The 1970s (pronounced "nineteen-seventies", commonly abbreviated as the "Seventies") was a decade of the Gregorian calendar that began on January 1, 1970, and ended on December 31, 1979. It was a very significant decade in the history of Bangladesh, because this is the decade in which Bangladesh emerged as a sovereign state. The decade began with a devastating cyclone that ravaged the southern part of the country. The next year the country went into Liberation war and achieved independence from Pakistan. The government of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman administered the newly formed country between 1972–1975, but their rule soon came to an end through a series of coups and counter coups in the later part of the decade. Economically the country struggled because of the war (1971) and famine (1974) th