July 23



Events

Up to 1900 
 811  Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros I plunders the Bulgarian city of Pliska and captures Khan Krum's treasure.
 1148  Crusades: A Crusader army starts a Siege of Damascus, lasting until July 28.
 1793  The Kingdom of Prussia re-conquers Mainz from France.
 1632  300 colonists leave for New France from Dieppe, France.
 1677  Scanian War: Denmark-Norway captures the harbour town of Marstrand from Sweden
 1783  Prussia re-conquers Mainz from France.
 1829  In the US William Austin Burt patents the typographer, a precursor of the typewriter.
 1840  The Province of Canada is created in an Act of Union.
 1862  American Civil War: Henry Halleck takes command of the Union army.
 1871  Austria-Hungary decides to use the metric system. The change becomes effective on January 1, 1876.
 1881  Chile and Argentina agree on their territories in Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia.

1901  2000 
 1903  The Ford Motor Company sells its first car.
 1914  World War I: Austria-Hungary issues an ultimatum to Serbia, demanding Serbia to allow the Austrians to determine who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Serbia does not meet Austria-Hungary's terms and war is declared on July 28.
1921  The Communist Party of China (CPC) launched the first time of Chinese National Congress, Communist party in China are established.
 1927  The first station of the Indian Broadcasting Company goes on the air in Bombay.
 1929  The Fascist government in Italy bans the use of foreign words.
 1930  A magnitude 6.7 earthquake in Italy kills 1,425 people.
 1936  The Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia is founded through the merger of the Socialist and Communist Parties.
 1940  United States Secretary of State Sumner Welles issues a declaration that the United States will not recognize the Soviet Union's annexation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
 1942  Holocaust: Treblinka Extermination Camp is opened.
 1942  World War II: The German offensives Operation Edelweiss and Operation Braunschweig begin.
 1942  World War II: Bulgarian poet and Communist leader Nikola Vaptsarov is executed by a firing squad.
 1943  World War II: British destroyers HMS Eclipse and HMS Laforey sink the Italian submarine Ascianghi in the Mediterranean Sea after she torpedoes the cruiser HMS Newfoundland.
 1952  King Farouk I of Egypt is removed in a coup and a Republic is declared.
 1961  The Sandinista Liberation Front is founded in Nicaragua.
 1962  Telstar relays the first publicly transmitted Transatlantic TV programme, featuring Walter Cronkite.
 1967  A riot in Detroit leaves 43 people dead and 342 injured.
 1968  The only successful hijacking of an El Al aircraft takes place when a Boeing 707 carrying ten crew and 38 passengers is taken over by three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, en route from Lod, Israel.
 1970  Sultan Qaboos of Oman removes his father, Sultan Sa'id ibn Taimur, in a bloodless coup.
 1972  The United States launches Landsat 1, the first Earth-resources satellite.
 1974  Constantine Karamanlis is invited to form the government of Greece after the fall of the military junta.
 1976  Mario Soares is elected Prime Minister of Portugal.
 1982  The International Whaling Commission decides to end commercial whaling by 1985 or 1986.
 1983  The Sri Lankan Civil War begins.
 1985  The Amiga computer is presented for the first time, in New York City. Celebrities such as Andy Warhol and Debbie Harry are present at the event.
 1986  Prince Andrew, Duke of York marries Sarah Ferguson. Their marriage later ends in divorce.
 1988  General Ne Win, effective military ruler of Burma since 1962, resigns after pro-democracy protests.
 1992  Abkhazia declares independence from Georgia.
 1995  Comet Hale-Bopp is discovered.
 1999  Mohammed VI becomes King of Morocco.
 1999  ANA Flight 61 is hijacked in Tokyo, Japan by Yuji Nishizawa.

