October 23
is the 296th day of the year (297th in
leap years) in the
Gregorian Calendar, with 69 days remaining.
*
4004 BC - On the preceding eve of this day (in the
proleptic Julian calendar), the
universe was
created, according to the archbishop
James Ussher in his
Ussher-Lightfoot Calendar.
*
42 BC -
Roman Republican civil wars:
Second Battle of Philippi -
Brutus's army is decisively defeated by
Mark Antony and
Octavian. He commits suicide.
*
425 -
Valentinian III is elevated as
Roman Emperor, at the age of 6.
*
502 - The
Synodus Palmaris, called by
Gothic king
Theodoric the Great, discarges
Pope Symmachus of all charges, thus ending the schism of
Antipope Laurentius.
*
1086 - At the
Battle of az-Zallaqah, the army of
Yusuf ibn Tashfin defeats the forces of
Castilian King
Alfonso VI*
1641 - Outbreak of the
Irish Rebellion of 1641 - anniversary commemorated by Irish Protestants for over 200 years
*
1694 - American colonial forces, led by
Sir William Phips, fail to seize
Quebec.
*
1707 - The first
Parliament of Great Britain meets.
*
1739 -
War of Jenkins' Ear starts:
British Prime Minister,
Robert Walpole, reluctantly declares war on
Spain.
*
1812 -
Claude François de Malet, a French general, begins a conspiracy to overthrow
Napoleon Bonaparte, claiming that the Emperor died in
Russia and that he was now the commandant of Paris. De Malet was executed on
October 29.
*
1813 - The
Pacific Fur Company trading post in
Astoria, Oregon is turned over to the rival
British North West Company (the
fur trade in the
Pacific Northwest was dominated for the next three decades by the
United Kingdom).
*
1855 -
Kansas Free State forces set up a competing government under their
Topeka, Kansas, constitution, which outlaws
slavery in the
United States territory.
*
1861 - President
Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of
habeas corpus in
Washington, D.C., for all military-related cases.
*
1864 -
American Civil War:
Battle of Westport -
Union forces under General
Samuel R. Curtis defeat
Confederate troops led by General
Sterling Price at
Westport, near
Kansas City.
*
1867 - 72 Senators were summoned by
Royal Proclamation to serve as the first members of the
Canadian Senate.
*
1906 -
Alberto Santos-Dumont flies the
14-bis in the first officially-recognised
heavier-than-air flight at
Champs de Bagatelle,
Paris,
France.
*
1911 - First use of
aircraft in
war: an
Italian pilot takes off from
Libya to survey
Turkish lines during the
Turco-Italian War.
*
1915 -
Woman's suffrage: In
New York City, 25,000-33,000 women march up Fifth Avenue to demand the
right to vote.
*
1929 -
Great Depression: After a steady decline in
stock market prices since a peak in September, the
New York Stock Exchange begins to show signs of panic.
*
1929 - The first transcontinental air service begins from
New York City to
Los Angeles.
*
1930 - The first
miniature golf tournament finished in
Chattanooga, Tennessee.
*
1935 -
Dutch Schultz,
Abe Landau,
Otto Berman, and Bernard "Lulu" Rosenkrantz are fatally shot in a bar in
Newark, New Jersey in what will become known as
The Chophouse Massacre.
*
1941 -
World War II:
Georgy Zhukov assumes command of
Red Army efforts to stop the
German advance into
Russia.
*
1942 - World War II:
Second Battle of El Alamein starts - At
El Alamein in
Egypt,
British forces begin a major offensive against
Axis forces.
*
1944 - World War II:
Battle of Leyte Gulf begins - The largest naval battle in history begins in
Leyte Gulf, the
Red Army enters
Hungary*
1946 - The
United Nations General Assembly convened in New York for the first time, at an auditorium in Flushing Meadow.
*
1956 - Thousands of
Hungarians protest
Soviet influence and occupation in their nation (
Hungarian Revolution is put down on
November 4).
*
1958 -
Belgian cartoonist Peyo introduced a new set of
comic strip characters
The Smurfs.
*
1965 -
Vietnam War:
Operation Silver Bayonet - The
U.S. 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) in conjunction with
South Vietnamese forces, launch a new operation, seeking to destroy
North Vietnamese forces in
Pleku Province in II Corps Tactical Zone (the Central Highlands).
*
1973 -
Watergate Scandal: US President
Richard M. Nixon agrees to turn over subpoenaed audio tapes of his Oval Office conversations about the scandal.
* 1973 - A
U.N. sanctioned cease-fire officially ends the
Yom Kippur War between
Israel and
Syria.
