August 23

2024 Calendar

August 23 is the 235th day of the year (236th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 130 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

Up to 1900

30 BC – After a successful invasion of Egypt, Octavian has Marcus Antonius Antyllus and Caesarion executed.
79 – Mount Vesuvius starts to show activity, a day before it erupted, destroying Pompeii and Herculaneum.
406 – Gothic king Radagaisus is executed after he is defeated by Roman general Stilicho.
476 – Odoacer, chieftain of the Germanic tribes, is proclaimed King of Italy by his troops.
1244 – Siege of Jerusalem: The city's citadel, the Tower of David, surrenders to the Kharezmian Empire.
1305 – William Wallace is executed.
1328 – Battle of Kassel: French troops stop an uprising of Flemish farmers
1328 – King Philip VI of France is crowned.
1382 – Siege of Moscow: The Golden Horde led by khan Tokhtamysh lays siege to the capital of the Grand Duchy of Moscow.
1521 – Christian II of Denmark is deposed as King of Sweden and Gustav Vasa is elected regent.
1540 – French explorer Jacques Cartier lands near Quebec City in his third voyage to Canada.
1566 – Calvinists are granted rights in the Netherlands.
1592 – Japanese invasions of Korea: Yeongwon Castle is besieged by the Japanese Fourth Division, led by Ito Suketaka.
1614 – The University of Groningen is established.
1617 – In London, the first one–way street is established.
1628 – George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham is assassinated by John Felton.
1651 – Charles II enters Worcester and starts a battle.
1655 – Battle of Sobota: The Swedish Empire led by Charles X Gustav defeats the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
1784 – Eastern Tennessee declares itself an independent state under the name of Franklin; the step is rejected by Congress one year later.
1793 – French Revolution: a levée en masse was decreed by the National Convention.
1799 – Napoleon leaves Egypt for France en route to seize power.
1813 – At the Battle of Grossbeeren, the Prussians under Von Bulow repulse the French army.
1821 – Mexico gains its independence from Spain.
1833 – Slavery abolished in the British colonies.
1839 – The UK captures Hong Kong.
1858 – The Round Oak rail accident occurs in Brierley Hill in the Black Country, England.
1864 – The Union Navy captures Fort Morgan, Alabama, thus breaking Confederate dominance of all ports on the Gulf of Mexico.
1866 – Austro–Prussian War ends with the Treaty of Prague.
1873 – The Albert Bridge is opened across the Thames in Chelsea, London, England, United Kingdom.
1889 – First wireless message from a ship to the shore received.
1896 – Start of the Philippines Revolution.

1901 – 1950

1904 – The automobile tire chain is patented.
1913 – A statue of the Little Mermaid is put up in Copenhagen.
1914 – World War I: Japan declares war on Germany and bombs Qingdao, China.
1921 – British airship R–38 experiences a structural failure over Kingston–Upon–Hull and crashes into the Humber estuary.
1924 – The distance between Earth and Mars is the smallest since the 10th century.
1927 – Italian anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti are executed in Boston, Massachusetts.
1929 – Arabs attack Jews in Israel.
1938 – English cricketer Len Hutton sets the world record for the highest individual test innings of 364, against Australia.
1939 – World War II: Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non–aggression treaty, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. In a secret addition to the pact, Baltic states, Finland and Poland are divided between the two nations.
1940 – World War II: The Germans start bombing London.
1942 – World War II: Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad
1943 – World War II: Kharkov liberated.
1944 – World War II: Marseille liberated.
1944 – World War II: King Michael of Romania dismisses the pro–Nazi government of General Antonescu. Romania switches sides from the Axis to the Allies.
1944 – A US Army Air Force B–24 Liberator bomber crashes into a school in Freckleton, England killing 61 people.
1944 – World War II: Ion Antonescu, Prime Minister of Romania, is arrested and a new government is established. Romania exits the war against Russia joining the Allies.
1946 – Three states are created in the British occupation zone of post–World War II Germany: North Rhine–Westphalia, Schleswig–Holstein, and the short–lived state of Hanover.
1947 – The Maynard Midgets beat Lock Haven 16–7 to win the first–ever Little League World Series championship.
1948 – World Council of Churches is formed.
1950 – The Subansiri Dam break in India kills 532 people.