From 2001 
 2001  As a result of a finance scandal, President of Indonesia Abdurrahman Wahid is forced out of office. Megawati Sukarnoputri succeeds him.
 2004  The Stari Most (Old Bridge) in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, is re-opened. It had been destroyed during the Balkan War.
 2005  Three bombs explode at Sharm-el-Sheikh in Egypt, killing 88 people.
 2011  A train crash on the high-speed rail line between Beijing and Shanghai kills 40 people.
 2011  British singer Amy Winehouse is found dead in her London home.
 2012  A major solar storm begins, which narrowly misses Earth.
 2014  The 2014 Commonwealth Games, taking place in Glasgow, Scotland, begin.
 2015  NASA announces the discovery of the planet Kepler 452b by the Kepler probe. It is believed to be the most Earth-like planet to have been discovered.
 2016  A bomb attack on a protest in Kabul, Afghanistan, kills 80 people.
 2018  A dam in southern Laos breaks, killing at least 26 people and leaving over 130 missing.
 2018  Massive wildfires break out in the Attica region of Greece, killing at least 85 people.
 2019  Boris Johnson becomes leader of the British Conservative Party, having defeated Jeremy Hunt in the leadership election; he becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom the next day.
 2021  2020 Summer Olympics open in Tokyo.

Births

Up to 1900 
645  Yazid I, Arabian Caliph (d. 683)
1301  Otto, Duke of Austria (d. 1339)
1339  King Louis I of Naples (d. 1384)
1401  Francesco I Sforza, Italian ruler (d. 1466)
1503  Anne of Bohemia and Hungary (d. 1547)
1649  Pope Clement XI (d. 1721)
1746  Bernardo de Galvez y Madrid, Spanish general and politician (d. 1786)
1773  Thomas Brisbane, Scottish general and politician, 6th Governor of New South Wales (d. 1860)
1777  Philipp Otto Runge, German painter (d. 1810)
1796  Franz Berwald, Swedish composer (d. 1868)
1804  Jane Irwin Harrison, acting First Lady of the United States (d. 1845)
1820  Julia Gardiner Tyler, First Lady of the United States (d. 1889)
1823  Alexandre-Antonin Taché, Canadian archbishop (d. 1894)
1824  Kuno Fischer, German philosopher (d. 1907)
1838  Edouard Colonne, French violinist and conductor (d. 1910)
1851  Peder Severin Kroyer, Danish painter (d. 1909)
1856  Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Indian nationalist (d. 1920)
1864  Apolinario Mabini, 1st Prime Minister of the Philippines (d. 1903)
1865  Max Heindel, Dutch occultist and mystic (d. 1919)
1865  Henry Norris, English businessman, politician and football club director (d. 1934)
1866  Francesca Cilea, Italian composer (d. 1950)
1871  Tsunesaburō Makiguchi (Japanese old Lunar calendar 6 June was an incorrect date using in Gregorian calendar), Winston Lim Zhi Hao "13 Bro" former lifetime, reformed educator and philosopher, Lotus Sutra Buddhism and Soka Gakkai International (SGI) founder (d. 1944)
1872  Edward Adrian Wilson, English Antarctic explorer (d. 1912)
1878  James Thomas Milton Anderson, Canadian politician, 5th Premier of Saskatchewan (d. 1946)
1884  Emil Jannings, Swiss-German actor (d. 1950)
1885  Georges V. Matchabelli, Georgian-American businessman (d. 1935)
1886  Salvador de Madariaga, Spanish diplomat and writer (d. 1978)
1886  Walter H. Schottky, German physicist (d. 1976)
1888  Raymond Chandler, American novelist (d. 1959)
1892  Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia (d. 1975)
1894  Arthur Treacher, English-American actor and singer (d. 1975)
1895  Aileen Pringle, American actress (d. 1989)
1898  Bengt Djurberg, Swedish actor and singer (d. 1941)
1898  Red Dutton, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1987)
1899  Gustav Heinemann, President of Germany (d. 1976)
1900  John Babcock, Canadian World War I veteran (d. 2010)

