, and banning slavery in all Louisiana Purchase territories north of Missouri's southern border. |
| 12 December 1821 | France | Armand du Plessis, duc de Richelieu, is succeeded as French prime minister by Jean Villèle, ending the rule of the right centre and leading to a period of reaction under the ultra-conservatives. |
| 23 September 1822 | Portugal | A Portuguese constitution is decreed, providing for liberty, legal equality, a single chamber which the king may not dissolve until its period of four years has expired, and a constitutional monarchy. |
| 10 April 1827 | UK | The Tory foreign secretary, George Canning, becomes prime minister of Britain, forming a government of liberal Tories and moderate Whigs. |
| 5 January 1828 | France | Jean-Baptiste, Vicomte de Martignac, becomes prime minister of a moderate administration in France. |
| 13 April 1829 | UK | The Roman Catholic Relief Bill passes the Lords, in Britain, allowing Catholics to sit and vote in Parliament, giving them the right to vote, and making them eligible for all military, civil, and corporate offices except those of Regent, Lord Chancellor of England, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. They are to take an oath denying the pope has the power to interfere in domestic affairs and recognizing the legitimacy of Britain's protestant monarchs. |
| 8 August 1829 | France | King Charles X of France appoints Auguste, Prince de Polignac, prime minister, an ultra-conservative who does not possess the confidence of the Chamber, in a move away from responsible government. |
| 25 July 1830 | France | King Charles X of France issues the three ordinances of St-Cloud for controlling the press, dissolving the Chamber of Deputies, and having antigovernment voters removed from the electoral lists following the victory of the Liberal opposition in the elections. |
| 11 August 1830 | France | The first ministry of King Louis-Phillipe's reign in France is formed, comprising a range of moderate and progressive liberals led by Jacques Lafitte, Casimir Périer, and François Guizot. |
| 22 November 1830 | UK | Charles, Earl Grey, becomes prime minister of a Whig government in Britain, with Viscount Palmerston as foreign secretary, following the resignation of the Tory Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington. |
| 11 October 1832 | France | The former Napoleonic marshal Nicholas-Jean Soult, duc de Dalmie, becomes prime minister of France in an administration containing François Guizot, Adolphe Thiers, and Achille, duc de Broglie, which stabilizes French politics. |
| 22 May 1833 | Chile | A constitution in Chile ends internal unrest and creates an oligarchic, conservative regime, giving greater power to the president and establishing Roman Catholicism as the state religion. |
| 1 August 1834 | UK | Slavery is abolished throughout the British Empire, thanks largely to the efforts of the English philanthropist and politician William Wilberforce. |
| 1836 | France | The Communist League is founded in Paris, France, by emigré German intellectuals. Originally called the League of the Just, it becomes the Communist League after Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels join in 1847. |
| 22 February 1836 | France | The first ministry of the moderate liberal Adolphe Thiers is formed in France, temporarily stabilizing French politics. |
| 18 June 1837 | Spain | A progressive constitution is proclaimed in Spain providing for national sovereignty, a representative house of two chambers, the absolute veto of the crown over legislation, and restricted suffrage. |
| 1 July 1839 | Ottoman Empire | Sultan Mahmud II of the Ottoman Empire dies and is succeeded by his 16-year-old son, Abdul Mejid. |
| 11 April 1843 | Gambia, Sierra Leone, UK | A British act of Parliament separates Gambia from Sierra Leone, west Africa, as a crown colony. |
| 16 March 1844 | Greece | A constitution is granted by King Otto I of Greece, establishing a representative system of two chambers, the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. |
| 11 March 1845 | New Zealand, UK | Further Maori risings take place against British rule in New Zealand, following revolts in 1843 and 1844. |
| 1846 | Natal | The beginnings of native segregation are seen in the British colony of Natal, southern Africa, where the first location commission sets up preserves for immigrant Zulus. |
| 14 March 1848 | Papal States | A constitution for the Papal States is promulgated reluctantly by Pope Pius IX, in response to the revolutions in the rest of Italy. |
