March 23



Events

Up to 1900 
 752 – Stephen II becomes Pope.
 1400 - The Tran Dynasty of Vietnam is deposed after 175 years in power, by Ho Quy Ly, a court official.
 1568 – Peace of Longjumeau ends the Second War of Religion in France. Again Catherine of Medici and Charles IX of France make substantial concessions to the Huguenots.
 1708 – James Francis Edward Stuart lands at the Firth of Forth.
 1775 – American Revolutionary War: Patrick Henry delivers his famous speech – "give me liberty or give me death" at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia.
 1801 – Tsar Paul I of Russia is struck with a sword, then strangled, and finally trampled to death in his bedroom at St. Michael Palace.
 1806 – After traveling through the Louisiana Purchase and reaching the Pacific Ocean, explorers Lewis and Clark and their "Corps of Discovery" begin their arduous journey home.
 1821 - Greek War of Independence: Battle of Kalamata and fall of the city of Kalamata.
 1839 – First recorded use of "OK" as an abbreviation for "oll korrect" in the Boston Morning Post.
 1848 – The ship John Wickliffe arrives at Port Chalmers carrying the first Scottish settlers for Dunedin, New Zealand. Otago province is founded.
 1848 - Venice declares independence from Austria. This leads to the creation of the Republic of San Marco, under Prime Minister Daniele Manin, which lasts until August 23, 1849.
 1857 – Elisha Otis's first elevator is installed at 488 Broadway, New York City.
 1862 - American Civil War: First Battle of Kernstown - start of Stonewall Jackson's valley campaign.
 1868 – The University of California is founded in Oakland, California when the Organic Act is signed into law.
 1879 - War of the Pacific: The Battle of Topater, the first major battle of the war, is fought between Chile and the joint forces of Peru and Bolivia.
 1888 - In England, the Football League first meets.
 1889 – Land run: President Benjamin Harrison opens Oklahoma to white settlement starting on April 22.
 1889 – The free Woolwich Ferry officially opens in east London.

1901  2000 
 1901 - President of the Philippines Emilio Aguinaldo is captured by US forces.
 1903 – The Wright Brothers apply for a patent on their invention of one of the first successful airplanes after much hard work.
 1905 - Eleftherios Venizelos calls for Crete's union with Greece.
 1909 – Theodore Roosevelt leaves New York for a post-presidency safari in Africa. The trip is sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic Society.
 1918 - World War I: Third day of the German spring offensive - the 10th Battalion of the Royal West Kent Regiment is heavily defeated, with many being taken prisoner.
 1919 – In Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini founds his Fascist political movement.
 1931 – Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt are hanged during the Indian struggle for independence. Their request to be shot by a firing squad is refused.
 1933 – The Reichstag passes the Enabling Act, making Adolf Hitler dictator of Germany.
 1935 – Signing of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.
 1937 - Spanish Civil War: Republican forces have their last major victory of the war in the Battle of Guadalajara.
 1939 - The Hungarian air force attacks the headquarters of the Slovakian air force in the city of Spisska Nova Ves, killing 13 people.
 1940 – The Lahore Resolution (Qarardad-e-Pakistan or the then Qarardad-e-Lahore) is put forward at the Annual General Convention of the All India Muslim League.
 1942 – World War II: In the Indian Ocean, Japanese forces capture the Andaman Islands.
 1950 - World Meteorological Organization is founded.
 1956 – Pakistan becomes the first Islamic Republic in the world.
 1962 – NS Savannah, the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, was launched as a showcase for Dwight D. Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace initiative.
 1963 – In London, United Kingdom, Grethe & Jørgen Ingmann win the eighth Eurovision Song Contest for Denmark singing "Dansevise" (Dancing tune).
 1965 – NASA launches Gemini 3, the United States' first two-man space flight (crew: Gus Grissom and John Young).
 1972 - The United Tasmania Front is founded in Hobart, Tasmania, led by Richard Jones, as the world's first "Green Party".
 1978 – The first UNIFIL troops arrived in Lebanon for peacekeeping mission along the Blue Line.
 1982 - Guatemala's government, led by Fernando Romeo Lucas Garcia is overthrown in a military coup by right-wing General Efrain Rios Montt.
 1983 – Strategic Defense Initiative: US President Ronald Reagan makes his initial proposal to develop technology to intercept enemy missiles.
 1989 – Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann announce cold fusion at the University of Utah.
 1989 – A 1,000-foot diameter Near-Earth asteroid misses the Earth by 400,000 miles.
 1991 - The 11-year Sierra Leone Civil War begins.
 1994 – At an election rally in Tijuana, Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio is assassinated by Mario Aburto Martinez.
 1994 - Aeroflot Flight 593 crashes in Siberia, when the pilot's 15-year-old son accidentally  disengages the autopilot, killing all 75 people on board.
 1996 – Taiwan holds its first direct elections and chooses Lee Teng-hui as President.
 1998 - James Cameron's movie Titanic wins several Academy Awards on one night, making it one of Hollywood's most successful movies ever.
 1999 – Gunmen assassinate Paraguay's Vice President Luis María Argaña.

