WHAT ALL HAPPENED OCTOBER TO DECEMBER 1981
Find out what all happened October to December 1981

Two police officers and an armored car guard are killed during an armed robbery in Rockland County, NY, carried out by members of the Black Liberation Army and Weather Underground. (20. October 1981)

The hunger strike by Provisional Irish Republican Army and Irish National Liberation Army prisoners at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland ends after seven months and ten deaths. (3. October 1981)

Arab–Israeli conflict: Israel's Knesset ratifies the Golan Heights Law, extending Israeli law to the occupied Golan Heights. (14. December 1981)

Space Shuttle program: Mission STS-2, utilizing the Space Shuttle Columbia, marks the first time a manned spacecraft is launched into space twice. (12. November 1981)

Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat is assassinated. (6. October 1981)

Cold War: In Geneva, representatives from the United States and the Soviet Union begin to negotiate intermediate-range nuclear weapon reductions in Europe. (The meetings end inconclusively on December 17.) (30. November 1981)

Iran-Contra Affair: Ronald Reagan signs the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), giving the Central Intelligence Agency the authority to recruit and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua. (23. November 1981)

General Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland to prevent dismantling of the communist system by Solidarity. (13. December 1981)

South Africa grants independence to the Ciskei "homeland" (not recognized by any government outside South Africa). (4. December 1981)

A coup d'état in Ghana removes President Hilla Limann's PNP government and replaces it with the Provisional National Defence Council led by Flight lieutenant Jerry Rawlings. (31. December 1981)

Citing official misconduct in the investigation and trial, Amnesty International charges the U.S. Federal Government with holding Richard Marshall[disambiguation needed ] of the American Indian Movement as a political prisoner. (14. October 1981)

Vice President Hosni Mubarak is elected as the President of Egypt one week after the assassination of the President of Egypt, Anwar Sadat. (14. October 1981)

El Mozote massacre: Armed forces in El Salvador kill an estimated 900 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign during the Salvadoran Civil War. (11. December 1981)

Antigua and Barbuda joins the United Nations. (11. November 1981)

The Soviet submarine U 137 runs aground on the east coast of Sweden. (27. October 1981)

Abolition of capital punishment in France. (9. October 1981)

Sixteen lives are lost when the Penlee lifeboat goes to the aid of the stricken coaster Union Star in heavy seas. (19. December 1981)

Our Lady of Kibeho: Schoolchildren in Kibeho, Rwanda, experience the first of a series of Marian apparitions. (28. November 1981)

Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 1308, a McDonnell Douglas MD-80, crashes in Corsica, killing all 180 people on board. (1. December 1981)

Antigua and Barbuda gains independence from the United Kingdom. (1. November 1981)