| 18 May 1848 | Germany, Saxony | A National Assembly composed of liberal delegates elected from all over Germany meets in Frankfurt and suspends the German Confederation prior to discussing a more unified organization of the German states. |
| 12 September 1848 | Switzerland | Following the defeat of the Sonderbund, the armed league of the seven Catholic cantons, Switzerland adopts a new constitution by which the states become a federal union with strong central government. |
| 5 December 1848 | Prussia | The Prussian National Assembly is dissolved and a constitution is imposed that includes universal male suffrage, but the ultimate authority of King Frederick Wilhelm IV is maintained. |
| 4 March 1849 | Austrian Empire | The Kremsier Constitution is promulgated in Austria, giving all national groups considerable autonomy, but is immediately replaced by a constitution in which the territories are deemed indivisible. |
| 5 August 1850 | UK, Australia | The British Parliament passes the Australia Government Act, granting representative government to South Australia, Tasmania, and Victoria (which is separated from New South Wales). |
| 31 December 1851 | Austrian Empire | The Austrian constitution of 1849 is abolished, consolidating the return to conservative rule in the Habsburg Empire. |
| 30 June 1852 | UK, New Zealand | A British act of Parliament grants a new constitution providing for representative government for the colony of New Zealand. |
| 16 July 1855 | UK, Australia | The British Parliament establishes responsible government throughout the Australian states, except for Western Australia. |
| 23 December 1876 | Ottoman Empire | An Ottoman constitution is proclaimed by the reformist grand vizier (chief minister) Midhat Pasha, guaranteeing parliamentary government, freedom of worship, and a free press throughout the empire. |
| 1881 | Japan | Political parties are founded in Japan following an imperial decree that an assembly will be convened in 1890. |
| 2 December 1887 | France | François-Paul-Jules Grévy resigns the presidency of France following financial scandals connected with his son-in-law Daniel Wilson, who trafficked in medals of the Legion of Honour. Marie-François-Sadi Carnot is elected president. |
| 15 November 1889 | Brazil | Brazil is proclaimed a republic on the abdication of Dom Pedro II following a coup. |
| 10 February 1890 | USA | The US government opens 11 million acres of South Dakota land, formerly under the possession of the Sioux, to settlement. |
| 20 March 1890 | Germany | Otto von Bismarck is dismissed by the new emperor Wilhelm II and Leo, Count von Caprivi, becomes German chancellor. |
| 25 June 1895 | UK | Robert Cecil, Lord Salisbury, forms a unionist ministry in Britain with the former radical Joseph Chamberlain as colonial secretary. |
| 6 January 1896 | Cape Colony, Transvaal | Cecil Rhodes resigns the premiership of Cape Colony following the failure of the raid on Transvaal by his friend Leander Starr Jameson. |
| 1 May 1896 | Persia | The Shah of Persia Nasir ud-Din is murdered and is succeeded by his son Muzaffar ud-Din. |
| 18 May 1896 | USA | The US Supreme Court, in Plessy v. Ferguson, upholds the concept of separate railway cars for black Americans, creating the basis for segregationist provision of ‘separate but equal’ public facilities in the USA, known as Jim Crow. |
| 11 June–16 September 1898 | China | Emperor Guangxu initiates China's ‘hundred days of reform’ under the guidance of Kang Youwei in response to the interest being shown in China by the Western powers. |
| 21 September 1898 | China | Dowager Empress Zi Xi of China seizes power and revokes the reforms of Emperor Guangxu. |
| 1 July 1902 | Philippines | The US Congress passes the Philippines Government Act, making the Philippines a US territory. It creates a bicameral (two chamber) legislature, but retains a US right of veto under a civil governor. The first governor, William Howard Taft, takes office 4 July. |
| 11 July 1902 | United Kingdom | Robert Cecil, Lord Salisbury, retires as British prime minister, and is immediately succeeded by his nephew Arthur Balfour. |
| 7 July 1904 | Colombia | Rafael Reyes becomes dictator in Colombia and begins an attempt to reorganize the country's finances. |
| 30 October 1905 | Russian Empire | Tsar Nicholas II of Russia issues the ‘October Manifesto’, capitulating to demands for the duma (parliament) to have legislative powers and a wider franchise for its election, and civil liberties. |
