On this day in History - Oct. 23

• 4004 BC - On the preceding eve of this day (in the proleptic Julian calendar), the universe was created, according to the archbisshop James Ussher in his Ussher-Lightfoot Calendar.
• 0042 BC - Roman Republican civil wars: Second Battle of Philippi - Brutus's army is decisively defeated by Mark Antony and Octavian. He commits suicide.
• 0042 BC - Marcus Junius Brutus dies (b.85 BC). Roman senator
• 0425 - Valentinian III elevated as Roman Emperor. He was only 6 years old.
• 0502 - The Synodus Palmaris, called by Gothic king Theodoric the Great, discharges Pope Symmachus of all charges, thus ending the schism of Antipope Laurentius.
• 0930 - Daigo was born (b. 0885). Emperor of Japan
• 1086 - At the Battle of az-Zallaqah, the army of Yusuf ibn Tashfin defeats the forces of Castilian King Alfonso VI
• 1456 - Giovanni da Capistrano dies (b. 1386). Italian saint.
• 1459 - Exércitos de D. Afonso V e Infante D. Henrique derrotam os mouros em Alcácer Ceguer
• 1520 - King Carlos I (1500-1558) was crowned as German emperor Charles V (1520-1558), a Holy Roman Emperor.
• 1550 - Tiedemann Giese dies (b. 1480). Polish Catholic bishop
• 1581 - Michael Neander dies (b. 1529). German mathematician and astronomer.
• 1616 - Leonhard Hutter dies (b. 1563). German theologian.
• 1641 - Outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641 - anniversary commemorated by Irish Protestants for over 200 years
• 1688 - Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange dies (b. 1610). French philologist.
• 1694 - American colonial forces led by Sir William Phips, fail to seize Quebec.
• 1698 - Ange-Jacques Gabriel was born (d. 1782). French architect
• 1705 - Maximilian Ulysses Reichsgraf von Browne was born (d.1757). Austrian field marshal.
• 1707 - The first Parliament of Great Britain meets.
• 1715 - Peter II of Russia was born (d. 1730)
• 1730 - Anne Oldfield dies (b. 1683). English actress.
• 1739 - War of Jenkins' Ear starts: British Prime Minister, Robert Walpole, reluctantly declares war on Spain.
• 1749 - Nicolas Appert was born (d. 1841). Chef, confectioner, chemist and inventor.
• 1762 - Samuel Morey was born (b. 1843). American inventor
• 1764 - Emmanuel-Auguste de Cahideuc, Comte Dubois de la Motte dies (b. 1683). French naval officer
• 1766 - Emmanuel, marquis de Grouchy was born (d.1847). French marshal
• 1771 - Jean-Andoche Junot was born (d. 1813). French general.
• 1774 - Michel Benoist dies (b. 1715). French Jesuit missionary and scientist
• 1790 - Chauncey Allen Goodrich was born (d. 1860). American clergyman, educator and lexicographer
• 1796 - Stefano Franscini was born (d. 1857). Swiss Federal Councilor.
• 1801 - Albert Lortzing was born (d. 1851). German composer
• 1805 - John Bartlett was born (d. 1905). American lexicographer.
• 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.
• 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
• 1813 - Ludwig Leichhardt was born (d. 1848). German explorer.
• 1817 - Pierre Athanase Larousse was born. French lexicographer and encyclopedist
• 1817 - Anselmo José Braamcamp was born. Portuguese politician.
• 1835 - Adlai E. Stevenson was born. 23 rd Vice President of the United States
• 1837 - Moriz Kohn Kaposi was born. Hungarian physician.
• 1844 - Robert Bridges was born (d. 1930). English poet.
• 1844 - Sarah Bernhardt was born (d. 1923). French actress.
• 1846 - Pedro Castera was born. Mexican writer.
• 1855 - Kansas Free State forces set up a competing government under their Topeka, Kansas constitution, which outlaws slavery in the United States territory.
• 1861 - President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in Washington, D.C. for all military-related cases.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Westport - Union forces under General Samuel R. Curtis defeat Confederate troops led by General Stirling Price at Westport, near Kansas City.
• 1865 - Neltje Blanchan was born (d. 1918). U.S. nature writer.
• 1867 - 72 Senators were summoned by Royal Proclamation to serve as the first members of the Canadian Senate.
• 1870 - Bishop Francis Kelley was born (d. 1948). Catholic Bishop of Oklahoma.
