January
1st	United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the "International Year of the Child". Many musicians donate to the "Music for UNICEF Concert" fund
1st	The United States and the People's Republic of China establish full diplomatic relations
7th	Vietnam and Vietnam-backed Cambodian insurgents announce the fall of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and the collapse of the Pol Pot regime. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge retreat west to an area along the Thai border
8th	The French tanker Betelgeuse explodes at the Gulf Oil terminal at Bantry in Ireland; 50 are killed
9th	The Music for UNICEF Concert is held at the United Nations General Assembly to raise money for UNICEF and promote the Year of the Child. It is broadcast the following day in the United States and around the world. Hosted by The Bee Gees, other performers include Donna Summer, ABBA, Rod Stewart and Earth, Wind & Fire
16th	The Shah of Iran flees Iran with his family, relocating to Egypt after a year of turmoil
19th	Former U.S. Attorney General John N. Mitchell is released on parole after 19 months at a federal prison in Alabama
29th	Brenda Ann Spencer opens fire at a school in San Diego, California, killing 2 faculty members and wounding 8 students
31st	The police under directions of Jyoti Basu, Chief Minister of CPM led govt of West Bengal, surrounds and opens fire on unarmed refugee settlement of Morichjhapi island in Sunderbans, West Bengal, India. Hundreds killed but govt officially accepted 36 deaths

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February
1st	Convicted bank robber Patty Hearst is released from prison after her sentence is commuted by U.S. President Jimmy Carter
1st	Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Tehran, Iran after nearly 15 years of exile
3rd	Khomeini creates the Council of the Islamic Revolution
7th	Supporters of Khomeini take over the Iranian law enforcement, courts and government administration; the final session of the Iranian National Consultative Assembly is held
7th	Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit for the first time since either was known to science
11th	Khomeini seizes power in Iran
14th	Following her 1972 sex reassignment surgery, musician Wendy Carlos legally changes her name from Walter. She later reveals this information in an interview in the May 1979 issue of Playboy Magazine
17th	The People's Republic of China invades northern Vietnam, launching the Sino-Vietnamese War
18th	The Sahara Desert experiences snow for 30 minutes
22nd	Saint Lucia becomes independent of the United Kingdom
26th	A total solar eclipse arcs over northern Canada, and a partial solar eclipse is visible over almost all of North America and Central America

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March
1st	Scotland votes narrowly for home rule, which is not implemented, and Wales votes against it
4th	The U.S. Voyager I spaceprobe photos reveal Jupiter's rings
13th	Maurice Bishop leads a successful coup in Grenada
14th	In China, a Hawker Siddeley Trident crashes into a factory near Beijing, killing at least 200
25th	The first fully functional space shuttle orbiter, Columbia, is delivered to the John F. Kennedy Space Center, to be prepared for its first launch
26th	In a ceremony at the White House, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel sign a peace treaty
28th	A nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, caused a partial meltdown
28th	Jim Callaghan's government loses a motion of confidence by 1 vote, forcing a general election
29th	Sultan Yahya Petra ibni Almarhum Sultan Ibrahim Petra, the 6th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, dies in office. He is replaced by Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Al-Mustain Billah ibni Almarhum Sultan Sir Abu Bakar Riayatuddin Al-Muadzam Shah, Sultan of Pahang
30th	Airey Neave, World War Two veteran and Conservative Northern Ireland spokesman, is killed by an Irish National Liberation Army bomb in the British House of Commons car park
31st	The last British soldier (belonging to the Royal Navy) leaves the Maltese Islands, after 179 years of presence. Malta declares its Freedom Day (Jum il-Helsien)
31st	Gali Atari and Milk and Honey win the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 for Israel, with the song Hallelujah

