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This day in history

This day in history: 30 August

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Key facts

391 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 30 August.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2023: Gabonese coup d'état: After Ali Bongo Ondimba's reelection, a military coup ousts him, ending 56 years of Bongo family rule in Gabon.

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day: Alexander of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodoxy)

Christian feast day: August 30 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Blessed Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster

Christian feast day: Blessed Eustáquio van Lieshout

Christian feast day: Blessed María Rafols Bruna

Christian feast day: Blessed Stephen Nehmé (Maronite Church / Catholic Church)

Christian feast day: Charles Chapman Grafton (Episcopal Church)

Christian feast day: Fantinus

Christian feast day: Felix and Adauctus

Christian feast day: Fiacre

Christian feast day: Mary Ward

Christian feast day: Narcisa de Jesús

Events

2023Gabonese coup d'état: After Ali Bongo Ondimba's reelection, a military coup ousts him, ending 56 years of Bongo family rule in Gabon.

2021The last remaining American troops leave Afghanistan, ending U.S. involvement in the war.

2014Prime Minister of Lesotho Tom Thabane flees to South Africa as the army allegedly stages a coup.

2008A Conviasa Boeing 737 crashes into Illiniza Volcano in Ecuador, killing all three people on board.

2002Rico Linhas Aéreas Flight 4823 crashes on approach to Rio Branco International Airport, killing 23 of the 31 people on board.

1998Second Congo War: Armed forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and their Angolan and Zimbabwean allies recapture Matadi and the Inga dams in the western DRC from RCD and Rwandan troops.

1995Bosnian War: NATO launches Operation Deliberate Force against Bosnian Serb forces.

1992The 11-day Ruby Ridge standoff ends with Randy Weaver surrendering to federal authorities.

1991Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Azerbaijan declares independence from Soviet Union.

1984STS-41-D: The Space Shuttle Discovery takes off on its maiden voyage.

1983Aeroflot Flight 5463 crashes into Dolan Mountain while approaching Almaty International Airport in present-day Kazakhstan, killing all 90 people on board.

1983STS-8: The Space Shuttle Challenger takes off on the first night launch of the shuttle program. Guion Bluford becomes the first African-American in space on this mission.

1981President Mohammad-Ali Rajai and Prime Minister Mohammad-Javad Bahonar of Iran are assassinated in a bombing. The office of Iran's Prosecutor General blames the People's Mujahedin of Iran.

1974A Belgrade–Dortmund express train derails at the main train station in Zagreb killing 153 passengers.

1974A powerful bomb explodes at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries headquarters in Marunouchi, Tokyo. Eight are killed, 378 are injured. Eight left-wing activists are arrested on May 19, 1975, by Japanese authorities.

1974The Third World Population Conference ends in Bucharest, Romania. At the end of the ceremony, the UN-Romanian Demographic Centre is inaugurated.

1967Thurgood Marshall is confirmed as the first African American Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

1963The Moscow–Washington hotline between the leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union goes into operation.

1962Japan conducts a test of the NAMC YS-11, its first aircraft since World War II and its only successful commercial aircraft from before or after the war.

1959South Vietnamese opposition figure Phan Quang Dan is elected to the National Assembly despite soldiers being bussed in to vote for President Ngo Dinh Diem's candidate.

1945The Allied Control Council, governing Germany after World War II, comes into being.

1945The Japanese occupation of Hong Kong comes to an end.

1945The Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Douglas MacArthur, lands at Atsugi Air Force Base.

1942World War II: The Battle of Alam el Halfa begins.

1941The Tighina Agreement, a treaty regarding administration issues of the Transnistria Governorate, is signed between Germany and Romania.

1940The Second Vienna Award reassigns the territory of Northern Transylvania from Romania to Hungary.

1936The RMS Queen Mary wins the Blue Riband by setting the fastest transatlantic crossing.

1922Battle of Dumlupınar: The final battle in the Greco-Turkish War (Turkish War of Independence).

1918Fanni Kaplan shoots and seriously injures Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, which, along with the assassination of Bolshevik senior official Moisei Uritsky days earlier, prompts the decree for Red Terror.

1917Vietnamese prison guards led by Trịnh Văn Cấn mutiny at the Thái Nguyên penitentiary against local French authority.

1916Ernest Shackleton completes the rescue of all of his men stranded on Elephant Island in Antarctica.

1914World War I: Germans defeat the Russians in the Battle of Tannenberg.

1909Burgess Shale fossils are discovered by Charles Doolittle Walcott.

1896Philippine Revolution: After Spanish victory in the Battle of San Juan del Monte, eight provinces in the Philippines are declared under martial law by the Spanish Governor-General Ramón Blanco y Erenas.

