Today October 23rd in history click read more below to view detail events, deaths, births, Holidays and observances, and video clips in hisotry. Please comments, last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009
Events
42 BC – Roman Republican civil wars: Second Battle of Philippi – Brutus s army is decisively defeated by Mark Antony and Octavian. Brutus commits suicide.
425 – Valentinian III is elevated as Roman Emperor, at the age of 6.
502 – The Synodus Palmaris, called by Gothic king Theodoric the Great, discharges Pope Symmachus of all charges, thus ending the schism of Antipope Laurentius.
1086 – At the Battle of az-Zallaqah, the army of Yusuf ibn Tashfin defeats the forces of Castilian King Alfonso VI.
1157 – The Battle of Grathe Heath ends the civil war in Denmark. King Sweyn III is killed and Valdemar I restores the country.
1641 – Outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641 – anniversary commemorated by Irish Protestants for over 200 years.
1642 – Battle of Edgehill: First major battle of the First English Civil War.
1694 – American colonial forces, led by Sir William Phipps, fail to seize Quebec.
1707 – The first Parliament of Great Britain, i.e., the United Kingdom, meets.
1739 – War of Jenkins Ear starts: British Prime Minister, Robert Walpole, reluctantly declares war on Spain.
1812 – Claude François de Malet, a French general, begins a conspiracy to overthrow Napoleon Bonaparte, claiming that the Emperor died in Russia and that he was now the commandant of Paris. De Malet is executed on October 29.
1813 – The Pacific Fur Company trading post in Astoria, Oregon is turned over to the rival British North West Company (the fur trade in the Pacific Northwest was dominated for the next three decades by the United Kingdom).
1855 – Kansas Free State forces set up a competing government under their Topeka, Kansas, constitution, which outlaws slavery in the United States territory.
1861 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in Washington, D.C., for all military-related cases.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Westport – Union forces under General Samuel R. Curtis defeat Confederate troops led by General Sterling Price at Westport, near Kansas City.
1867 – 72 Senators are summoned by Royal Proclamation to serve as the first members of the Canadian Senate.
1870 – Franco-Prussian War: the Siege of Metz concludes with a decisive Prussian victory.
1906 – Alberto Santos-Dumont flies an airplane in the first heavier-than-air flight in Europe at Champs de Bagatelle, Paris, France.
1911 – First use of aircraft in war: An Italian pilot takes off from Libya to observe Turkish army lines during the Turco-Italian War.
1912 – First Balkan War: The Battle of Kumanovo between the Serbian and Ottoman armies begins.
1915 – Woman s suffrage: In New York City, 25,000-33,000 women march on Fifth Avenue to advocate their right to vote.
1917 – Lenin calls for the October Revolution.
1929 – Great Depression: After a steady decline in stock market prices since a peak in September, the New York Stock Exchange begins to show signs of panic.
1929 – The first North American transcontinental air service begins between New York City and Los Angeles, California.
1930 – The first miniature golf tournament was completed in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
1935 – Dutch Schultz, Abe Landau, Otto Berman, and Bernard Lulu Rosencrantz are fatally shot at a saloon in Newark, New Jersey in what will become known as The Chophouse Massacre.
1941 – World War II: Field Marshal Georgy Zhukov takes command of Red Army operations to prevent the further advance into Russia of German forces and to prevent the Wehrmacht from capturing Moscow.
1941 – Odessa Massacre: 19,000 Jews are shot or burned alive at Dalnik in Odessa, by Romanian and German troops. The next day, another 10,000 Jews are killed. Romanian Lieutenant-Colonel Nicolae Deleanu administered the executions.
1942 – World War II: The Second Battle of El Alamein starts – At El Alamein in northern Egypt, the British Eighth Army under Field Marshal Montgomery begin a critical offensive to expel the Axis armies from Egypt, never to return.
1942 – All 12 passengers and crewmen aboard an American Airlines DC-3 airliner are killed when it is struck by a U.S. Army Air Forces bomber near Palm Springs, California. Amongst the victims is award-winning composer and songwriter Ralph Rainger (Thanks for the Memory, Love in Bloom, Blue Hawaii).
1942 – The Battle for Henderson Field begins during the Guadalcanal Campaign and ends on October 26.
1944 – World War II: The Battle of Leyte Gulf begins – The largest naval battle in history begins in the Philippines; and also, the Soviet Red Army enters Hungary.