1901  1950 
1905  Leopold Engleitner, Austrian Holocaust survivor (d. 2013)
1906  Vladimir Prelog, Croatian chemist (d. 1998)
1906  Chandra Shekhar Azad, Indian activist (d. 1931)
1909  John William Finn, American naval officer (d. 2010)
1912  M. H. Abrams, American literary critic (d. 2015)
1913  Michael Foot, British politician (d. 2010)
1913  Coral Browne, Australian-American actress (d. 1991)
1918  Ruth Duccini, American actress (d. 2014)
1918  Pee Wee Reese, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1999)
1919  Héctor German Oesterhell, Argentine screenwriter (d. 1977)
1920  Amalia Rodrigues, Portuguese singer (d. 1999)
1921  Robert Brown, English actor (d. 2003)
1922  Damiano Damiani, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1923  Luis Aloma, Cuban-American baseball player (d. 1997)
1923  Morris Halle, Latvian-American linguist and academic (d. 2018)
1923  Amalia Mendoza, Mexican singer and actress (d. 2001)
1925  Tajuddin Ahmed, Bangladeshi politician (d. 1975)
1925  Alain Decaux, French historian and author (d. 2016)
1925  Gloria DeHaven, American actress and singer (d. 2016)
1925  Quett Masire, 2nd President of Botswana (d. 2017)
1926  Cedella Booker, mother of Bob Marley (d. 2008)
1926  Ludvik Vaculik, Czech writer and journalist (d. 2015)
1927  Al McCandless, American politician (d. 2017)
1928  Leon Fleisher, American pianist and conductor
1928  Vera Rubin, American astronomer (d. 2016)
1929  Danny Barcelona, American drummer (d. 2007)
1931  Queen Te Atairangikaahu of the New Zealand Maori (d. 2006)
1931  Guy Fournier, French Canadian writer and screenwriter
1931  Claude Fournier, French Canadian director and screenwriter
1932  Jorge Arvizu, Mexican voice actor (d. 2014)
1933  Bert Convy, American actor, singer and game show host (d. 1991)
1933  Richard Rogers, Italian-English architect
1934  Steve Lacy, American jazz musician (d. 2004)
1936  Anthony Kennedy, American lawyer and jurist
1936  Don Drysdale, American baseball player (d. 1993)
1938  Ronny Cox, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and actor
1938  Mickey Curtis, Japanese actor, singer and television personality
1938  Götz George, German actor (d. 2016)
1938  Juliet Anderson, American pornographic actress (d. 2010)
1940  Don Imus, American talk show host
1940  Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, Italian banker and economist (d. 2010)
1941  Richie Evans, American racing driver (d. 1985)
1941  Sergio Mattarella, Italian lawyer, judge and politician, 12th President of Italy
1942  Myra Hindley, English murderer (d. 2002)
1944  Maria Joao Pires, Portuguese pianist
1946  Rene Ricard, American poet, art critic and painter (d. 2014)
1947  David Essex, English singer
1948  John Hall, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and musician (Orleans)
1950  Len McCluskey, English trade union leader

1951  1975 
1951  Edie McClurg, American actress and voice actress
1953  Claude Barzotti, Belgian-Italian singer
1953  Najib Razak, 6th Prime minister of Malaysia
1953  Graham Gooch, English cricketer
1957  Theo van Gogh, Dutch movie director (d. 2004)
1957  Jo Brand, English comedienne, actress and presenter
1958  Frank Mill, German footballer
1961  Woody Harrelson, American actor
1961  Martin Gore, English singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer (Depeche Mode)
1962  Eriq LaSalle, American actor, director and producer
1962  Hiroshi Mikami, Japanese actor
1963  Phil Boswell, Scottish politician
1964  Uwe Barth, German politician
1964  Nick Menza, German-American drummer (d. 2016)
1965  Grace Mugabe, former First Lady of Zimbabwe
1965  Slash, English-American musician (Guns N'Roses)
1967  Philip Seymour Hoffman, American actor (d. 2014)
1967  Titiyo, Swedish singer-songwriter
1968  Elden Campbell, American basketball player
1968  Gary Payton, American basketball player and actor
1968  Stephanie Seymour, American actress and model
1969  Marco Bode, German footballer
1969  Andrew Cassels, Canadian ice hockey player
1969  David Kaufman, American voice-over artist and actor
1970  Charisma Carpenter, American actress
1971  Alison Krauss, American singer, violinist and fiddler
1972  Marlon Wayans, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter
1973  Francis Healy, British singer-songwriter and guitarist
1973  Monica Lewinsky, American White House intern
1973  Himesh Reshammiya, Indian singer-songwriter, producer, actor and director
1974  Stephanie March, American actress
1975  Alessio Tacchinardi, Italian footballer
1975  Suriya, Indian actor and producer