1873Austrian explorers Julius von Payer and Karl Weyprecht discover the archipelago of Franz Josef Land in the Arctic Sea.

1862American Civil War: Battle of Richmond: Confederates under Edmund Kirby Smith rout Union forces under General William "Bull" Nelson.

1836The city of Houston is founded by Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen.

1835Australia: Melbourne, Victoria is founded.

1813Creek War: Fort Mims massacre: Creek "Red Sticks" kill over 500 settlers (including over 250 armed militia) in Fort Mims, north of Mobile, Alabama.

1813First Battle of Kulm: French forces are defeated by an Austrian-Prussian-Russian alliance.

Born on this day

2002Drake Maye, American football player

2002Fábio Carvalho, Portuguese footballer

1996Mikal Bridges, American basketball player

1996Trevor Jackson, American actor and singer-songwriter

1994Heo Young-ji, South Korean singer

1994Kwon So-hyun, South Korean singer-songwriter and actress

1994Monika Povilaitytė, Lithuanian volleyball player

1992Jessica Henwick, British actress

1991Jacqueline Cako, American tennis player

1991Liam Cooper, Scottish footballer

1991Seriki Audu, Nigerian footballer (died 2014)

1989Bebe Rexha, American singer-songwriter

1989Ronald Huth, Paraguayan footballer

1989Simone Guerra, Italian footballer

1988Ernests Gulbis, Latvian tennis player

1987Johanna Braddy, American actress

1987Tania Foster, English singer-songwriter

1986Lelia Masaga, New Zealand rugby player

1986Ryan Ross, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

1986Theo Hutchcraft, English singer-songwriter

1986Zafer Yelen, Turkish footballer

1985Anna Ushenina, Ukrainian chess player

1985Duane Brown, American football player

1985Eamon Sullivan, Australian swimmer

1985Éva Risztov, Hungarian swimmer

1985Holly Weston, English actress

1985Joe Inoue, American singer-songwriter

1985Leisel Jones, Australian swimmer

1985Richard Duffy, Welsh footballer

1985Steven Smith, Scottish footballer

1984Anthony Ireland, Zimbabwean cricketer

1984Joe Staley, American football player

1984Michael Grant Terry, American actor

1983Emmanuel Culio, Argentine footballer

1983Gustavo Eberto, Argentine footballer (died 2007)

1983Jun Matsumoto, Japanese singer, dancer, and actor

1983Marco Vianello, Italian footballer

1983Simone Pepe, Italian footballer

1983Tian Qin, Chinese canoe racer

1982Andy Roddick, American tennis player

Died on this day

2024Fatman Scoop, American rapper, hype man and radio personality (born 1971)

2024Tūheitia Paki, Māori King (born 1955)

2022Mikhail Gorbachev, 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union (born 1931)

2019Valerie Harper, American actress and writer (born 1939)

2017Louise Hay, American motivational author (born 1926)

2017Skip Prokop, Canadian drummer, guitarist and keyboardist (born 1943)

2015Edward Fadeley, American lawyer and politician (born 1929)

2015Marvin Mandel, American lawyer and politician, 56th Governor of Maryland (born 1920)

2015M. M. Kalburgi, Indian scholar, author, and academic (born 1938)

2015Oliver Sacks, English-American neurologist, author, and academic (born 1933)

2015Wes Craven, American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor (born 1939)

2014Andrew V. McLaglen, English-American director and producer (born 1920)

2014Bipan Chandra, Indian historian and academic (born 1928)

2014Charles Bowden, American non-fiction author, journalist and essayist (born 1945)

2014Felipe Osterling, Peruvian lawyer and politician (born 1932)

2014Igor Decraene, Belgian cyclist (born 1996)

2013Allan Gotthelf, American philosopher and academic (born 1942)

2013Howie Crittenden, American basketball player and coach (born 1933)

2013Leo Lewis, American football player and coach (born 1933)

2013Seamus Heaney, Irish poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1939)

2013William C. Campbell, American golfer (born 1923)

2010Alain Corneau, French director and screenwriter (born 1943)

2010Francisco Varallo, Argentine footballer (born 1910)

2010J. C. Bailey, American wrestler (born 1983)

2010Myrtle Edwards, Australian cricketer and softball player (born 1921)

2009Klaus-Peter Hanisch, German footballer (born 1952)

2008Brian Hambly, Australian rugby player and coach (born 1937)

2008Killer Kowalski, Canadian-American wrestler and trainer (born 1926)

2007Charles Vanik, American soldier and politician (born 1918)

2007Michael Jackson, English author and journalist (born 1942)

Quote of the day

“Silence is a source of great strength.”

Lao Tzu

Questions people ask

Where do the entries come from?

From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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