September 30 in History

September 30 spans 52 recorded events across recorded history, from 489 to 2016. Below is a curated digest of the most significant moments tied to this date.

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A coup by the military establishment of Japan's Ōuchi clan forces their lord to

1551 — A coup by the military establishment of Japan's Ōuchi clan forces their lord to commit suicide, and their city is burned.

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Historical Events 52 events 489 – 2016

More major events on September 30

The featured story and these ranked highlights form a quick summary. Every recorded event remains available in the chronology below.

  1. 1939 World War II: General Władysław Sikorski becomes prime minister of the Polish government-in-exile. Source
  2. 1915 World War I: Radoje Ljutovac becomes the first soldier in history to shoot down an enemy aircraft with ground-to-air fire. Source

Did you know

In 1551, A coup by the military establishment of Japan's Ōuchi clan forces their lord to commit suicide, and their city is burned. This featured entry focuses on the immediate decision and its direct historical impact.

Did you know

The Tainei-ji incident was a coup d'état in September 1551 led by Sue Takafusa against Ōuchi Yoshitaka, hegemon and shugo daimyō of western Japan, which ended in the latter's forced suicide in Tainei-ji, a temple in Nagato Province. This helps explain why the event mattered beyond the initial announcement.

Did you know

The coup put an abrupt end to the prosperity of the Ōuchi clan, though they ruled western Japan in name for another six years under the figurehead Ōuchi Yoshinaga, who was not related to the Ōuchi by blood. This clarifies the institutional and public response around the event.

Did you know

In 1551, A coup by the military establishment of Japan's Ōuchi clan forces their lord to commit suicide, and their city is burned had consequences that extended beyond the first headline. The key context is the institutions involved, the policy shift, and how the public response evolved afterward.

Did you know

In 1551, A coup by the military establishment of Japan's Ōuchi clan forces their lord to commit suicide, and their city is burned had consequences that extended beyond the first headline. The key context is the institutions involved, the policy shift, and how the public response evolved afterward.


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Showing all 51 events

489 Ostrogoths

The Ostrogoths under Theoderic the Great defeat the forces of Odoacer for the second time.

The Ostrogoths were a Roman-era Germanic people who, in the 5th and 6th centuries, established one of the two major Gothic kingdoms within the Western Roman Empire. The Ostrogoths were associated with the earlier Greuthungi mentioned by Roman authors such as Ammianus Marcellinus, and later identified by the historian Jordanes with the realm of Ermanaric in the 4th century. Ancient sources often referred to them simply as "Goths," but modern scholarship distinguishes them as one of the two main branches of the Gothic peoples, alongside the Visigoths. They drew on large Gothic populations settled in the Balkans and rose to prominence under Theodoric the Great, who in 493 founded the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy after defeating Odoacer.
737 AD_737

The Türgesh drive back an Umayyad invasion of Khuttal, follow them south of the Oxus, and capture their baggage train.

Year 737 (DCCXXXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 737 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming.
1061 1061 papal election

Election of pope Alexander II following the death of pope Nicholas II two months prior.

The 1061 papal election was held on 30 September 1061 in San Pietro in Vincoli ("Saint Peter in Chains") in Rome, following the death of Pope Nicholas II. In accordance with Nicholas II's bull, In Nomine Domini, the cardinal bishops were the sole electors of the pope for the first time in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. Bishop Anselmo de Baggio of Lucca, a non-cardinal and one of the founders of the Pataria, was elected Pope Alexander II and crowned at nightfall on 1 October 1061 in San Pietro in Vincoli Basilica because opposition to the election made a coronation in St. Peter's Basilica impossible.
1139

A magnitude 7.7 earthquake strikes the Caucasus mountains in the Seljuk Empire, causing mass destruction and killing up to 300,000 people.

The 1139 Ganja earthquake was one of the worst seismic events in history. It affected the Seljuk Empire and the Kingdom of Georgia, in modern-day Azerbaijan and Georgia. The earthquake had an estimated magnitude of 7.0–7.3 Mw, 7.5 Ms, and 7.7 MLH. A disputed death toll of 230,000–300,000 resulted from this event, making it one of the deadliest earthquakes ever recorded.
1342 Battle of Morlaix

Battle of Morlaix is fought in the Hundred Years' War.

The battle of Morlaix was fought near the village of Lanmeur in Brittany, France, on 30 September 1342 between an Anglo-Breton army and a much larger Franco-Breton force. England, at war with France since 1337 in the Hundred Years' War, had sided with John of Montfort's faction in the Breton Civil War shortly after it broke out in 1341. The French were supporting Duke Charles of Blois, a nephew of the French king. A small Anglo-Breton army under William, Earl of Northampton, besieged the Breton port of Morlaix. Charles led a force several times larger than Northampton's from the town of Guingamp to relieve Morlaix. Warned of this, the English carried out a night march and prepared a defensive position just outside Lanmeur. When they sighted the English position, the French deployed into three divisions, one behind the other. The first of these, probably made up of Breton levies, advanced and was shot to pieces by the English archers using longbows, halting their advance; the attackers then broke without making contact. The second division, of French and Breton men-at-arms, attacked but their charge was halted when they fell into a camouflaged ditch in front of the English position. Presented with a large, close-range target the English archers inflicted many casualties. About 200 French cavalry made their way over the ditch and came to grips with the English men-at-arms, who were fighting on foot. This band was cut off by the English and all were killed or captured. Northampton was concerned that the English archers were running low on arrows and that the ditch was so full of dead and wounded men and horses as to be ineffective as an obstacle. Therefore, when the third French division was seen to be preparing to attack the English withdrew into a wood to their rear. The French were unable to force their way in, so they surrounded it and besieged the English, possibly for several days. Northampton broke out with a night attack and returned to Morlaix. Charles gave up his attempt to relieve the town and retreated. This was the first major land battle of the Hundred Years' War and the tactics used foreshadowed those of both the French and the English for the rest of the 1340s.
1399 Henry IV of England

