April 23
Events
Pre-1600
- 215 BC - A temple is built on the Capitoline Hill dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene.
- 599 - Maya king Uneh Chan of Calakmul attacks rival city-state Palenque in southern Mexico, defeating queen Yohl Ik'nal and sacking the city.
- 711 - Dagobert III succeeds his father King Childebert III as King of the Franks.
- 1014 - Battle of Clontarf: High King of Ireland Brian Boru defeats Viking invaders, but is killed in battle.
- 1016 - Edmund Ironside succeeds his father Æthelred the Unready as King of England.
- 1343 - St. George's Night Uprising commences in the Duchy of Estonia.
- 1348 - The founding of the Order of the Garter by King Edward III is announced on St. George's Day.
- 1500 - Portuguese explorer Pedro Alvarez Cabral reaches new coastline.
- 1516 - The Munich Reinheitsgebot takes effect in all of Bavaria.
- 1521 - Battle of Villalar: King Charles I of Spain defeats the Comuneros.
1601–1900
- 1635 - The first public school in the United States, the Boston Latin School, is founded.
- 1655 - The Siege of Santo Domingo begins during the Anglo-Spanish War, and fails seven days later.
- 1660 - Treaty of Oliva is established between Sweden and Poland.
- 1661 - King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland is crowned in Westminster Abbey.
- 1724 - Johann Sebastian Bach leads the first performance of his cantata Du Hirte Israel, höre, BWV 104, illustrating the topic of the Good Shepherd in pastoral music.
- 1815 - The Second Serbian Uprising: A second phase of the national revolution of the Serbs against the Ottoman Empire, erupts shortly after the annexation of the country to the Ottoman Empire.
- 1879 - Fire burns down the second main building and dome of the University of Notre Dame, which prompts the construction of the third, and current, Main Building with its golden dome.
- 1891 - Chilean Civil War: The ironclad Blanco Encalada is sunk at Caldera Bay by torpedo boats.
1901–present
- 1909 - In Portugal, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake strikes near Lisbon, killing at least 60 people and injuring 75.
- 1918 - World War I: The British Royal Navy makes a raid in an attempt to neutralise the Belgian port of Bruges-Zeebrugge.
- 1919 - The Estonian Constituent Assembly is held in Estonia, which marks the birth of the Estonian Parliament, the Riigikogu.
- 1920 - The Grand National Assembly of Turkey is founded in Ankara. The assembly denounces the government of Sultan Mehmed VI and announces the preparation of a temporary constitution.
- 1927 - Cardiff City defeat Arsenal in the FA Cup Final, the only time it has been won by a team not based in England.
- 1935 - The Polish Constitution of 1935 is adopted.
- 1940 - The Rhythm Club fire at a dance hall in Natchez, Mississippi, kills 198 people.
- 1941 - World War II: The Greek government and King George II evacuate Athens before the invading Wehrmacht.
- 1942 - World War II: Baedeker Blitz: German bombers hit Exeter, Bath and York in retaliation for the British raid on Lübeck.
- 1945 - World War II: Adolf Hitler's designated successor, Hermann Göring, sends him a telegram asking permission to take leadership of Nazi Germany. Martin Bormann and Joseph Goebbels advise Göring that the telegram is treasonous.
- 1946 - Manuel Roxas is elected the last President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.
- 1949 - Chinese Civil War: Establishment of the People's Liberation Army Navy.
- 1951 - Cold War: American journalist William N. Oatis is arrested for espionage by the Communist government of Czechoslovakia.
- 1961 - Algiers putsch by French generals.
- 1966 - Aeroflot Flight 2723 crashes into the Caspian Sea off the Absheron Peninsula, killing 33 people.
- 1967 - Soviet space program: Soyuz 1 a crewed spaceflight carrying cosmonaut Colonel Vladimir Komarov is launched into orbit.
- 1968 - Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university.
- 1971 - Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army and Razakars massacre approximately 3,000 Hindu emigrants in the Jathibhanga area of East Pakistan.
- 1979 - SAETA Flight 011 crashes in Pastaza Province, Ecuador, killing all 57 people on board. The wreckage was not discovered until 1984.
- 1979 – Blair Peach, a British activist, was fatally injured after being knocked unconscious during an Anti-Nazi League demonstration against a National Front election meeting in Southall, London.
- 1985 - Coca-Cola changes its formula and releases New Coke. The response is overwhelmingly negative, and the original formula is back on the market in less than three months.
