On This Day: 30 June

Spanish conquistadors led by Hernán Cortés are driven out of Tenochtitlan, following the death (in unknown circumstances) of the Aztec emperor Montezuma the day		1520
King Henry II of France is mortally wounded in a jousting match against Gabriel, comte de Montgomery		1559
Royalists led by the Earl of Newcastle defeat Fairfax's Parliamentarians at the Battle of Adwalton (or Atherton) Moor, near Bradford		1643
The French under Tourville defeat the English and Dutch fleets at Beachy Head		1690
Abbaye Prison, in Paris, is attacked by the revolutionary mob		1789
Sailor Richard Parker is hanged from the yardarm of HMS Sandwich, for his part in the mutiny that took place at The Nore between 12 May and 16 June		1797
King Ferdinand II of Spain is taken prisoner by rebels		1822
The British parliament abolishes the use of the pillory		1837
The Stamp Tax on newspapers is abolished in Britain		1855
French acrobat Charles Blondin makes the first crossing of Niagara Falls on a tightrope		1859
As the British Association for the Advancement of Science debates the theory of evolution, as part of its annual meeting at Oxford (seven months after the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species), Bishop Samuel Wilberforce reportedly asks Thomas Henry Huxley whether it was through his grandfather or his grandmother that he claimed his descent from a monkey		1860
US President Abraham Lincoln grants Yosemite Valley to California for "public use, resort and recreation"		1864
Charles Jules Guiteau, assassin of President Garfield, is hanged in Washington, DC		1882
The first transcontinental train trip across Canada departs from Montreal, Quebec (it arrives in Port Moody, British Columbia, on 4 July)		1886
London's Tower Bridge is officially opened		1894
Albert Einstein sends the article On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies, in which he introduces his theory of special relativity, for publication in the German–language journal Annalen der Physik		1905
The Tunguska event – the largest natural explosion in recorded history – occurs in Siberia. The cause is unexplained, but it is generally attributed to the air burst of a meteor		1908
George Joseph Smith – the 'Brides in the Bath' murderer – is found guilty		1915
The USA agrees to end its occupation of the Dominican Republic		1922
Former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher, Ernst von Röhm (a former ally of Hitler, and the co–founder of the Sturmabteilung – the Nazi militia) and Bavarian politician Gustav Ritter von Kahr (suppressor of Hitler's Munich Beer Hall Putsch in 1923) are among at least 85 people murdered in Hitler's purge of his political rivals – the 'Night of the Long Knives'		1934
Emperor Haile Selassie appeals to the League of Nations for aid against Italy's invasion of Abyssinia		1936
Gone with the Wind first published		1936
The world's first emergency telephone number – 999 – is introduced in London		1937
German forces occupy Guernsey		1940
Cherbourg falls to US forces		1944
Heaviest defeat in international football: Australia 0, England 17 (in Sydney – local time)		1951
A total eclipse of the Sun is observed in America, Europe and Asia; this is the only such event visible from the British Isles between 1927 and 1999, but the only point of totality there is on the Shetland island of Unst, where it was largely obscured by cloud and drizzle		1954
Two American airliners collide above the Grand Canyon; all 128 on board lose their lives		1956
The Egg Marketing Board stamps its first lion on a British egg		1957
The Belgian Congo gains independence as the Republic of the Congo		1960
Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho receives its première		1960
Lionel Bart's Oliver! receives its première in London		1960
Cardinal Montini is elected as Pope Paul VI		1963
Nigeria's military government takes over all relief operations on both sides in the civil war, and bans all Red Cross aid to Biafra		1969
All three cosmonauts are found dead in their seats when Soyuz 11 (the only manned mission to board Salyut 1, the world's first space station) returns to Earth in Kazakhstan, after their cabin had become depressurised		1971
The first leap second is added to the UTC time system		1972
Mikhail Baryshnikov, Russian ballet dancer, on tour in Canada with the Bolshoi Ballet, defects		1974
The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) disbands		1977
Prince and Princess Michael of Kent marry		1978
Police arrest a youth who fired six blanks at the Queen during the Trooping of the Colour ceremony		1981
Thirty–nine US hostages from a TWA flight from Cairo to Los Angeles, held in Beirut for 17 days by the Shia Muslim Amal militia, are released		1985
Brigadier–General Omar Hassan Ahmed Al–Bashir leads a military coup in Sudan		1989
East and West Germany merge their economies		1990
Margaret Thatcher takes her place in the House of Lords, as Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven		1992
All seven people on board lose their lives when an Airbus A330–300 crashes during a test flight at Toulouse–Blagnac Airport		1994
The UK transfers sovereignty over Hong Kong to China		1997
England lose to Argentina in a penalty shoot–out in the second round of the World Cup in France, after David Beckham is sent off		1998
Manchester United announce their withdrawal from the 1999–2000 FA Cup competition to compete in the inaugural World Club Championships in Brazil – under pressure from the FA, who believe it will help England's bid to host the 2006 World Cup		1999
David Copeland, 24, is given six life sentences in Broadmoor for planting nail bombs in Brixton, Brick Lane and Soho in April 1999 (killing three people)		2000
Two Muslims drive a Jeep loaded with propane canisters into the glass doors at Glasgow Airport		2007
A Yemeni flight from Sana'a crashes into the sea on its approach to Moroni (Comoros); of 153 people on board, the only survivor is a 14–year–old French girl named Bahia Bakari, who clung to a piece of aircraft wreckage for nine hours		2009
Protests begin around Egypt against President Mohamed Morsi and the ruling Freedom and Justice Party, leading to their overthrow		2013
At least 116 lives are lost when a military aircraft with 113 people on board crashes in a residential area in the Indonesian city of Medan		2015

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On This Day: 30 June