October 23Birthdays & History

On this day: October 23 in history

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

1. 4004 BCJames Ussher's purported creation date of the world according to the Bible.World
2. 42 BCLiberators' civil war: Mark Antony and Octavian decisively defeat an army under Brutus in the second part of the Battle of Philippi, with Brutus committing suicide and ending the civil war.Europe
3. 425Valentinian III is elevated as Roman emperor at the age of six.Europe
4. 502The Synodus Palmaris, called by Gothic king Theoderic, absolves Pope Symmachus of all charges, thus ending the schism of Antipope Laurentius.Europe
5. 1086Spanish Reconquista: At the Battle of Sagrajas, the Almoravids defeat the Castilians, but are unable to take advantage of their victory.Europe
6. 1157The Battle of Grathe Heath ends the Danish Civil War.Europe
7. 1295The first treaty forming the Auld Alliance between Scotland and France against England is signed in Paris.Europe
8. 1448Scotland wins a decisive victory over England at the Battle of Sark, the last pitched battle to be fought between the two kingdoms during the Medieval period.Europe
9. 1641Irish Catholic gentry from Ulster attempt to seize control of Dublin Castle, the seat of English rule in Ireland, so as to force concessions.Europe
10. 1642The Battle of Edgehill is the first major battle of the English Civil War.Europe
11. 1666The most intense tornado on record in English history, an F4 storm on the Fujita scale or T8 on the TORRO scale, strikes the county of Lincolnshire, with winds of more than 213 miles per hour (343 km/h).Europe
12. 1707The First Parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain convenes.Europe
13. 1798The forces of Ali Pasha of Janina defeat the French and capture the town of Preveza in the Battle of Nicopolis.Europe
14. 1812General Claude François de Malet begins a conspiracy to overthrow Napoleon, claiming that the Emperor died in the Russian campaign.Europe
15. 1850The first National Women's Rights Convention begins in Worcester, Massachusetts.North America
16. 1856Second Opium War: Dissatisfied with imperial commissioner Ye Mingchen's reparations for the alleged slighting of a British-owned vessel and at Consul Harry Parkes's urging, British Rear-Admiral Michael Seymour launches an assault on the Barrier Forts outside Canton in the first military engagement of the Second Opium War.EuropeAsia
17. 1864American Civil War: The Battle of Westport is the last significant engagement west of the Mississippi River, ending in a Union victory.North America
18. 1868Meiji Restoration: Having taken the shogunate's seat of power at Edo and declared it his new capital as Tokyo, Mutsuhito proclaims the start of the new Meiji era.Asia
19. 1882Assommoir bombing: Anarchists such as Fanny Madignier commit the first deadly anarchist attack in France.Europe
20. 1906Alberto Santos-Dumont flies an airplane in the first heavier-than-air flight in Europe.Europe
21. 1911The Italo-Turkish War sees the first use of an airplane in combat when an Italian pilot makes a reconnaissance flight.Middle EastEurope
22. 1912First Balkan War: The Battle of Kumanovo between the Serbian and Ottoman armies begins.EuropeMiddle East
23. 1923German October: Due to a miscommunication with the party leadership, a militant section of the Communist Party of Germany launches an insurrection in Hamburg.Europe
24. 1924Second Zhili–Fengtian War: Warlord Feng Yuxiang, with the covert support of the Empire of Japan, stages a coup in Beijing against his erstwhile superiors in the Zhili clique, crippling their nearly victorious war effort against the Fengtian clique and forcing them to withdraw from northern China.AsiaAsia
25. 1927The Imatra Cinema is destroyed in a fire in Tampere, Finland, during showing the 1924 film Wages of Virtue; 21 people die in the fire and almost 30 are injured.Europe
26. 1940Adolf Hitler and Francisco Franco meet at Hendaye to discuss the possibility of Spain entering the Second World War.Europe
27. 1941The Holocaust: Nazi Germany prohibits Jews from emigrating, including in its occupied territories.Europe
28. 1942World War II: The Battle for Henderson Field begins on Guadalcanal.Oceania
29. 1942All 12 passengers and crewmen aboard American Airlines Flight 28 are killed when it collides with a U.S. Army Air Force bomber near Palm Springs, California.North America
30. 1942World War II: Allied forces commence the Second Battle of El Alamein, which proves to be the key turning point in the North African campaign.Africa
31. 1944World War II: The Battle of Leyte Gulf begins.AsiaNorth AmericaAsia