Henry IV is proclaimed king of England.

Henry IV (c. April 1367 – 20 March 1413), also known as Henry Bolingbroke (having been born at Bolingbroke Castle), was King of England from 1399 to 1413, Lord of Ireland and duke of Aquitaine. Henry was the son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and a grandson of King Edward III. When Henry came of age, he was involved in the 1388 revolt of the Lords Appellant against his first cousin, King Richard II. Henry was later exiled from England in 1397. After Henry's father died in 1399, Richard blocked Henry's inheritance to the holdings of the House of Lancaster. So, Henry rallied Lancastrian supporters, imprisoned Richard II and formally deposed him, usurping the throne. These actions later contributed to dynastic disputes in the Wars of the Roses (1455–1487). Henry was the first English ruler whose mother tongue was English (rather than French) since the Norman Conquest, over 300 years earlier. He was also the first monarch to come from the House of Lancaster. As king, he faced a number of rebellions, most seriously those of Owain Glyndŵr, the last Welshman to claim the title of Prince of Wales, and the English knight Henry Percy (Hotspur), who was killed in the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. Henry IV had six children from his first marriage to Mary de Bohun, while his second marriage to Joan of Navarre produced no surviving children. Henry and Mary's eldest son, Henry of Monmouth, assumed the reins of government in 1410 as the king's health worsened. Henry IV died in 1413, and his son succeeded him as Henry V.
1520 Suleiman the Magnificent

Suleiman the Magnificent becomes sultan of the Ottoman Empire.

Suleiman I (6 November 1494 – 6 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent, was the Ottoman sultan from 1520 to 1566. The longest reign among the Ottoman sultans, his rule brought about a notable peak in the Ottoman Empire's economic, military and political power, and raised the number of the empire's subjects to at least 25 million people. After succeeding his father Selim I on 30 September 1520, Suleiman began his reign by launching military campaigns against the Christian powers of Central and Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean; Belgrade fell to him in 1521 and Rhodes in 1522, and at Mohács in 1526, Suleiman broke the strength of the Kingdom of Hungary. Hungary was subsequently divided, with much of it incorporated directly into the empire. However, his defeat at the siege of Vienna in 1529 prevented him from advancing further into Europe. Suleiman also fought for years against the Shia Islamic Safavid Empire of Iran and annexed Iraq. In North Africa, Ottoman Tripolitania was established and the Ottoman fleet dominated the seas from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and into the Persian Gulf. Suleiman personally instituted major judicial changes pertaining to society, education, taxation, and criminal law. His reforms, carried out in conjunction with the Ottoman chief judicial official Ebussuud Efendi, brought together the two forms of Ottoman law: sultanic (Kanun) and Islamic (Sharia). He was also a distinguished poet and goldsmith; and a great patron of fine culture, overseeing the "Golden Age" of the Ottoman Empire which was at the height of its artistic, literary, and architectural development. In 1534, Suleiman broke with Ottoman tradition by marrying Hürrem, an influential woman from his Imperial Harem who helped usher in the "Sultanate of Women" period in Ottoman history. Upon Suleiman's death in 1566, he was succeeded by his and Hürrem's son Selim II. The death of Suleiman marks a watershed moment in Ottoman history, although scholars typically regard the period after his death to be one of crisis and adaptation rather than of simple decline. In the following decades, the Ottoman Empire began to experience significant political, institutional, and economic changes, a period often referred to as the Era of Transformation.
1541 Hernando de Soto

Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto and his forces enter Tula territory in present-day western Arkansas, encountering fierce resistance.

Hernando de Soto (; Spanish: [eɾˈnando ðe ˈsoto]; c. 1497 – 21 May 1542) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador, who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire in Peru, but is best known for leading the first European expedition deep into the territory of the modern-day United States (through Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, and most likely Arkansas). He is the first European documented as having crossed the Mississippi River. De Soto's North American expedition was a vast undertaking. It ranged throughout what is now the southeastern United States, searching both for gold, which had been reported by various Native American tribes and earlier coastal explorers, and for a passage to China or the Pacific coast. De Soto died in 1542 on the banks of the Mississippi River; sources disagree on the exact location, whether it was what is now Lake Village, Arkansas, or Ferriday, Louisiana. Although the scribe (Garcilaso) and the translator (Hakluyt) took different approaches regarding the presentation of de Soto's voyage, both intellectuals took unofficial accounts and instilled them with authority for the benefit of their respective empires. Their writings created overlapping yet distinct portrayals of de Soto's expedition, shaped by each author's cultural and political context.
1687 Girolamo Corner

The Venetians under Girolamo Corner take the city of Herceg Novi from the Ottoman Empire.

