What Happened on October 30th in History
30 historical events on this date
The Communist Party of Australia is founded in Sydney.
The Communist Party of Australia (CPA), known as the Australian Communist Party (ACP) from 1944 to 1951, was an Australian communist party founded in 1920. The party existed until roughly 1991, with...
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.
George Orson Welles was an American actor and filmmaker. Remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre, he is considered among the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all...
President Roosevelt approves $1 billion in Lend-Lease aid to the Allied nations.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving US president and the only one to have...
Holocaust: Fifteen hundred Jews from Pidhaytsi are sent by Nazis to Bełżec extermination camp.
The Holocaust, known in Hebrew as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered around six million...
World War II: Lt. Tony Fasson and Able Seaman Colin Grazier drown while taking code books from the sinking German submarine U-559.
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major...
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.
Annelies Marie Frank was a German-born Jewish diarist and Holocaust victim. She gained worldwide notability posthumously for keeping a diary documenting her life in hiding during the German...
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the foundation of the World Trade Organization (WTO), is founded.
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is a legal agreement between many countries, whose overall purpose was to promote international trade by reducing or eliminating trade barriers such...
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.
A luzzu is a traditional fishing boat from the Maltese islands. This type of boat developed in the early 20th century, although it is very similar to much older traditional Maltese boats such as the...
President Eisenhower approves the top-secret document NSC 162/2 concerning the maintenance of a strong nuclear deterrent force against the Soviet Union.
Dwight David Eisenhower, also known as Ike, was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. A General of the Army, Eisenhower was the supreme commander of the Allied...
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.
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956, also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the policies...
Piedmont Airlines Flight 349 crashes on approach to Charlottesville–Albemarle Airport in Albemarle County, Virginia, killing 26 of the 27 on board.
On October 30, 1959, Piedmont Airlines Flight 349, a Douglas DC-3, crashed on Bucks Elbow Mountain near Crozet, Virginia, killing the crew of three and all but one of its twenty-four passengers. The...
The Soviet Union detonates the Tsar Bomba, the most powerful explosive device ever detonated.
The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until its dissolution in 1991. It was the world's...
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.
The Korean People's Army encompasses the combined military forces of North Korea and the armed wing of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). The KPA consists of five branches: the Ground Force, the...
The Bosphorus Bridge in Turkey is completed, connecting the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosphorus for the second time.
The Bosphorus Bridge, known officially as the 15 July Martyrs Bridge and colloquially as the First Bridge, is the oldest and southernmost of the three suspension bridges spanning the Bosphorus...
Prince Juan Carlos I of Spain becomes acting head of state, taking over for the country's ailing dictator, Gen. Francisco Franco.
Juan Carlos I is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 November 1975 until his abdication on 19 June 2014. In Spain, since his abdication, Juan Carlos has usually...
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).
Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 450, JP 450, was an international charter flight from Tivat in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to Prague, Czechoslovakia which crashed in the Prague suburb...
El Salvador and Honduras agree to put the border dispute fought over in 1969's Football War before the International Court of Justice.
El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific...
The first democratic elections in Argentina, after seven years of military rule, are held.
General elections were held in Argentina on 30 October 1983, marking the return of constitutional rule following the self-styled National Reorganization Process dictatorship installed in 1976....
A magnitude 6.6 earthquake in the Turkish provinces of Erzurum and Kars leaves approximately 1,340 people dead.
The 1983 Erzurum earthquake occurred in northeastern Turkey on 30 October 1983 at 07:12 local time. It had a moment magnitude of 6.6 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Reuters reports...
Space Shuttle Challenger lifts off for mission STS-61-A, its final successful mission.
Space Shuttle Challenger (OV-099) was a Space Shuttle orbiter manufactured by Rockwell International and operated by NASA. Named after the commanding ship of a nineteenth-century scientific...
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The Madrid Conference commences in an effort to revive peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine.
Israel and the Palestinians are engaged in an ongoing military and political conflict about land and self-determination within the former territory of Mandatory Palestine. Key aspects of the...
Quebec citizens narrowly vote (50.58% to 49.42%) in favour of remaining a province of Canada in their second referendum on national sovereignty.
Quebec is Canada's largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, it is the only Francophone-majority province in the country, being home to Québécois French. It shares borders with the...
The rebuilt Dresden Frauenkirche (destroyed in the firebombing of Dresden during World War II) is reconsecrated after a thirteen-year rebuilding project.
The Frauenkirche is a Lutheran church in Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony. Destroyed during the Allied firebombing of Dresden towards the end of World War II, the church was...
Forty-five people are killed and seven injured after a bus catches fire in Mahabubnagar district, Andhra Pradesh (present-day Telangana), India.
The 2013 Mahabubnagar bus accident occurred on 30 October when a private Volvo bus on the way from Bangalore to Hyderabad caught fire after hitting a culvert while overtaking a car, killing 45...
Sweden becomes the first European Union member state to officially recognize Palestine as an independent and sovereign state.
The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe. A supranational union with a total area of 4,233,255 km2 (1,634,469 sq mi) and an...
Four people are killed when a Beechcraft Super King Air crashes at Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport in Wichita, Kansas.
The Beechcraft Super King Air family is part of a line of twin-turboprop aircraft produced by Beechcraft. The Model 200 and Model 300 series were originally marketed as the "Super King Air" family;...
A fire in a nightclub in the Romanian capital of Bucharest kills sixty-four people and leaves more than 147 injured.
On 30 October 2015, a nightclub fire which occurred in Bucharest, Romania, killed 64 people and injured 146 others. The fire was caused by a fireworks accident and is the deadliest such incident in...
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.
An earthquake with a moment magnitude of 7.0 occurred on 30 October 2020 about 14 km (8.7 mi) northeast of the Greek island of Samos. Although Samos was closest to the epicentre, it was the large...
A pedestrian suspension bridge collapses in the city of Morbi, Gujarat, leading to the deaths of at least 135 people.
On 30 October 2022, a pedestrian suspension bridge over the Machchhu River in the city of Morbi in Gujarat, India, collapsed, causing the deaths of at least 141 people and injuries to more than 180...
First rescue of a prisoner during the Israeli invasion of Gaza.
The rescue of Ori Megidish was an Israel Defense Forces military operation on 30 October 2023 during the Gaza war that led to the rescue of Israeli soldier Ori Magidish from Hamas imprisonment in...