WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO JULY 1972
Find out what all happened January to July 1972

Vietnam War: For the first time since November 1967, American B-52 bombers reportedly begin bombing North Vietnam. (10. April 1972)

Vietnam War: Increased American bombing in Vietnam prompts anti-war protests in Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco. (22. April 1972)

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman returns to the newly independent Bangladesh as president after spending over nine months in prison in Pakistan. (10. January 1972)

Italian publisher and former partisan Giangiacomo Feltrinelli is killed by an explosion near Segrate. (14. March 1972)

José María Velasco Ibarra, serving as President of Ecuador for the fifth time, is overthrown by the military for the fourth time. (15. February 1972)

Watergate Scandal: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman are taped talking about using the Central Intelligence Agency to obstruct the Federal Bureau of Investigation's investigation into the Watergate break-ins. (23. June 1972)

The Angry Brigade goes on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout the United Kingdom. (30. May 1972)

Rose Heilbron becomes the first female judge to sit at the Old Bailey in London, England. (4. January 1972)

The Troubles: a car bombing outside a crowded pub in Belfast sparks a two-day gun battle involving the Provisional IRA, Ulster Volunteer Force and British Army. Seven people are killed and over 66 injured. (13. May 1972)

The United Kingdom imposes direct rule over Northern Ireland. (24. March 1972)

Pakistan withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations. (30. January 1972)

Willandra National Park is established in Australia. (26. May 1972)

The first game of the World Chess Championship 1972 between challenger Bobby Fischer and defending champion Boris Spassky starts. (11. July 1972)

Bob Douglas becomes the first African American elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. (5. February 1972)

The Troubles: In Operation Motorman, the British Army re-takes the urban no-go areas of Northern Ireland. It is the biggest British military operation since the Suez Crisis of 1956, and the biggest in Ireland since the Irish War of Independence. Later that day, nine civilians are killed by car bombs in the village of Claudy. (31. July 1972)

Sales of the Volkswagen Beetle exceed those of the Ford Model-T. (17. February 1972)

Watergate scandal: An 18½-minute gap appears in the tape recording of the conversations between U.S. President Richard Nixon and his advisers regarding the recent arrests of his operatives while breaking into the Watergate complex. (20. June 1972)

Vietnam War: The Easter Offensive begins after North Vietnamese forces cross into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) of South Vietnam. (30. March 1972)

The island of Okinawa, under U.S. military governance since its conquest in 1945, reverts to Japanese control. (15. May 1972)

Vietnam War: The Battle of An Lộc begins. (13. April 1972)