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This day in history

This day in history: 23 March

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

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Key facts

413 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 23 March.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2026: An Aerospace Force Lockheed C-130 crashes during take-off in Puerto Leguízamo, Colombia, killing 69 people.

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day: Gregory the Illuminator (Episcopal Church)

Christian feast day: Gwinear

Christian feast day: Joseph Oriol

Christian feast day: March 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Ottone Frangipane

Christian feast day: Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès (Maronite Church)

Christian feast day: Turibius of Mogrovejo

Christian feast day: Victorian, Frumentius and Companions

Day of Hungarian-Polish Friendship (Hungary and Poland)

Day of the Sea (Bolivia)

Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Day (Azerbaijan)

Pakistan Day (Pakistan)

Events

2026An Aerospace Force Lockheed C-130 crashes during take-off in Puerto Leguízamo, Colombia, killing 69 people.

2025Israel Defense Forces kill 15 aid workers in the Rafah paramedic massacre.

2021A container ship runs aground and obstructs the Suez Canal for six days.

2020Prime Minister Boris Johnson puts the United Kingdom into its first national lockdown in response to COVID-19.

2019The Kazakh capital of Astana is renamed to Nur-Sultan.

2019The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces capture the town of Baghuz in Eastern Syria, declaring military victory over the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant after four years of fighting, although the group maintains a scattered presence and

2018President of Peru Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigns from the presidency amid a mass corruption scandal before certain impeachment by the opposition-majority Congress of Peru.

2014The World Health Organization (WHO) reports cases of Ebola in the forested rural region of southeastern Guinea, marking the beginning of the largest Ebola outbreak in history.

2010The Affordable Care Act becomes law in the United States.

2009FedEx Express Flight 80: A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 flying from Guangzhou, China crashes at Tokyo's Narita International Airport, killing both the captain and the co-pilot.

2008Official opening of Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad, India.

2003Battle of Nasiriyah, first major conflict during the invasion of Iraq.

2001The Russian Mir space station is disposed of, breaking up in the atmosphere before falling into the southern Pacific Ocean near Fiji.

1999Gunmen assassinate Paraguay's Vice President Luis María Argaña.

1996Taiwan holds its first direct elections and chooses Lee Teng-hui as President.

1994Aeroflot Flight 593 crashes into the Kuznetsk Alatau mountain, Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, killing 75.

1994At an election rally in Tijuana, Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio is assassinated by Mario Aburto Martínez.

1994A United States Air Force (USAF) F-16 aircraft collides with a USAF C-130 at Pope Air Force Base and then crashes, killing 24 United States Army soldiers on the ground alongside destroying a Starlifter by accident. This later became known a

1991The Revolutionary United Front, with support from the special forces of Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia, invades Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow Joseph Saidu Momoh, sparking the 11-year Sierra Leone Civil War.

1988Angolan and Cuban forces defeat South Africa in the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale.

1983Strategic Defense Initiative: President Ronald Reagan makes his initial proposal to develop technology to intercept enemy missiles.

1982Guatemala's government, headed by Fernando Romeo Lucas García, is overthrown in a military coup by right-wing General Efraín Ríos Montt.

1980Archbishop Óscar Romero of El Salvador gives his famous speech appealing to men of the El Salvadoran armed forces to stop killing the Salvadorans.

1978The first UNIFIL troops arrive in Lebanon for a peacekeeping mission along the Blue Line.

1977The first of The Nixon Interviews (12 will be recorded over four weeks) is videotaped with British journalist David Frost interviewing former United States President Richard Nixon about the Watergate scandal and the Nixon tapes.

1965NASA launches Gemini 3, the United States' first two-man space flight (crew: Gus Grissom and John Young).

1956Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic in the world. This date is now celebrated as Republic Day in Pakistan.

1940The Lahore Resolution (Qarardad-e-Pakistan or Qarardad-e-Lahore) is put forward at the Annual General Convention of the All-India Muslim League.

1939The Hungarian air force attacks the headquarters of the Slovak air force in Spišská Nová Ves, killing 13 people and beginning the Slovak–Hungarian War.

1935Signing of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.

1933The Reichstag passes the Enabling Act of 1933, making Adolf Hitler dictator of Germany.

1931Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar are hanged for the killing of a deputy superintendent of police during the Indian independence movement.

1919In Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini founds his Fascist political movement.

1918First World War: On the third day of the German Spring Offensive, the 10th Battalion of the Royal West Kent Regiment is annihilated with many of the men becoming prisoners of war.

1913A tornado outbreak kills more than 240 people in the central United States, while an ongoing flood in the Ohio River watershed was killing 650 people.