- 1990 - Namibia becomes the 160th member of the United Nations and the 50th member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
- 1993 - Eritreans vote overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia in a United Nations-monitored referendum.
- 1993 - Sri Lankan politician Lalith Athulathmudali is assassinated while addressing a gathering, approximately four weeks ahead of the Provincial Council elections for the Western Province.
- 1999 - NATO bombs the headquarters of Radio Television of Serbia, as part of their aerial campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
- 2005 - The first YouTube video, titled "Me at the zoo", was published by co-founder Jawed Karim.
- 2013 - At least 111 people are killed and 233 injured as violence breaks out in Hawija, Iraq.
- 2018 - A vehicle-ramming attack kills 11 people and injures 15 in Toronto. A 25-year-old suspect, Alek Minassian, is arrested.
- 2019 - The April 2019 Hpakant jade mine collapse in Myanmar kills four miners and two rescuers, with at least 50 others missing and presumed dead.
- 2024 - The 2024 Lumut mid-air collision in Malaysia kills 10 people while rehearsing for the 90th anniversary of the Royal Malaysian Navy.
Births
Pre-1600
- 1141 - Malcolm IV of Scotland
- 1185 - Afonso II of Portugal
- 1408 - John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford
- 1420 - George of Poděbrady, King of Bohemia
- 1464 - Joan of France, Duchess of Berry
- 1464 - Robert Fayrfax, English Renaissance composer
- 1484 - Julius Caesar Scaliger, Italian physician and scholar
- 1500 - Alexander Ales, Scottish theologian and academic
- 1500 - Johann Stumpf, Swiss writer
- 1512 - Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel, Chancellor of the University of Oxford
- 1516 - Georg Fabricius, German poet, historian, and archaeologist
- 1564 - William Shakespeare, English playwright and poet
- 1598 - Maarten Tromp, Dutch admiral
1601–1900
- 1621 - William Penn, English admiral and politician
- 1628 - Johannes Hudde, Dutch mathematician and politician
- 1661 - Issachar Berend Lehmann, German-Jewish banker, merchant and diplomat
- 1715 - Johann Friedrich Doles, German composer and conductor
- 1720 - Vilna Gaon, Lithuanian rabbi and author
- 1744 - Princess Charlotte Amalie Wilhelmine of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön
- 1748 - Félix Vicq-d'Azyr, French physician and anatomist
- 1791 - James Buchanan, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 15th President of the United States
- 1792 - Thomas Romney Robinson, Irish astronomer and physicist
- 1794 - Wei Yuan, Chinese scholar and author
- 1805 - Johann Karl Friedrich Rosenkranz, German philosopher and academic
- 1812 - Frederick Whitaker, English-New Zealand lawyer and politician, 5th Prime Minister of New Zealand
- 1813 - Stephen A. Douglas, American educator and politician, 7th Illinois Secretary of State
- 1813 - Frédéric Ozanam, Italian-French historian and scholar
- 1818 - James Anthony Froude, English historian, novelist, biographer and editor
- 1819 - Edward Stafford, Scottish-New Zealand educator and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of New Zealand
- 1853 - Winthrop M. Crane, American businessman and politician, 40th Governor of Massachusetts
- 1856 - Granville Woods, American inventor and engineer
- 1857 - Ruggero Leoncavallo, Italian composer
- 1858 - Max Planck, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1860 - Justinian Oxenham, Australian public servant
- 1861 - Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, English field marshal and diplomat, British High Commissioner in Egypt
- 1861 - John Peltz, American baseball player and manager
- 1865 - Ali-Agha Shikhlinski, Russian-Azerbaijani general
- 1867 - Johannes Fibiger, Danish physician and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1876 - Arthur Moeller van den Bruck, German historian and author
- 1880 - Michel Fokine, Russian dancer and choreographer
- 1882 - Albert Coates, English composer and conductor
- 1888 - Georges Vanier, Canadian general and politician, 19th Governor General of Canada
- 1889 - Karel Doorman, Dutch admiral
- 1894 - Frank Borzage, American actor and director
- 1895 - Ngaio Marsh, New Zealand author and director
- 1897 - Folke Jansson, Swedish athlete
- 1897 - Lester B. Pearson, Canadian historian and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Canada, Nobel Peace Prize laureate
- 1898 - Lucius D. Clay, American general
- 1899 - Bertil Ohlin, Swedish economist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1899 - Minoru Shirota, Japanese physician and microbiologist, invented Yakult
- 1900 - Jim Bottomley, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1900 - Joseph Green, Polish-American actor and director