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April
1st	Iran's government becomes an Islamic Republic by a 98% vote, overthrowing the Shah officially
1st	Police lock Andreas Mihavecz in a holding cell in Bregenz, Austria, and forget him, leaving him there without food or drink until the 18th
1st	Nickelodeon Television Channel, a children's cartoon channel, launches as The Pinwheel Network
2nd	A Soviet biowarfare laboratory at Sverdlovsk accidentally releases airborne anthrax spores, killing 66 plus an unknown amount of livestock
11th	Tanzanian troops take Kampala, the capital of Uganda; Idi Amin flees
15th	Major earthquake measuring 7 on Richter scale strikes Montenegro (then part of Yugoslavia) and parts of Albania, causing extensive damage to coastal areas and taking 136 lives. Old town of Budva is devastated
17th	Schoolchildren in the Central African Republic are arrested (and around 100 killed) for protesting against compulsory school uniforms. An African judicial commission later determines that Emperor Jean-Bédel Bokassa "almost certainly" took part in the massacre
20th	President Jimmy Carter is attacked by a swamp rabbit while fishing in his hometown Plains, Georgia
23rd	Fighting in London between the Anti-Nazi League and the Metropolitan Police's Special Patrol Group results in the death of protestor Blair Peach

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May
1st	Greenland gets home rule
4th	Margaret Thatcher becomes the the first female prime minister as The Conservatives win the British general election
8th	In Manchester, England Woolworth's in city centre is seriously damaged by fire; 10 shoppers die
9th	Unabomber bomb injures Northwestern University graduate student John Harris
10th	The Federated States of Micronesia become self-governing
10th	Arsenal win The FA cup
21st	San Francisco gays riot after hearing the verdict for Dan White who assassinated Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk
25th	American Airlines Flight 191: In Chicago, a DC-10 crashes during takeoff at O'Hare International Airport, killing 271 on board and two people on the ground
25th	John Spenkelink executed in Florida. First usage of electric chair in USA after the reintroduction of death penalty in 1976

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June
1st	Vizianagaram district is formed in Andhra Pradesh, India
1st	The first black-led government of Rhodesia in 90 years takes power, in succession to Ian Smith and under his power-sharing deal
2nd	Pope John Paul II visits his native Poland, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country
3rd	General elections are held in Italy
4th	Joe Clark becomes Canada's 16th and youngest Prime Minister
4th	Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings takes power in Ghana after military coup in which General Akuffo is overthrown
12th	Bryan Allen flies the man-powered Gossamer Albatross across the English Channel
18th	Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev sign the SALT II agreement in Vienna
20th	A Nicaraguan National Guard soldier kills ABC TV news correspondent Bill Stewart and his interpreter Juan Espinosa. Other members of the news crew capture the killing on tape

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July
2nd	The Susan B. Anthony dollar is introduced in the U.S
3rd	U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul
8th	Los Angeles passes its homosexual rights bill
9th	A car bomb destroys a Renault owned by "Nazi hunters" Serge and Beate Klarsfeld at their home in France. A note purportedly from ODESSA claims responsibility
11th	NASA's first orbiting space station Skylab begins its return to Earth, after being in orbit for 6 years and 2 months
12th	Kiribati declares independence from the United Kingdom
12th	Carmine Galante, boss of the Bonanno crime family, is assassinated
12th	A fire at a hotel in Saragossa, Spain leaves 72 dead. Worst hotel fire in Europe in decades
16th	Iraqi President Hasan al-Bakr resigns and Vice President Saddam Hussein replaces him
17th	Nicaraguan president General Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigns and flees to Miami, Florida
19th	Maritza Sayalero of Venezuela wins Miss Universe, stage collapses after contestants and news photographers rushed to the throne of the new Miss Universe
19th	The Marxist Sandinistas take control of Nicaragua
19th	Maria de Lurdes Pintasilgo becomes prime minister of Portugal
24th	The Soviet Union exchanges Gerald Brook for spies Peter and Helen Kroger with the United Kingdom
31st	Four hundred Iranian pilgrims are killed after clashes with Saudi security forces in Mecca

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August
9th	The first British nudist beach is established in Brighton
9th	Raymond Washington, known for founding the Crips, today one of the largest, most notorious gangs in the United States, was shot and killed five months following his arrest for quadruple murder. (His killers have not yet been identified.)
10th	Michael Jackson releases his first breakthrough album Off The Wall. It sold 7 million copies in the United States alone, making it a 7x platinum album
14th	A freak storm during the Fastnet Race results in the death of 15 sailors
27th	Lord Mountbatten and 3 others are assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. He was a British admiral, statesman and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. On the same day, the Warrenpoint ambush occurs, Provisional Irish Republican Army members attack a British Convoy at Narrow Water, County Down, killing 18 British soldiers
28th	The death toll of the previous day's IRA bombing reaches five when Lady Dowager Brabourne, 82, dies in hospital as a result of her injuries
29th	A national referendum is held in which Somali voters approve a new liberal constitution, promulgated by President Siad Barre to placate the United States