1909Theodore Roosevelt leaves New York for a post-presidency safari in Africa. The trip is sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic Society.

1905Eleftherios Venizelos calls for Crete's union with Greece, and begins what is to be known as the Theriso revolt.

1901Emilio Aguinaldo, only President of the First Philippine Republic, is captured at Palanan, Isabela by the forces of American General Frederick Funston.

1889The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is established by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in Qadian, British India.

1888In England, The Football League, the world's oldest professional association football league, meets for the first time.

Born on this day

2001Anna Hall, American world champion heptathlete

1997Ben Manenti, Australian cricketer

1996Alexander Albon, Thai-British race car driver

1996Joel Kiviranta, Finnish ice hockey player

1995Jan Lisiecki, Canadian pianist

1995Kevin Kauber, Estonian footballer

1995Ozan Tufan, Turkish footballer

1995Victoria Pedretti, American actress

1994Bridger Zadina, American actor

1994Nick Powell, English footballer

1994Oskar Sundqvist, Swedish ice hockey player

1993Aytaç Kara, Turkish footballer

1993Dmitrij Jaškin, Russian-Czech ice hockey player

1993Quinn Cook, American basketball player

1993Tomáš Hyka, Czech ice hockey player

1992Kyrie Irving, Australian-American basketball player

1992Tolga Ciğerci, German-Turkish footballer

1992Vanessa Morgan, Canadian actress

1991Erik Haula, Finnish ice hockey player

1991Facundo Campazzo, Argentine basketball player

1991Gregg Wylde, Scottish footballer

1990Gordon Hayward, American basketball player

1990Jaime Alguersuari, Spanish race car driver

1990Mark Barberio, Canadian ice hockey player

1990Princess Eugenie, English royal

1990Robert Zickert, German footballer

1989Ayesha Curry, Canadian-American chef, author and television personality

1989Luis Fernando Silva, Mexican footballer

1989Nikola Gulan, Serbian footballer

1988Dellin Betances, American baseball player

1988Jason Kenny, English cyclist

1988Michal Neuvirth, Czech ice hockey player

1987Alan Toovey, Australian footballer

1986Andrea Dovizioso, Italian motorcycle racer

1986Brett Eldredge, American singer-songwriter and musician

1986Kangana Ranaut, Indian actress

1986Patrick Bordeleau, Canadian ice hockey player

1985Bethanie Mattek-Sands, American tennis player

1985Maurice Jones-Drew, American football player

1984Brandon Marshall, American football player

Died on this day

2026Chip Taylor, American singer and songwriter (born 1940)

2026Valerie Perrine, American actress (born 1943)

2025Mia Love, American politician (born 1975)

2022Madeleine Albright, Czechoslovak-American diplomat, 64th United States Secretary of State (born 1937)

2021George Segal, American actor (born 1934)

2021Julie Pomagalski, French snowboarder (born 1980)

2017Miroslava Breach, Mexican investigative journalist (born 1962)

2016Joe Garagiola, American baseball player and sportscaster (born 1926)

2016Ken Howard, American actor (born 1944)

2015Bobby Lowther, American basketball player and lieutenant (born 1923)

2015Gian Vittorio Baldi, Italian director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1930)

2015Lee Kuan Yew, Singaporean lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Singapore (born 1923)

2015Lil' Chris, English singer-songwriter, actor, and television personality (born 1990)

2014Adolfo Suárez, Spanish lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Spain (born 1932)

2014Dave Brockie, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and bass player (born 1963)

2014Jaroslav Šerých, Czech painter and illustrator (born 1928)

2014Peter Oakley, English YouTuber (born 1927)

2013Boris Berezovsky, Russian-born Soviet-British mathematician and businessman (born 1946)

2013Joe Weider, Canadian-American bodybuilder and publisher, co-founded the International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness (born 1919)

2013Onofre Corpuz, Filipino economist, historian, and academic (born 1926)

2013Virgil Trucks, American baseball player and coach (born 1917)

2012Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, Somalian politician, President of Somalia (born 1934)

2012Jim Duffy, American animator, director, and producer (born 1937)

2012Lonnie Wright, American basketball and football player (born 1945)

2012Naji Talib, Iraqi politician, 52nd Prime Minister of Iraq (born 1917)

2011Elizabeth Taylor, American-British actress, socialite and humanitarian (born 1932)

2011Jean Bartik, American computer scientist and engineer (born 1924)

2011Rosario Morales, Puerto Rican poet and writer (born 1930)

2009Ghukas Chubaryan, Armenian sculptor (born 1923)

2009Raúl Macías, Mexican boxer and trainer (born 1934)

Quote of the day

“Silence is a source of great strength.”

Lao Tzu

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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