Girolamo Corner or Cornaro (25 June 1632 – 1 October 1690) was a Venetian nobleman and statesman. He served in high military posts during the Morean War against the Ottoman Empire, leading the Venetian conquest of Castelnuovo and Knin in Dalmatia, the capture of Monemvasia in Greece and of Valona and Kanina in Albania.
1736

The Lebanese Council of 1736 begins, a major turning point in the reform of the Maronite Church.

In the following three days, the assembled Maronite and Latin clergy presided by Yusuf ibn Siman as-Simani discuss various reforms and elaborate rules and canons.
The Lebanese Council of 1736 (Arabic: al-Majma al-Lubnanī, also Council of Mount Lebanon or Council of Luwayza) was a synod of the Maronite Church held from 30 September to 2 October that year at the monastery of Our Lady of Luwayza near Zouk Mosbeh, Lebanon. The council dealt with the need of the Maronite church to reform, its dependency on the aristocracy and the rights of the patriarchs. Though the implementation of its decrees took several decades, the synod is considered a major event in Maronite history due to its importance and magnitude.
1744 War_of_the_Austrian_Succession

War of the Austrian Succession: France and Spain defeat Sardinia at the Battle of Madonna dell'Olmo, but soon have to withdraw from Sardinia.

The War of the Austrian Succession, 1740 to 1748, was a conflict between the European great powers, fought primarily in Europe, the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Related conflicts include King George's War, the War of Jenkins' Ear, the First Carnatic War, and the First and Second Silesian Wars.
1791 The Magic Flute

The first performance of Mozart's opera The Magic Flute takes place two months before his death.

The Magic Flute (German: Die Zauberflöte, pronounced [diː ˈtsaʊbɐˌfløːtə] ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. It is a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The work premiered on 30 September 1791 at Schikaneder's theatre, the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna, just two months before Mozart's death. It was Mozart's last opera. It was an outstanding success from its first performances, and remains a staple of the opera repertory. In the opera, the Queen of the Night persuades Prince Tamino to rescue her daughter Pamina from captivity under the high priest Sarastro; instead, he learns the high ideals of Sarastro's community and seeks to join it. Separately, then together, Tamino and Pamina undergo severe trials of initiation, which end in triumph, with the Queen and her cohorts vanquished. The earthy Papageno, who accompanies Tamino on his quest, fails the trials completely but is rewarded anyway with the hand of his ideal female companion Papagena.
1791 National Constituent Assembly (France)

France's National Constituent Assembly is dissolved, to be replaced the next day by the National Legislative Assembly.

The National Constituent Assembly (French: Assemblée nationale constituante) was a constituent assembly in the Kingdom of France formed from the National Assembly on 9 July 1789 during the first stages of the French Revolution. It dissolved on 30 September 1791 and was succeeded by the Legislative Assembly.
1863 Georges Bizet

Georges Bizet's opera Les pêcheurs de perles, premieres in Paris.

Georges Bizet (né Alexandre César Léopold Bizet; 25 October 1838 – 3 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, which has become one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertoire. During a brilliant student career at the Conservatoire de Paris, Bizet won many prizes, including the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1857. He was recognised as an outstanding pianist, though he chose not to capitalise on this skill and rarely performed in public. Returning to Paris after almost three years in Italy, he found that the main Parisian opera theatres preferred the established classical repertoire to the works of newcomers. His keyboard and orchestral compositions were likewise largely ignored; as a result, his career stalled, and he earned his living mainly by arranging and transcribing the music of others. Restless for success, he began many theatrical projects during the 1860s, most of which were abandoned. Neither of his two operas that reached the stage in this time—Les pêcheurs de perles and La jolie fille de Perth—were immediately successful. After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, during which Bizet served in the National Guard, he had little success with his one-act opera Djamileh, though an orchestral suite derived from his incidental music to Alphonse Daudet's play L'Arlésienne was instantly popular. The production of his final opera, Carmen, was delayed because of fears that its themes of betrayal and murder would offend audiences. After its premiere on 3 March 1875, Bizet was convinced that the work was a failure; he died of a heart attack three months later, unaware that it would prove a spectacular and enduring success. Bizet's marriage to Geneviève Halévy was intermittently happy and produced one son. After his death, his work, apart from Carmen, was generally neglected. Manuscripts were given away or lost, and published versions of his works were frequently revised and adapted by other hands. He founded no school and had no obvious disciples or successors. After years of neglect, his works began to be performed more frequently in the 20th century. Later commentators have acclaimed him as a composer of brilliance and originality whose premature death was a significant loss to French musical theatre.
1882 Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison's first commercial hydroelectric power plant, the Vulcan Street Plant, begins operation.

Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman known for his work on the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, electric power distribution and early motion pictures. The merger of the Edison General Electric Company and the competitor Thomson-Houston Electric Company resulted in the formation of General Electric. Edison registered 1,093 patents in the United States. Edison was born in Milan, Ohio, but grew up in Michigan with little formal schooling. He became deaf as a child and learned through books and tinkering. Edison began working at a young age; as a railroad telegrapher, he spent much of his time inventing improvements to telegraph systems. By the age of 22, he had sold a few of his early inventions and moved to New York City to focus on engineering. He had three children with his first wife, Mary, but Edison was neglectful. She died at 29 years old. Edison had troubled relationships with his children for the rest of his life. With the help of friends, the inventor attracted investment and grew his company. By the age of 29, he owned a telegraph recorder factory in Newark with over one hundred employees. Edison expanded, developing Menlo Park, now considered the first industrial research laboratory. Edison, known as "The Wizard of Menlo Park", drove his staff extremely hard and constantly worked himself and his associates to exhaustion. The inventor also drove up investment and publicity. He rose to international fame with the invention of the phonograph which took many years to turn into a commercial success. He later built a larger research lab in West Orange, New Jersey. In 1878, Edison began working on an electrical lighting system which he hoped would replace the common gas lamp. Going from electrical light bulb to the modern electric grid took decades of invention, investment, and influence. Edison and his colleagues had the opportunity to get enormously wealthy as they designed and built a nation of light bulbs, generators, and electric distribution systems. Competition with Westinghouse's AC system forced Edison to yield and resulted in the creation of General Electric. Edison simultaneously created a mining company, which was never profitable, and he nearly went bankrupt. As his role in the illumination business declined, he established a cement company and began work on a motion picture camera. The motion picture camera went from an invention to the first movie production studio. He traveled around the United States and Europe promoting his many innovations, during which he met Mina, his second wife. They had three children together, and Edison was again neglectful. During their adulthood, he began to take more interest in his sons and they eventually worked for him. Charles Edison took over his father's business when he died. In addition to acute health issues from handling toxic and radioactive chemicals during his various experiments, Thomas faced a lifelong battle against diabetes. He worked vigorously until his death. Following the success of the illumination business, he ran several companies which produced batteries, movies, musical records, and phenol. His last obsession was the search for domestic rubber production.
1888 Jack the Ripper

Jack the Ripper kills his third and fourth victims, Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes.

Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of the East End of London, in 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer was also called the Whitechapel Murderer and Leather Apron. Attacks ascribed to Jack the Ripper typically involved women working as prostitutes who lived in the slums of the East End of London. Their throats were cut prior to abdominal mutilations. The removal of internal organs from at least three of the victims led to speculation that the killer had some anatomical or surgical knowledge. Rumours that the murders were connected intensified in September and October 1888, and numerous letters were received by media outlets and Scotland Yard from people purporting to be the murderer. The name "Jack the Ripper" originated in the "Dear Boss letter" written by someone claiming to be the murderer, which was disseminated in the press. The letter is widely believed to have been a hoax and may have been written by journalists to heighten interest in the story and increase their newspapers' circulation. Another, the "From Hell letter", was received by George Lusk of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee and came with half a preserved human kidney, purportedly taken from one of the victims. The public came to believe in the existence of a single serial killer known as Jack the Ripper, mainly because of both the extraordinarily brutal nature of the murders and extensive media coverage of the crimes. Extensive newspaper coverage bestowed enduring international notoriety on the Ripper, and the legend solidified. A police investigation into a series of eleven brutal murders committed in Whitechapel and Spitalfields between 1888 and 1891 was unable to connect all the killings conclusively to the 1888 murders. Five victims – Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly – are known as the "canonical five", and their murders between 31 August and 9 November 1888 are often considered the most likely to be linked. The murders were never solved, and the legends surrounding these crimes have since become a combination of historical research, folklore and pseudohistory, capturing public imagination to the present day.
1906 Royal_Galician_Academy

The Royal Galician Academy, the Galician language's biggest linguistic authority, is established in La Coruña, Spain.

The Royal Galician Academy is an institution dedicated to the study of Galician culture and especially the Galician language; it promulgates norms of grammar, spelling, and vocabulary and works to promote the language. The Academy is based in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain. The incumbent president, since 2017, is Víctor Fernández Freixanes.
1907 McKinley_National_Memorial

The McKinley National Memorial, the final resting place of assassinated U.S.

President William McKinley and his family, is dedicated in Canton, Ohio.
The McKinley National Memorial in Canton, Ohio, United States, is the final resting place of William McKinley, who served as the 25th president of the United States from 1897 to his assassination in 1901. Canton was a significant place in McKinley's life; it was where he lived, practiced as an attorney, and conducted his political campaigns.
1909 RMS Mauretania (1906)

The Cunard Line's RMS Mauretania makes a record-breaking westbound crossing of the Atlantic, that will not be bettered for 20 years.

RMS Mauretania was a British ocean liner built for the Cunard Line by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson at Wallsend on the River Tyne, England, launched in 1906. She was the world's largest ship until the launch of RMS Olympic in 1910. Mauretania captured the eastbound Blue Riband speed record on her maiden return voyage in December 1907, then claimed the westbound record during her 1909 season and then held both speed records for 20 years. The liner was requisitioned by the British government for military service during World War I as a hospital ship and troopship, and was returned to Cunard in 1919. Mauretania remained in service until September 1934, when Cunard-White Star retired her and she was scrapped in 1935 at Rosyth.
1915 World_War_I

World War I: Radoje Ljutovac becomes the first soldier in history to shoot down an enemy aircraft with ground-to-air fire.

