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This day in history

This day in history: 23 February

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Born on this day · Died on this day152 · 87

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Key facts

305 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 23 February.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2025: A snap election is held in Germany.

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day: Blessed Rafaela Ybarra de Vilallonga

Christian feast day: February 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Polycarp of Smyrna

Christian feast day: Serenus the Gardener

Christian feast day: Willigis

Mashramani-Republic Day (Guyana)

National Day (Brunei)

Red Army Day or Day of Soviet Army and Navy in the former Soviet Union, also held in various former Soviet republics: Armed Forces Day (Tajikistan) (Tajikistan)

Red Army Day or Day of Soviet Army and Navy in the former Soviet Union, also held in various former Soviet republics: Defender of the Fatherland and Armed Forces day (Belarus)

Red Army Day or Day of Soviet Army and Navy in the former Soviet Union, also held in various former Soviet republics: Defender of the Fatherland Day (Russia)

The Emperor's Birthday, birthday of Naruhito, the current Emperor of Japan (Japan)

Events

2025A snap election is held in Germany.

2021Four simultaneous prison riots leave at least 62 people dead in Ecuador.

2020Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old African-American citizen, is shot and murdered by three white men after visiting a house under construction while jogging at a neighborhood in Satilla Shores near Brunswick in Glynn County, Georgia.

2019Atlas Air Flight 3591, a Boeing 767 freighter, crashes into Trinity Bay near Anahuac, Texas, killing all three people on board.

2018Parliamentary elections are held in Djibouti.

2017The Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army captures Al-Bab from ISIL.

2012A series of attacks across Iraq leave at least 83 killed and more than 250 injured.

2010Unknown criminals pour more than 2+1⁄2 million liters of diesel oil and other hydrocarbons into the river Lambro, in northern Italy, sparking an environmental disaster.

2008A United States Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber crashes on Guam, marking the first operational loss of a B-2.

2008The Japanese WINDS satellite is launched.

2007A train derails on an evening express service near Grayrigg, Cumbria, England, killing one person and injuring 88. This results in hundreds of points being checked over the UK after a few similar accidents.

2002An Ariane 4 rocket is launched from the Guiana Space Centre carrying Intelsat 904.

1999An avalanche buries the town of Galtür, Austria, killing 31.

1999Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.

1998In the United States, tornadoes in central Florida destroy or damage 2,600 structures and kill 42 people.

1991In Thailand, General Sunthorn Kongsompong leads a bloodless coup d'état, deposing Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan.

1988Saddam Hussein begins the Anfal genocide against Kurds and Assyrians in northern Iraq.

1987Supernova 1987a is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

1983The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri.

1981In Spain, Antonio Tejero attempts a coup d'état by capturing the Spanish Congress of Deputies.

1980Iran hostage crisis: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament will decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.

1974The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.

1971Operation Lam Son 719: South Vietnamese General Do Cao Tri was killed in a helicopter crash en route to taking control of the faltering campaign.

1966In Syria, Ba'ath Party member Salah Jadid leads an intra-party military coup that replaces the previous government of General Amin al-Hafiz, also a Baathist.

1958Five-time Argentine Formula One champion Juan Manuel Fangio is kidnapped by rebels involved in the Cuban Revolution, on the eve of the Cuban Grand Prix. He was released the following day after the race.

1954The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine begins in Pittsburgh.

1950General elections are held in the United Kingdom.

1947International Organization for Standardization is founded.

1945American Airlines Flight 009 crashes near Rural Retreat, Virginia, killing 17.

1945World War II: Capitulation of German garrison in Poznań. The city is liberated by Soviet and Polish forces.

1945World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag.

1945World War II: The 11th Airborne Division, with Filipino guerrillas, free all 2,147 captives of the Los Baños internment camp, in what General Colin Powell later would refer to as "the textbook airborne operation for all ages and all armies"

1945World War II: The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by combined Filipino and American forces.

1945World War II: The German town of Pforzheim is annihilated in a raid by 379 British bombers.

1944The Soviet Union begins the forced deportation of the Chechen and Ingush people from the North Caucasus to Central Asia.

1943Greek Resistance: The United Panhellenic Organization of Youth is founded in Greece.

1943The Cavan Orphanage fire kills thirty-five girls and an elderly cook.

1942World War II: Japanese submarines fire artillery shells at the coastline near Santa Barbara, California.

1941Plutonium is first produced and isolated by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg.

