1970s

The 1970s was the time of Lord Voldemort's first rise to power. Though Muggles, of course, remain oblivious to the war, this time is remembered by the Wizarding world as a violent time of terror and bloodshed.

Voldemort's followers, the Death Eaters, tortured and murdered many Muggles and Muggle-borns for sport. Due to extensive use of the Imperius Curse, it was hard to tell who was on which side and many who served Voldemort later claimed to have been under the influence of the Imperius Curse.

Barty Crouch, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, fought the Death Eaters with an iron fist, often sending innocent people to Azkaban without a trial.

With Harry Potter's defeat of Voldemort in October of 1981, the war seemed to be over, but this, unfortunately, was not the case. With Voldemort's return to full power in 1995, much of the second half of the 1990s became Voldemort's second, albeit shorter, but much more violent reign of terror.

This was also the time period when James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Lily Evans, Severus Snape and Peter Pettigrew were attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Additionally, many of the combatants of the Second Wizarding War were born during the war in this decade and 1980 and 1981, including Bill Weasley, Charlie Weasley, Percy Weasley, Fred and George Weasley, Hermione Granger, Cho Chang, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Draco Malfoy, Luna Lovegood, and Neville Longbottom among numerous others.

Muggle events

 * 1970s at Wikipedia