World War I, or the First World War, also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Central Powers. One of the deadliest conflicts in history, World War I resulted in an estimated 15 to 22 million deaths, including those in war crimes and genocides. The war also helped spread the Spanish flu pandemic. The conflict saw important developments in weaponry, including the first large-scale use of machine guns, artillery, aircraft, chemical weapons, and tanks.
1918 Ukrainian_War_of_Independence

Ukrainian War of Independence: Insurgent forces led by Nestor Makhno defeats the Central Powers at the battle of Dibrivka.

The Ukrainian War of Independence, also referred to as the Ukrainian–Soviet War in Ukraine, lasted from March 1917 to November 1921 and was part of the wider Russian Civil War. It saw the establishment and development of an independent Ukrainian republic, most of which was absorbed into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic between 1919 and 1920. The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union between 1922 and 1991.
1919 Elaine massacre

The Elaine massacre in Arkansas commences.

The Elaine massacre occurred on September 30 – October 2, 1919, at Hoop Spur in the vicinity of Elaine in rural Phillips County, Arkansas, where African Americans were organizing against peonage and abuses in tenant farming. As many as several hundred African Americans were murdered and five white men were killed. The white mobs were aided by federal troops (requested by Arkansas governor Charles Hillman Brough) and local terrorist organizations. Gov. Brough led a contingent of 583 US soldiers from Camp Pike, with a 12-gun machine-gun battalion. After the massacre, state officials concocted an elaborate cover-up, claiming that Black residents were planning an insurrection. National newspapers repeated the falsehood that Black community members in Arkansas were staging an insurrection. A New York Times headline read, "Planned Massacre of Whites Today", and the Arkansas Gazette (the leading newspaper in Arkansas) wrote that Elaine was "a zone of negro insurrection". Subsequent to this reporting, more than 100 African Americans were indicted, with 12 being sentenced to death by electrocution. After a years-long legal battle by the NAACP, the 12 men were acquitted. Estimates of deaths made in the immediate aftermath of the Elaine Massacre by eyewitnesses range from 50 to "more than a hundred". Walter Francis White, an NAACP attorney who visited Elaine shortly after the incident, stated "... twenty-five Negroes killed, although some place the Negro fatalities as high as one hundred". More recent estimates in the 21st century of the number of Black people murdered during this violence are higher than estimates provided by the eyewitnesses, and have ranged into the hundreds. According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, "the Elaine Massacre was by far the deadliest racial confrontation in Arkansas history and possibly the bloodiest racial conflict in the history of the United States". Because of the widespread racial violence during the Red Summer of 1919, the Equal Justice Initiative of Montgomery, Alabama, classified the Black murders at Elaine as lynchings in its 2015 report on the lynching of African Americans in the South.
1935 Hoover Dam

The Hoover Dam, astride the border between the U.S.

states of Arizona and Nevada, is dedicated.
The Hoover Dam is a concrete arch–gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the boundary between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. Constructed between 1931 and 1936, during the Great Depression, it was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Its construction was the result of a massive effort involving thousands of workers, and cost over 96 lives. Bills passed by Congress during its construction referred to it as Hoover Dam (after President Herbert Hoover), but the Roosevelt administration named it Boulder Dam. In 1947, Congress reinstated the name Hoover Dam. Since about 1900, the Black Canyon and nearby Boulder Canyon had been investigated for their potential to support a dam that would control floods, provide irrigation water, and produce hydroelectric power. In 1928, Congress authorized the project. The winning bid to build the dam was submitted by a consortium named Six Companies, Inc., which began construction in early 1931. Such a large concrete structure had never been built before, and some of the techniques used were unproven. The torrid summer weather and lack of facilities near the site also presented difficulties. Nevertheless, the dam was turned over to the federal government on March 1, 1936, more than two years ahead of schedule. Hoover Dam impounds Lake Mead and is located near Boulder City, Nevada, a municipality originally constructed for workers on the construction project, about 30 mi (48 km) southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada. The dam's generators provide power for public and private utilities in Nevada, Arizona, and California. Hoover Dam is a major tourist attraction, with 7 million tourists a year. The heavily traveled U.S. Route 93 (US 93) ran along the dam's crest until October 2010, when the Hoover Dam Bypass opened.
1936 New_York_World-Telegram

American journalists Herbert R.

Ekins, reporter for the New York World-Telegram, Dorothy Kilgallen of the New York Journal and Leo Kieran of The New York Times start the race to travel around the world on commercial airline flights. The race takes 18 ½ days.
The New York World-Telegram, later known as the New York World-Telegram and The Sun, was a New York City newspaper from 1931 to 1966.
1938 Munich Agreement

Britain, France, Germany and Italy sign the Munich Agreement, whereby Germany annexes the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia.

