This Day in History - April 30th

1945: Hitler commits suicide

Nazi leader Adolf Hitler commits suicide. Before beginning his assault on Europe, Hitler had assured his followers that the Third Reich would last 1,000 years. Twelve years later, in the closing weeks of the Allied liberation, Hitler retreated into a bunker beneath the Chancellery as his empire collapsed. One day after he married his mistress, Eva Braun, Hitler and his new bride committed suicide by swallowing cyanide capsules. Red Amy soldiers found charred remains believed to be their bodies in a bomb crater two days later.

Also On This Day

2002

In Pakistan, President Pervez Musharraf holds a referendum, which is largely boycotted, to endorse another five years of his rule.

2001

The Mitchell Report is published, another attempt to reinvigorate the Middle East peace process.

1999

Cambodia joins the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

1993

Tennis player Monica Seles is stabbed in the back whilst competing in a tournament in Hamburg, Germany.

1980

Beatrix becomes Queen of the Netherlands.

1975

The Vietnam War: The war ends as the South Vietnamese Government surrenders to North Vietnam.

1974

France defeats Spain at the Battle of Boulou in France.

1973

President Nixon addresses the U.S. nation on television about the Watergate affair proclaiming, “There will be no whitewash at the Whitehouse.”

1952

Anne Frank’s dairies are published in English for the first time.

1948

Rover introduces the Land Rover to the car market.

1948

The United States and 20 Latin American countries form the Organization of American States, an anti-communist alliance.

1803

The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France, more than doubling the size of America.

1789

George Washington is inaugurated in New York City as the first President of the United States of America.

711

Led by Tariq ibn-Ziyad, Moorish troops land at Gibraltar beginning their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula.

313

Roman emperor Licinius unifies the Eastern Roman Empire under his rule.