| 19 May 1906 | Portugal | João Franco becomes prime minister of Portugal with dictatorial powers, following conflict between the king and liberals. |
| 30 May 1906 | Italy | Giovanni Giolitti forms a coalition ministry in Italy, charged with dealing with strikes and unrest in southern Italy. The arrangement will continue until December 1909. |
| 6 June 1906 | Russian Empire | The reformer Peter Stolypin becomes prime minister of Russia. |
| 22 November 1906 | Russian Empire | The Russian prime minister, Peter Stolypin, introduces agrarian reforms in Russia, empowering peasants to claim their share of communal land as private property. |
| 6 December 1906 | Transvaal, Southern Africa | Britain grants self-government to Transvaal and Orange River Colony following agitation for autonomy there. |
| 14 May 1907 | Sweden | Sweden adopts proportional representation for elections to both chambers of its parliament, and introduces universal adult suffrage for its second chamber. |
| 1 February 1908 | Portugal | King Carlos I of Portugal and the crown prince are murdered in Lisbon, Portugal, by republicans, and Prince Manuel becomes King Manuel II (–1910). |
| 24 July 1908 | Ottoman Empire | Following the revolt of the Young Turk nationalists in Macedonia, the Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II restores the Ottoman constitution of 1876. |
| 14 November 1908 | China | Emperor Guangxu of China dies, to be followed on 15 November by the Dowager Empress Cixi. P'u-i becomes emperor, with the reactionary Prince Ch'un as regent. |
| 27 April 1909 | Anatolia, Ottoman Empire | The Young Turks depose the Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II because of his sympathy for the attempted counter-revolution. He is succeeded by his brother Mohammed V (–1918). |
| 29 April 1909 | United Kingdom | The British chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George, introduces his ‘People's Budget’, which proposes taxes on land values, profits on land sales, and a ‘super-tax’ on high incomes, in order to raise money for defence and social expenditure. |
| 14 July 1909 | Germany | Bernhard von Bülow resigns as German chancellor because of disagreements with Kaiser Wilhelm II and the naval programme, and is succeeded by Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg. |
| 30 November 1909 | United Kingdom | The hereditary British House of Lords rejects the ‘People's Budget’ by 350 votes to 75, which was passed by the elected House of Commons. The issue generates a major constitutional crisis in Britain. |
| 5 October 1910 | Portugal | Portugal is proclaimed a republic under Theophila Braga, following the deposition of King Manuel II. |
| 12 February 1912 | China | P'u-i, the last Manchu emperor of China, abdicates, and China becomes a republic under provisional president Sun Zhong Shan (Sun Yat-sen). |
| 22 May 1912 | Austria-Hungary | Count Stephen Tisza, leader of the Hungarian National Party of Work, is elected president of the Hungarian chamber. Socialists call a strike in support of universal male suffrage and riots occur in Budapest, Austria-Hungary. |
| 31 August 1916 | Germany | The German government accepts the ‘Hindenburg Plan’ for militarization of the German war economy. |
| 7 December 1916 | United Kingdom | David Lloyd George is appointed British prime minister and forms a coalition government. On 10 December he forms a war cabinet, including the Conservatives Arthur Balfour, Andrew Bonar Law, Lord Curzon, and Lord Milner, and the Labour leader Arthur Henderson. |
| 15 May 1917 | France | Following the mutinies in response to the costly ‘Chemin des Dames’ offensive, General Robert Nivelle is dismissed as commander in chief of the French army and is replaced by Henri Pétain, who is renowned for using his troops sparingly. Ferdinand Foch replaces Pétain as chief of the general staff. |
| 18 May 1917 | Russian Empire | Prince George Lvov reforms the cabinet of the Russian provisional government with representation by socialists, and Alexander Kerensky becomes minister of war. |
| 12 June 1917 | Greece | Following threats of invasion from the Allies, the pro-German King Constantine I of Greece abdicates in favour of his second son, Alexander (–1920). |
| 19 July 1917 | Germany | The SPD, Centre Party, and Progressives in the German Reichstag (parliament) combine to pass a motion demanding peace with no annexations or indemnities. |
| 28 October 1917 | Italy | Vittorio Orlando becomes Italian prime minister following the major military defeat at Caporetto, and establishes a Unione Sacra coalition government which keeps Italy in the war. |