The Munich Agreement was reached in Munich on 30 September 1938, by Nazi Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy. The agreement provided for the German annexation of part of the First Czechoslovak Republic called the Sudetenland, where three million people, mainly ethnic Germans, lived. The pact is known in some areas as the Munich Dictate (Czech: Mnichovský diktát; Slovak: Mníchovský diktát), or the Munich Betrayal (Czech: Mnichovská zrada; Slovak: Mníchovská zrada), because of a previous 1924 alliance agreement and a 1925 military pact between France and the Czechoslovak Republic. Germany had started a low-intensity undeclared war on Czechoslovakia on 17 September 1938. In reaction, Britain and France on 20 September formally requested Czechoslovakia cede the Sudetenland territory to Germany. This was followed by Polish and Hungarian territorial demands brought on 21 and 22 September, respectively. Meanwhile, German forces conquered parts of the Cheb District and Jeseník District, where battles included use of German artillery, Czechoslovak tanks, and armored vehicles. Lightly armed German infantry briefly overran other border counties before being repelled. Poland grouped its army units near its common border with Czechoslovakia and conducted an unsuccessful probing offensive on 23 September. Hungary moved its troops towards the border with Czechoslovakia, without attacking. The Soviet Union announced its willingness to come to Czechoslovakia's assistance, provided the Red Army would be able to cross Polish and Romanian territory; both countries refused. An emergency meeting of the main European powers—not including Czechoslovakia, although their representatives were present in the town, nor the Soviet Union, an ally to France and Czechoslovakia—took place in Munich, on 29–30 September. An agreement was quickly reached on Adolf Hitler's terms, and signed by the leaders of Germany, France, Britain, and Italy. The Czechoslovak mountainous borderland marked a natural border between the Czech state and the Germanic states since the early Middle Ages; it also presented a major natural obstacle to a possible German attack. Strengthened by border fortifications, the Sudetenland was of absolute strategic importance to Czechoslovakia. On 30 September, president Beneš submitted to the combination of military pressure by Germany, Poland, and Hungary, and diplomatic pressure by Britain and France, and agreed to surrender territory to Germany following the Munich terms. The Munich Agreement was soon followed by the First Vienna Award on 2 November 1938, separating largely Hungarian inhabited territories in southern Slovakia and southern Subcarpathian Rus' from Czechoslovakia. On 30 November, Czechoslovakia ceded to Poland small patches of land in the Spiš and Orava regions. In March 1939, the First Slovak Republic, a German puppet state, proclaimed its independence. Shortly afterwards, Hitler reneged on his promise to respect the integrity of Czechoslovakia by occupying the remainder of the country and creating the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The conquered nation's armaments industry and tanks and its large army allowed Germany to strengthen. Much of Europe celebrated the Munich Agreement, as they considered it a way to prevent a major war on the continent. Hitler announced that it was his last territorial claim in Northern Europe. Today, the Munich Agreement is regarded as a failed act of appeasement, and the term has become "a byword for the futility of appeasing expansionist totalitarian states".
1938 League_of_Nations

The League of Nations unanimously outlaws "intentional bombings of civilian populations".

The League of Nations was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. The main organisation ceased operations on 18 April 1946 when many of its components were relocated into the new United Nations (UN) which was created in the aftermath of the Second World War. The League of Nations was the precursor organisation to the United Nations.
1939 World_War_II

World War II: General Władysław Sikorski becomes prime minister of the Polish government-in-exile.

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, with many engaging in total war on an unprecedented scale. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the deaths of 60 to 75 million people, a majority of whom were civilians. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.
1939 1939 Waynesburg vs. Fordham football game

NBC broadcasts the first televised American football game.

The 1939 Waynesburg vs. Fordham football game was a college football game between the Fordham Rams and the Waynesburg Yellow Jackets played on September 30, 1939. The game was played at Triborough Stadium on New York City's Randall's Island. Fordham won the game 34–7. Broadcast by NBC, the contest was the first American football game ever televised.
1941 Babi_Yar

World War II: The Babi Yar massacre comes to an end.

Babi Yar or Babyn Yar is a ravine in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and a site of massacres carried out by Nazi Germany's forces during its campaign against the Soviet Union in World War II. The first and best documented of the massacres took place on 29–30 September 1941, in which some 33,771 Jews were murdered. Other victims of massacres at the site included Soviet prisoners of war, communists and Romanies. It is estimated that a total of between 100,000 and 150,000 people were murdered at Babi Yar during the German occupation.
1943 United States Merchant Marine Academy

The United States Merchant Marine Academy is dedicated by President Roosevelt.

The United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA or Kings Point) is a United States service academy in Kings Point, New York. It trains its midshipmen (as students at the academy are called) to serve as officers in the United States Merchant Marine, branches of the United States Armed Forces, and the transportation industry. Midshipmen are trained in marine engineering, navigation, ship's administration, maritime law, personnel management, international law, customs, and other subjects important to the task of running a large ship.
1944 Battle_of_the_Nijmegen_salient

World War II: the Germans commence a counter offensive to retake the Nijmegen salient, this having been captured by the allies during Operation Market Garden.

The Battle of the Nijmegen salient or the Defence of the Nijmegen bridgehead was a series of engagements that took place in the Netherlands during World War II between 30 September and 8 October 1944. The battle occurred in the aftermath of Operation Market Garden, a failed attempt by the Allies to cut off German forces in the Netherlands and end the war quickly.
1945

The Bourne End rail crash, in Hertfordshire, England, kills 43.

