May 30 in History
1381 — England’s Peasants’ Revolt begins in Essex. Factors such as the socioeconomic and political tensions generated by the Black Death (the bubonic plague that claimed 75- to 200-million lives in Eurasia and North Africa between 1346 and 1353) and the high taxes resulting from the conflict with France during the Hundred Years’ War (May 24 1337 to October 19 1453), boil over when a royal official attempts to collect unpaid poll taxes in Brentwood, Essex. The revolt spreads across the country. It is suppressed in November, with most of the leaders executed and at least 1,500 rebels killed.
1416 — Jerome of Prague, 36/7, Czech theologian and a main follower of Jan Hus, is burnt for heresy at the Council of Constance, Holy Roman Empire.
1431 — Joan of Arc, 19, condemned as a heretic, is burnt at the stake in Rouen, France.
1815 — The East Indiaman Arniston is wrecked during a storm at Waenhuiskrans (subsequently also known as Arniston), near Cape Agulhas, with the loss of 372 lives (six people survive). Chartered as a troopship, she was under way from Ceylon to England to repatriate wounded soldiers from the Kandyan Wars. 1942 — Japanese submarines launch a torpedo attack on British ships during the Battle of Madagascar. The battleship Ramillies is seriously damaged and the tanker British Loyalty sunk.
1943 — Josef Mengele (“Angel of Death”) arrives at the Auschwitz concentration camp as chief physician of the Zigeunerfamilienlager (Romani family camp). He is known for his deadly experiments on prisoners. 1967 — Biafra declares independence from Nigeria. The Nigerian-Biafran War (or Nigerian Civil War) breaks out on July 6. After 30 months of war, during which almost 2-million Biafran civilians (75% of them small children) die from starvation caused by the total blockade of the region by the Nigerian government, Biafra rejoins Nigeria on January 15 1970.
1971 — The American space probe Mariner 9 blasts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and reaches Mars on November 14. It becomes the first spacecraft to orbit another planet, returning 7,329 images until its mission ends on October 27 1972. The derelict satellite is expected to remain in Mars’ orbit until at least 2022, then enter the Martian atmosphere and either burn up or crash into the planet’s surface.
1980 — Steven Gerrard, England international footballer (2000-2014: 114 matches as central midfielder), is born in Whiston, Merseyside.
1989 — Student demonstrators at Tiananmen
Square in Beijing erect a 10m-tall statue they call the “Goddess of Democracy”. It is destroyed on June 4 by soldiers clearing the protesters from the square.