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Jose Santos of the MPLA assumes leadership of the country.
Castro begins to assume a significant leadership role among the Third World countries. He becomes the head of the Non-Aligned Movement, a group of nations that sought to remain neutral during the Cold War.
General Saddam Hussein becomes president of Iraq.
Vietnam establishes a satellite regime called the People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK). Only a few foreign governments, such as the Soviet Union and India recognise the PRK. The Soviet Union provides the PRK with funds.
The United States and China announce the restoration of full di-plomatic relations.
The United States formalises relations with mainland China, and signs the Taiwan Relations Act which brings into effect a new relationship with Taiwan. The United States continues to treat Taiwan as an independent nation, sell it arms, and lend it money.
In Nicaragua, the Sandinistas launch an all-out offensive to force the Somozas to resign. The Organization of American States places pressure on Somoza to resign, and turns over power to a Council of National Reconstruction, selected by the Sandinistas.
The SALT II treaty is signed by President Carter and Brezhnev in Vienna. It bans new ICBMs and limits other delivery vehicles. It is submitted to the U.S. Senate for ratification. However the Soviet's intervention in Afghanistan later that year halts such ratification. The period of détente between the United States and the Soviet Union ends.
The Sandinistas take power in Nicaragua.
The new government is unable to quell rival factions. By the middle of 1979, rebels control much of the Afghan countryside. In September, Taraki is killed and Hafizullah Amin takes power.
Soviet forces invade Afghanistan and install Babrak Karmal, leader of the Parcham faction of PDPA, as president. Parcham is the Pro-Soviet faction of the PDPA. The new Soviet-backed government continues to fight against the rebels, who are aided by weapons and money from the United States.
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to prop up the communist regime there causes tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. The United States responds by imposing a grain embargo on the Soviet Union, boycotting the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games and failing to ratify SALT II.
Carter calls for a major military build-up to counter Soviet military power.
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