1951 – 2000

1952 – The Arab League goes into effect.
1958 – Chinese Civil War: The Second Taiwan Strait crisis begins with the People's Liberation Army's bombardment of Quemoy.
1960 – In Equatorial Guinea, the world's largest frog (3.3 kg) is caught.
1962 – First live television connection between the United States and Europe, via the Telstar satellite.
1966 – Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon.
1968 – Ringo Starr temporarily quits The Beatles
1973 – The Intelsat communication satellite is launched.
1973 – Salvador Allende, President of Chile, named Augusto Pinochet as Commander–in–Chief of the Chilean Army. Just 19 days later, Pinochet takes power in a coup, overthrowing Allende, who is killed.
1975 – Successful Communist coup in Laos
1976 – A major earthquake in China kills thousands of people.
1979 – Soviet dancer Alexander Godunov defects to the United States.
1982 – Bachir Gemayel is elected President of Lebanon during his country's civil war. He will not become president, as he is killed on September 14, before he can take office.
1985 – Hans Tiedge, top counter–spy of West Germany, defects to East Germany.
1987 – Heavy rains and floods in Bangladesh kill hundreds of victims.
1989 – Singing Revolution: two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stand on the Vilnius–Tallinn road, holding hands (Baltic way).
1989 – All of Australia's 1,645 domestic airline pilots resign after the airlines threaten to sack them and sue them over a dispute.
1990 – Saddam Hussein appears on Iraqi state television with a number of Western "guests" (actually hostages to try to prevent the Gulf War).
1990 – Armenia declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
1990 – West Germany and East Germany announce that they will unite on October 3.
1991 – Tim Berners–Lee opens the World Wide Web to new users.
1992 – Hurricane Andrew hits South Florida.
1993 – The Galileo spacecraft discovers a moon orbiting around an asteroid; Dactyl orbits around the asteroid 243 Ida.
1999 – The Federal Republic of Germany is governed from Berlin from this day.
2000 – A Gulf Air Airbus A320 crashes into the Persian Gulf near Manama, Bahrain, killing 143 people.
2000 – Nicaragua becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty. This basically replaced the Buenos Aires Convention treaty, because as of this date, all members of the BA Convention were also signatories to Berne.

From 2001

2005 – Hurricane Katrina forms as a tropical depression.
2006 – In Austria, Natascha Kampusch manages to escape from 8 years of captivity. Her captor Wolfgang Priklopil commits suicide soon after.
2010 – Nine people, including the hostage taker, are killed in a hostage crisis on board a bus in Manila, Philippines.
2011 – 2011 Virginia earthquake: A magnitude 5.8 earthquake strikes near Mineral, Virginia, and is felt all the way along the eastern seaboard of the United States. No one is killed, but damage is reported on buildings, including monuments in Washington, DC.
2018 – Sexual harassment allegations against former First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond are made public.

