• 1018 – Poland and the Holy Roman Empire conclude the Peace of Bautzen.
• 1287 – King Wareru founds the Hanthawaddy Kingdom, and proclaims independence from the Pagan Kingdom.
• 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.
• 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 rōnin, under the command of Ōishi Kuranosuke, avenge the death of their master, by killing Kira Yoshinaka.
• 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.
• 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 will not have survived by the end of the war, including 250 men who will be shipped to Hainan Island in South China Sea and never returned.
• 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 – British South American Airways’ Tudor IV Star Tiger disappears over the Bermuda Triangle.
• 1956 – African-American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.’s home is bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
• 1959 – The forces of the Sultanate of Muscat occupy the last strongholds of the Imamate of Oman, Saiq and Shuraijah, marking the end of Jebel Akhdar War in Oman.
• 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.
• 1972 – Pakistan leaves the Commonwealth of Nations in protest of its recognition of breakaway Bangladesh.
• 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 – The American embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan is closed.
• 1995 – Workers from the National Institutes of Health announce the success of clinical trials testing the first preventive treatment for sickle-cell disease.
• 2000 – Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Ivory Coast, killing 169.
• 2013 – Naro-1 becomes the first carrier rocket launched by South Korea.

Births on January 30

• 58 BC – Livia, Roman wife of Augustus (d. 29)
• 133 – Didius Julianus, Roman emperor (probable; d. 193)
• 1410 – William Calthorpe, English knight (d. 1494)
• 1520  – William More, English courtier (d. 1600)
• 1563 – Franciscus Gomarus, Dutch theologian and academic (d. 1641)
• 1573 – Georg Friedrich, Margrave of Baden-Durlach (d. 1638)
• 1580 – Gundakar, Prince of Liechtenstein, court official in Vienna (d. 1658)
• 1590 – Lady Anne Clifford, 14th Baroness de Clifford (d. 1676)
• 1628 – George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English statesman (d. 1687)
• 1661 – Charles Rollin, French historian and educator (d. 1741)
• 1697 – Johann Joachim Quantz, German flute player and composer (d. 1773)
• 1703 – François Bigot, French politician (d. 1778)
• 1720 – Charles De Geer, Swedish entomologist and archaeologist (d. 1778)
• 1754 – John Lansing, Jr., American lawyer and politician (d. 1829)
• 1775 – Walter Savage Landor, English poet and author (d. 1864)
• 1781 – Adelbert von Chamisso, German botanist and poet (d. 1838)
• 1816 – Nathaniel P. Banks, American general and politician, 24th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1894)
• 1822 – Franz Ritter von Hauer, Austrian geologist and curator (d. 1899)
• 1841 – Félix Faure, French politician, 7th President of France (d. 1899)
• 1844 – Richard Theodore Greener, American lawyer, academic, and diplomat (d. 1922)
• 1846 – Angela of the Cross, Spanish nun and saint (d. 1932)
• 1859 – Tony Mullane, Irish-American baseball player and manager (d. 1944)
• 1861 – Charles Martin Loeffler, German-American violinist and composer (d. 1935)
• 1862 – Walter Damrosch, German-American conductor and composer (d. 1950)
• 1866 – Gelett Burgess, American author, poet, and critic (d. 1951)
• 1878 – Anton Hansen Tammsaare, Estonian author (d. 1940)
• 1882 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, American lawyer and politician, 32nd President of the United States (d. 1945)
• 1889 – Jaishankar Prasad, Indian poet and playwright (d. 1937)
• 1899 – Max Theiler, South African-American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
• 1900 – Martita Hunt, Argentine-born British actress (d. 1969)
• 1901 – Rudolf Caracciola, German race car driver (d. 1959)
• 1902 – Nikolaus Pevsner, German-English historian and scholar (d. 1983)
• 1910 – Chidambaram Subramaniam, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Defence (d. 2000)
• 1911 – Roy Eldridge, American jazz trumpet player (d. 1989)
• 1912 – Werner Hartmann, German physicist and academic (d. 1988)
• 1912 – Francis Schaeffer, American pastor and theologian (d. 1984)
• 1912 – Barbara W. Tuchman, American historian and author (d. 1989)
• 1914 – Luc-Marie Bayle, French commander and painter (d. 2000)