| 1 November 1917 | Germany | Count Georg von Hertling succeeds George Michaelis as German chancellor when the latter fails to quell the pro-peace lobby. |
| 16 November 1917 | France | Paul Painlevé falls as prime minister of France amid fears of French capitulation in the European war, and the aggressive Georges Clemenceau (‘the tiger’) forms a cabinet. |
| 8 January 1918 | USA | In a message to the US Congress, President Woodrow Wilson propounds ‘fourteen points’ for a peace settlement, including the principles of national self-determination, free trade, open diplomacy, and the founding of a league of nations. |
| 18 November 1918 | Russia | Admiral Alexander Kolchak establishes an anti-Bolshevik dictatorial regime at Omsk, Russia. |
| 14 December 1918 | Portugal | Sidonio Paes, the dictatorial president of Portugal, is assassinated. Democracy is subsequently restored. |
| 21 March 1919 | Hungary | A soviet government is formed in Budapest, Hungary, under the revolutionary leader Béla Kun. |
| 4 April–1 May 1919 | Germany | A soviet republic is established in Bavaria, Germany, by communists, following a radicalization of politics in the wake of the assassination of Kurt Eisner. |
| 1 March 1920 | Hungary | The military commander in chief Admiral Nikolaus Horthy is elected regent of Hungary, pending a possible restoration of the Habsburg monarchy. |
| 23 April 1920 | Anatolia | A new Turkish assembly opens at Ankara, Anatolia (modern Turkey), which elects the nationalist Mustafa Kemal as its president and proclaims a new constitution, the Law of Fundamental Organization. |
| 14 February 1929 | USA | In the ‘St Valentine's Day Massacre’ in Chicago, Illinois, gangsters dressed as policemen, working for Al ‘Scarface’ Capone, gun down seven members of the gang led by George ‘Bugsy’ Moran. |
| 4 January 1932 | India | Following the return of the nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi to India from the second Round Table Conference in London, England, and the revival of civil disobedience, the Indian government is granted emergency powers for six months. The Indian National Congress is declared illegal and Gandhi is arrested. |
| 27 February 1933 | Germany | The Reichstag, seat of the German parliament, is set on fire. |
| 28 February 1933 | Germany | German chancellor Adolf Hitler persuades president Paul von Hindenburg to issue a ‘decree for the protection of people and state’. It suppresses civil liberties and freedom of the press in the wake of the Reichstag fire and allows the Nazis to arrest thousands of their opponents. |
| 16 March 1934 | Germany | German chancellor Adolf Hitler announces the creation of an army of half a million soldiers, in direct contravention of the Treaty of Versailles. |
| 19 May 1934 | Bulgaria | Fascists in Bulgaria seize power in collaboration with King Boris. |
| 1 October 1946 | Germany | The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, Germany, announces its verdict on Nazi war criminals: Joachim von Ribbentrop, Hermann Goering, and ten other leading Nazis (including Martin Bormann, tried in absentia) are sentenced to death, and Rudolf Hess, Walter Funk, and Erich Raeder to life imprisonment. Four others receive long sentences, but Hjalmar Schacht, Franz von Papen, and Hans Fritzsche are acquitted. |
| 29 February 1956 | Pakistan | The Pakistan parliament passes a bill containing a constitution for the new independent Islamic Republic of Pakistan. On 2 March it decides to stay in the British Commonwealth, and on 23 March it becomes independent, with Iskander Mirza, the governor general, as provisional president. |
| 29 August 1958 | China | The Chinese politburo approves the creation of a rural economy based on agricultural communes, the backbone of Maoist economic policy. |
| 3 June 1959 | Malay States | The British colony of Singapore becomes self-governing. |
| 10 November 1959 | British East Africa | The ending of the Mau Mau emergency in Kenya is officially announced by the government (a proclamation to this effect is signed by the governor of Kenya on 12 January 1960). |
| 16 August 1960 | Cyprus | Cyprus becomes an independent republic with Greek Cypriot Archbishop Makarios as president and Turkish Cypriot Dr Fazil Kütchük as vice-president. |
| 27 April 1964 | Tanganyika, Zanzibar, Tanzania | Tanganyika and Zanzibar are united, with Julius Nyerere as president, and, on 29 October, the state is named the United Republic of Tanzania. |
| 1966 | USA | The first conviction for burning the draft card is obtained in the USA. |