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September
1st	The U.S. Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft to visit Saturn, when it passes the planet at a distance of 21,000 km
7th	The Chrysler Corporation asks the United States government for $1 billion to avoid bankruptcy
7th	The American Entertainment Sports Programing Network, known as ESPN, debuts
16th	Two families flee from East Germany by balloon
20th	French paratroopers help David Dacko to overthrow Bokassa in the Central African Republic
22nd	The South Atlantic Flash is observed near Bouvet Island, thought to be a nuclear weapons test
30th	The Hong Kong MTR begins service with the opening of its Modified Initial System (aka Kwun Tong Line)

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October
1st	Nigeria terminates military rule, and the Nigerian Second Republic is established
1st	Pope John Paul II visits the United States
2nd	Bob Marley's album "Survival" is released
15th	Black Monday events, in which members of a political group sack a newspaper office, unfold in Malta
16th	A tsunami in Nice, France kills 23 people
26th	Park Chung-hee, the President of South Korea, was assassinated by the KCIA director Kim Jaegyu
27th	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gains independence

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November
1st	Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini urges his people to demonstrate on November 4 and to expand attacks on United States and Israeli interests
2nd	French police shoot gangster Jacques Mesrine in Paris
3rd	In Greensboro, North Carolina, 5 members of the Communist Workers Party are shot to death and 7 are wounded by a group of Klansmen and neo-Nazis, during a "Death to the Klan" rally
4th	3,000 Iranian radicals, mostly students, invade the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and take 90 hostages (53 of whom are American). They demand that the United States send the former Shah back to Iran to stand trial
7th	U.S. Senator Edward Moore Kennedy announces that he will challenge President Jimmy Carter for the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination
12th	In response to the hostage situation in Tehran, U.S. President Jimmy Carter orders a halt to all oil imports into the United States from Iran
14th	U.S. President Jimmy Carter issues Executive Order 12170, freezing all Iranian assets in the United States and U.S. banks in response to the hostage crisis
16th	Bucharest Metro Line One is opened, in Bucharest, Romania (from Timpuri Noi to Semanatoarea stations, 8.63 km)
17th	Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini orders the release of 13 female and African American hostages being held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran
20th	A group of terrorists of around 200 militants occupy Mecca's Grand Mosque. They are driven out by French commandos (allowed into the city under these special circumstances despite their being non-Muslims) after bloody fighting that leaves 250 people dead and 600 wounded
21st	After false radio reports from the Ayatollah Khomeini that the Americans had occupied the Grand Mosque in Mecca, the United States Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan is attacked by a mob and set afire, killing 4. (see: Foreign relations of Pakistan)
23rd	In Dublin, Ireland, Irish Republican Army member Thomas McMahon is sentenced to life in prison for the assassination of Lord Mountbatten
28th	An Air New Zealand DC-10 crashes into Mount Erebus on a sightseeing trip, killing all 257 people on board

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December
3rd	Eleven fans are killed during a stampede for seats before The Who concert at the Riverfront Coliseum (now known as the U.S. Bank Arena) in Cincinnati, Ohio
4th	The Hastie fire in Hull, England, leads to the deaths of 3 boys and begins the hunt for Bruce George Peter Lee, the UK's most prolific killer
5th	Jack Lynch resigns as Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland; he is succeeded by Charles Haughey
6th	The world premiere for Star Trek: The Motion Picture is held at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC
9th	The eradication of the smallpox virus is certified, making smallpox the first and to date only human disease driven to extinction
21st	A ceasefire for Rhodesia is signed at London
24th	The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan
24th	The first European Ariane rocket is launched
26th	In Rhodesia, 96 Patriotic Front guerrillas enter the capital Salisbury to monitor a ceasefire that begins December 28
27th	The Soviet Union seizes control of Afghanistan, and Babrak Karmal replaces overthrown and executed President Hafizullah Amin