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This day in history

This day in history: 23 December

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 day224 · 102

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Key facts

374 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 23 December.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2025: The crash of Harmony Jets Flight 185 killed all eight people on board, including the Libyan Army chief Mohammed al-Haddad in Ankara, Turkey.

Holidays and observances

Birthday of the Queen Silvia, an official flag flying day (Sweden)

Children's Day (South Sudan and Sudan)

Christian Feast Day: Abassad (Coptic Church)

Christian Feast Day: Behnam, Sarah, and the Forty Martyrs (Coptic Church)

Christian Feast Day: Dagobert II

Christian Feast Day: December 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian Feast Day: John Cantius

Christian Feast Day: O Emmanuel

Christian Feast Day: Psote (Coptic Church)

Christian Feast Day: Thorlac Thorhallsson, patron saint of Iceland; The last day of preparations before Christmas.

Christian Feast Day: Victoria

Day of all level operational control structures servicemen (Ukraine)

Events

2025The crash of Harmony Jets Flight 185 killed all eight people on board, including the Libyan Army chief Mohammed al-Haddad in Ankara, Turkey.

2023A series of massacres targeting Berom civilians unfold in the Plateau State in Nigeria, killing over 200 people and further injuring over 500. No group claims responsibility.

2015A bomb explodes at Istanbul's Sabiha Gökçen Airport, killing one airport cleaner. The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks claim responsibility for the attack four days later.

2008A coup d'état occurs in Guinea hours after the death of President Lansana Conté.

2007An agreement is made for the Kingdom of Nepal to be abolished and the country to become a federal republic with the Prime Minister becoming head of state.

2005An Antonov An-140, Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 217 from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Aktau, Kazakhstan, heading across the Caspian Sea, crashes, killing 23 people.

2003An explosion at the PetroChina Chuandongbei natural gas field in Kai County, Chongqing, China, kills at least 234.

2002A U.S. MQ-1 Predator is shot down by an Iraqi MiG-25 in the first combat engagement between a drone and conventional aircraft.

1990History of Slovenia: In a referendum, 88.5% of Slovenia's overall electorate vote for independence from Yugoslavia.

1986Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California becoming the first aircraft to fly non-stop around the world without aerial or ground refueling.

1984After experiencing an engine fire, Aeroflot Flight 3519 attempts to make an emergency landing at Krasnoyarsk International Airport but crashes, killing 110 of the 111 people on board.

1979Soviet–Afghan War: Soviet Union forces occupy Kabul, the Afghan capital.

1978Alitalia Flight 4128 crashes into the Tyrrhenian Sea while on approach to Falcone Borsellino Airport in Palermo, Italy, killing 108.

1972A 6.5 magnitude earthquake strikes the Nicaraguan capital of Managua killing more than 10,000.

1972The 16 survivors of the Andes flight disaster are rescued after 73 days, surviving by cannibalism.

1972The Immaculate Reception is caught by Franco Harris to win the Pittsburgh Steelers their first ever playoff victory, after defeating the Oakland Raiders.

1970The Democratic Republic of the Congo officially becomes a one-party state.

1970The North Tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York, New York is topped out at 417 metres (1,368 ft), making it the tallest building in the world.

1968The 82 sailors from the USS Pueblo are released after eleven months of internment in North Korea.

1960Hilkka Saarinen née Pylkkänen is murdered in the so-called "oven homicide" case in Krootila, Kokemäki, Finland.

1955The first film adaptation of Väinö Linna's novel The Unknown Soldier, directed by Edvin Laine, premieres.

1954First successful kidney transplant is performed by J. Hartwell Harrison and Joseph Murray.

1950Korean War: General Walton Walker dies in a jeep accident and is replaced by General Matthew Ridgway in the Eighth United States Army.

1948Seven Japanese military and political leaders convicted of war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East are executed by Allied occupation authorities at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo, Japan.

1947The transistor is first demonstrated at Bell Laboratories.

1941World War II: After 15 days of fighting, the Imperial Japanese Army occupies Wake Island.

1936Colombia becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.

1936Spanish Civil War: The Spanish Republic legalizes the Regional Defence Council of Aragon.

1919Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 becomes law in the United Kingdom, allowing women to serve as lawyers, civil servants, and in other professions, as well as to serve on juries.

1916World War I: Battle of Magdhaba: Allied forces defeat Turkish forces in the Sinai Peninsula.

1914World War I: Australian and New Zealand troops arrive in Cairo, Egypt.

1914World War I: During the Battle of Sarikamish, Ottoman forces mistook one another for Russian troops. The following friendly fire incident leaves 2,000 Ottomans dead and many more wounded.

1913The Federal Reserve Act is signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, creating the Federal Reserve System.

1905The Tampere conference, where Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin meet for the first time, is held in Tampere, Finland.

1893The opera Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck is first performed.

