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What Happened Today in History on September 30

Explore the historical events that shaped our world on September 30th. From major milestones to cultural achievements, see what happened on this day in history. Dates for earlier events may be approximate.

Following Glyndŵr's significant military victories, the English parliament issued statutes explicitly referring to "Owen ap Glendourdy, traitor to our sovereign lord and king". King Henry IV of England initially declared Owain Glyndŵr a traitor and offered a reward for his capture circa 1400.

Suleiman the Magnificent succeeds his father, Selim I, as Ottoman Sultan, the tenth and longest-reigning sultan of the Ottoman Empire. His realm extended from Hungary to Iran, and from Crimea to North Africa and the Indian Ocean. As he engaged in bitter rivalries with the Catholic Habsburgs and the Shiite Safavids, he presided over a multilingual and multireligious empire that promised peace and prosperity to its subjects. He died on the night of September 6/7, 1566, at the age of 71 of natural causes. More

The Battle of Soor takes place during the Second Silesian War (part of the War of the Austrian Succession), between Frederick the Great's Prussian army and an Austro-Saxon army led by Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine. The battle occurred in the vicinity of Soor, also known as Hajnice, in the modern day Czech Republic. The  Prussian army managed to defeat the Austrians.

Joseph Marion Hernández becomes the first Hispanic American to be elected to the United States Congress. He represented the newly created Florida Territory. Hernandez was born a Spanish citizen in St. Augustine, FL. As of 2022, There are 52 Hispanic or Latino Members serving: 46 in the House, including 2 Delegates and the Resident Commissioner, and 7 in the Senate. More

American dentist Dr. William Morton uses the anesthetic diethyl ether to extract a tooth in his Boston office. On October 16, 1846  he gave a successful public demonstration of surgical anesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is credited with being instrumental in gaining the world’s acceptance of surgical anesthesia. 

The Wyoming legislators write the first state constitution granting women the right to vote. It was signed into law on December 10, 1869, by Territorial Governor John Allen Campbell. On September 6, 1870, Louisa Ann Swain of Laramie, Wyoming became the first woman to cast a vote in a general election. 

The Munich Agreement is signed by Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Neville Chamberlain, and Édouard Daladier; ceding the Sudetenland border regions from Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany. Upon his return to London, Chamberlain infamously declared that the agreement had brought "peace for our time," a sentiment quickly proven wrong by the impending World War II.

The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg delivers its verdicts, with several high-ranking Nazi officials found guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other atrocities committed during World War II. More

USS Nautilus (SSN-571), the world’s first nuclear powered submarine is commissioned at Groton, Connecticut, with Commander Eugene P. Wilkinson as the boat’s first commander. The construction of Nautilus was made possible by the successful development of a nuclear propulsion plant by a group of scientists and engineers, under the leadership of Captain Hyman G. Rickover. More

Botswana Independence day from the UK (Effective date of the Botswana Independence Act 1966).

The Indonesian province of East Timor declares its independence from Portugal, leading to an Indonesian invasion and subsequent occupation that lasted until 1999.

The Ethernet specifications are published by Xerox in collaboration with Intel and Digital Equipment Corporation. Manufacturers had been skeptical of building LAN connections into their products because the lack of industrywide standards meant the networks may not work with equipment from other companies. The Ethernet standard created a uniform network protocol companies could share. More

The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy is officially repealed.