• 1872 - Théophile Gautier dies (b.1811). French writer, poet, writer, historian, and critic.
• 1875 - Gilbert N. Lewis was born. American chemist.
• 1876 - Franz Schlegelberger was born (d. 1970). German judge and politician
• 1880 - Una O'Connor was born (d. 1959). Irish actress.
• 1885 - Lawren Harris was born (d. 1970). Canadian painter.
• 1885 - Charles S. West dies (b. 1829). Texas jurist and politician.
• 1887 - Nascia o Padre Américo (m. 16 Jul 1956). Fundador da Casa do Gaiato.
• 1888 - Onésime Gagnon was born (d. 1961). French Canadian politician, lieutenant-governor of Quebec.
• 1890 - Borodin's Opera "Prince Igor" was produced posthumously in St. Petersburg.
• 1892 - Gummo Marx was born (d. 21 Apr 1977). American actor and comedian (Marx Brothers): The Four Nightingales, Fun in Hi Skule, Mr. Green’s Reception, Home Again;
• 1894 - Rube Bressler was born (d. 1966). Baseball player.
• 1896 - André Lévêque was born (d. 1930). French engineer and scientist.
• 1900 - Douglas Jardine was born (d. 1958). English cricketer.
• 1904 - Harvey Penick was born (d. 1995). American golfer.
• 1905 - Felix Bloch was born (d. 1983). Swiss-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1906 - Gertrude Ederle was born (d. 2003). American swimmer.
• 1906 - Alberto Santos-Dumont flies the 14-bis in the first officially-recognised heavier-than-air flight at Champs de Bagatelle, Paris, France.
• 1908 - Ilya Frank was born (d. 1990). Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1909 - Zellig Harris was born. American linguist
• 1910 - Chulalongkorn dies (b. 1853). King of Thailand
• 1911 - First use of aircraft in war: an Italian pilot takes off from Libya to survey Turkish lines during the Turco-Italian War.
• 1913 - Hermínia Silva was born - official birthday : some fontes say that the real date was 2 Oct- (d. 13 Jun 1993). Portuguese singer (fado) and actress [A Aldeia da Roupa Branca (1938), O Costa do Castelo (1943), Ribatejo (1949) e O Diabo Era Outro (1969)].
• 1914 - José Evaristo Uriburu dies. President of Argentina (1895-1898)
• 1915 - Woman's suffrage: In New York City, 25,000-33,000 women march up Fifth Avenue to demand the right to vote.
• 1915 - W. G. Grace dies (b. 1848). English cricketer
• 1917 - Júlio Resende was born. Portuguese painter (See O Lugar do desenho - Fundação Júlio Resende)
• 1918 - James Daly was born (d. 3 Jul 1978). Emmy Award-winning actor: Hallmark Hall of Fame: Eagle in a Cage [1965-1966]; Medical Center, Planet of the Apes, The Invaders;
• 1921 - John Boyd Dunlop dies (b. 1840). Scottish inventor.
• 1922 - Coleen Gray was born. American actress
• 1923 - Aslam Farrukhi was born. Pakistani scholar and poet
• 1923 - Ned Rorem was born. American composer, Pulitzer Prize winner Air Music [1976]
• 1923 - Frank Sutton was born (d. 1974). American actor.
• 1924 - Paulo Renato was born in Lisbon (d. 26 Dec 1981). Portuguese actor
• 1925 - Johnny Carson was born (d. 23 Jan 2005). American television host. Emmy Award-winning comedian, TV host: The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson [1977-1978, 1978-1979], 1979-1980, 1991-1992]; The Johnny Carson Show, Who Do You Trust?, Earn Your Vacation;
• 1925 - Fred Shero was born (d. 1990). National Hockey League player and coach.
• 1927 - Leszek Kołakowski was born. Polish philosopher
• 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.
• 1929 - The first transcontinental air service begins from New York to Los Angeles.
• 1930 - The first miniature golf tournament finished in Chattanooga, TN
• 1931 - Jim Bunning was born. Baseball player and U.S. Senator.
• 1931 - Diana Dors was born. British actress
• 1932 - Abebe Bikila dies. Egypcian runner, winner of Roma's Olympic Marathon in 1960
• 1934 - Samuel Anthony, Jr. was born. American architect.
• 1935 - Chi Chi Rodriguez was born. Puerto Rican golfer.
• 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
• 1936 - Philip Kaufman was born. American film director.
• 1937 - Carlos Lamarca was born (d. 1971). Brazilian militar and guerilla.
