Wikipedia: August 23

August 23
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

August 23 is the 235th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (236th in leap years), with 130 days remaining.

Events

1328 - Battle of Kassel: French troops stop an uprising of Flemish farmers
1566 - Calvinists are granted rights in the Netherlands
1614 - The University of Groningen is established
1617 - In London, the first one-way street is established
1784 - Eastern Tennessee declares itself an independent state under the name of Franklin; the step is rejected by Congress one year later
1821 - Mexico gains its independence from Spain
1833 - Slavery abolished in the British colonies
1839 - The UK captures Hong Kong
1864 - The Union Navy captures Fort Morgan, Alabama, thus breaking Confederate dominance of all ports on the Gulf of Mexico
1866 - Austro-Prussian War ends with the Treaty of Prague
1889 - First wireless message from a ship to the shore received
1904 - The automobile tire chain is patented
1914 - Japan declares war on Germany and bombs Qingdao, China
1923 - Edgar F. Codd, founder of theory of relational databases
1924 - The distance between Earth and Mars is the smallest since the 10th century
1927 - Italian anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti are executed
1939 - Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression treaty, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. In a secret addition to the pact, Poland is divided between the two nations
1940 - The Germans start bombing London
1942 - Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad
1943 - Kharkov liberated
1944 - Marseilles liberated
1944 - The Romanian pro-Nazi government is dismissed. Romania switches sides from the Axis to the Allies
1944 - United States Air Force B-24 Liberator bomber crashed and hit a school in Freckleton, England killing 61 people
1948 - World Council of Churches is formed
1952 - The Arab League goes into effect
1960 - In Equatorial Guinea, the world's largest frog (3.3 kg) is caught
1962 - First live television connection between the United States and Europe, via the Telstar satellite
1966 - Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon
1973 - The Intelsat communication satellite is launched
1975 - Successful Communist coup in Laos
1976 - A major earthquake in China kills thousands of people
1979 - Soviet dancer Alexander Godunov defects to the United States
1985 - Hans Tiedge, top counter-spy of West Germany, defects to East Germany
1987 - Heavy rains and floods in Bangladesh kill hundreds of victims
1988 - Singing Revolution: two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stood on the Vilnius-Tallinn road, holding hands
1990 - Saddam Hussein appears on Iraqi state television with a number of Western "guests" (actually hostages to try to prevent the Gulf War)
1990 - Armenia declares its independence from the Soviet Union
1990 - West Germany and East Germany announce that they will unite on October 3
2000 - A Gulf Air Airbus A320 crashes into the Persian Gulf near Manama, Bahrain killing 143

Births

1754 - King Louis XVI of France († 1792)
1769 - Georges Cuvier, biologist, statesman
1783 - William Tierney Clark, civil engineer († 1852)
1785 - Oliver Hazard Perry, US naval officer (Battle of Lake Erie)
1829 - Moritz Cantor, mathematician
1852 - Arnold Toynbee, economist, social reformer
1864 - Eleftherios Venizalos, prime minister of Greece (1910-1915, 1928-1932)
1869 - Edgar Lee Masters, author († 1950)
1875 - William Eccles, radio pioneer
1883 - US General Jonathan Wainwright, Medal of Honor recipient
1900 - Ernst Krenek, composer († 1991)
1901 - John Sherman Cooper, Senator from Kentucky († 1991)
1905 - Constant Lambert, composer († 1951)
1912 - Gene Kelly, dancer, actor († 1996)
1914 - Harold Truscott, composer († 1992)
1917 - Tex Williams, singer
1921 - Eadie Del Rubio († 1996), Elena Del Rubio († 2001), and Milly Del Rubio, the Del Rubio Triplets, singers, musicians, actresses
1922 - George Kell, baseball player
1924 - Ephraim Kishon, Israeli writer
1927 - Dick Bruna, illustrator
1927 - Houari Boumendienne, president of Algeria (1965-1978)
1929 - Peter Thompson, golfer
1929 - Vera Miles, actress
1930 - Michel Rocard, Prime Minister of France
1932 - Mark Russell, comedian, musician, political commentator
1933 - Pete Wilson, governor of California
1934 - Barbara Eden, actress
1934 - Sonny Jurgensen, professional football player
1936 - Henry Lee Lucas, serial killer(† 2001)
1943 - Nelson DeMille, novelist
1947 - Keith Moon, singer, drummer (The Who) († 1978)
1949 - Rick Springfield, singer, actor
1949 - Shelley Long, actress
1951 - Queen Noor of Jordan
1952 - Vicky Leandros, singer
1970 - River Phoenix, actor († 1993)
1970 - Jay Mohr, actor, comedian
1978 - Kobe Bryant, NBA basketball player

Deaths

93 - Gnaeus Julius Agricola, Roman governor of Britain
634 - Abu Bakr, Muslim Caliph
1806 - Charles Augustin de Coulomb, physicist
1813 - Alexander Wilson, ornithologist
1926 - Rudolph Valentino, actor
1927 - Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, murderers
1937 - Albert Roussel, composer
1960 - Oscar Hammerstein II, lyricist
1962 - Hoot Gibson, actor
1965 - John Bata, shoe manufacturer
1966 - Francis X. Bushman, actor
1977 - Sebastian Cabot, actor
1982 - Stanford Moore, biochemist
2001 - Peter Maas, novelist

Holidays and observances

Romania: Liberation Day (1944)
Swaziland: Umhlanga Day
Roman Empire: Vulcanalia

See Also:

August 22 - August 24 - July 23 - September 23 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December