From 2001 
 2001 – The Russian Mir space station is disposed of, breaking up in the atmosphere before falling into the southern Pacific Ocean near Fiji.
 2001 – The World Wrestling Federation (WWF) (now World Wrestling Entertainment) purchases rival organization World Championship Wrestling (WCW) for an estimated $5 million.
 2003 – In Nasiriyah, Iraq, 18 U.S. Marines are killed during the first major conflict of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
 2003 - In Slovenia, referendums are held on memberships of the EU and NATO, with a majority in favor of both proposals.
 2004 – Andhra Pradesh Federation of Trade Unions holds its first conference in Hyderabad, India.
 2005 – The United States 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, refuses to order the reinsertion of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube.
 2013 - Pope Francis meets former Pope Benedict XVI at Castel Gandolfo, Italy, making it the first such meeting between a Pope and a former Pope.
 2015 - A multi-vehicle pile-up, including a bus crash, kills 36 people in Harmey, 320 kilometers north of Lima.

Births

Up to 1900 
 1429 – Margaret of Anjou, Queen Consort of England (d. 1482)
 1501 - Pietro Andrea Mattioli, Italian physician and botanist (d. 1577)
 1599 - Thomas Selle, German composer (d. 1663)
 1638 - Frederik Ruysch, Dutch physician and anatomist (d. 1731)
 1643 - Mary of Jesus de Leon y Delgado, Spanish saint (d. 1731)
 1645 – William Kidd, Scottish sailor (d. 1701)
 1723 – Agha Mohammad Khan Ghajar, King of Persia (d. 1771)
 1732 - Marie Adelaide of France (d. 1800)
 1749 - Pierre-Simon Laplace, French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1827)
 1754 – Jurij Vega, Slovenian mathematician, physicist and artillery officer (d. 1802)
 1769 - William Smith, English geologist (d. 1839)
 1795 - Bernt Michael Holmboe, Norwegian mathematician (d. 1850)
 1799 - Joshua Baker, Governor of Louisiana (d. 1885)
 1814 - Gertrudis Gomez de Avellaneda, Cuban writer, poet and activist (d. 1873)
 1823 – Schuyler Colfax, 17th Vice President of the United States (d. 1885)
 1826 - Ludwig Minkus, Austrian ballet composer, violin virtuoso and teacher (d. 1917)
 1829 - N. R. Pogson, English astronomer and mathematician (d. 1891)
 1831 – Eduard Schlagintweit, German writer (d. 1866)
 1854 - Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner, British politician (d. 1925)
 1858 – Ludwig Quidde, German pacifist, Nobel Peace Prize winner (d. 1941)
 1862 - Nathaniel Reed, American outlaw-turned-evangelist (d. 1950)
 1869 - Calouste Gulbenkian, Armenian businessman and philanthropist (d. 1955)
 1871 - Heinrich Schroth, German actor (d. 1945)
 1872 - Michael Joseph Savage, 23rd Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1940)
 1876 - Ziya Gökalp, Turkish sociologist, poet and activist (d. 1924)
 1876 - Thakin Kodaw Hmaing, Burmese poet, writer and politician (d. 1964)
 1880 – Heikki Ritavuori, Finnish politician (d. 1922)
 1881 – Roger Martin du Gard, French writer (d. 1958)
 1881 – Hermann Staudinger, German chemist (d. 1965)
 1881 - Lacey Hearn, American athlete and sprinter (d. 1969)
 1882 – Emmy Noether, German mathematician (d. 1935)
 1887 – Juan Gris, Spanish Cubist painter (d. 1927)
 1887 – Felix Yusupov, Russian, assassin of Grigori Rasputin (d. 1967)
 1893 - G. D. Naidu, Indian inventor and engineer (d. 1974)
 1895 - Encarnacion Alzona, Filipino historian and educator (d. 2001)
 1895 - Dane Rudhyar, French-American astrologer, writer and composer (d. 1985)
 1899 – Dora Gerson, German actress and singer (d. 1943)
 1900 – Erich Fromm, German-born psychoanalyst (d. 1980)

