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This day in history

This day in history: 23 May

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

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Key facts

369 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 23 May.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2022: Anthony Albanese of the Australian Labor Party is sworn in as the 31st Prime Minister of Australia after winning the 2022 Australian federal election, ending 9 years of conservative rule.

Holidays and observances

Aromanian National Day

Christian feast day: Aaron the Illustrious (Syriac Orthodox Church)

Christian feast day: Desiderius of Vienne

Christian feast day: Giovanni Battista de' Rossi

Christian feast day: Julia of Corsica

Christian feast day: May 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Michael of Synnada

Christian feast day: Nicolaus Copernicus and Johannes Kepler (Episcopal Church (USA))

Christian feast day: Quintian, Lucius and Julian

Christian feast day: William of Perth

Constitution Day (Germany)

Labour Day (Jamaica)

Events

2022Anthony Albanese of the Australian Labor Party is sworn in as the 31st Prime Minister of Australia after winning the 2022 Australian federal election, ending 9 years of conservative rule.

2021A cable car falls from a mountain near Lake Maggiore in northern Italy, killing 14 people.

2021Ryanair Flight 4978 is forced to land by Belarusian authorities to detain dissident journalist Roman Protasevich.

2017Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declares martial law in Mindanao, following the Maute's attack in Marawi.

2016Eight bombings are carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in Jableh and Tartus, coastline cities in Syria. One hundred eighty-four people are killed and at least 200 people injured.

2016Two suicide bombings, conducted by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, kill at least 45 potential army recruits in Aden, Yemen.

2015At least 30 people are killed as a result of floods and tornadoes in Texas, Oklahoma, and northern Mexico.

2014Seven people, including the perpetrator, are killed and another 14 injured in the Isla Vista attacks near the campus of University of California, Santa Barbara.

2013A freeway bridge carrying Interstate 5 over the Skagit River collapses in Mount Vernon, Washington.

2008The International Court of Justice (ICJ) awards Middle Rocks to Malaysia and Pedra Branca (Pulau Batu Puteh) to Singapore, ending a 29-year territorial dispute between the two countries.

2006Alaskan stratovolcano Mount Cleveland erupts.

2002The "55 parties" clause of the Kyoto Protocol is reached after its ratification by Iceland.

1998The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland with roughly 75% voting yes.

1995The first version of the Java programming language is released.

1992Italy's most prominent anti-mafia judge Giovanni Falcone, his wife and three body guards are killed by the Corleonesi clan with a half-ton bomb near Capaci, Sicily. His friend and colleague Paolo Borsellino will be assassinated less than tw

1991Aeroflot Flight 8556 crashes at Pulkovo Airport, killing 13.

1980The Shining, the psychological horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick, is premiered on 10 screens in New York City and Los Angeles on the Memorial Day weekend.

1978A Tupolev Tu-144 crashes near the Russian town of Yegoryevsk, killing two.

1971Seventy-eight people are killed when Aviogenex Flight 130 crashes on approach to Rijeka Airport in present-day Rijeka, Croatia (then the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia).

1971The Intercontinental Hotel in Bucharest opens, becoming the second-tallest building in the city.

1960A tsunami caused by an earthquake in Chile the previous day kills 61 people in Hilo, Hawaii.

1951Tibetans sign the Seventeen Point Agreement with China.

1949Cold War: The Western occupying powers approve the Basic Law and establish a new German state, the Federal Republic of Germany.

1948Thomas C. Wasson, the US Consul-General, is assassinated in Jerusalem, Israel.

1946The start of a two-day tornado outbreak across the Central United States that spawned at least 15 significant tornadoes.

1945World War II: Germany's Flensburg Government under Karl Dönitz is dissolved when its members are arrested by British forces.

1945World War II: Heinrich Himmler, head of the Schutzstaffel, commits suicide while in Allied custody.

1941World War II: German paratroopers start a series of mass executions of Greek civilians in Missiria for their participation in the ongoing Battle of Crete.

1939The U.S. Navy submarine USS Squalus sinks off the coast of New Hampshire during a test dive, causing the death of 24 sailors and two civilian technicians. The remaining 32 sailors and one civilian naval architect are rescued the following d

1934American bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde are ambushed by police and killed in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.

1934The Auto-Lite strike culminates in the "Battle of Toledo", a five-day melée between 1,300 troops of the Ohio National Guard and 6,000 picketers.

1932In Brazil, four students are shot and killed during a manifestation against the Brazilian dictator Getúlio Vargas, which resulted in the outbreak of the Constitutionalist Revolution several weeks later.

1919Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji, a Kurdish sheikh and at-the-time governor of the Slêmanî Province of British Iraq, initiates the first Mahmud Barzanji revolt.

1915World War I: Italy joins the Allies, fulfilling its part of the Treaty of London.

1911The New York Public Library is dedicated.

