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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteOctober 30 connects a novelist’s anonymous debut, a New Mexican politician’s birth, the Ottoman Empire’s exit from the First World War, a deadly industrial smog, and one of boxing’s defining knockouts. The date is not a complete chronology of everything that happened worldwide; it is a useful cross-section of how births, publications, agreements, disasters and sporting outcomes acquire historical meaning.
October 30 at a glance
| Date | Event | Type | Place or setting | What the date establishes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 30, 1811 | Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility appeared anonymously | Publication | Britain | A major English-language novel entered print without Austen’s name on the title page. |
| October 30, 1815 | José Manuel Gallegos was born | Birth | New Mexico | The Library of Congress identifies Gallegos as the first New Mexican delegate to Congress. |
| October 30, 1918 | The Armistice of Mudros was signed aboard Agamemnon | Armistice | Aboard a British battleship | The agreement marked the end of Ottoman participation in the First World War. |
| October 30, 1948 | The Donora smog event claimed its first two victims | Industrial disaster | Donora, Pennsylvania | The five-day episode became a stark case of the health danger posed by severe industrial air pollution. |
| October 30, 1974 | Muhammad Ali knocked out George Foreman in the eighth round | Sporting outcome | Kinshasa, then Zaire | The “Rumble in the Jungle” produced one of boxing’s most consequential heavyweight results. |
The entries come from different kinds of evidence. A birth date is established differently from a publication date, a signed armistice, a disaster chronology or a fight result. Treating them as interchangeable can make a date roundup sound more certain than its sources allow.
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1811: Jane Austen publishes Sense and Sensibility anonymously
On October 30, 1811, Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility was published anonymously, according to the date-specific chronology maintained by HISTORY. The title page did not identify Austen by name; the novel was presented as written “By a Lady.” That detail matters because publication is not the same as public authorship. Readers could encounter the work while its author’s identity remained undisclosed.
The anonymous appearance also gives October 30 a place in literary history. A publication date marks the point at which a manuscript becomes a commercial and cultural object: it can be reviewed, sold, lent, debated and reprinted. Austen’s later reputation can make the date seem inevitable, but the historical fact is narrower and more precise: the novel entered print on this day under conditions that concealed its author.
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For a reader approaching the book now, the useful distinction is between the work’s long afterlife and what October 30 records. The date does not claim that every later edition appeared on October 30, nor that Austen’s identity was unknown forever. It identifies the first publication event cited by the chronology. Further reading should therefore use a reliable edition of Sense and Sensibility and a literary history that explains the publishing context, rather than assuming that a modern title page reproduces the original one.
1815: José Manuel Gallegos is born in New Mexico
The Library of Congress gives October 30, 1815, as the birth date of José Manuel Gallegos and identifies him as the first New Mexican delegate to Congress. This is a political and biographical milestone rather than an event that happened in a single public ceremony. Its importance lies in the person’s place in the representation of New Mexico in the national legislature.
Birth entries require careful wording. October 30 marks Gallegos’s arrival into the world; it does not mark his election, swearing-in or first day in Congress. Those are separate dates that should not be collapsed into the birth date. The Library of Congress’s identification supplies the connecting context: Gallegos’s later public role made his life part of the political history of New Mexico and the United States.
The Library’s “October in History” teaching material also offers a practical way to investigate entries such as this one. Digitized primary sources—official records, contemporary newspapers, correspondence and institutional collections—can establish what was recorded at the time. Secondary accounts can explain why the record matters, but they should be compared with the underlying evidence. That approach is especially useful when a date roundup gives a single biographical fact without narrating a whole career.
1918: The Armistice of Mudros ends Ottoman participation in the First World War
On October 30, 1918, representatives signed the Armistice of Mudros aboard the British battleship Agamemnon. HISTORY dates the agreement to that day and describes it as ending Ottoman participation in the First World War. The setting is part of the event’s identity: this was a negotiated armistice signed aboard a warship, not a battlefield surrender described only by the date.
An armistice is an agreement to stop fighting; it is not automatically a final peace treaty. That distinction helps explain why October 30 should be presented as an endpoint for Ottoman participation in the war rather than as the complete settlement of every political question that followed. The date records the signing and its immediate military meaning. Later diplomatic arrangements belong to a different stage of the postwar story.
