Today in History, September 30th
On September 30, 1938, Britain and France signed the Munich Pact, giving Hitler the Sudetenland. Plus Babe Ruth's 60th homer and the Airlift's end.
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September 30 is best known for 1938, when the leaders of Britain and France signed the Munich Pact with Adolf Hitler, handing Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland to Hitler. The date also saw Babe Ruth hit his 60th home run of 1927 and the Berlin Airlift officially end in 1949.
The big story: The Munich Pact (1938)
By late September 1938, Europe looked close to war over a strip of Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland, home to many German speakers. On September 22, Adolf Hitler demanded the region at once and told the Czechoslovak population to clear out by the end of the month. Czechoslovakia began mobilizing its army the next day, counting on Britain and France to stand with it. Instead, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier met Hitler in Munich, and on September 30, 1938, they signed a deal that gave him the territory. Czechoslovakia was not part of the bargain; it was the bargain. Chamberlain also got Hitler to sign a short side note of goodwill, then flew home and told a London crowd he had brought back peace with honor. Germany annexed the Sudetenland on October 1. In March 1939 Hitler took the rest of Czechoslovakia, and “Munich” became shorthand for appeasement that fails.
More events on September 30
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1773 | Poland’s parliament, the Sejm, ratified the treaty behind the First Partition of Poland by Russia, Prussia and Austria. |
| 1868 | The first volume of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women was published. |
| 1889 | Wyoming’s constitutional convention approved a state constitution that gave women the right to vote. |
| 1895 | French troops occupied Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, after its prime minister refused to accept French rule. |
| 1918 | A combined Arab and Australian force, with T.E. Lawrence among its leaders, entered Damascus during World War I. |
| 1927 | Babe Ruth became the first player to hit 60 home runs in a single season. |
| 1935 | President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated Boulder Dam, later renamed Hoover Dam. |
| 1949 | The Berlin Airlift officially ended after about 15 months and more than 250,000 flights into blockaded West Berlin. |
| 1954 | The USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine, was commissioned. |
| 1962 | Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta founded the National Farm Workers Association. |
| 2005 | Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten published satirical cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, which set off protests around the world. |
| 2005 | Michael Eisner stepped down as CEO of the Walt Disney Company after 21 years in charge. |
Born on September 30
- 1732: Jacques Necker, Swiss banker who ran France’s finances for Louis XVI, born in Geneva.
- 1924: Truman Capote, author of Breakfast at Tiffany’s and In Cold Blood, born in New Orleans.
- 1928: Elie Wiesel, writer on the Holocaust and winner of the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize, born in Sighet, Romania.
Sources
- Munich Pact signed, History.com
- This Day in History: September 30, History.com
- On This Day: September 30, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Jacques Necker, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Truman Capote, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Elie Wiesel, Encyclopaedia Britannica
