August 23Birthdays & History

On this day: August 23 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 79Mount Vesuvius begins stirring, on the feast day of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire.Europe
2. 406The Western Roman army under Stilicho corners and defeats the Ostrogothic army in the battle of Faesulae.Europe
3. 476Odoacer, chieftain of the Germanic tribes (Herulic – Scirian foederati), is proclaimed rex Italiae ("King of Italy") by his troops.Europe
4. 1244Siege of Jerusalem: The city surrenders to the Khwarazmiyya, ending Christian control of Jerusalem for the next 672 years.Middle East
5. 1268The Battle of Tagliacozzo: The army of Prince Conradin is nearly destroyed by Charles of Anjou, ending Hohenstaufen control over the Kingdom of Sicily and leaving the Angevins in control.Europe
6. 1305William Wallace is put on trial and subsequently hanged, drawn and quartered.Europe
7. 1328Battle of Cassel: French troops stop an uprising of Flemish farmers.Europe
8. 1382The Golden Horde, led by Khan Tokhtamysh, begins the Siege of Moscow, which ends four days later with the storming of the city and the death of Muscovite Prince Ostei.Europe
9. 1514The Battle of Chaldiran ends with a decisive victory for the Sultan Selim I, Ottoman Empire, over the Shah Ismail I, founder of the Safavid dynasty.Middle East
10. 1521Christian II of Denmark is deposed as king of Sweden and Gustav Vasa is elected regent.Europe
11. 1541French explorer Jacques Cartier lands near Quebec City in his third voyage to Canada.EuropeNorth America
12. 1572French Wars of Religion: Mob violence against thousands of Huguenots in Paris results in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre.Europe
13. 1595Long Turkish War: Wallachian prince Michael the Brave confronts the Ottoman army in the Battle of Călugăreni and achieves a tactical victory.Middle East
14. 1600Battle of Gifu Castle: The eastern forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu defeat the western Japanese clans loyal to Toyotomi Hideyori, leading to the destruction of Gifu Castle and serving as a prelude to the Battle of Sekigahara.Asia
15. 1628George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham, is assassinated by John Felton.Europe
16. 1655Battle of Sobota: The Swedish Empire led by Charles X Gustav defeats the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.Europe
17. 1703Edirne event: Sultan Mustafa II of the Ottoman Empire is dethroned.Middle East
18. 1775American Revolutionary War: King George III delivers his Proclamation of Rebellion to the Court of St James's stating that the American colonies have proceeded to a state of open and avowed rebellion.North America
19. 1782British forces under Edward Despard complete the reconquest of the Black River settlements on the Mosquito Coast from the Spanish.Europe
20. 1784Western North Carolina (now eastern Tennessee) declares itself an independent state under the name of Franklin; it is not accepted into the United States, and only lasts for four years.North America
21. 1799Napoleon Bonaparte leaves Egypt for France en route to seizing power.EuropeMiddle East
22. 1813At the Battle of Großbeeren, the Prussians under Von Bülow repulse the French army.Europe
23. 1831Nat Turner's rebellion of enslaved Virginians is suppressed.North America
24. 1839The United Kingdom captures Hong Kong as a base as it prepares for the First Opium War with Qing China.EuropeAsia
25. 1864American Civil War: The Union Navy captures Fort Morgan, Alabama, thus breaking Confederate dominance of all ports on the Gulf of Mexico except Galveston, Texas.North AmericaLatin America
26. 1866The Austro-Prussian War ends with the Treaty of Prague.Europe
27. 1873The Albert Bridge in Chelsea, London opens.Europe
28. 1898The Southern Cross Expedition, the first British venture of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, departs from London.Europe
29. 1904The automobile tire chain is patented.North America
30. 1914World War I: Japan declares war on Germany.AsiaEurope
31. 1914World War I: The British Expeditionary Force and the French Fifth Army begin their Great Retreat before the German Army.Europe
32. 1921British airship R-38 experiences structural failure over Hull in England and crashes in the Humber Estuary; of her 49 British and American training crew, only four survive.EuropeNorth America
33. 1923Captain Lowell Smith and Lieutenant John P. Richter perform the first mid-air refueling on De Havilland DH-4B, setting an endurance flight record of 37 hours.North America
34. 1927Italian anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti are executed after a lengthy, controversial trial.Europe
35. 1929Hebron Massacre during the 1929 Palestine riots: Arab attacks on the Jewish community in Hebron in the British Mandate of Palestine occur, continuing until the next day, resulting in the death of 65–68 Jews and the remaining Jews being forced to leave the city.Middle EastEurope
