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May 23 Birthday Events Poster

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May 23 Historical Events

The following events took place on May 23. The list is arranged in chronological order.

Found 46 events. Showing 1 - 30.

  • 844
    Battle of Clavijo: The Apostle Saint James the Greater is said to have miraculously appeared to a force of outnumbered Asturians and aided them against the forces of the Emir of Cordoba.
  • 1430
    Siege of Compiègne: Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians while leading an army to relieve Compiègne.
  • 1498
    Girolamo Savonarola is burned at the stake in Florence, Italy.
  • 1533
    The marriage of King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon is declared null and void.
  • 1568
    The Netherlands declare their independence from Spain.
  • 1568
    Dutch rebels led by Louis of Nassau, defeat Jean de Ligne, Duke of Arenberg, and his loyalist troops in the Battle of Heiligerlee, opening the Eighty Years’ War.
  • 1609
    Official ratification of the Second Charter of Virginia takes place.
  • 1618
    The Second Defenestration of Prague precipitates the Thirty Years’ War.
  • 1701
    After being convicted of piracy and of murdering William Moore, Captain William Kidd is hanged in London, England.
  • 1706
    Battle of Ramillies: John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, defeats a French army under Marshal François de Neufville, duc de Villeroy.
  • 1788
    South Carolina ratifies the United States Constitution as the eighth American state.
  • 1793
    Battle of Famars during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition.
  • 1829
    Accordion patent granted to Cyrill Demian in Vienna, Austrian Empire.
  • 1844
    Declaration of the Báb the evening before the 23rd: A merchant of Shiraz announces that he is a Prophet and founds a religious movement that would later be brutally crushed by the Persian government. He is considered to be a forerunner of the Bahá'í Faith, and Bahá'ís celebrate the day as a holy day.
  • 1846
    Mexican–American War: President Mariano Paredes of Mexico unofficially declares war on the United States.
  • 1873
    The Canadian Parliament establishes the North-West Mounted Police, the forerunner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
  • 1900
    American Civil War: Sergeant William Harvey Carney is awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism in the Assault on the Battery Wagner in 1863.
  • 1907
    The unicameral Parliament of Finland gathers for its first plenary session.
  • 1911
    The New York Public Library is dedicated.
  • 1915
    World War I: Italy joins the Allies after they declare war on Austria-Hungary.
  • 1932
    In Brazil, four students are shot and killed during a manifestation against the Brazilian dictator Getúlio Vargas, which occurred in the city of São Paulo. Their names and surnames were used to form the MMDC, a revolutionary group that would act against the dictatorial government, especially in the Constitutionalist Revolution (“Revolução Constitucionalista”, in Portuguese), the major uprising in Brazil during the 20th century.
  • 1934
    The American bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde are ambushed by police and killed in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.
  • 1934
    The Auto-Lite strike culminates in the “Battle of Toledo”, a five-day melée between 1,300 troops of the Ohio National Guard and 6,000 picketers.
  • 1939
    The U.S. Navy submarine USS Squalus sinks off the coast of New Hampshire during a test dive, causing the death of 24 sailors and two civilian technicians. The remaining 32 sailors and one civilian naval architect are rescued the following day.
  • 1945
    World War II: Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Schutzstaffel, commits suicide while in Allied custody.
  • 1945
    World War II: The Flensburg Government under Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz is dissolved when its members are captured and arrested by British forces at Flensburg in Northern Germany.
  • 1948
    Thomas C. Wasson, the US Consul-General, is assassinated in Jerusalem, Israel.
  • 1949
    The Federal Republic of Germany is established and the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany is proclaimed.
  • 1951
    Tibetans sign the Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet with China.
  • 1958
    The satellite Explorer 1 ceases transmission.

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