WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO MAY 1983
Find out what all happened January to May 1983

Thirteen people die and one is seriously injured in the Wah Mee massacre in Seattle, Washington. It is said to be the largest robbery-motivated mass-murder in U.S. history. (18. February 1983)

In Ireland, the government launches a crackdown, with the leading Dublin pirate Radio Nova being put off the air. (18. May 1983)

Bertha Wilson is appointed the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court of Canada. (4. March 1983)

The German magazine Der Stern claims that the "Hitler Diaries" had been found in wreckage in East Germany; the diaries are subsequently revealed to be forgeries. (22. April 1983)

A cinema fire in Turin, Italy, kills 64 people. (13. February 1983)

The Melbourne dust storm hits Australia's second largest city. The result of the worst drought on record and a day of severe weather conditions, a 320 metres (1,050 ft) deep dust cloud envelops the city, turning day to night. (8. February 1983)

Demolition of the radio tower Ismaning, the last wooden radio tower in Germany. (16. March 1983)

Strategic Defense Initiative: President Ronald Reagan makes his initial proposal to develop technology to intercept enemy missiles. (23. March 1983)

The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri. (23. February 1983)

The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia kill 75. (16. February 1983)

The ARPANET officially changes to using the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet. (1. January 1983)

Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement rebels against the Sudanese government. (16. May 1983)

A strong 7.7 magnitude earthquake strikes Japan, triggering a tsunami that kills at least 104 people and injures thousands. Many people go missing and thousands of buildings are destroyed. (26. May 1983)

The pilot shaft of the Seikan Tunnel, the world's longest sub-aqueous tunnel (53.85 km) between the Japanese islands of Honshū and Hokkaidō, breaks through. (27. January 1983)

American schoolgirl Samantha Smith is invited to visit the Soviet Union by its leader Yuri Andropov after he read her letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war. (25. April 1983)

The U.S. Department of Energy declassifies documents showing world's largest mercury pollution event in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (ultimately found to be 4.2 million pounds), in response to the Appalachian Observer's Freedom of Information Act request. (17. May 1983)

The notorious Broadway flop Moose Murders opens and closes on the same night at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre. (22. February 1983)

Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. (17. May 1983)

The Church Street bombing in the South African capital Pretoria. The bombing killed 19 and wounded 217. (20. May 1983)

Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis is awarded the Lenin Peace Prize. (1. May 1983)