WORLD HISTORY · 2023 日本語
Events of 2023Reiwa 5 (Japan) · Year of the Rabbit
What happened in 2023?
In March 2023, Japan won the World Baseball Classic for the first time in 14 years, and in May Hiroshima hosted a summit of leading industrialized nations. In October, Fujii Sota became the first shogi player to hold all eight major titles, and in November the Hanshin Tigers won the Japan Series for the first time in 38 years.
- Turkey–Syria earthquake strikesMiddle East
- Silicon Valley Bank collapsesNorth America
- Japan wins World Baseball Classic after 14 yearsAsia
- Finland joins NATOEurope
- WHO ends COVID-19 emergencyWorld
- G7 summit held in HiroshimaAsia
- Fujii Sota becomes first to hold eight titlesAsia
- Hanshin Tigers win first Japan Series in 38 yearsAsia
Tap an event to jump to it in the timeline below.
2023 at a glance
| Japanese era | Reiwa 5 |
|---|---|
| Chinese zodiac | Year of the Rabbit |
| Age of people born in 2023 | Turn 3 in 2026 |
| Previous / next year | 2022 (Reiwa 4) ／ 2024 (Reiwa 6) |
| Events | 87 |
| AP World History | Unit 9 (Globalization) |
| AP U.S. History | Period 9 |
Events of 2023 (timeline · 87)
Tip: the PC view is best for studying
On a computer, each region has its own vertical line, so you can follow the flow of events and see what was happening in different parts of the world at the same time.
Croatia officially adopts the Euro, becoming the 20th Eurozone country, and becomes the 27th member of the Schengen Area.
The longest U.S. House of Representatives speaker election since the December 1859 – February 1860 U.S. speaker election concludes and Kevin McCarthy is elected 55th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
Supporters of former Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro storm the Brazilian Congress.
Yeti Airlines Flight 691 crashes near Pokhara International Airport, killing all 72 people on board.
A helicopter crash in Ukraine leaves 14 people dead, including the country's Interior Minister, Denys Monastyrsky.
Huu Can Tran, 72, opens fire in a dance studio in Monterey Park, California, killing eleven people and injuring nine others before later committing suicide. It is the worst mass shooting in Los Angeles County since the 2008 Covina massacre.
A shooting at a synagogue in Neve Yaakov, East Jerusalem, kills seven people and injures three others.
An attack on the Azerbaijani embassy in Pasdaran, Tehran, kills one person and injures three others.
Protests and public outrage spark across the U.S. after the release of multiple videos by the Memphis Police Department showing officers punching, kicking, and pepper spraying Tyre Nichols as a result of running away from a traffic stop, which resulted him dying in the hospital three days later after the incident.
The last Boeing 747, the first wide-body airliner, is delivered to Atlas Air and operated for ApexLogistics. The aircraft was registered as N863GT and named "Empower".
Ohio train derailment: A freight train containing vinyl chloride and other hazardous materials derails and burns in East Palestine, Ohio, United States, releasing hydrogen chloride and phosgene into the air and contaminating the Ohio River.
Two earthquakes measuring Mww 7.8 and 7.5 struck near the border between Turkey and Syria with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XII (Extreme). The earthquakes resulted in numerous aftershocks and a death toll of 57,658 people.
Two children are killed and six others are injured when a bus crashes into a daycare centre in Laval, Quebec, Canada. The driver is arrested and charged with homicide and dangerous driving.
Two trains collide south of the Vale of Tempe in Greece, leading to the deaths of at least 57 people and leaving 58 missing and 85 injured.
A group of four prisoners escape from the Nouakchott Civil Prison, before being caught the next day.
The 2023 Estonian parliamentary election is held, with two centre-right liberal parties gaining an absolute majority for the first time.
A shooting in the Alsterdorf quarter of Hamburg, Germany, kills eight people and injures another eight.
Silicon Valley Bank collapses due to a run on its deposits, in the second largest bank failure in US history. Its operations are taken over by the FDIC.
The Burmese military kills at least 30 villagers, including 3 Buddhist monks, during the Pinlaung massacre in Shan State, Myanmar.
The Swiss Government brokers a deal for UBS to buy out rival Credit Suisse in an attempt to calm the 2023 banking crisis.
An EF4 tornado strikes the towns of Rolling Fork and Silver City, Mississippi, causing mass destruction.
Forty people are killed in a fire at a migrant detention facility in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.
Seven people, including the perpetrator, are killed in a mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee.
Donald Trump becomes the first former United States president to be indicted by a grand jury.
A mass shooting occurs at the Old National Bank in Louisville, Kentucky, that leaves five victims dead and eight wounded.
During the Pazigyi massacre, an airstrike conducted by the Myanmar Air Force kills at least 100 villagers in Pazigyi, Sagaing Region.
The house of Jack Teixeira is raided in an investigation into leaked Pentagon documents; he is arrested on the same day.
SpaceX's Starship rocket, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, launches for the first time. It explodes four minutes into flight.
Nine students and a security guard are killed in the Belgrade school shooting, the first attack of its kind in Serbia.
Ethnic violence breaks out between the Meitei and the Kuki Zo people in the state of Manipur.
Nine people are killed and thirteen injured in a spree shooting in Mladenovac and Smederevo, Serbia. It is the second mass shooting in the country in two days.
The World Health Organization declares the end of the COVID-19 pandemic as a global health emergency.
Eight people are killed and seven injured in a mass shooting in Allen, Texas. The perpetrator is killed by a police officer.
The coronation of Charles III and Camilla as King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms is held in Westminster Abbey, London.
