August 23

August 23rd 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
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 Tsingtao, China
1924 - The distance between Earth and Mars is the smallest since the 10th century
1927 - Anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo 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
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
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

Births:

1754 - King Louis XVI of France
1769 - Georges Cuvier, biologist, statesman
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)
1912 - Gene Kelly, dancer, actor
1917 - Tex Williams, singer
1922 - George Kell, baseball player
1927 - Dick Bruna, illustrator
1927 - Houari Boumendienne, president of Algeria (1965-1978)
1929 - Peter Thompson, golfer
1933 - Pete Wilson, governor of California
1947 - Keith Moon, singer, drummer (The Who)
1949 - Rick Springfield, singer, actor
1951 - Queen Noor of Jordan
1970 - River Phoenix, actor

Deaths:

1806 - Charles Augustin de Coulumb, physicist
1926 - Rudolph Valentino, actor
1960 - Oscar Hammerstein II, lyricist
1965 - John Bata, shoe manufacturer
1977 - Sebastian Cabot, actor
1982 - Stanford Moore, biochemist

Holidays:

August 22 - August 24 - July 23 - September 23 - more historical anniversaries

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