971

Millennium:	1st millennium
Centuries:	9th century – 10th century – 11th century
Decades:	940s 950s 960s – 970s – 980s 990s 1000s
Years:	968 969 970 – 971 – 972 973 974

971 by topic
Politics
State leaders – Sovereign states
Birth and death categories
Births – Deaths
Establishment and disestablishment categories
Establishments – Disestablishments

Year 971 (CMLXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events

Kenneth II of Scotland succeeds Culen as King, though he will not be sole king until 977.
Saint Swithun's body is moved into an indoor shrine (he was previously buried outside). The ceremony is said to have been marred by 40 days of torrential rain.
Basileus John Tzimisces defeats Sviatoslav I of Kiev in the Fifth Rus'-Byzantine War (see Battle of Dorostolon).
The Bulgarian emperor Boris II abdicates in Constantinople and John Tzimisces announces the annexation of Bulgaria. That event leads to an almost 50-year Byzantine-Bulgarian war until the fall of Bulgaria.

January 23 – In China, the war elephant corps of the Southern Han are soundly defeated at Shao by crossbow fire from Song Dynasty troops. The Southern Han state is forced to submit to the Song Dynasty, ending not only Southern Han rule, but also the first regular war elephant corps employed in a Chinese army that had gained the Southern Han victories throughout the 10th century.