Tanur boat disaster: At least 22 people are killed when a boat carrying tourists capsizes in Tanur, Malappuram, Kerala, India.
A collision between two passenger trains and a parked freight train near the city of Balasor, Odisha in eastern India, results in 296 deaths and more than 1,200 people injured.
Four people are killed when a Cessna Citation V crashes into Mine Bank Mountain in Augusta County, Virginia.
Former US President Donald Trump is indicted on federal charges of misusing classified information.
At least 100 people are killed when a wedding boat capsizes on the Niger River in Kwara State, Nigeria.
Three people are killed and another three injured in an early morning stabbing and van ramming attack in Nottingham, England.
Titan, a submersible operated by OceanGate Expeditions, implodes in the North Atlantic Ocean while attempting to view the wreck of the Titanic, killing all five people on board, including OceanGate co-founder and CEO Stockton Rush.
The Wagner Group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin launches an insurrection against the Russian government.
A Tajik citizen with ISIS connections, wanted in Tajikistan for murder and kidnapping, kills two people at Chișinău International Airport in Moldova, after being denied entry to the country.
The last Ariane 5 rocket is launched, carrying the Heinrich Hertz and Syracuse 4B satellites.
The Barbenheimer phenomenon begins as two major motion pictures, Greta Gerwig's fantasy comedy Barbie and Christopher Nolan's epic biographical thriller Oppenheimer, are released in theaters on the same day and audiences, instead of creating a rivalry between the extremely dissimilar films, instead attend and praise both as an informal, surreal double feature.
Former US President Donald Trump is indicted for his role in the January 6 United States Capitol attack, his third indictment in 2023.
Hawaii wildfires: Seventeen thousand acres of land are burned and at least 101 people are killed, with two others missing, when a series of wildfires break out on the island of Maui in Hawaii.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump is charged in Georgia along with 18 others in attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election in that state, his fourth indictment of 2023.
A business jet carrying key leadership members of the Russian private military company Wagner Group crashes, killing all ten people on board.
Japan officially begins discharging treated radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean, sparking international concerns and condemnation.
Exactly five years after the 2018 Jacksonville Landing shooting, there is another shooting in Jacksonville, Florida, leaving three people dead.
Gabonese coup d'état: After Ali Bongo Ondimba's reelection, a military coup ousts him, ending 56 years of Bongo family rule in Gabon.
India's first solar observation mission: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launches Aditya-L1 from Satish Dhawan space centre.
A magnitude 6.9 earthquake strikes Morocco, killing nearly 3,000 people and damaging historic sites in Marrakesh.
The 2023 Rugby World Cup, the tenth men's Rugby World Cup is held in France. The opening ceremony, directed and written by Jean Dujardin, Olivier Ferracci and Nora Matthey, took place at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, before the opening match between France and New Zealand, which saw the host nation winning 27 to 13.
The Libyan city of Derna experiences catastrophic floods after Storm Daniel causes two dams to collapse, killing thousands of people.
Azerbaijan launches a military offensive against the Republic of Artsakh in the Nagorno-Karabakh region; this leads to the flight of the Armenian population.
NASA's OSIRIS-REx capsule containing samples from the asteroid 101955 Bennu successfully lands back on Earth.
The 2023 Rotterdam shootings occurred, during which two people were killed in a shooting and arson incident at a residence in Delfshaven, Rotterdam. Additionally, one person lost their life in a classroom at the Erasmus University Medical Center.
Wab Kinew is elected to be the first First Nations Premier of a Canadian province in the 2023 Manitoba general election
Hamas and several other Palestinian militant groups launch an attack into Israel, which results in the deaths of around 1,200, mostly civilians, and the taking of 251 hostages, including civilians and soldiers.
Australians vote to reject a constitutional amendment that would have established an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
An explosion at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza kills hundreds of Palestinians during the Gaza war.
A mass shooting occurs in two locations in Lewiston, Maine. 18 people are killed and 13 more injured.
The 2023 Rugby World Cup final is held at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France. It saw South Africa defeat New Zealand 12 to 11, claiming their fourth Webb Ellis Cup, becoming the first nation to do so.
António Costa resigns as Prime Minister of Portugal following news of an investigation in a corruption scandal implicating members of his cabinet.
U.S. surgeons at NYU Langone Health announce the world's first whole eye transplant.
The 2023 Cricket World Cup final takes place at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, played between host nation India and Australia.
Mount Marapi located in West Sumatra, Indonesia begins a sporadic series of eruptions. 23 people were killed, and 12 were injured.
Fourteen people are killed and 25 others injured during a mass shooting at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic.
A series of massacres targeting Berom civilians unfold in the Plateau State in Nigeria, killing over 200 people and further injuring over 500. No group claims responsibility.
South Africa files a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice over Israeli conducts in the Gaza Strip.
Source: Wikipedia date pages ("January 1" … "December 31") / CC BY-SA 4.0. Regions are assigned by the site editors.
FAQ
What year was 2023 in the Japanese calendar?
2023 was Reiwa 5 in the Japanese era system.
What Chinese zodiac animal is 2023?
2023 is the Year of the Rabbit.
How old is someone born in 2023?
They turn 3 on their birthday in 2026.
What happened in 2023?
In March 2023, Japan won the World Baseball Classic for the first time in 14 years, and in May Hiroshima hosted a summit of leading industrialized nations. In October, Fujii Sota became the first shogi player to hold all eight major titles, and in November the Hanshin Tigers won the Japan Series for the first time in 38 years.
Dates and events are based on Wikipedia and other references. Summaries and regions are written by the site editors.