July 30

Events Pre-1600 30 BC – Mark Antony wins a final cavalry battle against Octavian in the battle of Alexandria, but his infantry is defeated and the next day his fleet and troops start to desert to Octavian. 657 – Election of pope Vitalian following the death of pope Eugene I in the previous month. 762 – Baghdad is founded. 1183 – The Mor Bar Sauma Monastery is destroyed by a fire. 1419 – First Defenestration of Prague: A crowd of radical Hussites kill seven members of the Prague city council. 1502 – Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras during his fourth voyage.

1601–1900 1609 – Beaver Wars: At Ticonderoga (now Crown Point, New York), Samuel de Champlain shoots and kills two Iroquois chiefs on behalf of his native allies. 1619 – In Jamestown, Virginia, the first Colonial European representative assembly in the Americas, the Virginia General Assembly, convenes for the first time. 1627 – An earthquake kills about 5,000 people in Gargano, Italy. 1635 – Eighty Years' War: The Siege of Schenkenschans begins; Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, begins the recapture of the strategically important fortress from the Spanish Army. 1645 – English Civil War: Scottish Covenanter forces under the Earl of Leven launch the Siege of Hereford, a remaining Royalist stronghold.Rayner, Michael. English Battlefields: An Illustrated Encyclopaedia. Tempus, 2004. p.174 1656 – The Battle of Warsaw ends with a Swedish-Brandenburger victory over a larger Polish-Lithuanian force. 1676 – Nathaniel Bacon issues the "Declaration of the People of Virginia", beginning Bacon's Rebellion against the rule of Governor William Berkeley. 1729 – Founding of Baltimore, Maryland. 1733 – The first Masonic Grand Lodge in the future United States is constituted in Massachusetts. 1756 – In Saint Petersburg, Bartolomeo Rastrelli presents the newly built Catherine Palace to Empress Elizabeth and her courtiers. 1811 – Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, leader of the Mexican insurgency, is executed by the Spanish in Chihuahua City, Mexico. 1859 – First ascent of Grand Combin, one of the highest summits in the Alps. 1863 – American Indian Wars: Representatives of the United States and tribal leaders including Chief Pocatello (of the Shoshone) sign the Treaty of Box Elder. 1863 – The Valuev Circular bans the publication of religious, educational and training books in Ukrainian in the Russian Empire. 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of the Crater: Union forces attempt to break Confederate lines at Petersburg, Virginia by exploding a large bomb under their trenches. 1865 – The steamboat Brother Jonathan sinks off the coast of Crescent City, California, killing 225 passengers, the deadliest shipwreck on the Pacific Coast of the U.S. at the time. 1866 – Armed Confederate veterans in New Orleans riot against a meeting of Radical Republicans, killing 48 people and injuring another 100. 1871 – The Staten Island Ferry Westfield'''s boiler explodes, killing over 85 people.

1901–present 1912 – Japan's Emperor Meiji dies and is succeeded by his son Yoshihito, who is now known as the Emperor Taishō. 1916 – The Black Tom explosion in New York Harbor kills several people and destroys some $20,000,000 worth of military goods. 1930 – In Montevideo, Uruguay wins the first FIFA World Cup by beating Argentina. 1932 – Premiere of Walt Disney's Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon short to use Technicolor and the first Academy Award winning cartoon short. 1945 – World War II: sinks the , killing 883 seamen. Most die during the following four days, until an aircraft notices the survivors. 1956 – A joint resolution of the U.S. Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing In God We Trust as the U.S. national motto. 1962 – The Trans-Canada Highway, the then-longest national highway in the world, is officially opened. 1965 – U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid. 1966 – England defeats West Germany to win the FIFA World Cup at Wembley Stadium 4–2 after extra time. 1969 – Vietnam War: U.S. president Richard Nixon makes an unscheduled visit to South Vietnam and meets with President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu and U.S. military commanders. 1971 – Apollo program: On Apollo 15, David Scott and James Irwin in the Apollo Lunar Module Falcon land on the Moon with the first Lunar Rover. 1971 – An All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 and a Japanese Air Force F-86 collide over Morioka, Iwate, Japan, killing 162. 1974 – Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard Nixon releases subpoenaed White House recordings after being ordered to do so by the Supreme Court of the United States. 1975 – Jimmy Hoffa disappears from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, at about 2:30 p.m. He is never seen or heard from again. 1978 – The 730: Okinawa Prefecture changes its traffic on the right-hand side of the road to the left-hand side. 1980 – Vanuatu gains independence. 1980 – Israel's Knesset passes the Jerusalem Law. 1981 – As many as 50,000 demonstrators, mostly women and children, take to the streets in Łódź to protest food ration shortages in Communist Poland. 1990 – Ian Gow, Conservative Member of Parliament, is assassinated at his home by the IRA in a car bombing after he assured the group that the British government would never surrender to them. 2003 – In Mexico, the last 'old style' Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the assembly line. 2003 – Three years after the death of the last Pyrenean ibex, Celia, a clone of her is born only to subsequently die from lung defects. Within minutes, the Pyrenean ibex becomes the first and so far only species to have ever gone de-extinct as well as go extinct twice. 2006 – The world's longest running music show Top of the Pops'' is broadcast for the last time on BBC Two. The show had aired for 42 years. 2006 – An Israeli airstrike kills 28 Lebanese civilians, including 16 children. 2011 – Marriage of Queen Elizabeth II's eldest granddaughter Zara Phillips to former rugby union footballer Mike Tindall. 2012 – A train fire kills 32 passengers and injures 27 on the Tamil Nadu Express in Andhra Pradesh, India. 2012 – A power grid failure in Delhi leaves more than 300 million people without power in northern India. 2014 – Twenty killed and 150 are trapped after a landslide in Maharashtra, India. 2020 – NASA's Mars 2020 mission is launched on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. 2024 – A series of landslides occurs in Kerala, India, causing over 420 fatalities. 2025 – A magnitude 8.8 earthquake hits Russia, causing tsunamis over the Pacific Ocean. 2026 – Around 50,000 Moroccan nationals storm the borders of Spanish enclaves in Africa, principally the city of Ceuta. As of August 1, 2026, 67 are confirmed to have died while crossing.