1901  1950 
 1904 - German Busch, President of Bolivia (d. 1939)
 1905 – Lale Andersen, German singer and actress (d. 1972)
 1905 – Joan Crawford, American actress (d. 1977)
 1906 - José Della Torre, Argentine footballer (d. 1979)
 1907 – Daniel Bovet, Swiss scientist (d. 1992)
 1910 – Akira Kurosawa, Japanese movie director (d. 1998)
 1912 – Wernher von Braun, German physicist and engineer (d. 1977)
 1915 – Vasily Zaytsev, Soviet World War II figure (d. 1991)
 1915 - Thomas Pashby, Canadian advocate for safety in ice hockey (d. 2005)
 1918 - Stanley Armour Dunham, Barack Obama's grandfather (d. 1992)
 1918 - Emile Derlin Zinsou, former President of Benin
 1920 - Tetsuharu Kawakami, Japanese baseball player and coach
 1921 – Donald Campbell, British car and motorboat racer (d. 1967)
 1922 - Marty Allen, American comedian and actor
 1922 - Ugo Tognazzi, Italian actor, director and screenwriter (d. 1990)
 1923 - Martha Wright, American actress (d. 2016)
 1924 - Bette Nesmith Graham, American inventor (d. 1980)
 1925 - David Watkin, British cinematographer (d. 2008)
 1929 – Roger Bannister, British runner
 1931 – Yevgeny Grishin, Russian speed skater (d. 2005)
 1931 – Viktor Korchnoi, Russian chess player
 1931 - Yevdokiya Mekshilo, Russian skier (d. 2013)
 1932 – Louisiana Red, American blues  musician (d. 2012)
 1934 - Ludvig Faddeev, Russian mathematician and physicist
 1934 - Mark Rydell, American director
 1935 - Barry Cryer, British writer and comedian
 1937 - Ibrahim Abouleish, Egyptian chemist and businessman
 1937 – Craig Breedlove, American land speed record holder
 1937 - Tony Burton, American actor (d. 2016)
 1937 - Robert Gallo, American virologist
 1938 - Dave Pike, American jazz musician
 1940 - Ama Ata Aidoo, Ghanaian writer, playwright and academic
 1942 – Michael Haneke, Austrian movie maker and writer
 1942 - Walter Rodney, Guyanese historian and politician
 1944 – Tony McPhee, British singer and guitarist
 1944 - Michael Nyman, British composer
 1945 - Franco Battiato, Italian singer, songwriter and movie maker
 1945 - David Grisman, American bluegrass musician
 1945 - Erik De Vlaeminck, Belgian cyclist (d. 2015)
 1950 – Valgerdur Sverrisdottir, Icelandic politician
 1950 – Mike Easley, American politician, former Governor of North Carolina
 1950 - Corinne Cléry, French actress

