August 23 in History
What happened on August 23 in history?
A chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on august 23 in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened on august 23 in history.
?>2011
Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi is overthrown after National Transitional Council forces take control of Bab al-Azizia compound during the 2011 Libyan Civil War.
2011
A 5.8 earthquake centered at Mineral, Virginia, damages the Washington Monument, forcing the landmark to close for repairs.
2006
Natascha Kampusch, abducted at the age of 10 in Austria, escapes from her captor, Wolfgang Priklopil, after 8 years of captivity.
1996
Osama bin Laden issues message entitled “A declaration of war against the Americans occupying the land of the two holy places.”
1990
Armenia declares independence from USSR.
1990
East and West Germany announce they will unite on Oct 3.
1979
Iranian army opens offensive against Kurds.
1979
Bolshoi Ballet dancer Alexander Godunov defects in New York City.
1977
Bryan Allen, piloting the Gossamer Condor, wins the Kremer prize for the first human-powered aircraft to fly a one-mile, figure-eight course.
1975
Pathet Lao communists occupy Vientiane, Laos.
1966
Lunar Orbiter 1 takes first photograph of Earth from the moon.
1961
Belgium sends troops to Rwanda-Urundi during bloody Tutsi-Hutu conflict.
1958
The Second Taiwan Strait crisis begins: People’s Liberation Army bombards island of Quemoy during Chinese Civil War.
1954
First flight of the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft.
1952
Arab League security pact linking seven Arab States in a military, political and economic alliance goes into effect.
1950
Up to 77,000 members of the U.S. Army Organized Reserve Corps are called involuntarily to active duty to fight the Korean War.
1944
German SS engineers begin placing explosive charges around the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
1942
German forces begin an assault on the major Soviet industrial city of Stalingrad.
1939
Joseph Stalin and German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop sign a non-aggression pact between the Soviet Union and Germany, freeing Adolf Hitler to invade Poland and Stalin to invade Finland.
1927
Immigrant laborers Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are executed for a robbery they did not commit. Fifty years later, in 1977, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis establishes a memorial in the victims’ honor.
1926
American film star Rudolph Valentino dies, causing world-wide hysteria and a number of suicides.
1914
The Emperor of Japan declares war on Germany.
1902
Fanny Farmer, among the first to emphasize the relationship of diet to health, opens her School of Cookery in Boston.
1900
Booker T. Washington forms the National Negro Business League in Boston, Massachusetts.
1863
Union batteries cease their first bombardment of Fort Sumter, leaving it a mass of rubble but still unconquered by the Northern besiegers.
1821
After 11 years of war, Spain grants Mexican independence as a constitutional monarchy.
1775
King George III of England refuses the American colonies’ offer of peace and declares them in open rebellion.
1711
A British attempt to invade Canada by sea fails.
1541
Jacques Cartier lands near Quebec on his third voyage to North America.
1305
Scottish patriot William Wallace is hanged, drawn, beheaded, and quartered in London.
1244
Turks expel the crusaders under Frederick II from Jerusalem.