Births

Up to 1900

686 – Charles Martel, grandfather of Charlemagne (d. 741)
963 – Richard II, Duke of Normandy (d. 1027)
1486 – Sigismund von Herberstein, Austrian diplomat and historian (d. 1566)
1517 – Francis I of Lorraine (d. 1545)
1524 – François Hotman, French lawyer and writer (d. 1590)
1623 – Stanisław Lubieniecki, Polish astronomer (d. 1675)
1724 – Abraham Yates, American Continental Congressman (d. 1796)
1740 – Tsar Ivan VI of Russia (d. 1764)
1741 – Jean–François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse, French explorer (d. 1788)
1754 – King Louis XVI of France (d. 1792)
1756 – Francois Chabot, French priest and politician (d. 1794)
1757 – Marie Magdalene Charlotte Ackermann, German actress (d. 1775)
1769 – Georges Cuvier, French biologist and statesman (d. 1832)
1783 – William Tierney Clark, English civil engineer (d. 1852)
1785 – Oliver Hazard Perry, American naval officer (d. 1819)
1797 – Adhemar Jean Claude Barre de Saint–Venant, French scientist (d. 1886)
1805 – Anton von Schmerling, Austrian politician and jurist (d. 1893)
1811 – Auguste Bravais, French physicist (d. 1863)
1814 – James Roosevelt Bayley, American archbishop (d. 1877)
1829 – Moritz Cantor, German mathematician (d. 1920)
1836 – Marie Henriette of Austria, Queen of Belgium (d. 1902)
1839 – James Geikie, Scottish geologist (d. 1915)
1846 – Alexander Milne Calder, American sculptor (d. 1923)
1847 – Sarah Frances Whiting, American physicist and astronomer (d. 1927)
1849 – William Ernest Henley, British poet, critic, and editor (d. 1903)
1850 – John Cockburn, Scottish–Australian politician, 18th Premier of South Australia (d. 1929)
1852 – Arnold Toynbee, English economist and social reformer (d. 1883)
1852 – Clímaco Calderón, President of Colombia (d. 1913)
1854 – Moritz Moszkowski, Polish composer and pianist (d. 1925)
1864 – Eleftherios Venizelos, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1936)
1868 – Edgar Lee Masters, American writer (d. 1950)
1872 – Tanguturi Prakasam, Indian politician (d. 1957)
1875 – William Eccles, English radio pioneer (d. 1966)
1880 – Alexander Grin, Russian writer (d. 1932)
1883 – Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright IV, American general (d. 1953)
1884 – Will Cuppy, American humorist (d. 1949)
1887 – Albert Gutterson, American athlete (d. 1965)
1887 – Friedrich Zander, Baltic German rocket engineer (d. 1933)
1890 – Harry Frank Guggenheim, American businessman and publisher (d. 1971)
1896 – Jacques Rueff, French politician (d. 1978)
1900 – Ernst Krenek, Austrian–born composer (d. 1991)

1901 – 1950

1901 – John Sherman Cooper, U.S. Senator from Kentucky (d. 1991)
1902 – Ida Siekmann, German victim of the Berlin Wall (d. 1961)
1903 – William Primrose, Scottish violist (d. 1982)
1905 – Constant Lambert, British composer (d. 1951)
1909 – Leila Danette, American actress (d. 2012)
1910 – Giuseppe Meazza, Italian footballer (d. 1979)
1911 – Birger Ruud, Norwegian athlete (d. 1998)
1911 – Betty Robinson, American athlete (d. 1999)
1912 – Gene Kelly, American dancer and actor (d. 1996)
1912 – Alexey Sudayev, Russian inventor (d. 1946)
1912 – Ed Benedict, American animator (d. 2006)
1913 – Bob Crosby, American singer, actor and bandleader (d. 1993)
1917 – Tex Williams, American singer (d. 1985)
1917 – Antonio Innocenti, Italian cardinal (d. 2008)
1918 – Bernard Fisher, American surgeon (d. 2019)
1919 – Vladimir Rokhlin, Soviet mathematician (d. 1984)
1921 – Kenneth Arrow, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2017)
1921 – Franco Ossola, Italian footballer (d. 1949)
1922 – Jean Darling, American actress and singer (d. 2015)
1922 – George Kell, American baseball player (d. 2009)
1923 – Edgar F. Codd, English computer scientist (d. 2003)
1924 – Ephraim Kishon, Israeli writer (d. 2005)
1924 – Robert Solow, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
1925 – Robert Mulligan, American movie director (d. 2008)
1926 – Leo Leandros, Greek singer, composer and music producer
1927 – Dick Bruna, Dutch illustrator (d. 2017)
1928 – Marian Seldes, American actress (d. 2014)
1929 – Vera Miles, American actress
1929 – Peter Thomson, Australian golfer (d. 2018)
1930 – Michel Rocard, former Prime Minister of France (d. 2016)
1931 – Hamilton O. Smith, American microbiologist
1932 – Houari Boumédiène, President of Algeria (d. 1978)
1932 – Mark Russell, American comedian, musician, and political commentator
1933 – Robert Curl, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
1933 – Pete Wilson, former Governor of California
1934 – Barbara Eden, American actress
1934 – Sonny Jurgensen, American football player
1934 – Carlos Amigo Vallejo, Archbishop of Seville and cardinal
1936 – Henry Lee Lucas, American serial killer (d. 2001)
1940 – Thomas A. Steitz, American molecular biologist and biochemist (d. 2018)
1943 – Donald Kalpokas, former Prime Minister of Vanuatu (d. 2019)
1943 – Raúl Cubas Grau, former President of Paraguay
1943 – Nelson DeMille, American novelist
1943 – Pino Presti, Italian bass player, arranger, composer, conductor, record producer
1944 – Antonia Novello, 14th Surgeon General of the United States
1945 – Bob Peck, British actor (d. 1999)
1945 – Rita Pavone, Italian singer
1945 – Rayfield Wright, American football player
1946 – Keith Moon, English singer and drummer (The Who) (d. 1978)
1947 – David Robb, British actor
1947 – Willy Russell, British playwright
1948 – Andrei Plesu, Romanian philosopher, journalist and politician
1949 – Shelley Long, American actress
1949 – Rick Springfield, Australian singer and actor
1950 – Luigi Delneri, Italian football manager
1950 – Roza Otunbayeva, former President of Kyrgyzstan

