WHAT ALL HAPPENED MARCH TO DECEMBER 1981
Find out what all happened March to December 1981

The burning of Jaffna library in Sri Lanka. It is one of the violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the twentieth century. (31. May 1981)

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

The Osborne 1, the first successful portable computer, is unveiled at the West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco. (3. April 1981)

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

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

A worldwide television audience of over 700 million people watch the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul's Cathedral in London. (29. July 1981)

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

A structural failure leads to the collapse of a walkway at the Hyatt Regency in Kansas City, Missouri killing 114 people and injuring more than 200. (17. July 1981)

The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approves Sandra Day O'Connor to become the first female justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (15. September 1981)

Gulf of Sidra Incident: United States fighters intercept and shoot down two Libyan Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets over the Gulf of Sidra. (19. August 1981)

Mahathir Mohamad becomes Malaysia's 4th Prime Minister. (16. July 1981)

The longest professional baseball game is begun in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The game is suspended at 4:00 the next morning and finally completed on June 23. (18. April 1981)

The Italian government releases the membership list of Propaganda Due, an illegal pseudo-Masonic lodge that was implicated in numerous Italian crimes and mysteries. (21. May 1981)

British television: on Coronation Street, Ken Barlow marries Deirdre Langton, which proves to be a national event scoring massive viewer numbers for the show. (27. July 1981)

A suicide car bombing targeting the Iraqi embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, levels the embassy and kills 61 people, including Iraq's ambassador to Lebanon. The attack is considered the first modern suicide bombing. (15. December 1981)

MTV begins broadcasting in the United States and airs its first video, "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles. (1. August 1981)

The first launch of a Space Shuttle (Columbia) takes place - the STS-1 mission. (12. April 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)

Belize joins the United Nations. (25. September 1981)