1876First day of the Constantinople Conference which resulted in agreement for political reforms in the Balkans.

1823The poem "Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas," also known as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," is published anonymously in the Troy Sentinel.

1815The novel Emma by Jane Austen is first published.

1793The Battle of Savenay: A decisive defeat of the royalist counter-revolutionaries in War in the Vendée during the French Revolution.

1783George Washington resigns as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, Maryland.

Born on this day

2002Finn Wolfhard, Canadian actor and musician

2000Victor Boniface, Nigerian footballer

1999Samuel Lino, Brazilian footballer

1996Bartosz Kapustka, Polish footballer

1994Reed Alexander, American actor

1992Jeff Schlupp, German footballer

1992Mbwana Samatta, Tanzanian footballer

1992Spencer Daniels, American actor

1991Kyren Wilson, English snooker player

1990Anna Maria Perez de Tagle, American actress and singer

1990Brice Dja Djédjé, Ivorian footballer

1990Mitch Haniger, American baseball player

1989David Szymanski, American video game developer

1988Mallory Hagan, American beauty queen, Miss America 2013

1987Jori Lehterä, Finnish ice hockey player

1987Owen Franks, New Zealand rugby player

1987Tommaso Bellazzini, Italian footballer

1986Balázs Dzsudzsák, Hungarian footballer

1986Beau Champion, Australian rugby league player

1986Thomas Bourgin, French motorcycle racer (died 2013)

1986T. J. Oshie, American ice hockey player

1985Alison Sudol, American actress and singer-songwriter

1985Dev Hynes (also known as Blood Orange and formerly Lightspeed Champion), English singer, songwriter, producer, and composer

1985Harry Judd, English drummer and songwriter

1984Bernard Pollard, American football player

1984Dudu Aharon, Israeli singer-songwriter

1984Josh Satin, American baseball player

1984Sebastian Werle, German rugby player

1983Hanley Ramírez, Dominican baseball player

1983Lisa Dobriskey, English runner

1983Michael Chopra, English footballer

1982Shaone Morrisonn, Canadian-Croatian ice hockey player

1982Thomas Rohregger, Austrian cyclist

1982Zbyněk Michálek, Czech ice hockey player

1981Agnes Milowka, Polish-Australian diver, explorer, photographer, and author (died 2011)

1981Hiro Fujiwara, Japanese manga artist

1981Mario Santana, Argentine footballer

1981Maritza Correia, Puerto Rican-American swimmer

1981Yuriorkis Gamboa, Cuban boxer

1980Cody Ross, American baseball player

Died on this day

2024Dési Bouterse, Surinamese general and politician, 9th President of Suriname (born 1945)

2024Shyam Benegal, Indian director and screenwriter (born 1934)

2024Sophie Hediger, Swiss snowboarder (born 1998)

2023William Pope.L, American performance artist (born 1955)

2022Brandon Montrell, American TikTok personality and stand-up comedian (born 1979)

2021Joan Didion, American writer (born 1934)

2020Leslie West, American singer and guitarist (born 1945)

2017Maurice Hayes, Irish educator and politician (born 1927)

2015Alfred G. Gilman, American pharmacologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1941)

2015Bülent Ulusu, Turkish admiral and politician, 18th Prime Minister of Turkey (born 1923)

2015Don Howe, English footballer and manager (born 1935)

2015Jean-Marie Pelt, French biologist, pharmacist, and academic (born 1933)

2014Edward Greenspan, Canadian lawyer and author (born 1944)

2014Robert V. Hogg, American statistician and academic (born 1924)

2013Chryssa, Greek-American sculptor (born 1933)

2013G. S. Shivarudrappa, Indian poet and educator (born 1926)

2013Mikhail Kalashnikov, Russian general and weapons designer, designed the AK-47 rifle (born 1919)

2013Ricky Lawson, American drummer and composer (born 1954)

2013Robert W. Wilson, American philanthropist and art collector (born 1928)

2013Yusef Lateef, American saxophonist, composer, and educator (born 1920)

2012Eduardo Maiorino, Brazilian mixed martial artist and kick-boxer (born 1979)

2012Jean Harris, American educator and murderer (born 1923)

2011Aydın Menderes, Turkish economist and politician (born 1946)

2010Fred Hargesheimer, American soldier and pilot (born 1916)

2010K. Karunakaran, Indian lawyer and politician, 7th Chief Minister of Kerala (born 1918)

2009Edward Schillebeeckx, Belgian theologian and academic (born 1914)

2009Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme, Tibetan general and politician (born 1910)

2009Robert L. Howard, American colonel, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1939)

2007Michael Kidd, American dancer and choreographer (born 1915)

2007Oscar Peterson, Canadian pianist and composer (born 1925)

Quote of the day

“Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what is left and live it properly.”

Marcus Aurelius

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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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