• 1937 - Gil Alberto Enríquez Gallo assumes the presidency of Ecuador.
• 1939 - Zane Grey dies (b. 1872). American author
• 1940 - Pelé was born. Brazilian football player, one of the best (or the best) of all time.
• 1940 - Ellie Greenwich was born. American songwriter
• 1941 - World War II: Georgy Zhukov assumes command of Red Army efforts to stop the German advance into Russia.
• 1941 - Burning of Odessa Jews, Ukraine: 19,000 Jews are burned alive at Dalnik in Odessa, by Romanian and German troops. The next day, another 10,000 Jews are killed. Romanian Lieutenant-Colonel Nicolae Deleanu administered the executions.
• 1941 - Walt Disney's cartoon film, "Dumbo," was released.
• 1941 - Igor Smirnov was born. Moldovan politician
• 1942 - World War II: Second Battle of El Alamein starts - At El Alamein in Egypt, British forces begin a major offensive against Axis forces.
• 1942 - Michael Crichton was born. American writer. His work includes "Jurassic Park" and "The Andromeda Strain."
• 1942 - Ralph Rainger dies (b. 1901). American composer and Hollywood songwriter.
• 1944 - World War II: Battle of Leyte Gulf begins - The largest naval battle in history begins in Leyte Gulf, the Red Army enters Hungary
• 1944 - Charles Glover Barkla dies (b. 1877). English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1945 - Kim Larsen was born. Danish singer
• 1946 - The United Nations General Assembly convened in New York for the first time, at an auditorium in Flushing Meadow.
• 1946 - Melquiades Martinez was born. U.S. Senator from Florida
• 1946 - Graça Machel was born. Wife of Nelson Mandela (and widow of the late Mozambique president Samora Machel)
• 1948 - Hermann Hauser was born. Austrian-born technological entrepreneur
• 1949 - Nick Tosches was born. American writer.
• 1950 - Al Jolson dies (b. 1886). American singer and actor.
• 1951 - Charly García was born. Argentine musician.
• 1951 - Fatmir Sejdiu was born. President of Kosovo
• 1952 - The Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to Ukrainian-born microbiologist Selmart A. Waksman for his discovery streptomycin, the 1st antibiotic to successfully treat tuberculosis.
• 1954 - Ang Lee was born. Taiwanese-born director and producer
• 1956 - Dwight Yoakam was born. American singer, songwriter, and actor
• 1956 - Thousands of Hungarians protest Soviet influence and occupation in their nation (Hungarian Revolution is put down on November 4).
• 1958 - Belgian cartoonist Peyo introduced a new set of comic strip characters The Smurfs.
• 1958 - Boris Pasternak won the Nobel Prize in literature. However, Soviet authorities pressured Pasternak into relinquishing the award.
• 1958 - Nancy Grace was born. American former prosecutor
• 1959 - "Weird Al" Yankovic was born. American musical parodist
• 1959 - Sam Raimi was born.American film director and producer.
• 1960 - Wayne Rainey was born. American motorcyclist.
• 1961 - Don Harris was born. American professional wrestler
• 1961 - Andoni Zubizarreta was born. Spanish football player.
• 1962 - Doug Flutie was born. American football player
• 1964 - Robert Trujillo was born. Rock musician.
• 1965 - Vietnam War: Operation Silver Bayonet - 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).
• 1965 - Al Leiter was born. American baseball player
• 1965 - Augusten Burroughs was born. American writer
• 1966 - Alex Zanardi was born. Italian Formula One driver
• 1966 - Cláudia Raia was born. Brazilian actress.
• 1969 - Trudi Canavan was born. Writer
• 1970 - ‘Lady Soul’, Aretha Franklin, won a gold record for Don’t Play that Song.
• 1970 - Jasmin St. Claire was born. Wrestling valet
• 1973 - Watergate Scandal: US President Richard M. Nixon agrees to turn over subpoenaed audio tapes of his Oval Office conversations about the scandal.
• 1973 - A U.N. sanctioned cease-fire officially ends the Yom Kippur war between Israel and Syria.
• 1974 - Sander Westerveld was born. Dutch soccer player
• 1974 - Lino António da Conceição dies. Portuguese painter.
• 1975 - Keith Van Horn was born. American basketball player.
• 1975 - Odalys Garcia was born. Cuban actress
• 1975 - Jessicka was born. American artist
• 1976 - Ryan R. Reynolds was born in Vancouver. Canadian actor.
• 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."
