The+World+1970-1994

** Tell the World Their Story **
** What happened in the world between 1970 and 1994? **

Iranian Hostage Crisis
//By: Anna M. and Angelica M. // The Iran Hostage Crisis was a diplomatic crisis between the United States and Iran. On November 4th, 1979, Iranian militants barged into the United States Embassy in Tehran and took approximately 66 Americans captive for 444 days. A ruler named Ayatollah Khomeini claimed the American government was the “Great Satan” and “Enemy of Islam.” When the Shah, the former leader of Iran, had fallen ill with lymphoma he had asked that American doctors treat him and in turn had made the Iranian people mad, which was partially the reason for the hostages being taken at the Embassy.

Iran’s political and religious leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini, took over the hostage situation, refusing to release the hostages even after the U.N Security Council demanded an end to the crisis. Two weeks after the storming of the embassy, the Ayatollah began to release all non-U.S captives and all female and minority Americans and kept the remaining 52 hostages at the Ayatollah’s mercy for the next 14 months. President Jimmy Carter was unable to resolve the crisis, and on April 24, 1980, he ordered a rescue mission to take back the hostages. The mission failed, and eight U.S. military personnel were killed and no hostages were rescued.

The hostage crisis was the result of Iran’s unhappiness with the United States. In a 1953, after a power struggle with the prime minister, the Shah gained American support to prevent nationalization of Iran’s oil industry. In return for assuring the U.S a steady supply of oil, the Shah received economic and military aid from eight American presidents. Between 1963 and 1979, the Shah spent billions of oil dollars on military weapon, and this resulted in the loss of popular support from the Iranian people.

When the Shah died in July of 1980, and the Iraqi army invaded Iran in September of 1980, the Iranians became more willing to make negotiations for the return of the hostages. During the election, Reagan had won partially because of Jimmy Carter’s failure to bring the hostages home. Then, minutes after Reagan was inaugurated President, the hostages were finally released. __http://www.presidentialtimeline.org__ __http://www.infoplease.com__ __http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov__
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** Ceasefire Declared in Vietnam War ** //By Tristan M. & Dylan G. // On January 27, 1973, representatives from South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and the United States signed a peace agreement in which a ceasefire was declared and the U.S. agreed to withdraw combat troops from Indochina. officially ending American involvement in the Vietnam War. The settlement called for the complete end of hostilities, withdrawal of all U.S. forces from South Vietnam, the eventual merger of Vietnam, release of all U.S. prisoners of war, and an international commission to oversee the peace.

 The U.S. entered the Vietnam war in 1964 in support of South Vietnam, which bordered Cambodia and Laos. The United States, along with the Republic of Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea fought the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) and the National Liberation Front, a communist led South Vietnamese guerrilla movement.

 On January 15 1973 Nixon ordered the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam. That was followed by the withdrawal of all US troops. On January 27 1973 the Paris Peace Accord was signed and ended the US’s involvement in the Vietnam war.  Early 1975 the North invaded the South and quickly took control of the South. Saigon fell April 30 1975. Hundreds of the Souths supporters were killed with over 1000 people imprisoned. Saigon was re-named to “Ho Chi Minh City”, to remember the former president of North Vietnam.

Communists still rule the Socialist Republic of Vietnam today. [|http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/15/newsid_2530000/2530549.stm__] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sources: **