1946 – The United Nations General Assembly convened for the first time, at an auditorium in Flushing, Queens, New York City.
1956 – Thousands of Hungarians protest against the government and Soviet occupation. (The Hungarian Revolution is crushed on November 4).
1958 – The Springhill Mine Bump – An underground earthquake traps 174 miners in the No. 2 colliery at Springhill, Nova Scotia, the deepest coal mine in North America at the time. By November 1, rescuers from around the world had dug out 100 of the victims, marking the death toll at 74.
1958 – The Smurfs, a fictional race of blue dwarves later popularized in a Hanna-Barbera animated cartoon series appear for the first time, in the story Le flute à six schtroumpfs, a Johan and Peewit adventure by Peyo which is serialized in the weekly comics magazine Spirou
1965 – Vietnam War: The 1st Cavalry Division (United States) (Airmobile), in conjunction with South Vietnamese forces, launch a new operation, seeking to destroy North Vietnamese forces in Pleiku in the II Corps Tactical Zone (the Central Highlands).
1973 – The Watergate Scandal: US President Richard M. Nixon agrees to turn over subpoenaed audio tapes of his Oval Office conversations about the scandal.
1973 – A United Nations sanctioned cease-fire officially ends the Yom Kippur War between Israel and Syria.
1983 – Lebanon Civil War: The U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut is hit by a truck bomb, killing 241 U.S. Marines. A French army barracks in Lebanon is also hit that same morning, killing 58 troops.
1989 – The Hungarian Republic is officially declared by president Mátyás Szurös, replacing the communist Hungarian People s Republic.
1989 – Phillips Disaster in Pasadena, Texas killed 23 and injured 314.
1992 – Emperor Akihito becomes the first Emperor of Japan to stand on Chinese soil.
1998 – Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat reach a land for peace agreement.
2001 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army of Northern Ireland commences disarmament after peace talks.
2001 – Apple releases the iPod.
2002 – Moscow Theatre Siege begins: Chechen terrorists seize the House of Culture theater in Moscow and take approximately 700 theater-goers hostage.
2004 – A powerful earthquake and its aftershocks hit Niigata prefecture, northern Japan, killing 35 people, injuring 2,200, and leaving 85,000 homeless or evacuated.
Births
1503 – Isabella of Portugal, queen of Spain and empress of Germany (d. 1539)
1516 – Charlotte de Valois, princess of France (d. 1524)
1634 – Hedvig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp, Queen of Sweden (d. 1715)
1698 – Ange-Jacques Gabriel, French architect (d. 1782)
1705 – Maximilian Ulysses Count Browne, Austrian field marshal (d. 1757)
1715 – Peter II of Russia (d. 1730)
1762 – Samuel Morey, American inventor (d. 1843)
1766 – Emmanuel, marquis de Grouchy, French marshal (d. 1847)
1771 – Jean-Andoche Junot, French general (d. 1813)
1790 – Chauncey Allen Goodrich, American clergyman (d. 1860)
1796 – Stefano Franscini, Swiss Federal Councilor (d. 1857)
1801 – Albert Lortzing, German composer (d. 1851)
1805 – John Russell Bartlett, American linguist (d. 1886)
1813 – Ludwig Leichhardt, German explorer (d. 1848)
1815 – João Maurício Wanderley, Brazilian magistrate and politician (d. 1889)
1817 – Pierre Athanase Larousse, French lexicographer (d. 1875)
1844 – Robert Bridges, English poet (d. 1930)
1865 – Neltje Blanchan, American writer (d. 1918)
1869 – John Heisman, American football player and coach (d. 1936)
1870 – Francis Kelley, Catholic Bishop of Oklahoma (d. 1948)
1873 – William D. Coolidge, American physicist and inventor (d. 1975)
1875 – Gilbert N. Lewis, American chemist (d. 1946)
1876 – Franz Schlegelberger, German judge and politician (d. 1970)
1880 – Una O Connor, Irish actress (d. 1959)
1885 – Lawren Harris, Canadian painter (d. 1970)
1888 – Onésime Gagnon, Canadian politician (d. 1961)
1893 – Gummo Marx, American actor (d. 1977)
