1971/72 Cusp of Virgo Libra

February 5 - Apollo 14 lands on the Moon.
February 11-February 12 – Palestinian and Jordanian fighters clash in Amman.
February 13 - Vietnam War: Backed by American air and artillery support, South Vietnamese troops invade Laos.
April 1 - The United Kingdom lifts all restrictions on gold ownership.
May 5 - The US dollar floods the European currency markets and threatens especially the Deutsche Mark; the central banks of Austria, Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland stop the currency trading.

June 13 Vietnam War: The New York Times begins to publish the Pentagon Papers.
August 15 President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will no longer convert dollars to gold at a fixed value, effectively ending the Bretton Woods system. He also imposes a 90-day freeze on wages, prices and rents.
August 18 Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.

October 25 - The United Nations General Assembly admits the People's Republic of China and expels the Republic of China (on Taiwan).
November 23 - The People's Republic of China takes the Republic of China's seat on the United Nations Security Council
December 3 - The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 begins as Pakistan attacks 9 Indian airbases. The next day India launches a massive invasion of East Pakistan.
December 18 The U.S. dollar is devalued for the second time in history.

January 11 - East Pakistan wins independence with the name Bangladesh.
February 21-February 28 - U.S. President Richard M. Nixon makes an unprecedented 8-day visit to the People's Republic of China and meets with Mao Zedong.
April 10 The U.S. and the Soviet Union join some 70 nations in signing an agreement to ban biological warfare.

June 17 Watergate scandal: Five White House operatives are arrested for burglarizing the offices of the Democratic National Committee.
Chilean president Salvador Allende forms a new government.
July - U.S. actress Jane Fonda tours North Vietnam, during which she is photographed sitting on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun.

August 4 Huge Solar Flare knocks out cable lines in U.S. One of the largest flares ever recorded. Event begins with appearance of sunspot on Aug 2, Aug 4 flare kicks off high levels of activity until Aug 10, 1972.
September 5-September 6 - Munich Massacre: Eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich are murdered after 8 members of the Arab terrorist group Black September invade the Olympic Village; 5 guerillas and 1 policeman are also killed in a failed hostage rescue
October 1 - The first publication reporting the production of a recombinant DNA molecule, marks the birth of modern molecular biology methodology
November 7 - U.S. presidential election, 1972: Republican incumbent Richard Nixon defeats Democratic Senator George McGovern in a landslide (the election had the lowest voter turnout since 1948, with only 55 percent of the electorate voting).
December 2 - Edward Gough Whitlam becomes the first Labor Party Prime Minister of Australia for 23 years. He is famously sworn in on the election night and his first action using executive power is to withdraw all Australian personnel from the Vietnam War.
December 15 - The Commonwealth of Australia ordains equal pay for women.