The Bourne End rail crash occurred on 30 September 1945 when a sleeper train from Perth to London Euston derailed, killing 43. The cause was driver error, possibly compounded by ambiguous signalling regulations.
1947

The 1947 World Series begins.

It is the first to be televised, to include an African-American player, to exceed $2 million in receipts, to see a pinch-hit home run, and to have six umpires on the field.
The 1947 World Series matched the New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Yankees won the Series in seven games for their 11th World Series championship in team history. Yankees manager Bucky Harris won the Series for the first time since managing the Washington Senators to their only title in 1924, a gap of 23 years, the longest between World Series appearances in history.
1947 Pakistan

Pakistan joins the United Nations.

Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population in the world as of 2023. Islamabad is the nation's capital, while Karachi is its largest city and financial centre. Pakistan is the 33rd-largest country by area. Bounded by the Arabian Sea on the south, the Gulf of Oman on the southwest, and the Sir Creek on the southeast, it shares land borders with India to the east; Afghanistan to the west; Iran to the southwest; and China to the northeast. It shares a maritime border with Oman in the Gulf of Oman, and is separated from Tajikistan in the northwest by Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor.
1949 Berlin_Blockade

The Berlin Airlift ends.

The Berlin Blockade was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control. The Soviets offered to drop the blockade if the Western Allies withdrew the newly introduced Deutsche Mark from West Berlin.
1954 USS_Nautilus_(SSN-571)

The U.S.

Navy submarine USS Nautilus is commissioned as the world's first nuclear-powered vessel.
USS Nautilus (SSN-571) was the world's first nuclear-powered boat, nuclear-powered submarine, and the first submarine to complete a submerged transit of the North Pole on 3 August 1958. Her initial commanding officer was Eugene "Dennis" Wilkinson, a widely respected naval officer who set the stage for many of the protocols of today's Nuclear Navy in the US and who had a storied career during military service and afterwards.
1960 The_Flintstones

The Flintstones animated sitcom premieres on ABC television.

The Flintstones is an American animated sitcom by Hanna-Barbera Productions. It was originally broadcast on ABC from September 30, 1960, to April 1, 1966 as the first animated series with a prime-time slot on television, as well as the first animated sitcom. The series takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the lives of the titular Fred and Wilma Flintstone and their pet dinosaur, Dino, along with the saber-toothed cat Baby Puss, and Fred and Wilma's eventual baby girl Pebbles. It also focuses on the Flintstones' neighbors and best friends Barney and Betty Rubble, and later their adopted baby boy Bamm-Bamm and pet hopparoo (kangaroo) Hoppy.
1966 Botswana

Bechuanaland declares its independence, and becomes the Republic of Botswana.

Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70% of its territory being a part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, Zambia to the north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast. Its total area is 581,730 square kilometres (224,610 sq mi). Gaborone, in the South-East District, is the country's capital and largest city.
1968 Boeing_747

The Boeing 747 is rolled out and shown to the public for the first time.

The Boeing 747 is a long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2023. It was conceived in response to the demand of Pan Am for a jet 2+1⁄2 times the size of the 707, which had been introduced in October 1958, to reduce the airline's seat cost by 30%. The design team was led by Joe Sutter, who left the 737 development program in 1965 to design the 747. In April 1966, Pan Am ordered 25 Boeing 747-100 aircraft, and in late 1966, Pratt & Whitney agreed to develop the JT9D engine, a high-bypass turbofan. On September 30, 1968, the first 747 was rolled out of the purpose-built Everett Plant, the world's largest building by volume. The 747's first flight took place on February 9, 1969, and the 747 was certified in December 1969. It entered service with Pan Am on January 22, 1970. The 747 was the first airplane called a "Jumbo Jet" as the first wide-body airliner.
1970 Dawson's_Field_hijackings

Jordan makes a deal with the PFLP for the release of the remaining hostages from the Dawson's Field hijackings.

In September 1970, members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijacked four airliners bound for New York City and one for London. Three aircraft were forced to land at Dawson Field, a remote desert airstrip near Zarqa, Jordan, formerly Royal Air Force Station Zarqa, which then became PFLP's "Revolutionary Airport". By the end of the incident, one hijacker had been killed and one injury reported. This was the second instance of mass aircraft hijacking, after three aircraft from communist Czechoslovakia were hijacked and taken to Munich, West Germany, in 1950.
1975 Malév_Flight_240

Malév Flight 240 crashes into the Mediterranean Sea while on approach to Beirut International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 60.

Malév Flight 240 was a regular service from Budapest Ferihegy International Airport, Hungary, to Beirut International Airport, Lebanon. On 30 September 1975, the aircraft operating the route, a Tupolev Tu-154 of Malév Hungarian Airlines, went missing on its final approach for landing in the Mediterranean Sea just off the coast of Lebanon. All fifty passengers and ten crew on board are thought to have been killed. No official statement was ever made on the crash and its cause has never been publicly disclosed.
1978 Finnair_Flight_405

Finnair Flight 405 is hijacked by Aarno Lamminparras in Oulu, Finland.