1951  1975 
 1952 - Francesco Clemente, Italian artist
 1952 - Pola Kinski, German actress
 1952 - Kim Stanley Robinson, American writer
 1952 - Rex Tillerson, 69th United States Secretary of State and former Chief Executive of ExxonMobil
 1953 – Chaka Khan, American singer
 1955 - Moses Malone, American basketball player (d. 2015)
 1956 – José Manuel Barroso, Portuguese politician, former President of the European Commission
 1956 - Andrew Mitchell, British politician
 1957 – Lucio Gutiérrez, former President of Ecuador
 1957 - Amanda Plummer, American actress
 1958 - Bengt-Ake Gustafsson, Swedish ice hockey player and coach
 1958 - Serena Grandi, Italian actress
 1958 – Eldon Hoke, American singer and drummer (d. 1997)
 1960 – Nicol Stephen, Scottish politician
 1961 - Colin Pitchfork, English murderer
 1962 - Bassel al-Assad, Syrian engineer, colonel and politician (d. 1994)
 1962 – Steve Redgrave, English rower, five-time Olympic champion
 1963 - Michel, Spanish footballer
 1964 – Hope Davis, American actress
 1964 - John Pinette, American comedian and actor (d. 2014)
 1965 - Jonathan Dow, British actor
 1965 – Marti Pellow, Scottish singer
 1965 - Richard Grieco, American actor
 1965 - Steve Turner, American rock musician
 1966 - Alfred Nijhuis, Dutch footballer
 1968 – Damon Albarn, British singer (Blur)
 1968 – Fernando Hierro, Spanish footballer
 1968 – Mike Atherton, English cricketer
 1970 - Melissa Errico, American actress and singer
 1970 - Gianni Infantino, 9th President of FIFA
 1971 – Gail Porter, Scottish television presenter
 1971 - Alexander Selivanov, Russian ice hockey player
 1971 - Karen McDougal, American model and actress
 1972 – Joe Calzaghe, Welsh boxer
 1972 - Jonas Bjorkman, Swedish tennis player
 1973 – Jerzy Dudek, Polish footballer
 1973 – Jason Kidd, American basketball player

From 1976 
 1976 – Chris Hoy, Scottish cyclist, six-time Olympic champion
 1976 – Michelle Monaghan, American actress
 1976 – Keri Russell, American actress
 1978 – Walter Samuel, Argentine footballer
 1978 – Perez Hilton, American blogger
 1978 - Nicholle Tom, American actress
 1980 – Russell Howard, English comedian
 1980 - Ryan Day, Welsh snooker player
 1981 – Shelley Rudman, English skeleton bobsledder
 1982 – José Raul Contreras, Chilean footballer
 1983 – Mo Farah, British track-and-field athlete, four-time Olympic gold medallist
 1983 – Sascha Riether, German footballer
 1983 – Jerome Thomas, English footballer
 1983 - Hakan Balta, Turkish footballer
 1986 – Andrea Dovizioso, Italian motorcycle racer
 1985 - Stevie McCrorie, Scottish singer
 1987 - Kangna Ranaut, Indian actress
 1988 - Jason Kenny, English cyclist, Olympic champion
 1989 - Mai Nishida, Japanese model, entertainer and actress
 1990 – Princess Eugenie of York, member of the British royal family
 1991 - Gregg Wylde, Scottish footballer
 1992 - Kyrie Irving, Australian-American basketball player
 1992 – Vanessa Morgan, Canadian actress and singer
 1994 - Nick Powell, English footballer

Deaths

Up to 1900 
 851 - Zhou Chi, Chinese historian and politician (b. 713)
 1103 – Eudes I, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1058)
 1361 – Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster (b. 1310)
 1369 – King Peter of Castile (b. 1334)
 1555 – Pope Julius III (b. 1489)
 1559 - Emperor Gelawdewos of Ethiopia
 1606 – Justus Lipsius, Flemish humanist (b. 1547)
 1675 - Antoni van Goordt, Dutch composer and organist (b. 1619)
 1680 - Nicolas Fouquet, French statesman (b. 1615)
 1742 – Jean-Baptiste Dubos, French writer (b. 1670)
 1748 - Johann Gottfried Walther, German music theorist, organist and composer (b. 1684)
 1783 - Charles Carroll of Carrollton, American lawyer and politician (b. 1723)
 1801 – Tsar Paul I of Russia (b. 1754)
 1819 – August von Kotzebue, German dramatist and writer (b. 1761)
 1842 – Stendhal, French writer (b. 1783)
 1881 – Nikolai Rubinstein, Russian composer (b. 1835)

