February 1, 1979-the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Iran after being forced into exile in 1964. Favoring the return of Iran to traditional Islamic beliefs and practices as opposed to the western reforms pushed by the Shah, Khomeini echos a growing a sentiment in Iran for a restoration of Muslim traditions, and quickly climbs to power.
February 14, 1979-student demonstrators overrun the American embassy in Tehran, capturing over seventy employees. They were released two hours later.
October 22, 1979-the United States government allows the deposed Shah of Iran to travel to New York for medical treatment, although having been warned that this action might endanger the lives of the American workers in the embassy in Tehran.
November 4, 1979-the United States Embassy in Tehran is overrun by student demonstrators. Fifty-two American hostages are taken in the process.
December 15, 1979-the International Court of Justice, after urging from the United States, grants interim measures of protection to be taken, calling for Iran to return the hostages to the United States.
Early 1980-the United States government, after having little success through diplomatic channels with Iran, begins to plan a secret rescue mission in order to bring back the hostages.
April 21, 1980-the rescue force assembled in order to recover the American hostages being held in Tehran, meets in Egypt awaiting orders to go ahead with their mission.
April 24, 1980-the United States recovery mission, Operation Eagle Claw, to bring back the hostages after more than five months in bondage, is launched. The mission ends in disaster after a rescue plane and a helicopter collide in the Iranian desert, killing eight Americans on board.
July 27, 1980-the Shah of Iran dies in Egypt. Although his return to Iran was the basis of the crisis, there is no end in sight. His funeral days later in Cairo is attended by only one notable American, the disgraced ex-president Richard Nixon.
November 4, 1980-Carter loses his attempt at re-election in the presidential campaign of 1980 to Republican Ronald Reagan.
January 20, 1981-Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as President of the United States; the U.S. releases over $8 billion in Iranian assets in exchange for the release of the American prisoners. The hostages arrive later in the day at Andrew's Air Force Base in Washington, D.C., after 444 days of being held captive.