From 1976 
1976  Judit Polgár, Hungarian chess player
1977  Kalup Linzy, American video and performance artist
1977  Shawn Thornton, Canadian ice hockey player
1978  Gail Emms, British badminton player
1978  Lauren Groff, American novelist and short story writer
1979  Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Greek footballer
1980  Michelle Williams, American singer (Destiny's Child)
1981  Steve Jocz, Canadian musician (Sum 41)
1981  Jarkko Nieminen, Finnish tennis player
1981  Natasha Yarovenko, Ukrainian actress and model
1983  Aaron Peirsol, American swimmer
1984  Walter Gargano, Uruguayan footballer
1984  Brandon Roy, American basketball player
1984  Arnór Atlason, Icelandic handball player
1985  Blake Harrison, English actor
1985  Anna Maria Mühe, German actress
1986  Ayaka Komatsu, Japanese model and actress
1986  Yelena Sokolova, Russian long jumper
1989  Daniel Radcliffe, British actor
1990  Ryan Castro, American actor
1990  Kevin Reynolds, Canadian figure skater
1990  Young JV, Filipino actor, singer, dancer and host
1991  Lauren Mitchell, Australian gymnast
1992  Danny Ings, English footballer
1996  Rachel G. Fox, American actress and singer
1996  Danielle Bradbery, American singer

Deaths

Up to 1900 
1227  Qiu Chuji, Chinese religious leader (b. 1148)
1373  Saint Birgitta, Swedish saint (b. 1303)
1645  Tsar Michael I of Russia (b. 1596)
1692  Gilles Ménage, French scholar (b. 1613)
1727  Simon Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1661)
1757  Domenico Scarlatti, Italian composer (b. 1685)
1773  George Edwards, English naturalist (b. 1693)
1781  John Joachim Zubly, Swiss-American pastor and politician (b. 1724)
1793  Roger Sherman, signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1721)
1853  Andries Pretorius, Boer leader (b. 1798)
1875  Isaac Singer, American inventor (b. 1811)
1878  Carl von Rokitansky, Bohemian physician, pathologist and politician (b. 1804)
1885  Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States (b. 1822)

1901  2000 
1901  Kliment Turnovski, Bulgarian religious leader, writer and politician (b. 1838)
1916  Sir William Ramsay, Scottish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
1919  Spyridon Lambros, Greek historian, professor and Prime Minister (b. 1851)
1920  Conrad Kohrs, German-born rancher (b. 1835)
1923  Pancho Villa, Mexican revolutionary (b. 1878)
1924  Frank Frost Abbott, American classical scholar (b. 1850)
1926  Viktor Vasnetsov, Russian painter (b. 1848)
1930  Glenn Curtiss, American pilot and engineer (b. 1878)
1932  Tenby Davies, Welsh runner (b. 1884)
1932  Alberto Santos-Dumont, Brazilian inventor (b. 1873)
1941  George Lyman Kittredge, American scholar and educator (b. 1860)
1941  José Quiñones Gonzales, Peruvian soldier and pilot (b. 1914)  
1942  Adam Czerniakow, Polish engineer (suicide) (b. 1880)
1942  Andy Ducat, English cricketer and footballer (b. 1886)
1942  Nikola Vaptsarov, Bulgarian poet and Communist leader (b. 1909)
1948  D. W. Griffith, American movie director (b. 1875)
1951  Henri Philippe Pétain, leader of Vichy France (b. 1856)
1951  Robert J. Flaherty, American director and producer (b. 1884)
1952  Carl Severing, German politician (b. 1875)
1954  Hermann Groman, American runner (b. 1882)
1955  Cordell Hull, United States Secretary of State (b. 1871)
1966  Montgomery Clift, American actor (b. 1920)
1967  Ahmet Kutsi Tecer, Turkish poet and politician (b. 1901)
1968  Henry Hallett Dale, English pharmacologist, won the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, (b. 1875)
1971  Van Heflin, American actor (b. 1910)
1973  Eddie Rickenbacker, American pilot (b. 1890)
1980  Sarto Fournier, 38th Mayor of Montreal (b. 1908)
1980  Keith Godchaux, American musician (Grateful Dead) (b. 1948)
1980  Mollie Steimer, Russian exilee and political activist (b. 1897)
1982  Vic Morrow, American actor (b. 1929)
1983  Georges Auric, French composer (b. 1899)
1989  Donald Barthelme, American writer (b. 1931)
1996  Jean Muir, American actress and singer (b. 1911)
1997  Chuhei Nambu, Japanese athlete (b. 1904)
1999  King Hassan II of Morocco (b. 1929)

