March 23Birthdays & History

On this day: March 23 in history

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

1. 625The Muslim army under Muhammad suffers a defeat against the Quraysh in the battle of Uhud.Middle East
2. 1400The Trần dynasty of Vietnam is deposed, after one hundred and seventy-five years of rule, by Hồ Quý Ly, a court official.Asia
3. 1540Waltham Abbey in England is surrendered to King Henry VIII, the last religious community to be closed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.Europe
4. 1568The Peace of Longjumeau is signed, ending the second phase of the French Wars of Religion.Europe
5. 1775American Revolutionary War: Patrick Henry delivers his speech – "Give me liberty or give me death!" – at St. John's Episcopal Church, Richmond, Virginia.North America
6. 1801Tsar Paul I of Russia is struck with a sword, then strangled, and finally trampled to death inside his bedroom at St. Michael's Castle.Europe
7. 1806After traveling through the Louisiana Purchase and reaching the Pacific Ocean, explorers Lewis and Clark and their Corps of Discovery begin their arduous journey home.North America
8. 1821Greek War of Independence: Battle and fall of city of Kalamata.Europe
9. 1839A massive earthquake destroys the former capital Inwa of the Konbaung dynasty, present-day Myanmar.Asia
10. 1848The ship John Wickliffe arrives at Port Chalmers carrying the first Scottish settlers for Dunedin, New Zealand. Otago province is founded.EuropeOceania
11. 1857Elisha Otis's first elevator is installed at 488 Broadway New York City.North America
12. 1862American Civil War: The First Battle of Kernstown, Virginia, marks the start of Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign. Although a Confederate defeat, the engagement distracts Federal efforts to capture Richmond.North America
13. 1868The University of California is founded in Oakland, California when the Organic Act is signed into law.North America
14. 1879War of the Pacific: The Battle of Topáter, the first battle of the war, is fought between Chile and the joint forces of Bolivia and Peru.Latin America
15. 1885Sino-French War: Chinese victory in the Battle of Phu Lam Tao near Hưng Hóa, northern Vietnam.EuropeAsia
16. 1888In England, The Football League, the world's oldest professional association football league, meets for the first time.Europe
17. 1889The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is established by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in Qadian, British India.EuropeAsia
18. 1901Emilio Aguinaldo, only President of the First Philippine Republic, is captured at Palanan, Isabela by the forces of American General Frederick Funston.AsiaNorth America
19. 1905Eleftherios Venizelos calls for Crete's union with Greece, and begins what is to be known as the Theriso revolt.Europe
20. 1909Theodore Roosevelt leaves New York for a post-presidency safari in Africa. The trip is sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic Society.North AmericaAfrica
21. 1913A tornado outbreak kills more than 240 people in the central United States, while an ongoing flood in the Ohio River watershed was killing 650 people.North America
22. 1918First World War: On the third day of the German Spring Offensive, the 10th Battalion of the Royal West Kent Regiment is annihilated with many of the men becoming prisoners of war.Europe
23. 1919In Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini founds his Fascist political movement.Europe
24. 1931Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar are hanged for the killing of a deputy superintendent of police during the Indian independence movement.Asia
25. 1933The Reichstag passes the Enabling Act of 1933, making Adolf Hitler dictator of Germany.Europe
26. 1935Signing of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.Asia
27. 1939The Hungarian air force attacks the headquarters of the Slovak air force in Spišská Nová Ves, killing 13 people and beginning the Slovak–Hungarian War.Europe
28. 1940The Lahore Resolution (Qarardad-e-Pakistan or Qarardad-e-Lahore) is put forward at the Annual General Convention of the All-India Muslim League.Asia
29. 1956Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic in the world. This date is now celebrated as Republic Day in Pakistan.Asia
30. 1965NASA launches Gemini 3, the United States' first two-man space flight (crew: Gus Grissom and John Young).North America
31. 1977The first of The Nixon Interviews (12 will be recorded over four weeks) is videotaped with British journalist David Frost interviewing former United States President Richard Nixon about the Watergate scandal and the Nixon tapes.EuropeNorth America
32. 1978The first UNIFIL troops arrive in Lebanon for a peacekeeping mission along the Blue Line.Middle East
33. 1980Archbishop Óscar Romero of El Salvador gives his famous speech appealing to men of the El Salvadoran armed forces to stop killing the Salvadorans.Latin America
34. 1982Guatemala's government, headed by Fernando Romeo Lucas García, is overthrown in a military coup by right-wing General Efraín Ríos Montt.Latin America
35. 1983Strategic Defense Initiative: President Ronald Reagan makes his initial proposal to develop technology to intercept enemy missiles.North America
36. 1988Angolan and Cuban forces defeat South Africa in the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale.AfricaLatin America
37. 1991The Revolutionary United Front, with support from the special forces of Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia, invades Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow Joseph Saidu Momoh, sparking the 11-year Sierra Leone Civil War.Africa
38. 1994At an election rally in Tijuana, Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio is assassinated by Mario Aburto Martínez.Latin America
39. 1994Aeroflot Flight 593 crashes into the Kuznetsk Alatau mountain, Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, killing 75.Europe
40. 1994A United States Air Force (USAF) F-16 aircraft collides with a USAF C-130 at Pope Air Force Base and then crashes, killing 24 United States Army soldiers on the ground alongside destroying a Starlifter by accident. This later became known as the Green Ramp disaster.North AmericaEurope
41. 1996Taiwan holds its first direct elections and chooses Lee Teng-hui as President.Asia
42. 1999Gunmen assassinate Paraguay's Vice President Luis María Argaña.Latin America
43. 2001The Russian Mir space station is disposed of, breaking up in the atmosphere before falling into the southern Pacific Ocean near Fiji.EuropeOceania
44. 2003Battle of Nasiriyah, first major conflict during the invasion of Iraq.Middle East
45. 2008Official opening of Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad, India.Asia
46. 2009FedEx Express Flight 80: A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 flying from Guangzhou, China crashes at Tokyo's Narita International Airport, killing both the captain and the co-pilot.AsiaAsia
47. 2010The Affordable Care Act becomes law in the United States.North America
48. 2014The World Health Organization (WHO) reports cases of Ebola in the forested rural region of southeastern Guinea, marking the beginning of the largest Ebola outbreak in history.Africa
49. 2018President of Peru Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigns from the presidency amid a mass corruption scandal before certain impeachment by the opposition-majority Congress of Peru.Latin AmericaNorth America
50. 2019The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces capture the town of Baghuz in Eastern Syria, declaring military victory over the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant after four years of fighting, although the group maintains a scattered presence and sleeper cells across Syria and Iraq.North AmericaMiddle East
51. 2019The Kazakh capital of Astana is renamed to Nur-Sultan.Asia
52. 2020Prime Minister Boris Johnson puts the United Kingdom into its first national lockdown in response to COVID-19.Europe
53. 2021A container ship runs aground and obstructs the Suez Canal for six days.Middle East
54. 2025Israel Defense Forces kill 15 aid workers in the Rafah paramedic massacre.Middle East
55. 2026An Aerospace Force Lockheed C-130 crashes during take-off in Puerto Leguízamo, Colombia, killing 69 people.Latin America

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