On This Day — 30 April
2000s
2021
Forty-five men and boys are killed in the Meron stampede in Israel.
2021 Meron crowd crush
2014
A bomb blast in Ürümqi, China kills three people and injures 79 others.
April 2014 Ürümqi attack
2013
Willem-Alexander is inaugurated as King of the Netherlands following the abdication of Beatrix.
Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands
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.
Assam ferry sinking
2009
Chrysler files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Chrysler
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.
2009 attack on the Dutch royal family
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.
Yekaterinburg
2004
U.S. media release graphic photos of American soldiers committing war crimes against Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.
Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse
2000
Canonization of Faustina Kowalska in the presence of 200,000 people and the first Divine Mercy Sunday celebrated worldwide.
Canonization
1900s
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.
1999 London nail bombings
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.
Formula One
1993
CERN announces World Wide Web protocols will be free.
CERN
1989
The Monkseaton shootings occur in Tyne and Wear, England. One is killed and 16 are injured.
Monkseaton shootings
1982
The Bijon Setu massacre occurs in Calcutta, India.
Bijon Setu massacre
1980
Beatrix is inaugurated as Queen of the Netherlands following the abdication of Juliana.
Beatrix of the Netherlands
1980
The Iranian Embassy siege begins in London.
Iranian Embassy siege
1979
Eruption of Mount Marapi: Mount Marapi, a complex volcano on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, erupts. Between 80 and 100 people are killed.
1979 eruption of Mount Marapi
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.
Fall of Saigon
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.
Watergate scandal
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.
Bristol Bus Boycott
1961
K-19, the first Soviet nuclear submarine equipped with nuclear missiles, is commissioned.
Soviet submarine K-19
1957
Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery enters into force.
Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery
1956
Former Vice President and Democratic Senator Alben Barkley dies during a speech in Virginia.
Alben W. Barkley
1948
In Bogotá, Colombia, the Organization of American States is established.
Bogotá
1947
In Nevada, Boulder Dam is renamed Hoover Dam.
Nevada
1945
World War II: Führerbunker: Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide after being married for less than 40 hours.
Führerbunker
1945
World War II: Soviet soldiers raise the first Soviet flag over the Reichstag. The Victory Banner will be raised the next day.
Soviet Union
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.
Stalag Luft I
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.
World War II
1939
The 1939–40 New York World's Fair opens.
1939 New York World's Fair
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.
NBC
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.
Commonwealth of the Philippines
1927
The Federal Industrial Institute for Women opens in Alderson, West Virginia, as the first women's federal prison in the United States.
Federal Prison Camp, Alderson
1925
Automaker Dodge Brothers, Inc, is sold to Dillon, Read & Co. for US$146 million plus $50 million for charity.
Dodge
1905
Albert Einstein completes his doctoral thesis at the University of Zurich.
Albert Einstein
1900
Hawaii becomes a territory of the United States, with Sanford B. Dole as governor.
Hawaii
1800s
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.
J. J. Thomson
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.
Governor of New York
1871
The Camp Grant massacre takes place in Arizona Territory.
Camp Grant massacre
1864
American Civil War: Confederate forces led by General E. Kirby Smith attack federal troops retreating across the Saline at Jenkins' Ferry, Arkansas.
American Civil War
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.
French Foreign Legion
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.
Charles Dickens
1838
Nicaragua declares independence from the Central American Federation.
Nicaragua
1812
The Territory of Orleans becomes the 18th U.S. state under the name Louisiana.
Territory of Orleans
1803
Louisiana Purchase: The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million, more than doubling the size of the young nation.
Louisiana Purchase
Before 1800
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.
Federal Hall
1636
Eighty Years' War: Dutch Republic forces recapture a strategically important fort from Spain after a nine-month siege.
Eighty Years' War
1598
Juan de Oñate begins the conquest of Santa Fe de Nuevo México.
Juan de Oñate
1598
Henry IV of France issues the Edict of Nantes, allowing freedom of religion to the Huguenots.
Henry IV of France
1513
Edmund de la Pole, Yorkist pretender to the English throne, is executed on the orders of Henry VIII.
Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk
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.
Christopher Columbus
1315
Enguerrand de Marigny is hanged at the instigation of Charles, Count of Valois.
Enguerrand de Marigny
1305
Roger de Flor, leader of the mercenary Catalan Company, is murdered, leading to widespread pillaging by the mercenaries in Thrace.
Roger de Flor
311
The Diocletianic Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire ends.
AD 311