Finnair Flight 405 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight between Oulu and Helsinki, Finland, that was hijacked on 30 September 1978. The Finnair operated Sud Aviation Caravelle with 44 passengers and 5 crew aboard was hijacked by Aarno Lamminparras, an unemployed home building contractor. The aircraft shuttled between Helsinki, Amsterdam and Oulu, with passengers offloaded in exchange for ransom demands in cash. The aircraft finally returned to Oulu where the hijacker received more ransom demands and released the three crew hostages. He was then allowed home as part of the deal, but was arrested at his home the following day.
1980 Ethernet

Ethernet specifications are published by Xerox working with Intel and Digital Equipment Corporation.

Ethernet is a family of wired computer networking standards designed for local area networks (LAN), access networks, and metropolitan area networks (MAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 1983 as ECMA-82 and shortly after as IEEE 802.3. It is an example of an open standard.
1993

The 6.2 Mw Latur earthquake shakes Maharashtra, India with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe) killing 9,748 and injuring 30,000.

The 1993 Latur earthquake struck India at 3:56 am local time (UTC+05:30) on 30 September. The main area affected were the districts of Latur and Dharashiv, including the Ausa block of Latur and Omerga of Dharashiv in Maharashtra, Western India. Fifty-two villages were demolished in the intraplate earthquake. It measured 6.2 on the moment magnitude scale, and approximately 10,000 people died, whilst another 30,000 were injured. The earthquake's hypocenter was around 10 km deep – relatively shallow – allowing shock waves to cause more damage. It is considered the deadliest earthquake in the stable continental crust to have occurred in recorded history.
1994 Space_Shuttle_Endeavour

Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on STS-68.

Space Shuttle Endeavour is a retired orbiter from NASA's Space Shuttle program and the fifth and final operational Shuttle built. It embarked on its first mission, STS-49, in May 1992 and its 25th and final mission, STS-134, in May 2011. STS-134 was expected to be the final mission of the Space Shuttle program, but with the authorization of STS-135 by the United States Congress, Atlantis became the last shuttle to fly.
1999 Tokaimura_nuclear_accidents

The Tokaimura nuclear accident causes the deaths of two technicians in Japan's second-worst nuclear accident.

The Tokaimura nuclear accidents were two nuclear incidents which occurred near the village of Tōkai, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. The first accident occurred on 11 March 1997, producing an explosion after an experimental batch of solidified nuclear waste caught fire at the Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation (PNC) radioactive waste bituminisation facility. Over twenty people were exposed to radiation.
2000 Israeli–Palestinian_conflict

Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Twelve-year-old Muhammad al-Durrah is shot and killed on the second day of the Second Intifada.

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 conflict have included Palestinian refugees, the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the status of Jerusalem, Israeli settlements, borders, security, water rights, the permit regime in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian freedom of movement, and the Palestinian right of return.
2005 Jyllands-Posten_Muhammad_cartoons_controversy

Controversial drawings of Muhammad are printed in a Danish newspaper.

The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began after the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published twelve editorial cartoons on 30 September 2005 depicting Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, in what it said was a response to the debate over criticism of Islam and self-censorship. Muslim groups in Denmark complained, sparking protests around the world, including violence and riots in some Muslim countries.
2009 2009_Sumatra_earthquakes

The 7.6 Mw Sumatra earthquake leaves 1,115 people dead.

The first of the 2009 Sumatra earthquakes occurred on 30 September off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia with a moment magnitude of 7.6 at 17:16:10 local time. The epicenter was 45 kilometres (28 mi) west-northwest of Padang, West Sumatra, and 220 kilometres (140 mi) southwest of Pekanbaru, Riau. Government and authorities confirmed 1,115 dead, 1,214 severely injured and 1,688 slightly injured. The most deaths occurred in the areas of Padang Pariaman (675), Padang (313), Agam (80) and Pariaman (37). In addition, around 135,000 houses were severely damaged, 65,000 houses were moderately damaged and 79,000 houses were slightly damaged. An estimated 250,000 families have been affected by the earthquake through the total or partial loss of their homes and livelihoods.
2016 Hurricane_Matthew

Hurricane Matthew becomes a Category 5 hurricane, making it the strongest hurricane to form in the Caribbean Sea since 2007.

Hurricane Matthew was a powerful and devastating tropical cyclone which caused catastrophic damage and a humanitarian crisis in Haiti, as well as widespread devastation across Cuba, the Bahamas, and the southeastern United States. The deadliest Atlantic hurricane since Hurricane Stan in 2005, and the first Category 5 Atlantic hurricane since Felix in 2007, Matthew was the thirteenth named storm, fifth hurricane and second major hurricane of the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season. It caused extensive damage to landmasses in the Greater Antilles, and severe damage in several islands of the Bahamas which were still recovering from Joaquin, which had pounded the archipelago nearly a year earlier. Matthew also approached the southeastern United States, but stayed just offshore, paralleling the Florida coastline.
2016 Van_Gogh_Museum

Two paintings with a combined value of $100 million are recovered after having been stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in 2002.

The Van Gogh Museum is a Dutch art museum dedicated to the works of Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries in the Museum Square in Amsterdam South, close to the Stedelijk Museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Concertgebouw. The museum opened on 2 June 1973, and its buildings were designed by Gerrit Rietveld and Kisho Kurokawa.

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