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.
- 844Battle 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.
- 1430Siege of Compiègne: Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians while leading an army to relieve Compiègne.
- 1498Girolamo Savonarola is burned at the stake in Florence, Italy.
- 1533The marriage of King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon is declared null and void.
- 1568The Netherlands declare their independence from Spain.
- 1568Dutch 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.
- 1609Official ratification of the Second Charter of Virginia takes place.
- 1618The Second Defenestration of Prague precipitates the Thirty Years’ War.
- 1701After being convicted of piracy and of murdering William Moore, Captain William Kidd is hanged in London, England.
- 1706Battle of Ramillies: John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, defeats a French army under Marshal François de Neufville, duc de Villeroy.
- 1788South Carolina ratifies the United States Constitution as the eighth American state.
- 1793Battle of Famars during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition.
- 1829Accordion patent granted to Cyrill Demian in Vienna, Austrian Empire.
- 1844Declaration 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.
- 1846Mexican–American War: President Mariano Paredes of Mexico unofficially declares war on the United States.
- 1873The Canadian Parliament establishes the North-West Mounted Police, the forerunner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
- 1900American Civil War: Sergeant William Harvey Carney is awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism in the Assault on the Battery Wagner in 1863.
- 1907The unicameral Parliament of Finland gathers for its first plenary session.
- 1911The New York Public Library is dedicated.
- 1915World War I: Italy joins the Allies after they declare war on Austria-Hungary.
- 1932In 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.
- 1934The American bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde are ambushed by police and killed in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.
- 1934The 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.
- 1939The 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.
- 1945World War II: Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Schutzstaffel, commits suicide while in Allied custody.
- 1945World 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.
- 1948Thomas C. Wasson, the US Consul-General, is assassinated in Jerusalem, Israel.
- 1949The Federal Republic of Germany is established and the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany is proclaimed.
- 1951Tibetans sign the Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet with China.
- 1958The satellite Explorer 1 ceases transmission.
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