1901  2000 
 1923 – Hovhannes Tumanyan Armenian poet and writer (b. 1869)
 1927 - Paul César Helleu, French painter (b. 1859)
 1931 – Bhagat Singh, Indian freedom writer (b. 1907)
 1931 – Rajguru, Indian freedom fighter (b. 1908)
 1931 – Sukhdev, Indian freedom fighter (b. 1907)
 1935 - Florence Moore, American actress (b. 1886)
 1938 - Thomas Walter Scott, Premier of Saskatchewan (b. 1867)
 1945 – Tadamichi Kuribayashi, Japanese commander (b. 1891)
 1947 - Archduchess Luise of Austria, Princess of Tuscany (b. 1870)
 1948 – Nikolai Berdyaev, Russian philosopher (b. 1874)
 1953 – Raoul Dufy, French painter (b. 1877)
 1955 – Artur da Silva Bernardes, President of Brazil (b. 1875)
 1960 - Raoul Paoli, French athlete, boxer and rower (b. 1887)
 1964 – Peter Lorre, Hungarian-born actor (b. 1904)
 1965 - Mae Murray, American actress, dancer, producer and screenwriter (b. 1885)
 1971 - Simon Vestdijk, Dutch writer (b. 1898)
 1972 - Cristobal Balenciaga, Spanish fashion designer (b. 1895)
 1978 - Haim Ernst Wertheimer, Israeli biochemist (b. 1893)
 1979 – Ted Anderson, English footballer (b. 1911)
 1981 - Beatrice Tinsley, New Zealand astronomer (b. 1941)
 1985 - Richard Beeching, British physicist and engineer (b. 1913)
 1985 – Zoot Sims, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1925)
 1990 – John Dexter, English stage and movie director (b. 1925)
 1992 – Friedrich Hayek, Austrian economist (b. 1899)
 1994 – Luis Donaldo Colosio, Mexican politician (b. 1950)
 1994 - Giulietta Masina, Italian actress (b. 1921)
 1994 - Donald Swann, British composer, musician and entertainer (b. 1923)

From 2001 
 2002 – Ben Hollioake, English cricketer (b. 1977)
 2003 – Fritz Spiegl, Austrian-born journalist (b. 1926)
 2004 - Rupert Hamer, Australian politician, 39th Premier of Victoria (b. 1916)
 2006 – Cindy Walker, American singer, songwriter and dancer (b. 1918)
 2008 – Rafael Azcona, Spanish screenwriter (b. 1926)
 2009 – Ghukas Chubaryan, Armenian sculptor (b. 1923)
 2011 – Elizabeth Taylor, British-American actress (b. 1932)
 2012 – Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, former President of Somalia (b. 1934)
 2012 - Chico Anysio, Brazilian actor, writer, comedian and composer (b. 1931)
 2013 - Boris Berezovsky, Russian businessman and oligarch (b. 1946)
 2013 - Joe Weider, American bodybuilder (b. 1920)
 2013 - Virgil Trucks, American baseball player (b. 1917)
 2014 - Adolfo Suarez, former Prime Minister of Spain (b. 1932)
 2014 - Dave Brockie, Canadian-American musician (b. 1963)
 2014 - Peter Oakley, British internet vlogger (b. 1927)
 2014 - Jürg Neuenschwander, Swiss organist and composer (b. 1947)
 2014 - David Henshaw, New Zealand cartoonist (b. 1939) 
 2015 - Lee Kuan Yew, first Prime Minister of Singapore (b. 1923)
 2015 - Lil' Chris, English singer and television personality (b. 1990)
 2015 - Herberto Hélder, Portuguese poet and writer (b. 1930)
 2015 - Bobby Lowther, American basketball player (b. 1923)
 2016 - Ken Howard, American actor (b. 1944)
 2016 - Joe Garagiola, Sr., American baseball player (b. 1926)
 2016 - Jimmy Riley, Jamaican reggae musician (b. 1954)
 2017 - Lola Albright, American actress (b. 1924)
 2017 - Ashokamitran, Indian writer (b. 1931)
 2017 - Meir Einstein, Israeli sports broadcaster (b. 1951)
 2017 - William H. Keeler, American cardinal (b. 1931)
 2017 - Cino Tortorella, Italian television presenter and comedian (b. 1927)
 2017 - Denis Voronenkov, Russian politician (b. 1971)

Observances 
 Republic Day/Pakistan Day (Pakistan)
 Polish-Hungarian friendship day
 Day of the Sea (Bolivia)
 World Meteorological Day
 Family Day (South Africa)
 Western Christianity - Earliest possible date for Easter Monday (April 26 is the latest)
 Western Christianity - Second-earliest possible date for Easter, last occurred on this date in 2008, next in 2160.

Days of the year