January 30 in History

Historical Events on January 30

516 BCE

The Second Temple of Jerusalem finishes construction.
1018

Poland and the Holy Roman Empire conclude the Peace of Bautzen.
1607

An estimated 200 square miles (51,800 ha) along the coasts of the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary in England are destroyed by massive flooding, resulting in an estimated 2,000 deaths.
1648

Eighty Years' War: The Treaty of Münster and Osnabrück is signed, ending the conflict between the Netherlands and Spain.
1649

King Charles I of England is beheaded.
1661

Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, is ritually executed more than two years after his death, on the 12th anniversary of the execution of the monarch he himself deposed.
1703

The Forty-seven Ronin, under the command of Ōishi Kuranosuke, avenge the death of their master.
1789

Tây Sơn forces emerge victorious against Qing armies and liberate the capital Thăng Long.
1806

The original Lower Trenton Bridge (also called the Trenton Makes the World Takes Bridge), which spans the Delaware River between Morrisville, Pennsylvania and Trenton, New Jersey, is opened.
1820

Edward Bransfield sights the Trinity Peninsula and claims the discovery of Antarctica.
1826

The Menai Suspension Bridge, considered the world's first modern suspension bridge, connecting the Isle of Anglesey to the north West coast of Wales, is opened.
1835

In the first assassination attempt against a President of the United States, Richard Lawrence attempts to shoot president Andrew Jackson, but fails and is subdued by a crowd, including several congressmen as well as Jackson himself.
1847

Yerba Buena, California is renamed San Francisco, California.
1858

The first Hallé concert is given in Manchester, England, marking the official founding of The Hallé orchestra as a full-time, professional orchestra.
1862

The first American ironclad warship, the USS Monitor is launched.
1889

Archduke Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian crown, is found dead with his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera in the Mayerling.
1902

The first Anglo-Japanese Alliance is signed in London.
1908

Indian pacifist and leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is released from prison by Jan C. Smuts after being tried and sentenced to two months in jail earlier in the month.
1911

The destroyer USS Terry makes the first airplane rescue at sea saving the life of Douglas McCurdy ten miles from Havana, Cuba.
1911

The Canadian Naval Service becomes the Royal Canadian Navy.
1916

The McMahon-Hussein Correspondence between Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca and the British official Henry McMahon concerning the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire ends.
1925

The Government of Turkey expels Patriarch Constantine VI from Istanbul.
1930

The Politburo of the Soviet Union orders the extermination of the Kulaks.
1933

Adolf Hitler is sworn in as Chancellor of Germany.
1942

World War II: Battle of Ambon. Japanese forces invade the island of Ambon in the Dutch East Indies. Some 300 captured Allied troops are massacred at Laha airfield. Three-fourths of remaining POWs did not survive at the end of the war, including 250 men who were shipped to Hainan Island in South China Sea and never returned.
1943

World War II: Second day of the Battle of Rennell Island. The USS Chicago is sunk and a U.S. destroyer is heavily damaged by Japanese torpedoes.
1944

World War II: The Battle of Cisterna, part of Operation Shingle, begins in central Italy.
1945

World War II: The Wilhelm Gustloff, overfilled with German refugees, sinks in the Baltic Sea after being torpedoed by a Soviet submarine, killing approximately 9,500 people.
1945

World War II: Raid at Cabanatuan: One hundred twenty-six American Rangers and Filipino resistance fighters liberate over 500 Allied prisoners from the Japanese-controlled Cabanatuan POW camp.
1948

Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu extremist.
1956

African-American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.'s home is bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
1959

MS Hans Hedtoft, said to be the safest ship afloat and "unsinkable" like the RMS Titanic, strikes an iceberg on her maiden voyage and sinks, killing all 95 aboard.
1960

The African National Party is founded in Chad, through the merger of traditionalist parties.
1964

In a bloodless coup, General Nguyễn Khánh overthrows General Dương Văn Minh's military junta in South Vietnam.
1968

Vietnam War: Tet Offensive launch by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army against South Vietnam, the United States, and their allies.
1969

The Beatles' last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London. The impromptu concert is broken up by the police.
1972

The Troubles: Bloody Sunday: British paratroopers open fire on anti-internment marchers in Derry, Northern Ireland, killing 13 people; another person later dies of injuries sustained.
1975

The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary is established as the first United States National Marine Sanctuary.
1979

A Varig Boeing 707-323C freighter, flown by the same commander as Flight 820, disappears over the Pacific Ocean 30 minutes after taking off from Tokyo.
1982

Richard Skrenta writes the first PC virus code, which is 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple boot program called "Elk Cloner".
1989

Closure of the American embassy in Kabul, Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.
1995

Workers from the National Institutes of Health announce the success of clinical trials testing the first preventive treatment for sickle-cell disease.
2000

Off the coast of Ivory Coast, Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing 169.
2003

The Kingdom of Belgium officially recognizes same-sex marriages.
2013

Naro-1 becomes the first carrier rocket launched by South Korea.

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