January 30, 1649: King Charles I of England definitively loses his kingdom as well as his head.
January 30, 1661: Two years after his death, Oliver Cromwell, the late lord protector of England, is ritually executed on the 12th anniversary of King Charles' beheading. That'll learn 'im.
January 30, 1703: The 47 Ronin, under Oishi Kuranosuke, avenge the death of their master.
January 30, 1789:
The Tay Son peasant revolt in Vietnam reaches a high point as its forces defeat the Qing (Manchu) force and liberate the city of Thang Long.
January 30, 1911:
U.S. naval destroyer Terry achieves the first airplane rescue at sea when it save Douglas McCurdy 10 miles off Havana, Cuba.
January 30, 1933:
Adolf Hitler is sworn in as chancellor.
January 30, 1942:
The Japanese invade Ambon in the Dutch East Indies, slaughtering some 300 defenders at Laha airfield. About two-thirds of the POWs taken in the invasion do not survive the war, including 250 sent to a camp on Hainan Island from which none return.
January 30, 1943:
In the Battle of Rennell Island, the Japanese introduce flare-assisted nocturnal bombing tactics with a daytime followup that costs them heavily in Mitsubishi G4M1 Bettys, but which results in the sinking of the U.S. Navy heavy cruiser Chicago. In perspective with the struggle for Guadalcanal, it is an innovative tactical victory for the Japanese in a campaign already lost.
January 30, 1944:
The Battle of Cisterna, Italy, begins.
January 30, 1945:
The German liner Wilhelm Gustloff, overloaded with refugees fleeing the oncoming Soviet army, is torpedoed and sunk by a Soviet submarine in the Baltic Sea, resulting in some 9,500 deaths. On a happier note, 126 U.S. Army rangers and Philippine resistant fighters dash ahead of the advancing Allied forces to liberate some 500 prisoners of war from the Japanese prison camp at Cabanatuan, Luzon.
January 30, 1948:
Mohandas K. Ghandi is assassinated by Hindu extremist Nathuram Godse.
January 30, 1964:
In South Vietnam, General Nguyen Kanh’s military junta bloodlessly overthrows Gen. Duong Van Minh’s military junta.
January 30, 1968:
The communist Tet Offensive explodes all over South Vietnam.
January 30, 1972:
British paratroopers fire into a crowd of anti-internment marchers in Derry, Northern Ireland, killing 13 and inflicting wounds from which another marcher subsequently dies. The incident goes down in Irish annals as Bloody Sunday.
