On This Day: 30 August

30 August in Indian history

• 1574Guru Ram Das became the fourth of the Sikh gurus, the spiritual masters of Sikhism.India

30 August in world history

• 2008A Conviasa Boeing 737 crashes into Illiniza Volcano in Ecuador, killing all three 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.
• 1984Discovery, the third orbiter of NASA's Space Shuttle program, lifted off on its maiden voyage from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
• 1974A Belgrade–Dortmund express train derails at the main train station in Zagreb killing 153 passengers.
• 1967Thurgood Marshall was confirmed as the first African-American Supreme Court justice.
• 1959South Vietnamese opposition figure Phan Quang Đán was elected to the National Assembly, despite soldiers being bussed in to vote multiple times for President Ngô Đình Diệm's candidate.
• 1942Second World War: German field marshal Erwin Rommel launched the last major Axis offensive of the Western Desert campaign, attacking British positions near El Alamein, Egypt.
• 1936The RMS Queen Mary wins the Blue Riband by setting the fastest transatlantic crossing.
• 1914World War I: The Battle of Tannenberg resulted in the almost complete destruction of the Russian 2nd Army by the German 8th Army.
• 1896Philippine Revolution: In the Battle of San Juan del Monte, the first real battle of the war, a Katipunan force temporarily captured a powder magazine before being beaten back by a Spanish garrison.
• 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.
• 1813Creek War: Fort Mims massacre: Creek "Red Sticks" kill over 500 settlers (including over 250 armed militia) in Fort Mims, north of Mobile, Alabama.
• 1727Anne, eldest daughter of King George II of Great Britain, is given the title Princess Royal.
• 1721The Great Northern War between Sweden and Russia ends in the Treaty of Nystad.
• 70First Jewish–Roman War: Roman forces led by Titus set fire to the Second Temple during the siege of Jerusalem.

Born on 30 August

• 1954Ravi Shankar Prasad, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Communications and ITIndia
• 1948Fred Hampton, American activist and revolutionary, chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party (died 1969)
• 1916Shailendra, Pakistani-Indian songwriter (died 1968)India
• 1903Bhagwati Charan Verma, Indian author (died 1981)India
• 1893Huey Long, American lawyer and politician, 40th Governor of Louisiana (died 1935)
• 1852Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, Dutch chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1911)

Died on 30 August

• 2014Bipan Chandra, Indian historian and academic (born 1928)India
• 1773Peshwa Narayan Rao, Prime Minister of Maratha Empire (born 1755, assassinated)India
• 1483Louis XI, King of France (born 1423)
• 526Theodoric the Great, Italian ruler (born 454)

Frequently asked questions

What happened on 30 August in history?

2008: A Conviasa Boeing 737 crashes into Illiniza Volcano in Ecuador, killing all three people on board. 1998: Second 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. 1995: Bosnian War: NATO launches Operation Deliberate Force against Bosnian Serb forces. 1984: Discovery, the third orbiter of NASA's Space Shuttle program, lifted off on its maiden voyage from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

What happened on 30 August in Indian history?

1574: Guru Ram Das became the fourth of the Sikh gurus, the spiritual masters of Sikhism.

Which famous people were born on 30 August?

Ravi Shankar Prasad, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Communications and IT (1954); Fred Hampton, American activist and revolutionary, chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party (died 1969) (1948); Shailendra, Pakistani-Indian songwriter (died 1968) (1916); Bhagwati Charan Verma, Indian author (died 1981) (1903).

Which day is observed on 30 August?

Constitution Day (Kazakhstan); Constitution Day (Turks and Caicos Islands); Independence Day (Tatarstan, Russia not formally recognized); International Day of the Disappeared; International Whale Shark Day.