*
1983 -
Lebanon Civil War:
U.S. Marines barracks in
Beirut hit by truck bomb, killing 241 U.S. servicemen.
French barracks also hit the same morning, killing 58.
*
1987 - The
U.S. Senate rejected the
Supreme Court nomination of
Robert H. Bork on a 58-42 vote.
*
1989 - The
Hungarian Republic is officially declared by president
Mátyás Szűrös (replacing the Hungarian People's Republic).
*
1992 -
Akihito becomes the first
Emperor of Japan to stand on
Chinese soil.
*
1993 - The
Toronto Blue Jays win their second straight
World Series.
*
1996 - The civil trial of former
American football player
O.J. Simpson opens in
Santa Monica, California.
*
1998 -
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and
Palestinian Chairman
Yasser Arafat reach a "
land-for-peace" agreement.
* 1998 -
Abortion in the United States: In
Amherst, New York,
abortion doctor
Barnett Slepian is killed in his home by a
sniper.
* 1998 -
Swatch Internet Time introduced
*
1999 -
Apple Computer's
Mac OS 9 is released and sold
*
2001 - The
Provisional Irish Republican Army of
Northern Ireland commences disarmament after peace talks encouraged by
American President Bill Clinton.
* 2001 -
iPod released in USA.
*
2002 -
Moscow Theatre Siege begins:
Chechen rebels seize the House of Culture theater in
Moscow and take approximately 700 theatergoers hostage.
*
2004 -
Brazil's "Operation Cajuana" launches its first rocket into space, the
VSB-30, just 14 months after its space program was devastated by a deadly launch pad accident.
* 2004 - A powerful
earthquake and its aftershocks hit
Niigata prefecture, northern
Japan, killing 35 people, injuring 2,200, and leaving 85,000 homeless or evacuated.
*
1698 -
Ange-Jacques Gabriel, French architect (d.
1782)
*
1705 -
Maximilian Ulysses Reichsgraf von Browne, Austrian field marshal (d.
1757)
*
1715 - Tsar
Peter II of Russia (d.
1730)
*
1762 -
Samuel Morey, American inventor (d.
1843)
*
1766 -
Emmanuel, marquis de Grouchy, French marshal (d.
1847)
*
1771 -
Jean-Andoche Junot, French general (d.
1813)
*
1790 -
Chauncey Allen Goodrich, American clergyman, educator and lexicographer (d.
1860)
*
1796 -
Stefano Franscini, Swiss Federal Councilor (d.
1857)
*
1801 -
Albert Lortzing, German composer (d.
1851)
*
1805 -
John Bartlett, American lexicographer (d.
1905)
*
1813 -
Ludwig Leichhardt, German explorer (d.
1848)
*
1817 -
Pierre Athanase Larousse, French lexicographer and encyclopedist
*
1835 -
Adlai E. Stevenson,
Vice President of the United States*
1844 -
Sarah Bernhardt, French actress (d.
1923)
* 1844 -
Robert Bridges, English poet (d.
1930)
*
1865 -
Neltje Blanchan, American writer (d.
1918)
*
1870 -
Bishop Francis Kelley, Catholic Bishop of Oklahoma (d.
1948)
*
1875 -
Gilbert N. Lewis, American chemist
*
1876 -
Franz Schlegelberger, German judge and politician (d.
1970)
*
1880 -
Una O'Connor, Irish actress (d.
1959)
*
1885 -
Lawren Harris, Canadian painter (d.
1970)
*
1892 -
Gummo Marx, American actor and comedian (d.
1977)
*
1894 -
Rube Bressler, Baseball player (d.
1966)
*
1896 -
André Lévêque, French engineer and scientist (d.
1930)
*
1904 -
Harvey Penick, American golfer (d.
1995)
*
1905 -
Felix Bloch, Swiss-born physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1983)
*
1906 -
Gertrude Ederle, American swimmer (d.
2003)
*
1908 -
Ilya Frank, Russian physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1990)
*
1909 -
Zellig Harris, American linguist
*
1923 -
Ned Rorem, American composer
* 1923 -
Frank Sutton, American actor (d.
1974)
*
1925 -
Johnny Carson, American television host (d.