From 2001 
2001  Eudora Welty, American writer (b. 1909)
2002  Leo McKern, Australian actor (b. 1920)
2002  Dr. William L. Pierce, American writer and activist (b. 1933)
2002  Chaim Potok, American novelist and rabbi (b. 1929)
2003  James E. Davis, New York City councilman (murdered) (b. 1962)
2004  Carlos Paredes, Portuguese musician and composer (b. 1925)
2004  Mehmood, Indian actor (b. 1932)
2007  Mohammed Zahir Shah, King of Afghanistan (b. 1914)
2007  Ernst Otto Fischer, German chemist (b. 1918)
2008  Kurt Furgler, Swiss Federal Councillor (b. 1924)
2010  Daniel Schorr, American journalist (b. 1916)
2011  Nguyen Cao Ky, South Vietnamese air force chief and Prime Minister (b. 1930)
2011  Amy Winehouse, English singer-songwriter (b. 1983)
2011  John Shalikashvili, American Chief of Staff (b. 1936)
2011  Robert Ettinger, American academic and pioneer of Cryonics (b. 1918)
2012  Sally Ride, American physicist and astronaut, first American woman in space (b. 1951)
2013  Emile Griffith, American boxer (b. 1938)
2013  Djalma Santos, Brazilian footballer (b. 1929)
2013  Jokichi Igarashi, Japanese supercentenarian (b. 1902)
2013  Rona Anderson, Scottish actress (b. 1926)
2014  Dora Bryan, English actress (b. 1923)
2014  Saado Ali Warsame, Somali politician and folk singer (b. 1950)
2014  Norman Leyden, American conductor, composer and musician (b. 1917)
2014  Ariano Suassuna, Brazilian writer (b. 1927)
2015  José Sazatornil, Spanish actor (b. 1925)
2015  William Wakefield Baum, American cardinal (b. 1926)
2016  Thorbjorn Falldin, Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1926)
2016  Carl Falck, Norwegian businessman and centenarian (b. 1907)
2016  S. H. Raza, Indian artist (b. 1922)
2017  Bob DeMoss, American football player and coach (b. 1927)
2017  Thomas Fleming, American novelist (b. 1927)
2017  John Kundla, American basketball coach (b. 1916)
2017  Lau Wong-fat, Hong Kong businessman and politician (b. 1936)
2017  Waldir Peres, Brazilian footballer (b. 1951)
2017  Mervyn Rose, American tennis player (b. 1930)
2017  Flo Steinberg, American comic book publisher and secretary (b. 1939)
2017  Snooty, American manatee (b. 1948)
2018  Maryon Pittman Allen, American journalist and politician (b. 1925)
2018  Harry Gulkin, Canadian film director (b. 1927)
2018  Elbert Howard, American political activist (b. 1938)
2018  Roh Hoe-chan, South Korean politician (b. 1956)
2018  Khalid Salleh, Malaysian actor (b. 1948)
2018  Oksana Shachko, Ukrainian artist and human rights activist (b. 1987)
2019  Maxim Dadashev, Russian boxer (b. 1990)
2019  Barney Smith, American plumber, artist and museum curator (b. 1921)
2019  Ferdinand von Bismarck, German businessman and lawyer (b. 1930)
2019  Lois Wille, American journalist (b. 1931)

Observances 
 Birthday of Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia (Ras-Tafari Movement)
 Revolution Day (Egypt)
 Children's Day (Indonesia)
 National Hot Dog Day (United States)
 Renaissance Day (Oman)
 National Remembrance Day (Papua New Guinea)

References

Days of the year