January 23Birthdays & History

On this day: January 23 in history

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

1. 393Roman emperor Theodosius I proclaims his eight-year-old son Honorius co-emperor.Europe
2. 971Using crossbows, Song dynasty troops soundly defeat a war elephant corps of the Southern Han at Shao.Asia
3. 1229The episcopal seat is moved from Nousiainen to Koroinen (located near the current centre of Turku) by the permission of Pope Gregory IX. The date is starting to be considered as the founding of Turku.Europe
4. 1264In the conflict between King Henry III of England and his rebellious barons led by Simon de Montfort, King Louis IX of France issues the Mise of Amiens, a one-sided decision in favour of Henry that later leads to the Second Barons' War.Europe
5. 1368Zhu Yuanzhang proclaims himself the Hongwu Emperor, beginning the Ming dynasty.Asia
6. 1546Having published nothing for eleven years, François Rabelais publishes the Tiers Livre, his sequel to Gargantua and Pantagruel.Europe
7. 1556The deadliest earthquake in history, the Shaanxi earthquake, hits Shaanxi province, China. The death toll may have been as high as 830,000.Asia
8. 1565The Deccan Sultanates defeat Rama Raya of the Vijayanagara Empire at the Battle of Talikota, resulting in over 100,000 casualties and the destruction of the capital Vijayanagara.Asia
9. 1570James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, regent for the infant King James VI of Scotland, is assassinated by firearm, the first recorded instance of such.Europe
10. 1571The Royal Exchange opens in London.Europe
11. 1579The Union of Utrecht forms a Protestant republic in the Netherlands.Europe
12. 1656Blaise Pascal publishes the first of his Lettres provinciales.Europe
13. 1719The Principality of Liechtenstein is created within the Holy Roman Empire.Europe
14. 1755Moscow University is established (12 January 1755 O.S.).Europe
15. 1789Georgetown College, the first Catholic university in the United States, is founded in Georgetown, Maryland (now a part of Washington, D.C.) when Bishop John Carroll, Rev. Robert Molyneux, and Rev. John Ashton purchase land for the proposed academy for the education of youth.North America
16. 1793Second Partition of Poland.Europe
17. 1795After crossing the frozen Zuiderzee, the French cavalry capture 14 Dutch ships and 850 guns, in a rare occurrence of surrender of naval vessels to land forces.Europe
18. 1846Slavery in Tunisia is abolished.Africa
19. 1849Elizabeth Blackwell is awarded her M.D. by the Geneva Medical College of Geneva, New York, becoming the United States' first female doctor.EuropeNorth America
20. 1870In Montana, U.S. cavalrymen kill 173 Native Americans, mostly women and children, in what becomes known as the Marias Massacre.North America
21. 1879Anglo-Zulu War: The Battle of Rorke's Drift ends.Africa
22. 1899The Malolos Constitution is inaugurated, establishing the First Philippine Republic. Emilio Aguinaldo is sworn in as its first president.Asia
23. 1900Second Boer War: The Battle of Spion Kop between the forces of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State and British forces ends in a British defeat.AfricaEurope
24. 1904Ålesund Fire: The Norwegian coastal town Ålesund is devastated by fire, leaving 10,000 people homeless and one person dead. Kaiser Wilhelm II funds the rebuilding of the town in Jugendstil style.Europe
25. 1909RMS Republic, a passenger ship of the White Star Line, becomes the first ship to use the CQD distress signal after colliding with another ship, the SS Florida, off the Massachusetts coastline, an event that kills six people. The Republic sinks the next day.North America
26. 1912The First International Opium Convention is signed at The Hague.World
27. 1919The First Regional Congress of Peasants, Workers and Insurgents is held by the Makhnovshchina at Velykomykhailivka.North America
28. 1920The Netherlands refuses to surrender the exiled Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany to the Allies.Europe
29. 1922The first successful treatment with insulin is given to 14-year-old diabetic Leonard Thompson.North America
30. 1937The trial of the anti-Soviet Trotskyist center sees seventeen mid-level Communists accused of sympathizing with Leon Trotsky and plotting to overthrow Joseph Stalin's regime.Europe
31. 1941Charles Lindbergh testifies before the U.S. Congress and recommends that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler.North America
32. 1942World War II: The Battle of Rabaul commences Japan's invasion of Australia's Territory of New Guinea.AsiaOceania
33. 1943World War II: Troops of the British Eighth Army capture Tripoli in Libya from the German–Italian Panzer Army.EuropeAfrica
34. 1945World War II: German admiral Karl Dönitz launches Operation Hannibal, the evacuation of areas along the eastern Baltic coast.Europe
35. 1950The Knesset resolves that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.Middle East
36. 1957American inventor Walter Frederick Morrison sells the rights to his flying disc to the Wham-O toy company, which later renames it the "Frisbee".North America
37. 1958After a general uprising and rioting in the streets, President Marcos Pérez Jiménez leaves Venezuela.Latin America
38. 1960The bathyscaphe USS Trieste breaks a depth record by descending to 10,911 metres (35,797 ft) in the Pacific Ocean.World
39. 1963The Guinea-Bissau War of Independence officially begins when PAIGC guerrilla fighters attack the Portuguese Army stationed in Tite.AfricaEurope
40. 1964The 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the use of poll taxes in national elections, is ratified.North America
41. 1967Milton Keynes (England) is founded as a new town by Order in Council, with a planning brief to become a city of 250,000 people. Its initial designated area enclosed three existing towns and twenty-one villages. The area to be developed was largely farmland, with evidence of continuous settlement dating back to the Bronze Age.Europe
42. 1967Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Ivory Coast are established.EuropeAfrica
43. 1968USS Pueblo (AGER-2) is attacked and seized by the Korean People's Navy.Asia
44. 1982World Airways Flight 30 overshoots the runway at Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, and crashes into Boston Harbor. Two people are missing and presumed dead.North America
45. 1986The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts its first members: Little Richard, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.North America
46. 1987Mohammed Said Hersi Morgan sends a "letter of death" to Somali President Siad Barre, proposing the genocide of the Isaaq people.Africa
47. 1997Madeleine Albright becomes the first woman to serve as United States Secretary of State.North America
48. 1998Netscape announces Mozilla, with the intention to release Communicator code as open source.North America
49. 2001Five people attempt to set themselves on fire in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, an act that many people later claim is staged by the Chinese Communist Party to frame Falun Gong and thus escalate their persecution.Asia
50. 2002U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl is kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan and subsequently murdered.North AmericaAsia
51. 2003A very weak signal from Pioneer 10 is detected for the last time, but no usable data can be extracted.World
52. 2018A 7.9 Mw earthquake occurs in the Gulf of Alaska. It is tied as the sixth-largest earthquake ever recorded in the United States, but there are no reports of significant damage or fatalities.North America
53. 2018A double car bombing in Benghazi, Libya, kills at least 33 people and wounds "dozens" of others. The victims include both military personnel and civilians, according to local officials.Africa
54. 2018The China–United States trade war begins when President Donald Trump places tariffs on Chinese solar panels and washing machines.AsiaNorth America
55. 2022Mutinying Burkinabè soldiers led by Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba depose and detain President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré amid widespread anti-government protests.Africa
56. 2024Northwestern Air Flight 738 crashes after takeoff from Fort Smith Airport, Northwest Territories, Canada, killing six people.North America

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