1979: Pol Pot overthrown
Vietnamese troops seize the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, forcing Pol Pot and his communist Khmer Rouge forces to retreat into the jungle. In the early 1970s, North Vietnam supported the Khmer Rouge in its guerrilla war against the U.S.-backed Cambodian government, but as the Vietnam War came to an end, relations deteriorated between Pol Pot and communist Vietnam. In April 1975, Pol Pot captured Phnom Penh, and two weeks later Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese.
Efforts by Vietnam to expand its influence in Indochina were opposed by Pol Pot's regime, and border skirmishes between Vietnam and Cambodia escalated into full-scale combat by 1978. Meanwhile, Pol Pot's brutal agrarian revolution resulted in the deaths of as many as 2 million Cambodians.
After three years of terror, Vietnamese forces invaded in December 1978, and in January installed a puppet regime led by moderate Cambodian communists who had fled Pol Pot's regime.
Pol Pot continued to rule over the banished Khmer Rouge for two more decades. He died of apparently natural causes in 1998.
2000
Disgraced former Cabinet Minister Jonathan Aitken is released from jail after serving less than half of his 18 month sentence.
Aitken had been convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice after his libel case against the Guardian Newspaper and Granda Television collapsed.
1999
In America, the Impeachment of President Bill Clinton begins. Clinton is later acquitted on both articles of impeachment.1990
In Italy, The Leaning Tower of Pisa is closed to the public for the first time in more than 800 years so that restoration work can begin to prevent it from collapsing.
1980
Indria Gandhi wins a landslide election victory in India.
1976
The Ministry of Defence claims that a British naval frigate, HMS Andromeda, has been deliberately rammed into by an Icelandic gunboat in the Atlantic. The ‘attack’ was one of several incidents between Britain and Iceland with regard to disputed fishing territory.
1965
Ronald and Reginald Kray are remanded in custody. The notorious East End gangsters are charged in connection with running a protection racket in London. They were subsequently acquitted.
1959
America formally recognises the new Cuban government led by Fidel Castro.
1953
President Harry Truman announces that the United States of America has developed a Hydrogen Bomb.1935
Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval sign the Italian-French Agreements.
1927
The Harlem Globetrotters play their first competitive Basketball match.
1924
George Gershwin completes Rhapsody in Blue.
1785
Travelling in an air balloon, Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries become the first ever people to cross the English Channel by air.1610
Italian astronomer Galileo discovers the first four satellites of the planet Jupiter. The group is later named after him.
1598
Boris Godenov becomes Russian Tsar.
1325
Alfonso IV becomes King of Portugal.