| 1966 | USA | The hallucinogenic drug LSD is declared illegal in the USA. |
| August 1967 | USA | In the face of continuing racial injustice and widespread urban rioting, the civil-rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr, exhorts his followers to inaugurate a massive campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience. |
| 1970 | Italy | Divorce is legalized in Italy. |
| 10 March 1970 | Israel | The Israeli parliament, the Knesset, defines what constitutes a Jew under Israeli law, following a dispute between secular and religious factions. |
| 11 March 1970 | Iraq | Iraq recognizes Kurdish autonomy and gives Kurds a bigger say in central government, following a nine-year civil war. |
| 13 May 1970 | UK | The voting age in Britain is lowered from 21 to 18. Susan Wallace becomes the first person under 21 to vote, when she votes in the Bridgwater by-election. |
| 13 December 1970 | Poland | The Polish government sharply increases food, fuel, and clothing prices. On 14 December strikes, riots, and arson begin in Gdansk, Poland, spreading to other Baltic ports. |
| 21 June 1971 | South Africa, Namibia | The International Court of Justice in The Hague, the Netherlands, rules South Africa's administration of Namibia (South West Africa) to be illegal. |
| 8 March 1973 | Northern Ireland | In a Northern Ireland referendum, 591,820 people vote to remain in the United Kingdom and 6,463 to join the Republic of Ireland. |
| 7–16 July 1973 | USA | The former White House aide Alexander P Butterfield discloses the existence of the so-called ‘Watergate tapes’, when he tells a US Senate committee during the hearing on the Watergate affair that President Richard Nixon secretly tape-records all conversations in his office. Within a week, both the US Senate and special prosecutor subpoena them. |
| 17 September 1973 | UK, Ireland | The British prime minister Edward Heath meets Prime Minister Liam Cosgrave of the Republic of Ireland at an airfield near Dublin for talks on Northern Ireland. It is the first official visit to the republic by a British prime minister. |
| 13 December 1973 | UK | The British prime minister, Edward Heath, orders industry to work a three-day week from 31 December to save energy. |
| 5 August 1974 | USA | The US president Richard Nixon admits complicity in the Watergate cover-up (concerning the attempted bugging of the opposition Democratic Party's campaign headquarters). |
| 9 August 1974 | USA | The US president Richard Nixon resigns to avoid impeachment because of his involvement in the Watergate affair, and Gerald Ford becomes the 38th president of the USA. |
| 1975 | USA | The Internal Security Committee of the US House of Representatives, formerly known as the Un-American Activities Committee, is abolished. |
| 24 February 1975 | Bangladesh | Bangladesh introduces a presidential government and becomes a one-party state under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. |
| 25 August 1976 | France | Jacques Chirac resigns suddenly as prime minister of France and is succeeded by Raymond Barre. |
| 5 December 1976 | Central African Republic | Jean-Bédel Bokassa, head of state of the Central African Republic, proclaims his country an empire and himself its emperor. |
| 12 March 1977 | Chile | Political parties are banned in Chile and censorship is tightened under General Augusto Pinochet. |
| 23 March 1977 | UK | The British Labour prime minister James Callaghan and the Liberal leader David Steel agree on a pact between their parties (the ‘Lib–Lab Pact’) to avoid defeat in a confidence motion. |
| 5 July 1977 | Pakistan | A coup ousts Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as prime minister of Pakistan. He is replaced by General Zia ul-Haq, Bhutto's former army chief of staff. |
| 22 July 1977 | China | The Chinese Communist Party expels the ‘Gang of Four’, who had tried to seize power after the death of Mao Zedong. Deng Xiaoping is reinstated as deputy premier. |
| 18 August 1977 | China | The 11th Chinese Communist Party Congress indicates a swing away from hardline Maoism towards economic improvement. |
| 1 November 1977 | USA | The USA quits the International Labour Organization, which formulates standards for labour conditions, but President Jimmy Carter raises the minimum wage to $2.65 an hour. |
| 3 March 1978 | Rhodesia | The Rhodesian prime minister, Ian Smith, and three black leaders sign an agreement for a power-sharing government and eventual majority rule, but exclude Robert Mugabe's and Joshua Nkomo's Patriotic Front. |
