October 30

Historic Events

2023

First rescue of a prisoner during the Israeli invasion of Gaza. ›

2022

A pedestrian suspension bridge collapses in the city of Morbi, Gujarat, leading to the deaths of at least 135 people. ›

2020

A magnitude 7.0 earthquake strikes the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey, triggering a tsunami. At least 119 people die mainly due to collapsed buildings. ›

2015

A fire in a nightclub in the Romanian capital of Bucharest kills sixty-four people and leaves more than 147 injured. ›

2014

Sweden becomes the first European Union member state to officially recognize Palestine as an independent and sovereign state. ›

2014

Four people are killed when a Beechcraft Super King Air crashes at Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport in Wichita, Kansas. ›

2013

Forty-five people are killed and seven injured after a bus catches fire in Mahabubnagar district, Andhra Pradesh (present-day Telangana), India. ›

2005

The rebuilt Dresden Frauenkirche (destroyed in the firebombing of Dresden during World War II) is reconsecrated after a thirteen-year rebuilding project. ›

1995

Quebec citizens narrowly vote (50.58% to 49.42%) in favour of remaining a province of Canada in their second referendum on national sovereignty. ›

1991

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The Madrid Conference commences in an effort to revive peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine. ›

1985

Space Shuttle Challenger lifts off for mission STS-61-A, its final successful mission. ›

1983

The first democratic elections in Argentina, after seven years of military rule, are held. ›

1983

A magnitude 6.6 earthquake in the Turkish provinces of Erzurum and Kars leaves approximately 1,340 people dead. ›

1975

Prince Juan Carlos I of Spain becomes acting head of state, taking over for the country's ailing dictator, Gen. Francisco Franco. ›

1975

Forty-five people are killed when Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 450 crashes into Suchdol, Prague, while on approach to Prague Ruzyně Airport (now Václav Havel Airport Prague) in Czechoslovakia (present-day Czech Republic). ›

1973

The Bosphorus Bridge in Turkey is completed, connecting the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosphorus for the second time. ›

1968

A squad of 120 North Korean Army commandos land in boats along a 25-mile long section of the eastern coast of South Korea in a failed attempt to overthrow the dictatorship of Park Chung Hee and bring about the reunification of Korea. ›

1961

The Soviet Union detonates the Tsar Bomba, the most powerful explosive device ever detonated. ›

1959

Piedmont Airlines Flight 349 crashes on approach to Charlottesville–Albemarle Airport in Albemarle County, Virginia, killing 26 of the 27 on board. ›

1956

Hungarian Revolution: The government of Imre Nagy recognizes newly established revolutionary workers' councils. Army officer Béla Király leads anti-Soviet militias in an attack on the headquarters of the Hungarian Working People's Party. ›

1953

President Eisenhower approves the top-secret document NSC 162/2 concerning the maintenance of a strong nuclear deterrent force against the Soviet Union. ›

1948

A luzzu fishing boat overloaded with passengers capsizes and sinks in the Gozo Channel off Qala, Gozo, Malta, killing 23 of the 27 people on board. ›

1947

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the foundation of the World Trade Organization (WTO), is founded. ›

1944

Holocaust: Anne and Margot Frank are deported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where they die from disease the following year, shortly before the end of WWII. ›

1942

World War II: Lt. Tony Fasson and Able Seaman Colin Grazier drown while taking code books from the sinking German submarine U-559. ›

1941

President Roosevelt approves $1 billion in Lend-Lease aid to the Allied nations. ›

1941

Holocaust: Fifteen hundred Jews from Pidhaytsi are sent by Nazis to Bełżec extermination camp. ›

1938

Orson Welles broadcasts a radio adaptation of H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, causing a massive panic in some of the audience in the United States. ›

1920

The Communist Party of Australia is founded in Sydney. ›

1918

World War I: The Ottoman Empire signs the Armistice of Mudros with the Allies. ›

1918

World War I: Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen, a state union of Kingdom of Hungary and Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia is abolished with decisions of Croatian and Hungarian parliaments. ›

1905

Tsar Nicholas II issues the October Manifesto, nominally granting the Russian peoples basic civil liberties and the right to form a duma. (October 17 in the Julian calendar) ›

1888

The Rudd Concession is granted by Matabeleland to agents of Cecil Rhodes. ›

1864

Second War of Schleswig: The Treaty of Vienna is signed, by which Denmark relinquishes one province each to Prussia and Austria. ›

1863

Danish Prince Vilhelm arrives in Athens to assume his throne as George I, King of the Hellenes. ›

1858

Approximately 20 people die in Bradford, England, UK, after being poisoned from ingesting sweets that had been accidentally adulterated with arsenic trioxide. ›

1836

Louis Napoleon launches the unsuccessful Strasbourg Coup to overthrow the July Monarchy in France ›

1831

Nat Turner is arrested for leading the bloodiest slave rebellion in United States history. ›

1817

Simón Bolívar becomes President of the Third Republic of Venezuela. ›

1806

War of the Fourth Coalition: Convinced that he is facing a much larger force, Prussian General von Romberg, commanding 5,300 men, surrenders the city of Stettin to 800 French soldiers. ›

1657

Anglo-Spanish War: Spanish forces fail to retake Jamaica at the Battle of Ocho Rios. ›

1340

Reconquista: Portuguese and Castilian forces halt a Muslim invasion at the Battle of Río Salado. ›

1270

The Eighth Crusade ends by an agreement between Charles I of Anjou (replacing his deceased brother King Louis IX of France) and the Hafsid dynasty of Tunis, Tunisia. ›

1137

Ranulf of Apulia defeats Roger II of Sicily at the Battle of Rignano, securing his position as duke until his death two years later. ›

758

Guangzhou is sacked by Arab and Persian pirates. ›

637

Arab–Byzantine wars: Antioch surrenders to the Rashidun Caliphate after the Battle of the Iron Bridge. ›

130

Emperor Hadrian establishes the city of Antinoöpolis on the Nile in honour of his companion Antinous, creating a new Hellenizing foundation in Roman Egypt. ›