36. 1939World War II: Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. In a secret protocol to the pact, Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Romania are divided into German and Soviet "spheres of influence".Europe
37. 1942World War II: Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad.Europe
38. 1943World War II: Kharkiv is liberated by the Soviet Red Army for the second time after the Battle of Kursk.Europe
39. 1944Freckleton air disaster: A United States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into a school in Freckleton, England, killing 61 people.North AmericaEurope
40. 1944World War II: King Michael of Romania dismisses the pro-Nazi government of Marshal Antonescu, who is later arrested. Romania switches sides from the Axis to the Allies.Europe
41. 1944World War II: Marseille is liberated by the Allied forces.Europe
42. 1945World War II: Soviet–Japanese War: The USSR State Defense Committee issues Decree no. 9898cc "About Receiving, Accommodation, and Labor Utilization of the Japanese Army Prisoners of War".EuropeAsia
43. 1946Ordinance No. 46 of the British Military Government constitutes the German Länder (states) of Hanover and Schleswig-Holstein.Europe
44. 1948The World Council of Churches is formed by 147 churches from 44 countries.Europe
45. 1954The Cruise of the Kings, a royal cruise organised by the Queen Consort of Greece, Frederica of Hanover, departs from Marseille, France.Europe
46. 1954The first flight of the Lockheed C-130 multi-role aircraft takes place.North America
47. 1958Chinese Civil War: The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis begins with the People's Liberation Army's bombardment of Quemoy.Asia
48. 1966Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon.World
49. 1970Organized by Mexican American labor union leader César Chávez, the Salad Bowl strike, the largest farm worker strike in U.S. history, begins.Latin AmericaNorth America
50. 1973A bank robbery gone wrong in Stockholm, Sweden, turns into a hostage crisis; over the next five days the hostages begin to sympathise with their captors, leading to the term "Stockholm syndrome".Europe
51. 1975The Pontiac Silverdome opens in Pontiac, Michigan, 30 miles (48 km) northwest of Detroit, Michigan.North America
52. 1975The start of the Wave Hill walk-off by Gurindji people in Australia, lasting eight years, a landmark event in the history of Indigenous land rights in Australia, commemorated in a 1991 Paul Kelly song and an annual celebration.Oceania
53. 1985Hans Tiedge, top counter-spy of West Germany, defects to East Germany.Europe
54. 1989Singing Revolution: Two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stand on the Vilnius–Tallinn road, holding hands.Europe
55. 1990Saddam Hussein appears on Iraqi state television with a number of Western "guests" (actually hostages) to try to prevent the Gulf War.Middle East
56. 1990Armenia declares its independence from the Soviet Union.Europe
57. 1990West and East Germany announce that they will reunite on October 3.Europe
58. 1991The World Wide Web is opened to the public.Europe
59. 1994Eugene Bullard, the only African American pilot in World War I, is posthumously commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force.AfricaNorth America
60. 2000Gulf Air Flight 072 crashes into the Persian Gulf near Manama, Bahrain, killing 143.Middle East
61. 2006Natascha Kampusch, who had been abducted at the age of ten, escapes from her captor Wolfgang Přiklopil, after eight years of captivity.Europe
62. 2007The skeletal remains of Russia's last royal family members Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia, and his sister Grand Duchess Anastasia are discovered near Yekaterinburg, Russia.Europe
63. 2010The Manila hostage crisis occurs near the Quirino Grandstand in Manila, Philippines, killing 9 people including the perpetrator while injuring 9 others.Asia
64. 2011Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is overthrown after the National Transitional Council forces take control of Bab al-Azizia compound during the Libyan Civil War.Africa
65. 2011A magnitude 5.8 (class: moderate) earthquake occurs in Virginia. Damage occurs to monuments and structures in Washington, D.C. and the resulted damage is estimated at 200 million–300 million USD.North America
66. 2012A hot-air balloon crashes near the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana, killing six people and injuring 28 others.Europe
67. 2013A riot at the Palmasola prison complex in Santa Cruz, Bolivia kills 31 people.Latin America
68. 2023Chandrayaan-3 mission initiates first Moon landing in Indian history.Asia
69. 2023A business jet carrying key leadership members of the Russian private military company Wagner Group crashes, killing all ten people on board.Europe

Source: Wikipedia "August 23" / CC BY-SA 4.0