august 23

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

Events

1300-1899

1305 - William Wallace was executed.
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
1651 - Charles II of England enters Battle of Worcester and starts a battle.
1784 - Eastern Tennessee declares itself an independent state under the name of Franklin; the step is rejected by Congress one year later
1798 - Napoleon leaves Egypt for France en route to seize power
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.

1900-1999

1904 - The automobile tire chain is patented.
1914 - Japan declares war on Germany and bombs Qingdao, China.
1924 - The distance between Earth and Mars is the smallest since the 10th century.
1927 - Italian anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti are executed in Boston, Massachusetts.
1939 - Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression treaty, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. In a secret addition to the pact, Baltic states, Finland and Poland are 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 - King Michael of Romania dismisses the pro-Nazi government of General Antonescu. Romania switches sides from the Axis to the Allies.
1944 - United States Air Force B-24 Liberator bomber crashed into a school in Freckleton, England killing 61 people.
1947 - The Maynard Midgets beat Lock Haven 16-7 to win the first-ever Little League World Series championship.
1948 - World Council of Churches is formed.
1952 - The Arab League goes into effect.
1958 - Chinese Civil War: The Second Taiwan Strait crisis begins with the People's Liberation Army's bombardment of Quemoy.
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.
1989 - Singing Revolution: two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stand on the Vilnius-Tallinn road, holding hands (Baltic Way).
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.
1992 - Hurricane Andrew hits South Florida.