• 1914 – John Ireland, Canadian-American actor and director (d. 1992)
• 1914 – David Wayne, American actor (d. 1995)
• 1915 – Joachim Peiper, German SS officer (d. 1976)
• 1915 – John Profumo, English soldier and politician, Secretary of State for War (d. 2006)
• 1917 – Paul Frère, Belgian race car driver and journalist (d. 2008)
• 1918 – David Opatoshu, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1996)
• 1919 – Fred Korematsu, American activist (d. 2005)
• 1920 – Michael Anderson, English director and producer (d. 2018)
• 1920 – Patrick Heron, British painter (d. 1999)
• 1920 – Delbert Mann, American director and producer (d. 2007)
• 1922 – Dick Martin, American comedian, actor, and director (d. 2008)
• 1923 – Marianne Ferber, Czech-American economist and author (d. 2013)
• 1924 – S. N. Goenka, Burmese-Indian author and educator (d. 2013)
• 1924 – Lloyd Alexander, American soldier and author (d. 2007)
• 1925 – Douglas Engelbart, American computer scientist, invented the computer mouse (d. 2013)
• 1927 – Olof Palme, Swedish statesman, 26th Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1986)
• 1928 – Harold Prince, American director and producer (d. 2019)
• 1929 – Lois Hole, Canadian businesswoman and politician, 15th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta (d. 2005)
• 1929 – Hugh Tayfield, South African cricketer (d. 1994)
• 1929 – Lucille Teasdale-Corti, Canadian-Italian physician and humanitarian (d. 1996)
• 1930 – Gene Hackman, American actor and author
• 1930 – Magnus Malan, South African general and politician, South African Minister of Defence (d. 2011)
• 1931 – John Crosbie, Canadian lawyer and politician, 34th Canadian Minister of Justice (d. 2020)
• 1931 – Shirley Hazzard, Australian-American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (d. 2016)
• 1932 – Knock Yokoyama, Japanese comedian and politician (d. 2007)
• 1934 – Tammy Grimes, American actress and singer (d. 2016)
• 1935 – Richard Brautigan, American novelist, poet, and short story writer (d. 1984)
• 1935 – Tubby Hayes, English saxophonist and composer (d. 1973)
• 1936 – Horst Jankowski, German pianist and composer (d. 1998)
• 1937 – Vanessa Redgrave, English actress
• 1937 – Boris Spassky, Russian chess player and theoretician
• 1938 – Islam Karimov, Uzbek politician, 1st President of Uzbekistan (d. 2016)
• 1941 – Gregory Benford, American astrophysicist and author
• 1941 – Dick Cheney, American businessman and politician, 46th Vice President of the United States, 17th US Secretary of Defense
• 1941 – Tineke Lagerberg, Dutch swimmer
• 1942 – Marty Balin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2018)
• 1943 – Davey Johnson, American baseball player and manager
• 1944 – Lynn Harrell, American cellist and academic
• 1944 – Colin Rimer, English lawyer and judge
• 1945 – Meir Dagan, Israeli military officer and intelligence official, Director of Mossad (2002–11) (d. 2016)
• 1945 – Michael Dorris, American author and scholar (d. 1997)
• 1946 – John Bird, Baron Bird, English publisher, founded The Big Issue
• 1947 – Les Barker, English poet and author
• 1947 – Steve Marriott, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1991)
• 1948 – Nick Broomfield, English director and producer
• 1948 – Miles Reid, English mathematician and academic
• 1949 – Peter Agre, American physician and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1950 – Jack Newton, Australian golfer
• 1951 – Phil Collins, English drummer, singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
• 1951 – Charles S. Dutton, American actor and director
• 1951 – Bobby Stokes, English footballer (d. 1995)
• 1952 – Doug Falconer, Canadian football player and producer
• 1953 – Fred Hembeck, American author and illustrator
• 1955 – John Baldacci, American politician, 73rd Governor of Maine
• 1955 – Tom Izzo, American basketball player and coach
• 1955 – Curtis Strange, American golfer and sportscaster
• 1957 – Payne Stewart, American golfer (d. 1999)
• 1958 – Derek White, Scottish rugby player
• 1959 – Cynthia Carter, Welsh journalist, author, and academic
• 1959 – Steve Folkes, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 2018)
• 1959 – Jody Watley, American entertainer
• 1962 – Abdullah II of Jordan
• 1964 – Otis Smith, American basketball player, coach, and manager
• 1965 – Kevin Moore, Australian rugby league player and coach
• 1966 – Danielle Goyette, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1968 – Felipe VI of Spain
