October 23

October 23 is the 296th day of the year (297th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 69 days remaining.

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Events

• 4004 BC - The universe was created, according to the Ussher-Lightfoot Calendar.
• 42 BC - Roman Republican civil wars: Second Battle of Philippi - Brutus's army is decisively defeated by Mark Antony and Octavian. He commits suicide.
• 425 - Valentinian III elevated as Roman Emperor. He was only 6 years old.
• 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 was 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.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Westport - Union forces under General Samuel R. Curtis defeat Confederate troops led by General Stirling Price at Westport, near Kansas City.
• 1911 - First use of aircraft in war: an Italian pilot takes off from Libya to survey Turkish lines during the Turco-Italian War.
• 1915 - Woman's suffrage: In New York City, 25,000-33,000 women march up Fifth Avenue to demand the right to vote.
• 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.
• 1941 - World War II: Georgy Zhukov assumes command of Red Army efforts to stop the German advance into Russia.
• 1942 - World War II: Second Battle of El Alamein starts - At El Alamein in Egypt, British forces begin a major offensive against Axis forces.
• 1944 - World War II: Battle of Leyte Gulf begins - The largest naval battle in history begins in Leyte Gulf, the Red Army enters Hungary
• 1956 - Thousands of Hungarians protest Soviet influence and occupation in their nation (Hungarian Revolution is put down on November 4).
• 1958 - Belgian cartoonist Peyo introduced a new set of comic strip characters The Smurfs.
• 1965 - Vietnam War: Operation Silver Bayonet - The 1st United States Cavalry Division (Airmobile) in conjunction with South Vietnamese forces, launch a new operation, seeking to destroy North Vietnamese forces in Pleku Province in II Corps Tactical Zone (the Central Highlands)
• 1973 - Watergate Scandal: US President Richard M. Nixon agrees to turn over subpoenaed audio tapes of his Oval Office conversations about the scandal.
• 1976 - US president Jimmy Carter, in a Playboy magazine interview, states that "I've looked on many women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times. God knows I will do this and forgives me."
• 1983 - Lebanon Civil War: U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut hit by truck bomb, killing 241. French barracks also hit the same morning, killing 58.
• 1992 - Akihito becomes the first Emperor of Japan to stand on Chinese soil.
• 1996 - The civil trial of former American football player O.J. Simpson opens in Santa Monica, California.
• 1998 - Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat reach a "land-for-peace" agreement.
• 1998 - Abortion in the United States: In Amherst, New York, abortion doctor Barnett Slepian is killed by a sniper in his home.
• 2001 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army of Northern Ireland commences disarmament after peace talks encouraged by American President Bill Clinton.
• 2002 - Moscow Theatre Siege begins: Chechen rebels seize the House of Culture theater in Moscow and take approximately 700 theatergoers hostage.
• 2003 - George W. Bush addresses a joint sitting of the houses of the Australian Parliament and is shouted down by Green Party senators Kerry Nettle and Bob Brown.
• 2004 - Brazil's 'Operation Cajuana' launched its first rocket into space, the VSB-30 just 14 months after its space program was devastated by a deadly launch pad accident.
• 2004 - At the IHSA Regionals meet in Charleston, Illinois, Urbana High School's Cross Country team qualified for IHSA Sectionals for the first time in seven years, and for the second time in thirty-seven years.

Births

• 1762 - Samuel Morey, inventor (d. 1843)
• 1790 - Chauncey Allen Goodrich, American clergyman, educator and lexicographer (d. 1860)
• 1796 - Stefano Franscini, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1857)
• 1817 - Pierre Athanase Larousse, lexicographer and encyclopedist
• 1835 - Adlai E. Stevenson, Vice President of the United States
• 1875 - Gilbert N. Lewis, American chemist
• 1892 - Gummo Marx, actor, comedian, Marx Brothers (d. 1977)
• 1905 - Felix Bloch, Swiss physicist
• 1906 - Gertrude Ederle, first woman to swim the English Channel
• 1909 - Zellig Harris, American linguist
• 1923 - Frank Sutton, actor (Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.) (d. 1974)
• 1925 - Johnny Carson, American television host
• 1931 - Jim Bunning, American baseball pitcher and senator
• 1935 - Chi Chi Rodriguez, golf champion
• 1940 - Pelé, Brazilian football player
• 1942 - Michael Crichton, writer
• 1946 - Melquiades Martinez "Mel", Florida senator- 2005-
• 1954 - Ang Lee, director, producer
• 1956 - Dwight Yoakam, country music performer
• 1959 - Weird Al Yankovic, American musical parodist
• 1959 - Sam Raimi, director, producer
• 1962 - Doug Flutie, Canadian football and American football quarterback.
• 1975 - Keith Van Horn, American basketball player.

Deaths

• 42 BC - Marcus Junius Brutus, suicide
• 1910 - Chulalongkorn (Rama V), king of Thailand
• 1939 - Zane Grey, author
• 1950 - Al Jolson, singer, actor
• 1975 - Charles Brokaw, journalist
• 1983 - Jessica Savitch, journalist
• 1990 - Louis Althusser, French Marxist philosopher
• 1998 - Dr. Barnett Slepian, physician
• 2001 - Ronald William Kirby, British commercial artist
• 2003 - Soong May-ling, widow of Chiang Kai-shek
• 2004 - Friedel Neuber, German bank manager (WestLB)
• 2004 - Dorothy Comstock Riley, Michigan state supreme court justice

Holidays

• Chemistry: Mole Day

October 22 - October 24 - November 23 - September 23 -- listing of all days

af:10-23 bg:23 октомври ca:23 d'octubre cy:23 Hydref da:23. oktober de:23. Oktober et:23. oktoober es:23 de octubre eo:23-a de oktobro fr:23 octobre fy:23 oktober ko:10월 23일 hr:23. listopada io:23 di oktobro is:23. október it:23 ottobre he:23 באוקטובר hu:Október 23 ku:23'ê kewçêrê lt:Spalio 23 lb:23. Oktober nl:23 oktober ja:10月23日 no:23. oktober oc:23 d'octobre pl:23 października pt:23 de Outubro ro:23 octombrie ru:23 октября sl:23. oktober sr:23. октобар fi:23. lokakuuta sv:23 oktober tl:Oktubre 23 tr:23 Ekim uk:23 жовтня zh:10月23日