30 January 1351

A Saturday in history

Weekday

Saturday

Season

Winter (N. Hemisphere)

Century

14th century

Records

312

  1. 2020

    The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic to be a public health emergency of international concern.

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  2. 2013

    The Korea Aerospace Research Institute launched Naro-1, South Korea's first carrier rocket and their first launch vehicle to achieve Earth orbit.

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  3. 2005

    Forty-six years to the day after the sinking of the Danish ocean liner MS Hans Hedtoft, Queen Margrethe II unveiled a memorial in Copenhagen to the 95 passengers and crew who perished.

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  4. 2000

    Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Ivory Coast shortly after takeoff, killing 169 on board.

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  5. 1979

    Varig Flight 967 disappeared shortly after takeoff from Tokyo's Narita International Airport en route to Rio de Janeiro.

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  6. 1972

    The Troubles: On Bloody Sunday, members of the British Parachute Regiment shot 26 civil-rights protesters in Derry, Northern Ireland, killing at least 13 people.

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  7. 1968

    Vietnam War: Forces of the Viet Cong and the Vietnamese People's Army launched the Tet Offensive to strike military and civilian command and control centers throughout South Vietnam.

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  8. 1964

    In a bloodless coup, Nguyễn Khánh overthrew Dương Văn Minh's military junta in South Vietnam, less than three months after Minh's own coup.

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  9. 1959

    Danish ocean liner MS Hans Hedtoft sank, resulting in the deaths of all 95 passengers and crew.

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  10. 1948

    Mahatma Gandhi (pictured), the political and spiritual leader of India and the Indian independence movement, was fatally shot by Nathuram Godse at Birla House in Delhi.

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  11. 1945

    World War II: Allied forces liberated more than 500 prisoners of war (pictured) from a Japanese POW camp near Cabanatuan in the Philippines.

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  12. 1939

    In a speech to the Reichstag, Adolf Hitler threatened the "annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe".

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  13. 1862

    The United States Navy launched USS Monitor (pictured), the first American ironclad warship.

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  14. 1835

    Richard Lawrence became the first person to attempt to assassinate a sitting US president when he failed to kill Andrew Jackson at the US Capitol (assassination attempt pictured) and was subdued by the crowd.

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  15. 1661

    Two years after his death, Oliver Cromwell's remains were exhumed for a posthumous execution and his head was placed on a spike above Westminster Hall in London, where it remained until 1685.

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  16. 1649

    King Charles I, who was defeated in both the First and the Second English Civil Wars, was beheaded for high treason in front of the Banqueting House in London.

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  17. 1607

    Low-lying areas flooded around the coasts of the Bristol Channel in southwest England and south Wales, resulting in around 2,000 deaths.

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  18. 1287

    Wareru created the Hanthawaddy Kingdom in today's Lower Burma and declared himself king following the collapse of the Pagan Empire.

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  19. 1018

    Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor, and Bolesław I, the Piast ruler of Poland, signed the Peace of Bautzen to end the German–Polish War.

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Photo archive

24 historic images from this day — tap to open the gallery.

What was life like?

Prices, jobs, food, music and everyday routine — the world as it felt to live in.

Sources & fact check

Every claim is traced to primary sources, archives, universities and the press — with an explicit confidence rating. Dossiers are generated once and cached permanently.