January 18 Strikes in Poland demand resignation of interior minister Kazimierz Switala . He resigns January 23 and is replaced by Franciszek Szlachcic
January 24 Guinean government sentences to death 92 Guineans who helped Portuguese troops in the failed landing attempts in November 1970. 72 are sentenced to hard labor for life. 58 of the sentenced are hanged the next day
March 1 - Pakistani President Yahya Khan indefinitely postponed the pending national assembly session, precipitating massive civil disobedience in East Pakistan.
March 25 Pakistani army starts massive killing in East Pakistan, which is now Bangladesh, after an open, non-democratic denial by Pakistani president Yahiya Khan, a military ruler, of election results that gave Awami League an overwhelming majority in the parliament.
May 2 in Ceylon left-wing guerillas launch a series of assaults against public buildings
May 3 Harris public opinion poll claims that 60% of Americans are against the war in Vietnam
May 3 East German leader Walter Ulbricht resigns as a party leader but retains the positions of the head of state
May 3 - Anti-war militants attempt to disrupt government business in Washington, D.C.; police and military units arrest as many as 12,000, most of whom are later released.
June 1 - Vietnam War: Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace , claiming to represent the majority of U.S. veterans who served in southeast Asia, speak against war protests
June 17 - Representatives of Japan and the United States sign the Okinawa Reversion Agreement , setting out a plan where the U.S. would return control of Okinawa.[2]
June 20 Britain announces that Soviet space scientist Anatoli Fedosejev has been granted asylum
June 21 Britain begins new negotiations for EEC membership in Luxembourg
June 25 Madagascar accuses USA of being connected to the plot to oust the current government USA recalls its ambassador
June 28 - Black assassin Jerome A. Johnson shoots Joe Colombo to the head in a middle of a Italian-American rally. Colombo goes into coma.
June 30 - The crew of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft are killed when their air supply leaks out through a faulty valve.
July 10-11 Coup attempt in Morocco - 1400 cadets take over the king's palace for three hours and kill 28 people; 158 rebels die when king's troops storm the palace. 10 high-ranking officers are later executed for involvement
July 19-23 Military coup in Sudan ousts Jaafar Muhammad al-Nemieri and major Hashem al-Atta takes over. Fighting continues until on July 22 pro-Nimeiri troops win. Al-Atta and 3 officers are executed July 23. Nimeiri launches an anti-communist campaign
August 9 - British security forces in Northern Ireland detain hundreds of guerilla suspects and put them into Long Kesh - the beginning of an internment without trial policy. 20 die in riots that follow.
August 19-22 Right-wing coup ignites a rebellion in Bolivia. Miners and students join troops to support president Juan Jose Torres but eventually Hugo Banzer takes over
September 4 - A Boeing 727 carrying Alaska Airlines Flight 1866 crashes into the side of a mountain near Juneau, Alaska killing all 111 people on board
December 3 - The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 begins as Pakistan attacks eight India airbases. The next day India launches a massive invasion of East Pakistan.
December 8 - US President Richard Nixon orders the 7th Fleet to move towards the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean.
