October 23

Saturday 23, 2004:

A powerful earthquake and its aftershocks hit Niigata prefecture, northern Japan, killing 35 people, injuring 2,200, and leaving 85,000 homeless or evacuated.

Thursday 23, 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.

Wednesday 23, 2002:

Moscow Theatre Siege begins: Chechen rebels seize the House of Culture theater in Moscow and take approximately 700 theatergoers hostage.

Tuesday 23, 2001:

The Provisional Irish Republican Army of Northern Ireland commences disarmament after peace talks encouraged by American President Bill Clinton.

Friday 23, 1998:

1998 - Swatch Internet Time introduced

Wednesday 23, 1996:

The civil trial of former American football player O.J. Simpson opens in Santa Monica, California.

Friday 23, 1992:

Akihito becomes the first Emperor of Japan to stand on Chinese soil.

Sunday 23, 1983:

Lebanon Civil War: U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut hit by truck bomb, killing 241 US Servicemen. French barracks also hit the same morning, killing 58. The US responds by withdrawing its troops from the region.

Saturday 23, 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."

Tuesday 23, 1973:

Watergate Scandal: US President Richard M. Nixon agrees to turn over subpoenaed audio tapes of his Oval Office conversations about the scandal.

Saturday 23, 1965:

The U.S. 1st 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).

Thursday 23, 1958:

Belgian cartoonist Peyo introduced a new set of comic strip characters The Smurfs.

Tuesday 23, 1956:

Thousands of Hungarians protest Soviet influence and occupation in their nation (Hungarian Revolution is put down on November 4).

Monday 23, 1944:

The largest naval battle in history begins in Leyte Gulf, the Red Army enters Hungary

Friday 23, 1942:

At El Alamein in Egypt, British forces begin a major offensive against Axis forces.

Thursday 23, 1941:

World War II: Georgy Zhukov assumes command of Red Army efforts to stop the German advance into Russia.

Wednesday 23, 1935:

Dutch Schultz, Abe Landau, Otto Berman, and Bernard "Lulu" Rosenkrantz are fatally shot in a bar in Newark in what will become known as The Chophouse Massacre

Wednesday 23, 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.

Saturday 23, 1915:

Woman's suffrage: In New York City, 25,000-33,000 women march up Fifth Avenue to demand the right to vote.

Monday 23, 1911:

First use of aircraft in war: an Italian pilot takes off from Libya to survey Turkish lines during the Turco-Italian War.

Tuesday 23, 1906:

Alberto Santos-Dumont flies the 14-bis in the first officially-recognised heavier-than-air flight at Champs de Bagatelle, Paris, France.

Wednesday 23, 1867:

72 Senators were summoned by Royal Proclamation to serve as the first members of the Canadian Senate.

Sunday 23, 1864:

Union forces under General Samuel R. Curtis defeat Confederate troops led by General Stirling Price at Westport, near Kansas City.

Tuesday 23, 1855:

Kansas Free State forces set up a competing government under their Topeka, Kansas constitution, which outlaws slavery in the United States territory.

Saturday 23, 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).

Friday 23, 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.

Friday 23, 1739:

War of Jenkins' Ear starts: British Prime Minister, Robert Walpole, reluctantly declares war on Spain.

Saturday 23, 1086:

At the Battle of az-Zallaqah, the army of Yusuf ibn Tashfin defeats the forces of Castilian King Alfonso VI

Thursday 23, 425:

Valentinian III elevated as Roman Emperor. He was only 6 years old.

Wednesday 23, -42:

Brutus's army is decisively defeated by Mark Antony and Octavian. He commits suicide.

Thursday 23, -4004:

The universe was created, according to the Ussher-Lightfoot Calendar.

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