April 30

Historic Events

2021

Forty-five men and boys are killed in the Meron stampede in Israel. ›

2014

A bomb blast in Ürümqi, China kills three people and injures 79 others. ›

2013

Willem-Alexander is inaugurated as King of the Netherlands following the abdication of Beatrix. ›

2012

An overloaded ferry capsizes on the Brahmaputra River in India killing at least 108 people. At least 150 more are missing and presumed dead. ›

2009

Chrysler files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. ›

2009

Seven civilians and the perpetrator are killed and another ten injured at a Queen's Day parade in Apeldoorn, Netherlands in an attempted assassination on Queen Beatrix. ›

2008

Two skeletal remains found near Yekaterinburg are confirmed by Russian scientists to be the remains of Alexei and Anastasia, two of the children of the last Tsar of Russia, whose entire family was executed at Yekaterinburg by the Bolsheviks. ›

2004

U.S. media release graphic photos of American soldiers committing war crimes against Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison. ›

2000

Canonization of Faustina Kowalska in the presence of 200,000 people and the first Divine Mercy Sunday celebrated worldwide. ›

1999

Neo-Nazi David Copeland carries out the last of his three nail bombings in London at the Admiral Duncan gay pub, killing three people and injuring 79 others. ›

1994

Formula One racing driver Roland Ratzenberger is killed in a crash during the qualifying session of the San Marino Grand Prix run at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari outside Imola, Italy. ›

1993

CERN announces World Wide Web protocols will be free. ›

1989

The Monkseaton shootings occur in Tyne and Wear, England. One is killed and 16 are injured. ›

1982

The Bijon Setu massacre occurs in Calcutta, India. ›

1980

Beatrix is inaugurated as Queen of the Netherlands following the abdication of Juliana. ›

1980

The Iranian Embassy siege begins in London. ›

1979

Eruption of Mount Marapi: Mount Marapi, a complex volcano on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, erupts. Between 80 and 100 people are killed. ›

1975

Fall of Saigon: Communist forces gain control of Saigon. The Vietnam War formally ends with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnamese president Dương Văn Minh. ›

1973

Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard Nixon fires White House Counsel John Dean; other top aides, most notably H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, resign. ›

1963

The Bristol Bus Boycott is held in Bristol to protest the Bristol Omnibus Company's refusal to employ Black or Asian bus crews, drawing national attention to racial discrimination in the United Kingdom. ›

1961

K-19, the first Soviet nuclear submarine equipped with nuclear missiles, is commissioned. ›

1957

Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery enters into force. ›

1956

Former Vice President and Democratic Senator Alben Barkley dies during a speech in Virginia. ›

1948

In Bogotá, Colombia, the Organization of American States is established. ›

1947

In Nevada, Boulder Dam is renamed Hoover Dam. ›

1945

World War II: Führerbunker: Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide after being married for less than 40 hours. ›

1945

World War II: Soviet soldiers raise the first Soviet flag over the Reichstag. The Victory Banner will be raised the next day. ›

1945

World War II: Stalag Luft I prisoner-of-war camp near Barth, Germany is liberated by Soviet soldiers, freeing nearly 9,000 American and British airmen. ›

1943

World War II: The British submarine HMS Seraph surfaces near Huelva to cast adrift a dead man dressed as a courier and carrying false invasion plans. ›

1939

The 1939–40 New York World's Fair opens. ›

1939

NBC inaugurates its regularly scheduled television service in New York City, broadcasting President Franklin D. Roosevelt's N.Y. World's Fair opening day ceremonial address. ›

1937

The Commonwealth of the Philippines holds a plebiscite for Filipino women on whether they should be extended the right to suffrage; over 90% would vote in the affirmative. ›

1927

The Federal Industrial Institute for Women opens in Alderson, West Virginia, as the first women's federal prison in the United States. ›

1925

Automaker Dodge Brothers, Inc, is sold to Dillon, Read & Co. for US$146 million plus $50 million for charity. ›

1905

Albert Einstein completes his doctoral thesis at the University of Zurich. ›

1900

Hawaii becomes a territory of the United States, with Sanford B. Dole as governor. ›

1897

J. J. Thomson of the Cavendish Laboratory announces his discovery of the electron as a subatomic particle, over 1,800 times smaller than a proton (in the atomic nucleus), at a lecture at the Royal Institution in London. ›

1885

Governor of New York David B. Hill signs legislation creating the Niagara Reservation, New York's first state park, ensuring that Niagara Falls will not be devoted solely to industrial and commercial use. ›

1871

The Camp Grant massacre takes place in Arizona Territory. ›

1864

American Civil War: Confederate forces led by General E. Kirby Smith attack federal troops retreating across the Saline at Jenkins' Ferry, Arkansas. ›

1863

A 65-man French Foreign Legion infantry patrol fights a force of nearly 2,000 Mexican soldiers to nearly the last man in Hacienda Camarón, Mexico. ›

1859

Charles Dickens publishes the first edition of his literary magazine, All the Year Round, containing the first installment of his best-selling classic, A Tale of Two Cities. ›

1838

Nicaragua declares independence from the Central American Federation. ›

1812

The Territory of Orleans becomes the 18th U.S. state under the name Louisiana. ›

1803

Louisiana Purchase: The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million, more than doubling the size of the young nation. ›

1789

On the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City, George Washington takes the oath of office to become the first President of the United States. ›

1636

Eighty Years' War: Dutch Republic forces recapture a strategically important fort from Spain after a nine-month siege. ›

1598

Juan de Oñate begins the conquest of Santa Fe de Nuevo México. ›

1598

Henry IV of France issues the Edict of Nantes, allowing freedom of religion to the Huguenots. ›

1513

Edmund de la Pole, Yorkist pretender to the English throne, is executed on the orders of Henry VIII. ›

1492

Spain gives Christopher Columbus his commission of exploration. He is named admiral of the ocean sea, viceroy and governor of any territory he discovers. ›

1315

Enguerrand de Marigny is hanged at the instigation of Charles, Count of Valois. ›

1305

Roger de Flor, leader of the mercenary Catalan Company, is murdered, leading to widespread pillaging by the mercenaries in Thrace. ›

311

The Diocletianic Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire ends. ›