2005)
*
1927 -
Leszek Kołakowski, Polish philosopher
*
1931 -
Jim Bunning, baseball player and U.S. Senator
* 1931 -
Diana Dors, British actress
*
1934 -
Samuel Anthony, Jr. American architect
*
1935 -
Chi Chi Rodriguez, Puerto Rican golfer
*
1936 -
Philip Kaufman, American film director
*
1940 -
Pelé, Brazilian footballer
*
1941 -
Igor Smirnov, Moldovan politician
*
1942 -
Michael Crichton, American writer
*
1946 -
Melquiades Martinez, U.S. Senator from Florida
* 1946 -
Graca Machel, wife of
Nelson Mandela*
1948 -
Hermann Hauser, Austrian-born entrepreneur
*
1949 -
Nick Tosches, American writer
*
1951 -
Fatmir Sejdiu,
President of Kosovo* 1951 -
Charly Garcia, Argentine singer
*
1954 -
Ang Lee, Taiwanese-born director and producer
*
1956 -
Dwight Yoakam, American singer, songwriter, and actor
*
1959 -
Sam Raimi, American film director and producer
* 1959 -
"Weird Al" Yankovic, American musical parodist
*
1962 -
Doug Flutie, American football player
*
1964 -
Robert Trujillo, American bass guitarist (
Metallica)
*
1965 -
Al Leiter, baseball player
*
1969 -
Trudi Canavan, Writer, graphic artist
*
1970 -
Jasmin St. Claire, former porn star and wrestling valet
*
1974 -
Sander Westerveld, Dutch footballer
*
1975 -
Jessicka, American artist, singer, and songwriter (
Scarling.)
* 1975 -
Keith Van Horn, American basketball player
* 1975 -
Odalys Garcia, Cuban actress, model, and singer
*
1976 -
Ryan R. Reynolds, Canadian actor
*
1978 -
Steve Harmison, English cricketer
*1978 -
Archie Thompson, Australian footballer
*
1979 -
Simon Davies, Welsh footballer
*
1984 -
Izabel Goulart, Brazilian model
*
1987 -
Faye Hamlin, Swedish singer (
Play)
*
1990 -
Stevie Brock, American singer
*
42 BC -
Marcus Junius Brutus, Roman senator (b.
85 BC)
*
930 -
Daigo,
Emperor of Japan (b.
885)
*
1456 -
Giovanni da Capistrano, Italian saint (b.
1386)
*
1550 -
Tiedemann Giese, Polish Catholic bishop (b.
1480)
*
1581 -
Michael Neander, German mathematician and astronomer (b.
1529)
*
1616 -
Leonhard Hutter, German theologian (b.
1563)
*
1688 -
Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange, French philologist (b.
1610)
*
1730 -
Anne Oldfield, English actress (b.
1683)
*
1764 -
Emmanuel-Auguste de Cahideuc, Comte Dubois de la Motte, French naval officer (b.
1683)
*
1774 -
Michel Benoist, French Jesuit missionary and scientist (b.
1715)
*
1872 -
Théophile Gautier, French writer (b.
1811)
*
1910 -
Chulalongkorn,
King of Thailand (b.
1853)
*
1915 -
W. G. Grace, English cricketer (b.
1848)
*
1921 -
John Boyd Dunlop, Scottish inventor (b.
1840)
*
1939 -
Zane Grey, American author (b.
1872)
*
1944 -
Charles Glover Barkla, English physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1877)
*
1950 -
Al Jolson, American singer and actor (b.
1886)
*
1978 -
Maybelle Carter, American guitarist and musical innovator (b.
1909)
*
1983 -
Jessica Savitch, American journalist (b.
1947)
*
1984 -
James Petrillo, leader of the U.S. musicians union (b. 1892)
*
1986 -
Edward Adelbert Doisy, American biochemist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1893*
1990 -
Louis Althusser, French philosopher (b.
1918)
*
1996 -
Bob Grim, baseball player (b.
1930)
*
1997 -
Bert Haanstra, Dutch filmmaker (b.
1916)
*
1998 -
Barnett Slepian, American physician (b.
1946)
*
2001 -
Ronald William Kirby, British artist (b.
1928)
*
2003 -
Bill Nicholson, English football player and manager (b.
1919)
*
2003 -
Tony Capstick, English actor, comedian, and musician (b.
1944)
*
2004 -
Robert Merrill, American baritone (b.
1919)
*
2005 -
Stella Obasanjo, Nigerian first lady (b.
1945)
* 2005 -
John Muth, American economist (b.
1930)
*
R.C. Saints - Saint
Giovanni da Capistrano;
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius* Also see
October 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)*
Hungary -
National Day (revolution of
1956 and the proclamation of the Republic of Hungary in
1989)
*
Astrology: First day of sun sign
Scorpio in Western
tropical astrology.
*
Chemistry:
Mole Day*
French Republican Calendar -
Céleri (Celery) Day, second day in the
Month of Brumaire*
BBC: On This DayOctober 22 -
October 24 -
September 23 -
November 23 --
listing of all days
