Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi leaves Iran

Czechoslovak cosmonaut Vladimír Remek flew with Soviet commander Aleksei Gubarev. The program presented socialist cooperation as internationalist, while its launch infrastructure and strategic...

After a Soviet- and Cuban-supported Ethiopian counteroffensive, Somali forces withdrew from the Ogaden. The conventional war ended, but insurgency, militarization, and displacement continued for local...

Afghan military officers and the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan seized power and killed President Mohammed Daoud Khan. The new government pursued a radical program that encountered...

The treaty formalized close relations after Vietnam’s reunification and its conflict with Cambodia and China. Vietnam pursued its own security and regional aims; the agreement also expanded Soviet...

The treaty deepened bilateral cooperation under President Taraki. It preceded the Soviet military intervention by a year and should not be confused with an open-ended authorization for the 1979...

Chinese forces crossed into Vietnam after months of worsening relations. The USSR condemned the attack and supported Vietnam under their 1978 treaty, while Vietnamese communities faced a devastating...

The agreement set limits on strategic nuclear delivery systems, though the U.S. Senate never ratified it. Arms control addressed superpower arsenals while leaving the wider militarized order intact.

Afghan President Nur Muhammad Taraki was critically injured in an internal power struggle, and Hafizullah Amin consolidated control. The episode reflects factional conflict within Afghanistan’s ruling...

Soviet forces began a large-scale deployment into Afghanistan in late December. Moscow described the move as assistance requested by Kabul; it escalated an Afghan conflict into a foreign...

Soviet forces assaulted government sites in Kabul, killed Hafizullah Amin, and installed Babrak Karmal. The intervention intensified resistance and displacement; Afghans were political actors, not a...