The event also illustrates how geography can be compressed in a short chronology. The armistice was associated with Mudros, while the signing took place aboard Agamemnon. A careful account keeps both elements: the name by which the agreement is known and the physical setting in which it was concluded. Omitting either one can make the entry less precise.
1948: The Donora smog disaster begins to claim victims
October 30, 1948, is identified by HISTORY as the date the Donora, Pennsylvania, smog event claimed its first two victims. The full episode lasted five days. Those two facts should remain together. The date is not a shorthand for the entire duration, and the five-day duration does not by itself establish a complete casualty total.
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Donora’s entry belongs to the history of industrial pollution and public health. A severe concentration of smog created an emergency in a working Pennsylvania community, turning an environmental condition into an immediate threat to human life. The event is therefore useful for understanding why air quality is a historical subject as well as a scientific one: industrial practices, local geography, weather and public-health protection can intersect in a single episode.
Numbers surrounding disasters need especially cautious handling. The date-specific listing establishes the first two reported victims and the five-day span, but it does not, on its own, provide a definitive final death toll or a full medical analysis. Anyone seeking those figures should consult an original public-health investigation, government record or archival study and identify the authority and publication year. A responsible October 30 entry can explain the event’s significance without inserting an unverified total.
1974: Muhammad Ali defeats George Foreman in the “Rumble in the Jungle”
On October 30, 1974, Muhammad Ali knocked out George Foreman in the eighth round of the “Rumble in the Jungle,” held in Kinshasa, then Zaire, according to HISTORY. This is an outcome date: the bout’s decisive result occurred during the fight, and the eighth-round knockout is the specific fact attached to October 30.
The entry demonstrates why sporting history belongs in a date roundup. A boxing match can be documented through official records, contemporary reporting and the event’s recorded result, while its broader reputation develops through later interpretation. The knockout is the firm anchor. Descriptions such as “one of boxing’s defining moments” are historical judgments about the event’s legacy, not additional details that change the result or the date.
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Place names also require period accuracy. The fight took place in Kinshasa in 1974, when the country was known internationally as Zaire. Using both the current city name and the historical country name helps readers locate the event without erasing the political terminology of the time. It also prevents a modern map label from being mistaken for the name used when the bout occurred.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to read an October 30 date without overstating it
Identify the event type
Start by asking whether October 30 marks a birth, publication, signing, disaster milestone or sporting outcome. Each category answers a different question. A birth identifies when a person entered the historical record; a publication identifies when a work appeared in print; a signing identifies when an agreement was executed; a disaster date may identify the first reported deaths within a longer episode; and a sports date identifies the contest’s result.
Separate the date from the duration
Some events happen on one day, while others unfold over several days. The Donora smog episode lasted five days even though October 30 is used for the first two victims. The Armistice of Mudros was signed on a date, while the political consequences continued afterward. A date roundup should state which of these it is recording.
Check what the source can actually establish
The Library of Congress recommends comparing primary-source accounts with secondary accounts and asking what each can and cannot establish. A contemporary document may confirm a date or wording but provide little later interpretation. A secondary history may explain significance while relying on records that readers should still be able to identify. This division of labor keeps a concise entry from carrying claims its evidence cannot support.
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Keep geography and historical names precise
Gallegos’s entry is tied to New Mexico and its representation in Congress. Mudros is associated with an armistice signed aboard Agamemnon. The boxing match took place in Kinshasa, then Zaire. Naming the relevant place and the period-appropriate terminology makes each item verifiable instead of turning it into a free-floating anecdote.
What these five entries reveal about October 30
Taken together, the entries show why a useful “on this day” feature should be selective rather than an undifferentiated list. The day crosses two centuries and several continents of experience: a novel moves into print, a New Mexican life begins, an empire exits a world war, an industrial community faces lethal smog, and a boxing contest ends with an eighth-round knockout.
The events also differ in historical scale. Austen’s publication is a cultural milestone; Gallegos’s birth opens a biographical and representative story; Mudros records a wartime transition; Donora exposes a public-health crisis; and Ali–Foreman records a sporting outcome whose meaning is carried by both the result and its later memory. None needs to be declared the “most important.” Their value lies in the different kinds of change they make visible.
Finally, the list shows why date-based history benefits from restraint. A five-item selection cannot be exhaustive, and the absence of an event does not mean it was unimportant. The strongest entries identify exactly what happened on October 30, give enough context to explain why it matters, and mark the boundary between a documented fact and a larger interpretation.
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