• 1978 - Steve Harmison was born. English cricketer
• 1978 - Archie Thompson, Australian footballer
• 1978 - Maybelle Carter dies (b. 1909). American guitarist and musical innovator.
• 1979 - Simon Davies was born. Welsh football player.
• 1980 - Pedro Liriano was born. Dominican baseball player.
• 1981 - Leticia Dolera was born. Spanish actress.
• 1982 - Robert The Earl Kim was born. Korean-American lover of pink and friend of argyle
• 1982 - Mirel Radoi was born. Romanian football player
• 1983 - Garin Allen Wedeking was born. American textile kingpin
• 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.
• 1983 - Jessica Savitch dies (b. 1947). American journalist
• 1984 - Izabel Goulart was born. Brazilian model
• 1984 - James Petrillo dies (b. 1892). Leader of the U.S. musicians union.
• 1984 - Oskar Werner dies (b. 1922). Austrian actor.
• 1986 - Edward Adelbert Doisy dies (b. 1893). American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
• 1987 - The U.S. Senate rejected the Supreme Court nomination of Robert H. Bork on a 58-42 vote.
• 1987 - Faye Hamlin was born. Swedish singer (Play)
• 1987 - João Fernando de Almeida Prado dies. Brazilian writer, journalist and historian
• 1989 - The Hungarian Republic is officially declared by president Mátyás Szűrös (replacing the Hungarian People's Republic).
• 1990 - Stevie Brock was born. American singer
• 1990 - Louis Althusser dies (b. 1918). French philosopher
• 1992 - The Toronto Blue Jays win their second straight World Series.
• 1992 - Akihito becomes the first Emperor of Japan to stand on Chinese soil.
• 1992 - Humberto Díaz-Casanueva dies. Chilean diplomat and writer.
• 1993 - Euryclides de Jesus Zerbini dies. Brazilian physician and surgeon.
• 1996 - The civil trial of former American football player O.J. Simpson opens in Santa Monica, California.
• 1996 - Bob Grim dies (b. 1930). Baseball player.
• 1997 - Bert Haanstra dies (b. 1916). Dutch filmmaker.
  1998 - Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat reach a "land-for-peace" agreement.
• 1998 - Leonardo Ferraz de Carvalho dies. Portuguese economist.
• 1998 - Abortion in the United States: In Amherst, New York, abortion doctor Barnett Slepian is killed by a sniper in his home.
• 1998 - Swatch Internet Time introduced
• 1998 - Barnett Slepian dies (b. 1946). American physician.
• 1999 - Apple Computer's Mac OS 9 is released and sold
• 2001 - Ronald William Kirby dies (b. 1928). British artist.
• 2001 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army of Northern Ireland commences disarmament after peace talks encouraged by American President Bill Clinton.
• 2002 - Moscow Theatre Siege begins: Chechen rebels seize the House of Culture theater in Moscow and take approximately 700 theatergoers hostage.
• 2002 - Adolph Green dies (b. 1915). American lyricist and playwright
• 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.
• 2003 - Bill Nicholson dies (b. 1919). English football player and manager
• 2003 - Tony Capstick dies (b. 1944). English actor, comedian, and musician.
• 2003 - Madame Chang Kai-shek dies (b. 1897). Widow of Chinese nationalist leader.
• 2003 - The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought for 2003 has been awarded to "UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and all staff of the United Nations in special memory of Sergio Vieira de Mello and many other UN officials who have lost their lives in carrying out their work for peace in the world".
• 2004 - Brazil's 'Operation Cajuana' launches its first rocket into space, the VSB-30 just 14 months after its space program was devastated by a deadly launch pad accident.
• 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.
• 2004 - Tunisia’s Pres. Ben Ali won elections with 94.5% of the vote.
• 2004 - Robert Merrill dies (b.1919). American baritone.
• 2005 - 2nd round of Presidential elections in Poland
• 2005 - Legislative elections in Argentine
• 2005 - Stella Obasanjo dies (b. 1945). Nigerian first lady.
• 2005 - John Muth dies (b. 1930). American economist.
• 2006 - Nepalese new year N.S.1127 according to lunar calendar Nepal Sambat begins.
• R. C. Saints - Saint Giovanni da Capistrano; Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius
• Hungary - National Day (revolution of 1956)
• Astrology: First day of sun sign Scorpio
• Chemistry: Mole Day
• Chulalongkorn Memorial Day in Thailand
• Dia do Aviador (Brasil)