Year by year · 20th century

1968

1968 in world history: 24 events, 9 births, 11 deaths, 2 works, 1 state founded and 4 that came to an end. 241 recorded states existed that year.

Events

  1. 5 January

    Alexander Dubček takes charge in Czechoslovakia

    Dubček replaced Antonín Novotný as leader of the Czechoslovak Communist Party. His reforms, 'socialism with a human face', inspired the Prague Spring, ended by a Warsaw Pact invasion in August.

    CzechoslovakiaWarsawPrague

  2. 13 January

    Johnny Cash performs at Folsom State Prison

    Johnny Cash played two shows for inmates at Folsom Prison in California, recorded for a live album. 'At Folsom Prison' revived his career and became one of the best-known albums in country music.

  3. 23 January

    North Korea seizes the USS Pueblo

    North Korean vessels captured the US Navy intelligence ship off Wonsan, killing one sailor. The 82 surviving crew were held for eleven months, and the ship is still held in Pyongyang.

    Korea

  4. 30 January

    Tet Offensive begins in South Vietnam

    North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces attacked towns and bases across South Vietnam during the lunar new year truce. Though repelled, the offensive undermined American confidence in the war.

  5. 16 February

    First 911 emergency call made in Alabama

    In Haleyville, Alabama, Senator Rankin Fite made the first call on the new 911 emergency number. A single, easily remembered number spread across the United States over the following decades.

    United States

  6. 16 March

    US soldiers massacre villagers at My Lai

    American troops killed some 350 to 500 unarmed civilians, mostly women, children and old men, in a South Vietnamese hamlet. Exposed in 1969, the massacre deepened opposition to the war.

  7. 31 March

    Lyndon B. Johnson says he will not seek re-election

    In a televised address on Vietnam, Johnson announced a partial bombing halt and said he would not run again. Richard Nixon won the presidency that November.

  8. 3 April

    Martin Luther King gives his 'Mountaintop' speech

    In Memphis, Martin Luther King Jr. told supporters he had 'seen the Promised Land' but might not get there with them. It was his last speech; he was assassinated the following evening.

  9. 4 April

    Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in Memphis

    Martin Luther King Jr. was shot dead on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, where he had come to support striking sanitation workers. Riots broke out in more than a hundred American cities.

    Lorraine

  10. 5 June

    Robert F. Kennedy is shot in Los Angeles

    Minutes after winning the California primary, Senator Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel. He died the next day, two months after Martin Luther King's assassination.

  11. 8 June

    James Earl Ray is arrested at Heathrow

    Martin Luther King's killer was caught at London Heathrow travelling on a false Canadian passport. He pleaded guilty in 1969 and was sentenced to 99 years.

    London

  12. 20 August

    Warsaw Pact armies invade Czechoslovakia

    Hundreds of thousands of Soviet-led troops crossed into Czechoslovakia overnight to end Alexander Dubček's Prague Spring reforms. Moscow soon claimed the right to intervene in any socialist state.

    CzechoslovakiaMoscowWarsaw

  13. 2 October

    Mexican troops open fire on students at Tlatelolco

    Soldiers and police fired on a student rally in Mexico City's Plaza de las Tres Culturas, ten days before the Olympic Games opened. Estimates of the dead range from about 30 to several hundred; the government long concealed the toll.

    Mexico CityTlatelolco

  14. 21 December

    Apollo 8 launches for the Moon

    Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders lifted off on the first crewed flight to leave Earth's orbit. On Christmas Eve they orbited the Moon and photographed 'Earthrise'.

  15. 24 December

    Apollo 8 orbits the Moon

    Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders became the first people to orbit the Moon. They photographed 'Earthrise' and read from Genesis in a Christmas Eve broadcast seen by millions.

  16. Event

    Prague Spring

    The Prague Spring was the period of reform in Czechoslovakia that began when Alexander Dubček became party leader in January 1968.

  17. Crisis

    Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

    The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia began on the night of 20–21 August 1968, when troops of the Soviet Union, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria entered the country to end Alexander Dubček's Prague Spring reforms.

ProfileState235 states with a known seat in 1968Open the atlas at 1968 →

In the profiles

  • Republic of PeruJuan Velasco Alvarado seizes power and begins radical reforms
  • Republic of PanamaThe National Guard overthrows Arnulfo Arias, beginning military rule
  • CzechoslovakiaWarsaw Pact armies invade to end the Prague Spring
  • EblaA statue of King Ibbit-Lim identifies Tell Mardikh as Ebla
  • United Arab EmiratesZayed and Rashid agree to form a union after Britain announces its withdrawal from the Gulf
  • Swazi KingdomSwaziland becomes independent under Sobhuza II

Wars and longer events

Born in 1968 9

Died in 1968 11

Works 2

States founded 1

States that came to an end 4

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). 1968. In The Epoch Institute, Year by Year. https://the-epoch-institute.org/years/1968
MLA
“1968.” The Epoch Institute, Year by Year, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/years/1968. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “1968.” The Epoch Institute, Year by Year. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/years/1968.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘1968’, The Epoch Institute, Year by Year. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/years/1968 (Accessed: ).