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">** OPEC Oil Embargo ** <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">** Munich Massacre **  <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">//By: Patrick M. and Ashley K.// <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In 1972 the Olympic games were held in Munich, Germany. At first everything seemed to be going smoothly, but on September 5 the Israeli Olympic team was sleeping at the Olympic Village when just after 4 a.m eight people from a Palestinian terrorist organization called Black September climbed over the six-foot high fence that was around the Olympic Village.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The terrorists went right for 31 Connollystrasse, which was the building where the Israeli team was residing. Around 4:30 a.m the terrorists stormed into the building with machine guns and pistols. They rounded up the the people from Apartment 1 and proceeded to get the rest of the Israelis from Apartment 3. Several of the members fought back but they were shot dead. Some of the other people on the team escaped out of the windows. In the end, 9 Israeli Olympians were taken hostage.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The police were soon alerted about the attack and people all around the world started to find put about this. The terrorists presented a list of demands and held out in the team's apartment at the village. The terrorists wanted 234 Palestinian prisoners released from prisons in Israel, and 2 more from other German prisons. The Palestinians refused to give up any bit of the negotiated terms after being told that both Israel and Germany refused to release any of the prisoners.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> After realizing that their demands weren’t going to be met, the terrorists demanded a plane to Cairo Egypt. From there they got a helicopter to take them and he rest of the hostages to Fürstenfeldbruck airport by helicopter. The Germans decided to stand there and fight the terrorists at the airport and placed snipers all around. Once they got on the ground, the terrorists realized that it was a trap. Snipers started shooting at them, and they shot back. Two of the terrorists and one policeman were killed.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Germans asked for armored cars and waited for over an hour for them to arrive! Once the armored cars arrived, the terrorists knew the end was here. This is where one of the terrorist's jumped into the helicopter and killed four of the hostages and then proceeded to throw a grenade into the cockpit of the helicopter blowing it up. Then another terrorist jumped into the other helicopter and, using his machine gun, killed the last five Olympians. All of the snipers and the teams inside the armored cars killed three more terrorists in a second round of gunfire. The rest of the terrorists were soon attacked by the other snipers and armored cars. All happened to survive the attack and were arrested. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/ http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ http://www.palestinefacts.org

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">media type="youtube" key="zSucbgukbsI?fs=1" height="265" width="320" media type="youtube" key="M6YxiFPAUAM?fs=1" height="265" width="320"

Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster
@http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/chernobyl media type="youtube" key="wrU2duoNMlI?fs=1" height="265" width="320"

The Soviet Union Invades Afghanistan
By: Tristan M. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In Christmas 1979, Russian paratroopers landed in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. The country was already in the grip of a civil war.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Thousands of Afghanistan Muslims joined the Mujahideen - a guerilla force on a holy mission for Allah. They wanted the overthrow of the Amin government. The Mujahideen declared a jihad - a holy war - on the supporters of Amin. This was also extended to the Russians who were now in Afghanistan trying to maintain the power of the Amin government. The Russians claimed that they had been invited in by the Amin government and that they were not invading the country. They claimed that their task was to support a legitimate government and that the Mujahideen were no more than terrorists. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Mujahideen proved to be a formidable opponent to the Russians. They were equipped with old rifles but had a knowledge of the mountains around Kabal and the weather conditions that would be encountered there. The Russians resorted to using napalm, poison gas and helicopter gun ships against the Mujahedeen - but they experienced exactly the same military scenario the Americans had done in Vietnam.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">By 1982, the Mujahideen controlled 75% of Afghanistan despite fighting the might of the world's second most powerful military power. Young conscript Russian soldiers were no match against men fuelled by their religious belief. Though the Russian army had a reputation, the war in Afghanistan showed the world just how poor it was outside of military displays. Many Russian soldiers deserted to the Mujahideen. Russian tanks were of little use in the mountain passes.

The United Nations had condemned the invasion as early as January 1980 but a Security Council motion calling for the withdrawal of Russian forces had been vetoed......by Russia.

America put a ban on the export of grain to Russia, ended the SALT talks taking place then and boycotted the Olympic Games due to be held in Moscow in 1980. Other than that, America did nothing. Why? They knew that Russia had got itself into their own Vietnam and it also provided American Intelligence with an opportunity to acquire any new Russian military hardware that could be used in Afghanistan. Mujhadeen fighters were given access to American surface-to-air missiles - though not through direct sales by America.

Mikhail Gorbachev took Russia out of the Afghanistan fiasco when he realised what many Russian leaders had been too scared to admit in public - that Russia could not win the war and the cost of maintaining such a vast force in Afghanistan was crippling Russia's already weak economy.

By the end of the 1980's, the Mujahideen was at war with itself in Afghanistan with hard line Taliban fighters taking a stronger grip over the whole nation and imposing very strict Muslim law on the Afghanistan population.

The Fear of Nuclear War Escalates During the 1980's
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Berlin Wall Comes Down
//<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">By: Zach and Brandon // <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In August 1961 the East German government began constructing a system of concrete and barbed-wire barriers between East and West B[|erlin]. Its intent was to prevent East Germans from seeking asylum in the West. This Berlin Wall endured for nearly 30 years. It became a symbol not only of the division of Germany but of the larger conflict between the Communist and non-Communist worlds. The wall ceased to be a barrier when East Germany ended restrictions on emigration in November 1989. It was largely dismantled during the year preceding the reunification (Oct. 3, 1990) of [|Germany].