1934Leopold III becomes King of Belgium.

Born on this day

2002Alice Litman, English transgender woman

2000Femke Broeders-Bol, Dutch hurdler and sprinter

1997Jamal Murray, Canadian basketball player

1996D'Angelo Russell, American basketball player

1996Nick Schmaltz, American ice hockey player

1995Andrew Wiggins, Canadian basketball player

1994Neviana Vladinova, Bulgarian rhythmic gymnast

1994Triptii Dimri, Indian actress

1992Casemiro, Brazilian footballer

1992Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Greek footballer

1990Kevin Connauton, Canadian ice hockey player

1990Marco Scandella, Canadian ice hockey player

1989Evan Bates, American ice dancer

1989Jérémy Pied, French footballer

1989Wilin Rosario, Dominican baseball player

1988Nicolás Gaitán, Argentine footballer

1987Ab-Soul, American rapper

1987Malik Hairston, American basketball player

1987Theophilus London, Trinidadian-American singer-songwriter and producer

1986Emerson Conceição, Brazilian footballer

1986Jerod Mayo, American football player and coach

1986Kazuya Kamenashi, Japanese singer-songwriter and actor

1986Ola Svensson, Swedish singer-songwriter

1986Skylar Grey, American singer-songwriter

1983Dijon Thompson, American basketball player

1983Mido, Egyptian footballer, manager and sportscaster

1982Jia Perkins, American basketball player and coach

1982Karan Singh Grover, Indian actor

1981Charles Tillman, American football player

1981Gareth Barry, English footballer

1978Dan Snyder, Canadian ice hockey player (died 2003)

1977Kristina Šmigun-Vähi, Estonian skier

1976Jeff O'Neill, Canadian ice hockey player

1976Kelly Macdonald, Scottish actress

1975Michael Cornacchia, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

1974Herschelle Gibbs, South African cricketer

1974Robbi Kempson, South African rugby player

1973Jeff Nordgaard, American-Polish basketball player

1972Alessandro Sturba, Italian footballer

1972Rondell White, American baseball player

Died on this day

2025Al Trautwig, American sports commentator (born 1956)

2025Chris Jasper, American singer, composer and producer (born 1951)

2025Larry Dolan, American attorney (born 1931)

2024Flaco, Eurasian eagle-owl (born 2010)

2023John Motson, English football commentator (born 1945)

2023Tony Earl, American politician, 40th Governor of Wisconsin (born 1936)

2021Ahmed Zaki Yamani, Saudi Arabian politician (born 1930)

2019Katherine Helmond, American actress (born 1929)

2016Jacqueline Mattson, American baseball player (born 1928)

2016Peter Lustig, German television host and author (born 1937)

2015James Aldridge, Australian-English journalist and author (born 1918)

2015Rana Bhagwandas, Pakistani lawyer and judge, Chief Justice of Pakistan (born 1942)

2014Alice Herz-Sommer, Czech-English Holocaust survivor, pianist and educator (born 1903)

2014Roger Hilsman, American soldier, academic, and politician (born 1919)

2013Eugene Bookhammer, American soldier and politician, 18th Lieutenant Governor of Delaware (born 1918)

2013Joseph Friedenson, Holocaust survivor, Holocaust historian, Yiddish writer, lecturer and editor (born 1922)

2013Julien Ries, Belgian cardinal (born 1920)

2013Lotika Sarkar, Indian lawyer and academic (born 1945)

2012David Sayre, American physicist and mathematician (born 1924)

2012Kazimierz Żygulski, Polish sociologist and activist (born 1919)

2012William Raggio, American lawyer and politician (born 1926)

2011Nirmala Srivastava, Indian religious leader, founded Sahaja Yoga (born 1923)

2010Orlando Zapata, Cuban plumber and activist (born 1967)

2008Janez Drnovšek, Slovenian economist and politician, 2nd President of Slovenia (born 1950)

2008Paul Frère, Belgian racing driver and journalist (born 1917)

2007Hanna Barysevich, the oldest female resident of Belarus not registered by the Guinness Book of World Records (born 1888)

2007John Ritchie, English footballer (born 1941)

2006Muhammad Shamsul Huq, Bangladeshi academic and former Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1912)

2006Telmo Zarra, Spanish footballer (born 1921)

2004Sikander Bakht, Indian politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs (born 1918)

Quote of the day

“The obstacle is the path.”

Zen proverb

Questions people ask

Where do the entries come from?

From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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