1894 – Rube Bressler, baseball player (d. 1966)
1896 – André Lévêque, French engineer (d. 1930)
1900 – Douglas Jardine, English cricketer (d. 1958)
1904 – Harvey Penick, American golfer (d. 1995)
1905 – Felix Bloch, Swiss physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1983)
1905 – Gertrude Ederle, American swimmer (d. 2003)
1908 – Ilya Frank, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1990)
1909 – Zellig Harris, American linguist (d. 1992)
1910 – Richard Mortensen, Danish painter (d. 1993)
1918 – James Daly, American actor (d. 1978)
1919 – Manolis Andronikos, Greek archeologist, professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (d. 1992)
1920 – Ted Fujita, Japanese meteorologist (d. 1998)
1922 – Coleen Gray, American actress
1923 – Aslam Farrukhi, Pakistani scholar and poet
1923 – Ned Rorem, American composer
1923 – Frank Sutton, American actor (d. 1974)
1925 – Johnny Carson, American television host (d. 2005)
1925 – Manos Hadjidakis, Greek composer (d. 1994)
1925 – Fred Shero, Canadian hockey player and coach (d. 1990)
1928 – Harold P. Warren, American movie director (d. 1985)
1928 – Bella Darvi, Polish-born French actress (d. 1971)
1927 – Leszek Kolakowski, Polish philosopher
1931 – Jim Bunning, American baseball player and politician
1931 – Diana Dors, British actress (d. 1984)
1931 – William P. Clark, United States Secretary of the Interior under Ronald Reagan
1935 – Juan Chi-Chi Rodríguez, Puerto Rican golfer
1936 – Philip Kaufman, American film director
1940 – Ellie Greenwich, American singer
1940 – Pelé, Brazilian footballer
1940 – Baby Jane Holzer, American art collector, film producer and Andy Warhol superstar
1941 – Igor Smirnov, Moldovan politician
1941 – Mel Winkler, American actor
1942 – Michael Crichton, American writer (d. 2008)
1942 – Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop (d. 2007)
1944 – Mike Harding, English singer and comedian
1945 – Kim Larsen, Danish singer
1946 – Mel Martinez, American politician
1948 – Hermann Hauser, Austrian-born entrepreneur
1948 – Brian Ross, American journalist
1948 – Tony Anselmo, American animator and cartoon voice actor
1949 – Michael Wurzel Burston, British musician (Motörhead)
1949 – Nick Tosches, American writer
1951 – Charly García, Argentine singer
1951 – Fatmir Sejdiu, President of Kosovo
1952 – Pierre Moerlen, French drummer and percussionist (d. 2005)
1954 – Ang Lee, Taiwanese-born director
1956 – Dwight Yoakam, American singer
1958 – Michael Eric Dyson, American activist, professor, author
1959 – Nancy Grace, American former prosecutor
1959 – Sam Raimi, American film director
1959 – Weird Al Yankovic, American musical parodist
1960 – Randy Pausch, American computer science professor, author (d. 2008)
1960 – Wayne Rainey, American motorcyclist
1961 – Laurie Halse Anderson, American writer
1961 – Don and Ron Harris, American professional wrestlers
1961 – Andoni Zubizarreta, Spanish footballer
1962 – Doug Flutie, American football player
1964 – Robert Trujillo, American bassist (Metallica)
1965 – Augusten Burroughs, American writer
1965 – Al Leiter, American baseball player
1966 – Alex Zanardi, Italian race car driver
1967 – Dale Crover, American musician (Melvins, The Men of Porn, Altamont)
1969 – Trudi Canavan, Australian writer
1970 – Grant Imahara, American TV Mythbuster
1971 – Christopher Horner, American cyclist
1974 – Sander Westerveld, Dutch footballer
1974 – Eric Bass, American Bassist and Pianist (Shinedown)
1974 – Jasmin St. Claire, Former pornographic actress
1975 – Odalys García, Cuban actress
1975 – Jessicka, American artist
1975 – Keith Van Horn, American basketball player
1976 – Cat Deeley, English model and television personality
1976 – Ryan Reynolds, Canadian actor and comedian
1978 – Steve Harmison, English cricketer
1978 – Jimmy Bullard, English footballer
1978 – Archie Thompson, Australian footballer
1979 – Simon Davies, Welsh footballer
1979 – Jorge Solís, Mexican professional boxer
1980 – Pedro Liriano, Dominican baseball player