32. 1945Jackie Robinson of the Kansas City Monarchs signs a contract with the Brooklyn Dodger's minor league team, the Montreal Royals, breaking Major League Baseball's color barrier.North America
33. 1955Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm defeats former emperor Bảo Đại in a referendum and founds the Republic of Vietnam.Asia
34. 1955The people of the Saar region vote in a referendum to unite with West Germany instead of France.Europe
35. 1956Secret police shoot several anti-communist protesters, igniting the Hungarian Revolution.Europe
36. 1958Canada's Springhill mining disaster kills seventy-five miners, while ninety-nine others are rescued.North America
37. 1958Belgian artist Peyo's comic characters, the Smurfs, make their debut in Spirou magazine.Europe
38. 1959Aeroflot Flight 200 crashes while attempting to land at Vnukovo International Airport, killing 28.Europe
39. 1965Vietnam War: The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), in conjunction with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, launches an operation seeking to destroy Communist forces during the siege of Plei Me.Asia
40. 1970Gary Gabelich sets a land speed record in a rocket-powered automobile called the Blue Flame, fueled with natural gas.North America
41. 1972Vietnam War: Operation Linebacker, a US bombing campaign against North Vietnam in response to its Easter Offensive, ends after five months.AsiaNorth America
42. 1978Aeroflot Flight 6515 crashes off Syvash, killing all 26 people aboard.Europe
43. 1982A gunfight breaks out between police officers and members of a religious cult in Arizona. The shootout leaves two cultists dead and dozens of cultists and police officers injured.North America
44. 1983Lebanese Civil War: The U.S. Marines Corps barracks in Beirut is hit by a truck bomb, killing 241 U.S. military personnel. A French Army barracks in Lebanon is also hit that same morning, killing 58 troops.Middle EastNorth AmericaEurope
45. 1989The Hungarian Republic officially replaces the communist Hungarian People's Republic.Europe
46. 1989Bankruptcy of Wärtsilä Marine, the biggest bankruptcy in the Nordic countries up until then.Europe
47. 1989An explosion at the Houston Chemical Complex in Pasadena, Texas, which registered a 3.5 on the Richter magnitude scale, kills 23 and injures 314.North America
48. 1991Signing of the Paris Peace Accords which ends the Cambodian–Vietnamese War.EuropeAsia
49. 1993The Troubles: A Provisional IRA bomb prematurely detonates in Belfast, killing the bomber and nine civilians.Europe
50. 1995Yolanda Saldívar is found guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of popular Latin singer Selena.North America
51. 1998Israel and the Palestinian Authority sign the Wye River Memorandum.Middle East
52. 2001Apple Computer releases the iPod.North America
53. 2002Second Chechen War: Chechen separatist terrorists seize the House of Culture theater in Moscow and take approximately 700 theater-goers hostage.Europe
54. 2004A powerful earthquake and its aftershocks hit Niigata Prefecture in northern Japan, killing 35 people, injuring 2,200, and leaving 85,000 homeless or evacuated.Asia
55. 2007A storm causes the Mexican Kab 101 oil platform to collide with a wellhead, leading to the death and drowning of 22 people during rescue operations after evacuation of the platform.Latin America
56. 2007Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on STS-120, with Pamela Melroy becoming the second female space shuttle commander.North America
57. 2011A powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake strikes Van Province, Turkey, killing 582 people and injuring thousands.Middle East
58. 2011The Libyan National Transitional Council deems the Libyan Civil War over.Africa
59. 2015The lowest sea-level pressure in the Western Hemisphere, and the highest reliably-measured non-tornadic sustained winds, are recorded in Hurricane Patricia, which strikes Mexico hours later, killing at least 13 and causing over $280 million in damages.Latin America
60. 2017War against the Islamic State: Philippine defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana declares the end of the Siege of Marawi.Asia
61. 2020Second Libyan Civil War: The Second Libyan Civil War comes to an end as all parties to the 5+5 Joint Libyan Military Commission agree to a ceasefire.Africa
62. 2022Myanmar Air Force airstrikes a concert in Hpakant Township, Kachin state killing at least 80 people, including senior Kachin Independence Organisation officials, in the Hpakant massacre.Asia
63. 2022Xi Jinping is elected as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party by the Central Committee, beginning a third term of the paramount leader of China.Asia

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