| 5 March 1978 | China | A new Chinese constitution affirms the rule of law, in contrast to the policies under the Cultural Revolution. |
| 25 May 1978 | UK | The British Liberal Party leader David Steel announces the end of the ‘Lib–Lab Pact’ with Labour. |
| 15 September 1978 | Spain | The Spanish parliament recognizes the demand of the Basques for autonomy. |
| 29 October 1978 | China | The late Mao Zedong's collection of thoughts, known as the Little Red Book, is denounced in China. |
| 31 January 1979 | Italy | Giulio Andreotti's government resigns in Italy, ending the ‘historic compromise’ between Christian Democrats and communists. |
| 1 March 1979 | UK | Referendums are held in Britain on devolution in Scotland and Wales.Devolution is approved in Scotland by 51.6% of the voters, but this falls short of the required 40% of the electorate. Devolution is rejected in Wales by 79.8% of the voters. |
| 1 April 1979 | Iran | Following a referendum, Iran is declared an Islamic Republic by the Shiite Muslim leader Ayatollah Khomeini. |
| 13 April 1979 | Uganda | Yusufu Lule succeeds Idi Amin as president of Uganda. |
| 4 May 1979 | UK | The British Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher becomes Britain's first woman prime minister. |
| 4 June 1979 | South Africa | President B J Vorster of South Africa resigns after the final Erasmus Report shows that he knew about illegal activities at the Information Department under Connie Mulder. |
| 4 June 1979 | Ghana | Fred Akuffo is deposed as president of Ghana in a military coup led by Flight-Lt Jerry Rawlings. |
| 16 July 1979 | Iraq | Saddam Hussein becomes president of Iraq. |
| 20 September 1979 | Central African Empire | The former president of the Central African Empire (now Central African Republic) David Dacko overthrows his uncle, Emperor Jean-Bédel Bokassa, and the country reverts to republic status. |
| 27 December 1979 | Afghanistan | President Hafizullah Amin of Afghanistan is killed in a coup d'état and replaced by the communist leader Babrak Karmal. |
| 11 March 1980 | Zimbabwe Rhodesia | Robert Mugabe, leader of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), forms a coalition government in Zimbabwe Rhodesia, with Joshua Nkomo, leader of the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), as minister of home affairs. |
| 27 July 1980 | Peru | The inauguration of Fernando Belaúnde Terry as president of Peru ends 12 years of military rule. |
| 5 August 1980 | Belgium | The Belgian parliament passes a bill dividing the country into three autonomous linguistic regions. |
| 1981 | China | Strict population controls in China that limit families to one child lead to an increase in female infanticide. |
| 3 February 1981 | Norway | Labour politician Gro Harlem Brundtland becomes the first woman prime minister of Norway. |
| 23 February 1981 | Spain | Two hundred Civil Guards storm the Spanish parliament and hold members at gunpoint in an attempted coup. The Guards surrender after King Juan Carlos denounces the coup on February 24. |
| 7 April 1981 | Philippines | A referendum in the Philippines grants sweeping new powers to President Ferdinand Marcos. |
| 30 April 1981 | Poland | The Central Committee of the Polish Communist Party approves a programme of moderate economic and political reforms. |
| 14 September 1982 | Lebanon | The president-elect of Lebanon, Bashir Gemayel, is killed in a Beirut bomb explosion. His brother Amin is sworn in as president on September 23. |
| 30 October 1982 | Portugal | A new Portuguese constitution comes into force, ending military influence in government. |
| 19 December 1982 | Poland | Poland's Council of State announces the suspension of martial law, effective from 31 December. |
| 6 October 1983 | India | The Indian government takes over direct control of Punjab state in response to growing violence between the Sikh and Hindu communities there. |
| 31 March 1984 | India | The Indian government agrees to amend the Punjabi constitution to acknowledge Sikhism as a religion distinct from Hinduism. |
| 3 August 1984 | Upper Volta | The Upper Volta head of state, Captain Thomas Sankara, renames his country Burkina Faso (‘land of incorruptible people’). |
| 14 September 1984 | South Africa | The South African prime minister, P W Botha, is sworn in as the country's first executive president. On 17 September, the first 19-member multiracial cabinet is sworn in. |
