| 30 April 1202 | France, England [political events] | King Philip II of France declares that King John of England has forfeited his French lands because he fails to appear in Philip's court to answer the charges brought against him by Hugh of Lusignan, Count of La Marche, whose fiancée, Isabella of Angoulême, John has married. John's vassals, tired of his arbitrary rule, revolt against him. |
| 30 April 1303 | Holy Roman Empire [political events] | Pope Boniface VIII recognizes Albert I of Habsburg as Holy Roman Emperor. |
| 30 April 1635 | France, Sweden [Thirty Years War (1618–48)] | During a visit to Paris, France, by the Swedish regent Count Axel Oxenstjerna, France and Sweden enter into a further treaty of alliance, the Treaty of Compiègne. By its terms, France recognizes Sweden as its main ally, pledges to declare war on Spain, and promises not to make peace without Sweden's consent. Sweden will control Worms, Mainz, and Benfeld while the French gain territory on the left bank of the River Rhine between Breisach and Strasbourg. |
| 30 April 1725 | Habsburg Monarchy, Spain [treaties] | The diplomatic efforts of the Spanish statesman Johan Willem Ripperdá (a native of the United Netherlands but of Castilian origin) result in the Treaty of Vienna between the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI and King Philip V of Spain. This guarantees the Pragmatic Sanction (the proclaimed right of the emperor's daughter Maria Theresa to succeed him as ruler of all the Habsburg domains) and the Emperor's rule in his Italian provinces, and represents a reconciliation of the two powers. |
| 30 April 1745 | France, UK, Hanover, Germany, Holy Roman Empire, United Netherlands, Austrian Netherlands [War of the Austrian Succession (1740–46)] | French forces under Marshal Maurice de Saxe defeat an allied army (from Britain, Hanover, and the United Netherlands) under the English general William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, at Fontenoy (in modern Belgium) and conquer the Austrian Netherlands. |
| 30 April 1803 | USA, France [political events] | The USA purchases Louisiana and New Orleans from the French, in contravention of the terms of the Treaty of San Ildefonso of 1 October 1800. Including in effect the entire western half of the drainage basin of the River Mississippi, the purchase, for a total sum (including interest) of $27,267,622, roughly doubles the land area of the USA. |
| 30 April 1883 | France [births and deaths] | Edouard Manet, French realist painter and important 19th-century artist, dies in Paris, France (51). |
| 30 April 1911 | Portugal [suffrage] | Portuguese women get the vote. |
| 30 April 1931 | USA [architecture] | The Empire State Building is completed in New York City. Its designers are the architectural firm of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon. It has 102 floors and soon becomes a symbol of the city. At 381m/1,250 ft, it remains the highest building in the world until 1972. |
| 30 April 1939 | USA [television] | The National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) makes the first public demonstration of television in the USA with President Roosevelt opening the New York World's Fair. The broadcast is seen by 1,000 people. Later in the year, NBC begins broadcasting for two hours a week. The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) also starts to broadcast. |
| 30 April 1945 | Germany [political events] | Adolf Hitler, German fascist leader of the National Socialist (Nazi) Party, dictator of Germany 1933–45, commits suicide in his bunker in Berlin, Germany (56). His mistress, Eva Braun, takes poison. |
| 30 April 1975 | South Vietnam, North Vietnam [Vietnam War (1954–75)] | President Minh of South Vietnam surrenders the capital, Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), to the North Korean communist forces. |
| 30 April 1977 | UK [radio] | British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Radio 1 and Radio 3 launch quadrophonic broadcasts in Britain. |
| 30 April 1981 | Poland [law and government] | The Central Committee of the Polish Communist Party approves a programme of moderate economic and political reforms. |
| 30 April 2001 | [space exploration] | A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying the first space tourist, US financier Dennis Tito, docks with the International Space Station. Tito pays US$20 million for the privilege. |