1981 – Jeroen Bleekemolen, Dutch racing driver
1981 – Ben Francisco, American baseball player
1982 – Valentin Badea, Romanian footballer
1983 – Filipos Darlas, Greek footballer
1983 – Josh Strickland, American entertainer
1984 – Izabel Goulart, Brazilian model
1985 – Masiela Lusha, Albanian-American writer and actress
1986 – Briana Evigan, American actress
1986 – Jake Robinson, English footballer
1986 – Jessica Stroup, American Actress
1987 – Faye Hamlin, Swedish singer (Play)
1988 – Nicolaj Agger, Danish football player
1990 – Stevie Brock, American singer
1991 – Princess Mako of Akishino of Japan
Deaths
42 BC – Marcus Junius Brutus, Roman senator (b. 85 BC)
930 – Daigo, Emperor of Japan (b. 885)
1456 – Giovanni da Capistrano, Italian saint (b. 1386)
1550 – Tiedemann Giese, Polish Catholic bishop (b. 1480)
1581 – Michael Neander, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1529)
1616 – Leonhard Hutter, German theologian (b. 1563)
1688 – Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange, French philologist (b. 1610)
1730 – Anne Oldfield, English actress (b. 1683)
1764 – Emmanuel-Auguste de Cahideuc, Comte Dubois de la Motte, French naval officer (b. 1683)
1774 – Michel Benoist, French Jesuit missionary and scientist (b. 1715)
1869 – Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1799)
1872 – Théophile Gautier, French writer (b. 1811)
1885 – Charles S. West, Texas jurist and politician (b. 1829)
1910 – Chulalongkorn, King of Thailand (b. 1853)
1915 – W. G. Grace, English cricketer (b. 1848)
1921 – John Boyd Dunlop, Scottish inventor (b. 1840)
1939 – Zane Grey, American author (b. 1872)
1942 – Ralph Rainger, American composer (b. 1901)
1944 – Charles Glover Barkla, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1877)
1944 – Hana Brady, Holocaust victim (b. 1931)
1950 – Al Jolson, American singer and actor (b. 1886)
1953 – Adrien-Maurice-Victurnien-Mathieu, 8th duc de Noailles (b. 1869)
1957 – Christian Dior, French fashion designer (b. 1905)
1959 – Gerda Lundequist, Swedish actress (b. 1871)
1978 – Maybelle Carter, American guitarist and musical innovator (b. 1909)
1983 – Jessica Savitch, American journalist (b. 1947)
1984 – James Petrillo, leader of the U.S. musicians union (b. 1892)
1984 – Oskar Werner, Austrian actor (b. 1922)
1986 – Edward Adelbert Doisy, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1893)
1989 – Armida, Mexican actress (b. 1911)
1990 – Louis Althusser, French philosopher (b. 1918)
1994 – Robert Lansing, American actor (b. 1928)
1996 – Bob Grim, American baseball player (b. 1930)
1997 – Bert Haanstra, Dutch filmmaker (b. 1916)
1998 – Barnett Slepian, American physician (b. 1946)
2000 – Rodney Anoa i aka Yokozuna, Samoan-American professional wrestler (b. 1966)
2001 – Ronald William Kirby, British artist (b. 1928)
2001 – Daniel Wildenstein, French art dealer and racehorse owner (b. 1917)
2002 – Adolph Green, American lyricist and playwright (b. 1915)
2003 – Tony Capstick, English actor, comedian, and musician (b. 1944)
2003 – Soong May-ling, wife of Chiang Kai-shek (b. 1897)
2004 – Robert Merrill, American baritone (b. 1919)
2005 – Stella Obasanjo, Nigerian first lady (b. 1945)
2005 – William Hootkins, American actor (b. 1948)
2005 – John Muth, American economist (b. 1930)
2006 – Lebo Mathosa, South African entertainer (b. 1977)
2007 – John Ilhan, Australian entrepreneur (b. 1965)
2007 – Lim Goh Tong, Malaysian-born Chinese businessman (b. 1918)
Holidays and observances
Chulalongkorn Memorial Day in Thailand
Day of the Revolution in Republic of Macedonia
Mole Day
National Day (revolution of 1956 and the proclamation of the Republic of Hungary in 1989) in Hungary
R.C. Saints – Saint Giovanni da Capistrano; Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius; Saint Anthony Mary Claret; Saint Ignatius of Constantinople
Astrology: First day of sun sign Scorpio in Western tropical astrology.
French Republican Calendar – Céleri (Celery) Day, second day in the Month of Brumaire
