What was going on when I was born?

''Our might and vigilance will cool, I think, the hot heads of some imperialist politicians.'' - Leonid I. Brezhnev. (A1:1.)

This peaceful little village is embroiled in an unusual dispute with its largest property owner, the United States Military Academy at West Point, over the cost of educating children of military personnel who live and work at the Academy. Last Friday, the Highland Falls Board of Education threatened to bar 178 children of West Point personnel from attending John I. O'Neill High School unless their parents paid $582 apiece in tuition. West Point operates its own elementary school on the post, but does not have its own high school. The students' parents, as employees living and working at a military facility, are exempt under Federal law from paying local taxes to help support the school district.

In 1974, during a banking crisis brought on by the collapse of a small West German bank, central bankers met in Switzerland and decided they could provide sufficient assistance to the world's banking system, should the need arise. Western commercial bankers saw the decision as a sign of official support in case of troubles in unregulated banking centers, such as the Bahamas or Luxembourg, where the banks were expanding rapidly. Then, after eight years of headway into the unregulated centers, came the collapse last summer of Banco Ambrosiano of Milan, Italy. The glaring lesson to bankers came when Italy's central bank failed to bail out Ambrosiano's Luxembourg subsidiary, which owed some $400 million to other banks. With that, the bankers' perceptions of official support shattered.

Iranian infantry and armor have driven west into Iraq for the first time in more than three months, the Teheran Government reported today. The Baghdad radio confirmed the invasion, which began Saturday night, and said ''intense fighting'' was under way today. Iran said its forces had reached the town of Teib, in southeast Iraq. The push into Iraq was part of an Iranian offensive that began last Monday night and has so far forced the Iraqis from 210 square miles of Iranian territory. The Iranian forces punched across the border from positions west of their operational headquarters at Ein-i-Khosh, in the general area of Musian and Bayato, where the border is marked by the arid hills of the Hamrain range.

After a seven-year hiatus, New York State is moving forward with a plan for North Town II, the second phase of development on Roosevelt Island. However, the city has asked the state for a one-year extension of a December 1984 deadline for the start of subway service to the island to handle the 2,500 people the proposed 1,000-apartment development would bring. Without assurances of subway service, some residents oppose new development. ''If there's no subway, you can't put any more people on the island,'' said David Lustig, president of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association. ''It's as simple as that.''

Mohammad Gharazi, Iran's oil minister, tonight dismissed as a meaningless bluff threats by Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries to stage a showdown over oil prices next month. Speaking at a news conference for foreign correspondents, Mr. Gharazi said that Iran had set a production goal of three million barrels a day -more than twice the quota of 1.2 million barrels set by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Iran's goal would be the limit of the Iranian oil fields in their current condition, according to Western experts. He said, however, that the production target had not been reached because of ''direct pressure'' from Saudi Arabia on Iran's oil markets.

Douglas A. Fraser, who is temporarily leaving Chrysler's board until contracts in the United States and Canada have been signed, said he wants to avoid any appearance of conflict of interests because of his leadership of the United Automobile workers. (Page A1.) Semiconductor makers despair of a pickup in sales before mid-1983 because a seasonal rise in demand has not occurred. The industry is expected to report that sales fell again in October. (D1.)

Pete Rozelle, the commissioner of the National Football League, said yesterday that the collapse of negotiations between the players and owners had seriously jeopardized the remainder of the regular season and Super Bowl XVII, which is scheduled for Jan. 30 in Pasadena, Calif. Rozelle said that this week the league would inform the Los Angeles Convention Bureau that because of the possibility that the 1982 season may not resume, the league would release its commitment to approximately 5,500 hotel rooms it reserved on behalf of players, owners and members of the news media. ''We will tell them that they can seek optional business,'' Rozelle said in an interview. ''If we don't, we'll have a lawsuit on our hands. But we'll also ask them to hold as many of the rooms as possible.''

From London to Tokyo and from Toronto to Frankfurt, stock prices around the world rose last week in response to Wall Street's recordbreaking rally. Some of the advances at foreign stock exchanges did not approach the strength of the 4.2 percent increase in the Dow Jones industrial average last Wednesday. In many cases, though, the gains abroad were substantial and at least partly reflected the surge on the New York Stock Exchange. LONDON. Share prices reached new peaks Thursday, with The Financial Times index - a barometer of 30 leading industrial issues - advancing 5.2 points, to 629.5. The previous record of 626.1 had been set on Oct. 19. In quiet trading on Friday, prices fell 3.3 points after weak rally attempts around midday failed.

Less than a week after the election, Lewis E. Lehrman and State Senator Warren M. Anderson are on a collision course over who is to be the leading Republican voice in New York State. Mr. Lehrman, the business executive who lost the race for Governor but came closer to winning than many thought he would, has decided to keep his entire top campaign staff on his private payroll. Mr. Anderson, the majority leader of the State Senate, will remain the only Republican leader in top budgetary and governmental negotiations in Albany. Thus each will be in a position to confront the new Democratic administration headed by Mario M. Cuomo, and each - while speaking with elaborate politeness of the other - indicated his intention of leading the effort.

Pepsico Inc. said yesterday that it discovered falsified accounts at two foreign soft-drink bottling plants that caused operating profits of the two subsidiaries to be overstated by about $85 million over the last four years. In the four years, Pepsico reported net earnings of $1.12 billion.

When the Nets played the Boston Celtics last year, the games were examples of intimidation. The Nets lost five of the six games, by an average of more than 10 points and once by as many as 18. The intimidation was usually supplied by Larry Bird, and the victim was often Albert King, then a rookie. Although the Celtics came away with a 102-100 victory at Byrne Meadowlands Arena tonight, the Nets -and certainly King - eased some of those painful memories.