Births Pre-1600 1470 – Hongzhi, emperor of the Ming dynasty (died 1505) 1511 – Giorgio Vasari, Italian painter, historian, and architect (died 1574) 1549 – Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (died 1609)

1601–1900 1641 – Regnier de Graaf, Dutch physician and anatomist (died 1673) 1751 – Maria Anna Mozart, Austrian pianist (died 1829) 1763 – Samuel Rogers, English poet and art collector (died 1855) 1781 – Maria Aletta Hulshoff, Dutch feminist and pamphleteer (died 1846) 1809 – Charles Chiniquy, Canadian-American priest and theologian (died 1899) 1818 – Emily Brontë, English novelist and poet (died 1848) 1818 – Jan Heemskerk, Dutch lawyer and politician, 16th and 19th Prime Minister of the Netherlands (died 1897) 1825 – Chaim Aronson, Lithuanian engineer and author (died 1893) 1832 – George Lemuel Woods, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 3rd Governor of Oregon (died 1890) 1855 – Georg Wilhelm von Siemens, German-Swiss businessman (died 1919) 1857 – Thorstein Veblen, American economist and sociologist (died 1929) 1859 – Henry Simpson Lunn, English minister and humanitarian, founded Lunn Poly (died 1939) 1862 – Nikolai Yudenich, Russian general (died 1933) 1863 – Henry Ford, American engineer and businessman, founded the Ford Motor Company (died 1947) 1872 – Princess Clémentine of Belgium (died 1955) 1881 – Smedley Butler, American general, Medal of Honor recipient (died 1940) 1890 – Casey Stengel, American baseball player and manager (died 1975) 1898 – Henry Moore, English sculptor and illustrator (died 1986) 1899 – Gerald Moore, English pianist (died 1987)

1901–present 1901 – Alfred Lépine, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (died 1955) 1904 – Salvador Novo, Mexican poet and playwright (died 1974) 1909 – C. Northcote Parkinson, English historian and author (died 1993) 1910 – Edgar de Evia, Mexican-American photographer (died 2003) 1913 – Lou Darvas, American soldier and cartoonist (died 1987) 1914 – Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin, Irish journalist and author, 6th President of the International Olympic Committee (died 1999) 1920 – Walter Schuck, German lieutenant and pilot (died 2015) 1921 – Grant Johannesen, American pianist and educator (died 2005) 1922 – Henry W. Bloch, American banker and businessman, co-founded H&R Block (died 2019) 1924 – C. T. Vivian, American minister, author, and activist (died 2020) 1925 – Stan Stennett, Welsh actor and trumpet player (died 2013) 1925 – Alexander Trocchi, Scottish author and poet (died 1984) 1926 – Betye Saar, American artist (died 2026) 1926 – George Shanard, American politician and businessman (died 2012) 1927 – Richard Johnson, English actor, producer, and screenwriter (died 2015) 1927 – Pete Schoening, American mountaineer (died 2004) 1927 – Victor Wong, American actor (died 2001) 1928 – Sulochana Latkar, Indian actress (died 2023) 1928 – Joe Nuxhall, American baseball player and sportscaster (died 2007) 1929 – Sid Krofft, Canadian-American puppeteer and producer (died 2026) 1931 – Dominique Lapierre, French historian and author (died 2022) 1931 – Marina Popovich, Soviet pilot, engineer and military officer (died 2017) 1934 – Bud Selig, 9th Major League Baseball Commissioner 1936 – Buddy Guy, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1936 – Infanta Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz (died 2020) 1938 – Hervé de Charette, French politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs 1938 – Terry O'Neill, English photographer (died 2019) 1939 – Peter Bogdanovich, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2022) 1939 – Eleanor Smeal, American activist, founded the Feminist Majority Foundation 1940 – Patricia Schroeder, American lawyer and politician (died 2023) 1940 – Clive Sinclair, English businessman, founded Sinclair Radionics and Sinclair Research (died 2021) 1941 – Paul Anka, Canadian singer-songwriter and actor 1942 – Pollyanna Pickering, English environmentalist and painter (died 2018) 1943 – Henri-François Gautrin, Canadian physicist and politician 1944 – Gerry Birrell, Scottish race car driver (died 1973) 1944 – Peter Bottomley, English politician 1944 – Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican reggae singer (died 2025) 1944 – Frances de la Tour, English actress 1945 – Patrick Modiano, French novelist and screenwriter, Nobel Prize laureate 1945 – David Sanborn, American saxophonist and composer (died 2024) 1946 – Neil Bonnett, American race car driver and sportscaster (died 1994) 1946 – Jeffrey Hammond, English bass player 1947 – William Atherton, American actor and producer 1947 – Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, French virologist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate 1947 – Jonathan Mann, American physician and author (died 1998) 1947 – Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian-American bodybuilder, actor, and politician, 38th Governor of California 1948 – Billy Paultz, American basketball player 1948 – Jean Reno, Spanish-French actor 1948 – Otis Taylor, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1948 – Julia Tsenova, Bulgarian pianist and composer (died 2010) 1949 – Duck Baker, American guitarist