July 23

Historic Events

2018

A wildfire in East Attica kills at least 102 people. It is the deadliest wildfire in the history of Greece. ›

2015

NASA announces discovery of Kepler-452b by the Kepler space telescope. ›

2014

TransAsia Airways Flight 222 crashes in Xixi village near Huxi, Penghu, during approach to Penghu Airport. Forty-eight of the 58 people on board are killed and five more people on the ground are injured. ›

2012

The Solar storm of 2012 was an unusually large coronal mass ejection that was emitted by the Sun which barely missed the Earth by nine days. If it hit, it would have caused up to US$2.6 trillion in damages to electrical equipment worldwide. ›

2011

A high-speed train rear-ends another on a viaduct on the Yongtaiwen railway line in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, China, resulting in 40 deaths. ›

2010

The English-Irish boy band One Direction were formed while auditioning for the 2010 series of the British singing competition The X Factor. ›

2005

Three bombs explode in the Naama Bay area of Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, killing 88 people. ›

2001

Megawati Sukarnoputri was sworn in as the first female president of Indonesia following her predecessor's impeachment. ›

1999

ANA Flight 61 is hijacked in Tokyo, Japan by Yuji Nishizawa. ›

1999

Space Shuttle Columbia launches on STS-93, with Eileen Collins becoming the first female space shuttle commander. The shuttle also carried and deployed the Chandra X-ray Observatory. ›

1997

Digital Equipment Corporation files antitrust charges against chipmaker Intel. ›

1995

Comet Hale–Bopp is discovered; it becomes visible to the naked eye on Earth nearly a year later. ›

1993

China Northwest Airlines Flight 2119 crashes during takeoff from Yinchuan Xihuayuan Airport in Yinchuan, Ningxia, China, killing 55 people. ›

1992

A Vatican commission, led by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, establishes that limiting certain rights of homosexual people and non-married couples is not equivalent to discrimination on grounds of race or gender. ›

1992

Abkhazia declares independence from Georgia. ›

1988

General Ne Win, effective ruler of Burma since 1962, resigns after pro-democracy protests. ›

1983

Thirteen Sri Lanka Army soldiers are killed after a deadly ambush by the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. ›

1983

Gimli Glider: Air Canada Flight 143 runs out of fuel and makes a deadstick landing at Gimli, Manitoba. ›

1982

Outside Santa Clarita, California, actor Vic Morrow and two children are killed when a helicopter crashes onto them while shooting a scene from Twilight Zone: The Movie. ›

1980

Phạm Tuân becomes the first Vietnamese citizen and the first Asian in space when he flies aboard the Soyuz 37 mission as an Intercosmos Research Cosmonaut. ›

1974

The Greek military junta collapses, and former Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis is invited to lead the new government, beginning Greece's metapolitefsi era. ›

1972

The United States launches Landsat 1, the first Earth-resources satellite. ›

1970

Qaboos bin Said al Said becomes Sultan of Oman after overthrowing his father, Said bin Taimur initiating massive reforms, modernization programs and end to a decade long civil war. ›

1968

The only successful hijacking of an El Al aircraft takes place when a Boeing 707 carrying ten crew and 38 passengers is taken over by three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The aircraft was en route from Rome, to Lod, Israel. ›

1967

Detroit Riots: In Detroit, one of the worst riots in United States history begins on 12th Street in the predominantly African American inner city. It ultimately kills 43 people, injures 342 and burns about 1,400 buildings. ›

1962

Telstar relays the first publicly transmitted, live trans-Atlantic television program, featuring Walter Cronkite. ›

1962

The International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos is signed. ›

1962

Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. ›

1961

The Sandinista National Liberation Front is founded in Nicaragua. ›

1952

General Muhammad Naguib leads the Free Officers Movement (formed by Gamal Abdel Nasser, the real power behind the coup) in overthrowing King Farouk of Egypt. ›

1945

The post-war legal processes against Philippe Pétain begin. ›

1943

The Rayleigh bath chair murder occurred in Rayleigh, Essex, England. ›

1943

World War II: The British destroyers HMS Eclipse and HMS Laforey sink the Italian submarine Ascianghi in the Mediterranean after she torpedoes the cruiser HMS Newfoundland. ›

1942

World War II: The German offensives Operation Edelweiss and Operation Braunschweig begin on the Eastern Front. ›

1942

Bulgarian poet and Communist leader Nikola Vaptsarov is executed by firing squad. ›

1940

The United States' Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles issues a declaration on the U.S. non-recognition policy of the Soviet annexation and incorporation of three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. ›

1936

In Catalonia, Spain, the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia is founded through the merger of Socialist and Communist parties. ›

1927

The first station of the Indian Broadcasting Company goes on the air in Bombay. ›

1926

Fox Film buys the patents of the Movietone sound system for recording sound onto film. ›

1921

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is established at the founding National Congress. ›

1919

Prince Regent Aleksander Karađorđević signs the decree establishing the University of Ljubljana ›

1914

July Crisis: Austria-Hungary issues a series of demands in an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia demanding Serbia to allow the Austrians to determine who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Serbia accepts all but one of those demands and Austria declares war on July 28. ›

1908

The Second Constitution accepted by the Ottomans. ›

1906

The Amsden Building collapse in Framingham, Massachusetts, U.S., claimed 12 lives. ›

1903

The Ford Motor Company sells its first car. ›

1900

Pressed by expanding immigration, Canada closes its doors to paupers and criminals. ›

1881

The Boundary Treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina is signed in Buenos Aires. ›

1874

Aires de Ornelas e Vasconcelos is appointed the Archbishop of the Portuguese colonial enclave of Goa, India. ›

1862

American Civil War: Henry Halleck becomes general-in-chief of the Union Army. ›

1862

Begin of the Hyde Park Riots. ›

1840

The Province of Canada is created by the Act of Union. ›

1829

In the United States, William Austin Burt patents the typographer, a precursor to the typewriter. ›

1821

While the Mora Rebellion continues, Greeks capture Monemvasia Castle. Turkish troops and citizens are transferred to Asia Minor's coasts. ›

1813

Sir Thomas Maitland is appointed as the first Governor of Malta, transforming the island from a British protectorate to a de facto colony. ›

1793

Kingdom of Prussia re-conquers Mainz from France. ›

1711

The treaty of Pruth between the Ottoman and Russian Empire is signed. ›

1677

Scanian War: Denmark–Norway captures the harbor town of Marstrand from Sweden. ›

1632

Three hundred colonists bound for New France depart from Dieppe, France. ›

1319

A Knights Hospitaller fleet scores a crushing victory over an Aydinid fleet off Chios. ›

811

Byzantine emperor Nikephoros I plunders the Bulgarian capital of Pliska and captures Khan Krum's treasury. ›

685

Election of pope John V following the death of pope Benedict II two month prior. ›