WHAT ALL HAPPENED SEPTEMBER TO DECEMBER 1980
Find out what all happened September to December 1980

A deadly fire breaks out at the MGM Grand Hotel in Paradise, Nevada (now Bally's Las Vegas). 87 people are killed and more than 650 are injured in the worst disaster in Nevada history. (21. November 1980)

The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn and takes the first images of its rings. (12. November 1980)

Iraq invades Iran. (22. September 1980)

The government of Poland legalizes the Solidarity trade union. (24. October 1980)

As part of the Holy See – United Kingdom relations a British monarch makes the first state visit to the Vatican (17. October 1980)

Soyuz 38 carries 2 cosmonauts (including 1 Cuban) to Salyut 6 space station. (18. September 1980)

Major General Chun Doo-hwan becomes President of South Korea, following the resignation of Choi Kyu-hah. (1. September 1980)

Salvadoran Civil War: Four U.S. nuns and churchwomen, Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, Jean Donovan, and Dorothy Kazel, are murdered by a military death squad. (2. December 1980)

Witnesses report the first of several sightings of unexplained lights near RAF Woodbridge, in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom, an incident called "Britain's Roswell". (24. December 1980)

The St. Gotthard Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel at 10.14 miles (16.224 km) stretching from Göschenen to Airolo. (5. September 1980)

Demonstration flight of a secretly modified C-130 for an Iran hostage crisis rescue attempt ends in crash landing at Eglin Air Force Base's Duke Field, Florida leading to cancellation of Operation Credible Sport. (29. October 1980)

Proceedings on the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction conclude at The Hague. (25. October 1980)

After weeks of strikes at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland, the nationwide independent trade union Solidarity is established. (17. September 1980)

Princess Caroline of Monaco divorces Philippe Junot. (9. October 1980)

Ethernet specifications are published by Xerox working with Intel and Digital Equipment Corporation. (30. September 1980)

Military coup in Turkey. (12. September 1980)

Pope John Paul II shakes hands with the Dalai Lama during a private audience in Vatican City. (9. October 1980)

At the Oktoberfest terror attack in Munich 13 people died and 211 were injured. (26. September 1980)

Iran–Iraq War: Operation Morvarid – The bulk of the Iraqi Navy is destroyed by the Iranian Navy in the Persian Gulf. (Commemorated in Iran as Navy Day.) (28. November 1980)

A magnitude 7.3 earthquake occurs in the Algerian town of El Asnam. 3,500 die and 300,000 are left homeless. (10. October 1980)