1951 – 1975

1951 – Queen Noor of Jordan
1951 – Akhmad Kadyrov, President of Chechnya (d. 2004)
1951 – Jimi Jamison, American rock music singer and songwriter (d. 2014)
1952 – Vicky Leandros, Greek singer
1952 – Santillana, Spanish footballer
1953 – Bobby G, English singer (Bucks Fizz)
1953 – Arturas Paulauskas, Lithuanian politician
1954 – Marc Vann, American actor
1954 – Halimah Yacob, 8th President of Singapore
1956 – Andreas Floer, German mathematician (d. 1991)
1956 – Valgerd Svarstad Haugland, Norwegian politician
1959 – Edwyn Collins, Scottish singer
1959 – Jorginho Putinatti, Brazilian footballer
1961 – Alexandre Desplat, French composer
1961 – Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, 54th Mayor of Tehran
1961 – Gary Mabbutt, English footballer
1962 – Martin Cauchon, Canadian lawyer and politician
1962 – Shaun Ryder, British musician
1963 – Park Chan–wook, South Korean film director, screenwriter and producer
1963 – Richard Illingworth, English cricketer
1963 – Kenny Wallace, American race car driver
1964 – Johan Bruyneel, Belgian cyclist
1965 – Richard Avary, Canadian movie and television producer, screenwriter and director
1966 – Alberto Acosta, Argentine footballer
1966 – Rik Smits, Dutch basketball player
1966 – Charley Boorman, English actor and adventurer
1967 – Jim Murphy, Scottish politician
1967 – Ant, American comedian and actor
1968 – Chris DiMarco, American golfer
1968 – Laura Claycomb, American operatic soprano
1968 – Hajime Moriyasu, Japanese footballer
1969 – Tinus Linee, South African rugby player (d. 2014)
1970 – Jay Mohr, American actor and comedian
1970 – River Phoenix, American actor (d. 1993)
1971 – Demetrio Albertini, Italian footballer
1971 – Gretchen Whitmer, American politician, Governor of Michigan
1972 – Souad Massi, Algerian singer and guitarist
1972 – Mark Butcher, English cricketer
1973 – Casey Blake, American baseball player
1973 – Chelsi Smith, American singer and beauty pageant winner (d. 2018)
1974 – Toni Brunner, Swiss politician
1974 – Konstantin Novoselov, Russian–British physicist
1974 – Ray Park, British actor
1974 – Benjamin Limo, Kenyan athlete
1975 – Eliza Carthy, English singer and fiddler