• 1969 – Justin Skinner, English footballer, midfielder and manager
• 1971 – Kimo von Oelhoffen, American football player
• 1972 – Jill McGill, American golfer
• 1972 – Chris Simon, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1973 – Jalen Rose, American basketball player and sportscaster
• 1974 – Christian Bale, Welsh actor
• 1974 – Olivia Colman, English actress
• 1975 – Juninho Pernambucano, Brazilian footballer
• 1975 – Yumi Yoshimura, Japanese musician and singer
• 1976 – Andy Milonakis, American entertainer
• 1977 – Dan Hinote, American ice hockey player and coach
• 1978 – Carmen Küng, Swiss curler
• 1978 – John Patterson, American baseball player
• 1979 – Trevor Gillies, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1980 – João Soares de Almeida Neto, Brazilian footballer
• 1980 – Georgios Vakouftsis, Greek footballer
• 1980 – Wilmer Valderrama, American actor and producer
• 1981 – Jonathan Bender, American basketball player
• 1981 – Dimitar Berbatov, Bulgarian footballer
• 1981 – Afonso Alves, Brazilian footballer
• 1981 – Peter Crouch, English footballer
• 1981 – Mathias Lauda, Austrian race car driver
• 1982 – Jorge Cantú, Mexican baseball player
• 1984 – Kotoshōgiku Kazuhiro, Japanese sumo wrestler
• 1984 – Arthur Chu, Asian-American columnist and former Jeopardy! contestant
• 1984 – Kid Cudi, American entertainer
• 1985 – Gisela Dulko, Argentinian tennis player
• 1985 – Torrey Mitchell, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1985 – Trae Williams, American football player
• 1986 – Nick Evans, American baseball player
• 1987 – Ben Cutting, Australian cricketer
• 1987 – Lance Franklin, Australian footballer
• 1987 – Phil Lester, English Internet celebrity
• 1987 – Becky Lynch, Irish wrestler
• 1987 – Renato Santos, Brazilian footballer
• 1987 – Arda Turan, Turkish footballer
• 1988 – Rob Pinkston, American actor and director
• 1989 – Tomás Mejías, Spanish footballer
• 1989 – Girish Kumar, Indian film actor
• 1990 – Yoon Bo-ra, South Korean singer
• 1990 – Joe Colborne, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1990 – Andrew McCullough, Australian rugby league player
• 1990 – Nils Miatke, German footballer
• 1990 – Luca Sbisa, Swiss ice hockey player
• 1990 – Mitchell Starc, Australian cricketer
• 1990 – Phillip Supernaw, American football player
• 1991 – Stefan Elliott, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1993 – Katy Marchant, English track cyclist
• 1995 – Jack Laugher, English diver
• 1995 – Víctor Sánchez, Venezuelan baseball player (d. 2015)

Deaths on January 30

• 680 – Balthild, Frankish queen (b. 626)
• 970 – Peter I of Bulgaria
• 1030 – William V, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 969)
• 1181 – Emperor Takakura of Japan (b. 1161)
• 1240 – Pelagio Galvani, Leonese lawyer and cardinal (b. 1165)
• 1314 – Nicholas III of Saint Omer
• 1344 – William Montacute, 1st Earl of Salisbury (b. 1301)
• 1384 – Louis II, Count of Flanders (b. 1330)
• 1497 – Lê Thánh Tông, King of Vietnam (b. 1442)
• 1574 – Damião de Góis, Portuguese historian and philosopher (b. 1502)
• 1606 – Everard Digby, English criminal (b. 1578)
• 1606 – John Grant, English conspirator (b. 1570)
• 1606 – Robert Wintour, English conspirator (b. 1565)
• 1649 – Charles I of England (b. 1600)
• 1664 – Cornelis de Graeff, Dutch mayor (b. 1599)
• 1730 – Peter II of Russia (b. 1715)
• 1770 – Giovanni Pietro Francesco Agius de Soldanis, Maltese linguist, historian and cleric (b. 1712)
• 1836 – Betsy Ross, American seamstress, said to have designed the American Flag (b. 1752)
• 1838 – Osceola, American tribal leader (b. 1804)
• 1858 – Coenraad Jacob Temminck, Dutch zoologist and ornithologist (b. 1778)
• 1867 – Emperor Kōmei of Japan (b. 1831)
• 1869 – William Carleton, Irish author (b. 1794)
• 1881 – Arthur O’Shaughnessy, English poet and herpetologist (b. 1844)
• 1889 – Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, heir apparent to the throne of Austria-Hungary (b. 1858)
• 1926 – Barbara La Marr, American actress (b. 1896)
• 1928 – Johannes Fibiger, Danish physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867)
• 1929 – La Goulue, French model and dancer (b. 1866)
• 1934 – Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher, founded the Doubleday Publishing Company (b. 1862)
• 1947 – Frederick Blackman, English botanist and physiologist (b. 1866)
• 1948 – Arthur Coningham, Australian air marshal (b. 1895)