1907The unicameral Parliament of Finland gathers for its first plenary session.

1905Abdul Hamid II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, publicly announces the creation of the Ullah millet for the Aromanians of the empire, which had been established one day earlier. For this reason, the Aromanian National Day is usually celebrate

1900American Civil War: Sergeant William Harvey Carney is awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism in the Assault on the Battery Wagner in 1863.

1873The Canadian Parliament establishes the North-West Mounted Police, the forerunner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

1863The General German Workers' Association, a precursor of the modern Social Democratic Party of Germany, is founded in Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony.

Born on this day

2007Rayane Messi, French footballer

2005Alexandra Eala, Filipino tennis player

2001Brennan Johnson, Welsh footballer

2000Felipe Drugovich, Brazilian-Italian racing driver

2000Israel Reyes, Mexican footballer

1999James Charles, American internet personality

1999Sandro Mamukelashvili, Georgian-American basketball player

1999Trinidad Cardona, American singer and songwriter

1998Luca de la Torre, American soccer player

1998Salwa Eid Naser, Bahraini track and field sprinter

1998Sérgio Sette Câmara, Brazilian racing driver

1997Coy Craft, American footballer

1997Gustaf Nilsson, Swedish footballer

1997Joe Gomez, English footballer

1997Maximilian Kilman, English footballer

1997Pedro Chirivella, Spanish footballer

1997Sam Timmins, New Zealand basketball player

1996Çağlar Söyüncü, Turkish footballer

1996Emmanuel Boateng, Ghanaian footballer

1996Katharina Althaus, German ski jumper

1996Răzvan Marin, Romanian footballer

1994Esa Lindell, Finnish ice hockey player

1992Laerte do Vando, Brazilian politician

1991Aaron Donald, American football player

1991César Pinares, Chilean footballer

1991Lena Meyer-Landrut, German singer-songwriter

1990Dan Evans, British tennis player

1990Kristína Kučová, Slovak tennis player

1990Oliver Venno, Estonian volleyball player

1989Ezequiel Schelotto, Argentine-Italian footballer

1988Angelo Ogbonna, Italian footballer

1988Morgan Pressel, American golfer

1988Rosanna Crawford, Canadian biathlete

1987Bray Wyatt, American wrestler (died 2023)

1987Gracie Otto, Australian actress, director, producer, and screenwriter

1986Alexei Sitnikov, Russian-Azerbaijani figure skater

1986Alice Tait, Australian swimmer

1986Ruben Zadkovich, Australian footballer

1986Ryan Coogler, American film director and screenwriter

1985Ross Wallace, Scottish footballer

Died on this day

2024Caleb Carr, American military historian and author (born 1955)

2024Morgan Spurlock, American filmmaker (born 1970)

2021Eric Carle, American children's book designer, illustrator, and writer best known for The Very Hungry Caterpillar (born 1929)

2021Ron Hill, English long-distance runner (born 1938)

2020Hana Kimura, Japanese professional wrestler (born 1997)

2017Roger Moore, English actor (born 1927)

2015Aleksey Mozgovoy, Pro-Russian Ukrainian separatist leader (born 1975)

2015Alicia Nash, Salvadoran-American physicist and engineer (born 1933)

2015Anne Meara, American actress, comedian and playwright (born 1929)

2015John Forbes Nash Jr., American mathematician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1928)

2014Madhav Mantri, Indian cricketer (born 1921)

2014Mikhail Egorovich Alekseev, Russian linguist and academic (born 1949)

2013Epy Guerrero, Dominican baseball player, coach, and scout (born 1942)

2013Flynn Robinson, American basketball player (born 1941)

2013Georges Moustaki, Egyptian-French singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1934)

2013Hayri Kozakçıoğlu, Turkish police officer and politician, 15th Governor of Istanbul Province (born 1938)

2012Paul Fussell, American historian, author, and academic (born 1924)

2011Xavier Tondo, Spanish cyclist (born 1978)

2010José Lima, Dominican-American baseball player (born 1972)

2010Simon Monjack, English director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1970)

2009Roh Moo-hyun, South Korean soldier and politician, 9th President of South Korea (born 1946)

2008Iñaki Ochoa de Olza, Spanish mountaineer (born 1967)

2008Utah Phillips, American singer-songwriter and poet (born 1935)

2006Kazimierz Górski, Polish footballer and manager (born 1921)

2006Lloyd Bentsen, American colonel and politician, 69th United States Secretary of the Treasury (born 1921)

2002Big Bill Neidjie, Australian activist and last speaker of the Gaagudju language (born c. 1920)

2002Sam Snead, American golfer and journalist (born 1912)

1999Owen Hart, Canadian-American wrestler (born 1965)

1998Telford Taylor, American general and lawyer (born 1908)

1996Kronid Lyubarsky, Russian journalist and activist (born 1934)

Quote of the day

“First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.”

Epictetus

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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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