From 1976

1978 – Kobe Bryant, American basketball player (d. 2020)
1978 – Julian Casablancas, American musician
1979 – Jessica Bibby, Australian basketball player
1980 – Diamondog, Angolan rapper and journalist
1980 – Nenad Vuckovic, Serbian handball player
1981 – Carlos Cuellar, Spanish footballer
1982 – Natalie Coughlin, American swimmer
1982 – Trevor Wright, American actor
1983 – Sun Ming Ming, Chinese basketball player
1983 – James Collins, Welsh footballer
1983 – J. C. Bailey, American professional wrestler (d. 2010)
1984 – Glen Johnson, English footballer
1984 – Ashley Williams, English–Welsh footballer
1986 – SkyBlu, American rapper (LMFAO)
1986 – Vic Wild, American–Russian snowboarder
1986 – Neil Cicierega, American comedian, actor, singer and director
1988 – Carl Hagelin, Swedish ice hockey player
1988 – Vaani Kapoor, Indian actress
1988 – Niki Leinso, Croatian singer and songwriter
1988 – Jeremy Lin, American basketball player
1988 – Kim Matula, American actress
1990 – Reimond Manco, Peruvian footballer
1991 – Jennifer Abel, Canadian diver
1994 – Roberto Bellarosa, Belgian singer
1996 – David Gore, American actor

Deaths

Up to 1900

30 BC – Marcus Antonius Antyllus, Roman soldier, eldest son of Mark Antony (b. 47 BC)
30 BC – Caesarion, last king of Egypt's Ptolemaic Dynasty, son of Cleopatra
93 – Gnaeus Julius Agricola, Roman Governor of Britain (b. 40)
406 – Radagaisus, Gothic king
634 – Abu Bakr, Arabian caliph
1106 – Magnus, Duke of Saxony (b. 1045)
1176 – Emperor Rokujo of Japan (b. 1164)
1305 – William Wallace, Scottish patriot (executed) (b. 1272)
1329 – Frederick IV, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1282)
1387 – King Olav IV of Norway (b. 1370)
1498 – Isabella, Princess of Asturias (b. 1470)
1507 – Jean Molinet, French writer (b. 1435)
1519 – Philibert Berthelier, Swiss patriot
1540 – Guillaume Budé, French scholar
1591 – Luis Ponce de León, Spanish poet and mystic (b. 1527)
1618 – Gerbrand Adriaensz Bredero, Dutch writer (b. 1585)
1628 – George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, English statesman (b. 1592)
1652 – John Byron, 1st Baron Byron, English royalist politician (b. 1600)
1723 – Increase Mather, New England Puritan minister (b. 1639)
1802 – Corona Schröter, German singer and actress (b. 1751)
1806 – Charles Augustin de Coulomb, French physicist (b. 1736)
1813 – Alexander Wilson, Scottish–born ornithologist (b. 1766)
1819 – Oliver Hazard Perry, American naval officer (b. 1785)
1838 – Ferenc Kolcsey, Hungarian poet and politician (b. 1790)
1865 – Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, Austrian painter (b. 1793)
1866 – Auguste Barthélémy, French poet (b. 1796)
1883 – Sarah Yorke Jackson, First Lady of the United States (b. 1805)
1892 – Deodoro da Fonseca, 1st President of Brazil (b. 1827)
1900 – Kuroda Kiyotaka, 2nd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1844)

1901 – 2000

1926 – Rudolph Valentino, Italian actor (b. 1895)
1927 – Nicola Sacco, Italian anarchist (executed) (b. 1891)
1927 – Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Italian anarchist (executed) (b. 1888)
1933 – Adolf Loos, Austrian architect (b. 1870)
1937 – Albert Roussel, French composer (b. 1869)
1944 – Abdülmecid II, Ottoman Caliph (b. 1868)
1958 – Roger Martin du Gard, French writer (b. 1881)
1960 – Oscar Hammerstein II, American lyricist (b. 1895)
1962 – Walter Anderson, German folklorist (b. 1885)
1962 – Hoot Gibson, American actor (b. 1892)
1966 – Francis X. Bushman, American actor (b. 1883)
1977 – Naum Gabo, Russian artist (b. 1890)
1982 – Stanford Moore, American biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1913)
1987 – Didier Pironi, French racing driver (b. 1952)
1989 – R. D. Laing, Scottish psychiatrist (b. 1927)
1997 – John Kendrew, British molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1917)
1997 – Eric Gairy, 1st Prime Minister of Grenada (b. 1922)

