August 23

Events

• 1328 - Battle of Kassel: French troops stop an uprising of Flemish farmers
• 1566 - Calvinists are granted rights in the Netherlands
• 1614 - The University of Groningen is established
• 1617 - In London, the first one-way street is established
• 1784 - Eastern Tennessee declares itself an independent state under the name of Franklin; the step is rejected by Congress one year later
• 1821 - Mexico gains its independence from Spain
• 1833 - Slavery abolished in the British colonies
• 1839 - The UK captures Hong Kong
• 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
• 1889 - First wireless message from a ship to the shore received
• 1904 - The automobile tire chain is patented
• 1914 - Japan declares war on Germany and bombs Qingdao, China
• 1923 - Edgar F. Codd, founder of theory of relational databases
• 1924 - The distance between Earth and Mars is the smallest since the 10th century

• 1927 - Italian anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti are executed
• 1939 - Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression treaty, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. In a secret addition to the pact, Poland is divided between the two nations
• 1940 - The Germans start bombing London
• 1942 - Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad
• 1943 - Kharkov liberated
• 1944 - Marseilles liberated
• 1944 - The Romanian pro-Nazi government is dismissed. Romania switches sides from the Axis to the Allies
• 1944 - United States Air Force B-24 Liberator bomber crashed and hit a school in Freckleton, England killing 61 people
• 1948 - World Council of Churches is formed
• 1952 - The Arab League goes into effect
• 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
• 1973 - The Intelsat communication satellite is launched
• 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
• 1985 - Hans Tiedge, top counter-spy of West Germany, defects to East Germany
• 1987 - Heavy rains and floods in Bangladesh kill hundreds of victims
• 1988 - Singing Revolution: two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stood on the Vilnius-Tallinn road, holding hands
• 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
• 2000 - A Gulf Air Airbus A320 crashes into the Persian Gulf near Manama, Bahrain killing 143

Births

• 1754 - King Louis XVI of France († 1792)
• 1769 - Georges Cuvier, biologist, statesman
• 1783 - William Tierney Clark, civil engineer († 1852)
• 1785 - Oliver Hazard Perry, US naval officer (Battle of Lake Erie)
• 1829 - Moritz Cantor, mathematician
• 1852 - Arnold Toynbee, economist, social reformer
• 1864 - Eleftherios Venizalos, prime minister of Greece (1910-1915, 1928-1932)
• 1869 - Edgar Lee Masters, author († 1950)
• 1875 - William Eccles, radio pioneer
• 1883 - US General Jonathan Wainwright, Medal of Honor recipient
• 1900 - Ernst Krenek, composer († 1991)
• 1901 - John Sherman Cooper, Senator from Kentucky († 1991)
• 1905 - Constant Lambert, composer († 1951)
• 1912 - Gene Kelly, dancer, actor († 1996)
• 1914 - Harold Truscott, composer († 1992)
• 1917 - Tex Williams, singer
• 1921 - Eadie Del Rubio († 1996), Elena Del Rubio († 2001), and Milly Del Rubio, the Del Rubio Triplets, singers, musicians, actresses
• 1922 - George Kell, baseball player
• 1924 - Ephraim Kishon, Israeli writer
• 1927 - Dick Bruna, illustrator
• 1927 - Houari Boumendienne, president of Algeria (1965-1978)
• 1929 - Peter Thompson, golfer
• 1929 - Vera Miles, actress
• 1930 - Michel Rocard, Prime Minister of France
• 1932 - Mark Russell, comedian, musician, political commentator
• 1933 - Pete Wilson, governor of California
• 1934 - Barbara Eden, actress
• 1934 - Sonny Jurgensen, professional football player
• 1936 - Henry Lee Lucas, serial killer(† 2001)
• 1943 - Nelson DeMille, novelist
• 1947 - Keith Moon, singer, drummer (The Who) († 1978)
• 1949 - Rick Springfield, singer, actor
• 1949 - Shelley Long, actress
• 1951 - Queen Noor of Jordan
• 1952 - Vicky Leandros, singer
• 1970 - River Phoenix, actor († 1993)
• 1970 - Jay Mohr, actor, comedian
• 1978 - Kobe Bryant, NBA basketball player

Deaths

• 93 - Gnaeus Julius Agricola, Roman governor of Britain
• 634 - Abu Bakr, Muslim Caliph
• 1806 - Charles Augustin de Coulomb, physicist
• 1813 - Alexander Wilson, ornithologist
• 1926 - Rudolph Valentino, actor
• 1927 - Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, murderers
• 1937 - Albert Roussel, composer
• 1960 - Oscar Hammerstein II, lyricist
• 1962 - Hoot Gibson, actor
• 1965 - John Bata, shoe manufacturer
• 1966 - Francis X. Bushman, actor
• 1977 - Sebastian Cabot, actor
• 1982 - Stanford Moore, biochemist
• 2001 - Peter Maas, novelist

Holidays and observances

• Romania: Liberation Day (1944)
• Swaziland: Umhlanga Day
• Roman Empire: Vulcanalia

August 22 - August 24 - July 23 - September 23 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Referenced By