| 20 November 1984 | UK | The British government sells shares in British Telecom, for the first time using techniques of mass marketing with the intention of creating a nation of small shareholders. The share offer is four times oversubscribed. |
| 28 February 1986 | Sweden | Olof Palme, Swedish prime minister 1969–76 and 1982–86, is assassinated by a gunman in a Stockholm street, Sweden (59). |
| 8 April 1987 | Paraguay | The state of siege in Paraguay, in force since 1947, is finally allowed to lapse by the administration of General Alfredo Stroessner. |
| 19 August 1987 | Zimbabwe | Zimbabwe's House of Assembly agrees a change to the constitution, abolishing the 20 seats reserved for whites under the 1979 Lancaster House Agreement. |
| 6 October 1987 | Fiji | Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka declares the Fiji Islands a republic, formally severing its legal ties with Britain. |
| 12 November 1987 | USSR | Boris Yeltsin is dismissed as chief of the Moscow Communist Party after he criticizes the slow pace of reforms. |
| 10 December 1989 | Czechoslovakia | A majority noncommunist coalition government takes power in Czechoslovakia, led by Marian Calfa. |
| 1 February 1990 | Bulgaria | The Bulgarian government resigns. On 8 February, a new all-communist government is formed, dominated by the reformed Bulgarian Socialist Party. |
| 1995 | UK | Sunday shopping laws are modified in England and Wales, permitting shops to open for a maximum of six hours. |
| 25 March 1996 | Europe, UK | The European Union (EU) bans the export of British beef abroad following anxiety over the potential for transmission of the BSE infection to humans as CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease). |
| 15 April 1996 | South Africa | The Truth and Justice Commission, set up to investigate political crimes committed by all sides during the apartheid era, opens in Johannesburg, South Africa; it is chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. |
| 20 June 1997 | USA | In a landmark agreement, US tobacco companies agree to settle claims made against them by former smokers by paying $368.5 billion into a compensation fund over the next 25 years. This is in exchange for the industry's immunity from legal action. |
| December 1997 | USA | Lorillard Tobacco Co. pays the family of Milton Horowitz over US$1.5 million, the first time a US tobacco company has ever paid a smoking-related personal injury claim. |
| 1 July 1999 | UK | Queen Elizabeth II formally opens the Scottish Parliament, the first Scottish legislature in nearly 200 years. |
| 2 December 1999 | UK, Ireland | Northern Ireland's first all-inclusive power-sharing cabinet meets for the first time, in Belfast. Irish First Minister Bertie Ahern signs away articles two and three of the Irish constitution, giving up his country's territorial claim to Northern Ireland. |
| 7 May 2000 | Russia | Vladimir Putin is sworn in as the second president of modern Russia. It is the first time that the Russian government has changed hands peacefully and democratically. |
| 29 May 2000 | Fiji Islands | The military declares martial law in Fiji, while nationalist gunmen continue to hold prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry hostage in parliament in the capital, Suva. |
| 8 August 2000 | Chile | The Supreme Court of Chile confirms that Augusto Pinochet no longer has parliamentary immunity, laying the former dictator open to prosecution for human rights offences during his rule. |
| 9 July 2001 | Chile | In Chile, the kidnapping and murder case against former military dictator Augusto Pinochet collapses as a court rules he is mentally unfit to face trial, bringing to an end lengthy efforts to try him for human rights abuses. |
| 22 March 2002 | England | In England a severely paralysed woman's unprecedented plea for legal approval to have the respirator keeping her alive in hospital switched off wins her case. |
| 4 February 2003 | Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro | The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia ceases to exist as the two remaining republics in the old Yugoslav federation officially become a new constitutional entity called Serbia and Montenegro. Both republics will have their own presidents and governments, but share a common central administration for defence and foreign affairs. |
| 28 April 2005 | UK | Five law lords sitting as the UK's highest court rule unanimously that creating children to help treat a sister or brother with a genetic disorder is lawful and that the Human Fertilization Authority has the power to license fertility treatment aimed at saving a sibling's life. |