From 2001

2001 – Peter Maas, American novelist (b. 1929)
2002 – Hoyt Wilhelm, baseball player (b. 1922)
2003 – Imperio Argentina, Argentine singer and actress (b. 1906)
2003 – Bobby Bonds, baseball player and manager (b. 1946)
2003 – Jack Dyer, Australian footballer (b. 1913)
2005 – Brock Peters, American actor (b. 1927)
2006 – Wolfgang Priklopil, Austrian kidnapper (b. 1961)
2008 – Thomas Huckle Weller, American bacteriologist and parasitologist (b. 1915)
2010 – Satoshi Kon, Japanese movie director (b. 1963)
2012 – Steve Van Buren, Honduran–born American football player (b. 1920)
2012 – Jerry Nelson, American puppeteer (b. 1934)
2013 – Gilbert Taylor, British cinematographer (b. 1914)
2014 – Birgitta Stenberg, Swedish author (b. 1932)
2014 – Annefleur Kalvenhaar, Dutch cyclist (b. 1994)
2014 – Hajo Meyer, German–Dutch physicist (b. 1924)
2014 – Jaume Vallcorba Plana, Spanish philologist (b. 1949)
2014 – Dan Magill, American tennis coach (b. 1921)
2014 – Ahti Pekkala, Finnish politician (b. 1924)
2014 – Marcel Rigout, French politician (b. 1928)
2014 – Philippine de Rothschild, French winemaker and baroness (b. 1933)
2014 – Albert Ebossé Bodjongo, Cameroonian footballer (b. 1989)
2015 – Guy Ligier, French rugby player and racing driver (b. 1930)
2015 – Yosi Piamenta, Israeli musician (b. 1951)
2016 – Steven Hill, American actor (b. 1922)
2016 – Reinhard Selten, German economist (b. 1930)
2017 – Joe Klein, American baseball executive (b. 1942)
2017 – Eduardo Angeloz, Argentine politician (b. 1931)
2017 – Viola Harris, American actress (b. 1926)
2017 – Jack Rosenthal, Israeli–American journalist (b. 1935)
2017 – Engelbert Jarek, Polish footballer (b. 1935)
2017 – George A. Keyworth II, American physicist (b. 1939)
2017 – Izak Parviz Nazarian, Iranian–American businessman (b. 1929)
2017 – Jeannie Rousseau, French Allied intelligence agent (b. 1919)
2018 – Russ Heath, American comic book artist (b. 1926)
2018 – Dieter Thomas Heck, German actor and television presenter (b. 1937)
2018 – Kuldip Nayar, Indian journalist (b. 1923)
2018 – George Sheldon, American politician (b. 1947)
2018 – George Walker, American composer (b. 1922)
2018 – Franck Venaille, French poet and writer (b. 1936)
2018 – Dominik Kalata, Slovakian Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1925)
2019 – Amath Dansokho, Senegalese politician (b. 1937)
2019 – Carlo Delle Piane, Italian actor (b. 1936)
2019 – David Koch, American businessman (b. 1940)
2019 – Roaring Lion, British–bred racehorse (b. 2015)
2019 – Rick Loomis, American game designer (b. 1946)
2019 – Massimo Mattioli, Italian cartoonist (b. 1943)
2019 – Egon Zimmermann, Austrian ski racer and businessman (b. 1939)

Observances

International Day for Abolition of Slave Trade (UNESCO)
European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Nazism and Stalinism (European Union)
Liberation from Fascist Occupation Day (Romania)
Flag Day (Ukraine)
Father's Day (Nepal)