• 1948 – Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian independence movement against British rule (b. 1869)
• 1948 – Orville Wright, American pilot and engineer, co-founded the Wright Company (b. 1871)
• 1951 – Ferdinand Porsche, Austrian-German engineer and businessman, founded Porsche (b. 1875)
• 1958 – Jean Crotti, Swiss painter (b. 1878)
• 1958 – Ernst Heinkel, German engineer and businessman; founded the Heinkel Aircraft Company (b. 1888)
• 1962 – Manuel de Abreu, Brazilian physician and engineer (b. 1894)
• 1963 – Francis Poulenc, French pianist and composer (b. 1899)
• 1966 – Jaan Hargel, Estonian flute player, conductor, and educator (b. 1912)
• 1968 – Makhanlal Chaturvedi, Indian poet, playwright, and journalist (b. 1889)
• 1969 – Dominique Pire, Belgian friar, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
• 1973 – Elizabeth Baker, American economist and academic (b. 1885)
• 1974 – Olav Roots, Estonian pianist and composer (b. 1910)
• 1977 – Paul Marais de Beauchamp, French zoologist (b. 1883)
• 1980 – Professor Longhair, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1918)
• 1982 – Lightnin’ Hopkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1912)
• 1991 – John Bardeen, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
• 1991 – Clifton C. Edom, American photographer and educator (b. 1907)
• 1994 – Pierre Boulle, French soldier and author (b. 1912)
• 1999 – Huntz Hall, American actor (b. 1919)
• 1999 – Ed Herlihy, American journalist (b. 1909)
• 2001 – Jean-Pierre Aumont, French soldier and actor (b. 1911)
• 2001 – Johnnie Johnson, English air marshal and pilot (b. 1915)
• 2001 – Joseph Ransohoff, American surgeon and educator (b. 1915)
• 2005 – Martyn Bennett, Canadian-Scottish violinist (b. 1971)
• 2006 – Coretta Scott King, American author and activist (b. 1927)
• 2006 – Wendy Wasserstein, American playwright and academic (b. 1950)
• 2007 – Sidney Sheldon, American author and screenwriter (b. 1917)
• 2008 – Marcial Maciel, Mexican-American priest, founded the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi (b. 1920)
• 2009 – H. Guy Hunt, American soldier, pastor, and politician, 49th Governor of Alabama (b. 1933)
• 2010 – Fadil Ferati, Kosovar accountant and politician (b. 1960)
• 2011 – John Barry, English composer and conductor (b. 1933)
• 2012 – Frank Aschenbrenner, American football player and soldier (b. 1925)
• 2012 – Doeschka Meijsing, Dutch author (b. 1947)
• 2013 – Gamal al-Banna, Egyptian author and scholar (b. 1920)
• 2013 – Patty Andrews, American singer (b. 1918)
• 2013 – George Witt, American baseball player and coach (b. 1931)
• 2014 – Stefan Bałuk, Polish general and photographer (b. 1914)
• 2014 – The Mighty Hannibal, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1939)
• 2014 – William Motzing, American composer and conductor (b. 1937)
• 2014 – Arthur Rankin, Jr., American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1924)
• 2015 – Carl Djerassi, Austrian-American chemist, author, and playwright (b. 1923)
• 2015 – Ülo Kaevats, Estonian academic, philosopher, and politician (b. 1947)
• 2015 – Geraldine McEwan, English actress (b. 1932)
• 2015 – Gerrit Voorting, Dutch cyclist (b. 1923)
• 2015 – Zhelyu Zhelev, Bulgarian philosopher and politician, 2nd President of Bulgaria (b. 1935)
• 2016 – Frank Finlay, English actor (b. 1926)
• 2016 – Francisco Flores Pérez, Salvadorian politician, President of El Salvador (b. 1959)
• 2016 – Georgia Davis Powers, American activist and politician (b. 1923)
• 2018 – Mark Salling, American actor and musician (b. 1982)
• 2019 – Dick Miller, American actor (b. 1928)

Holidays and observances on January 30

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Adelelmus of Burgos
  • Aldegonde
  • Anthony the Great (Coptic Church)
  • Armentarius of Pavia
  • Balthild
  • Charles, King and Martyr (various provinces of the Anglican Communion)
  • Hippolytus of Rome
  • Hyacintha Mariscotti
  • Martina
  • Matthias of Jerusalem
  • Mutien-Marie Wiaux
  • Savina
  • Three Holy Hierarchs (Eastern Orthodox), and its related observances:
    • Teacher’s Day (Greece)
  • January 30 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Day of Azerbaijani customs (Azerbaijan)
• Day of Saudade (Brazil)
• Fred Korematsu Day (California, Florida, Hawaii, Virginia)
• Martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi, and its related observances:
  • Martyrs’ Day (India)
  • School Day of Non-violence and Peace (Spain)
  • Start of the Season for Nonviolence January 30 – April 4