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On this day in History Archives
 
At PaulsQuiz.com we aim to provide you with as much information as we possibly can. That's why we have built our On This Day in History section, to do just that. Our database is forever growing, we're adding more and more events from history to help you write your quiz questions.

Simply enter a date using the drop-down boxes below and click the 'Go' button to display events from the past that ocurred on that day.
 

 
23 January, 2006
After over 12 years of Liberal Party rule, Stephen Harpers Conservative Party wins the most seats in the Canadian federal election. Harper becomes the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada with a minority government, assuming office February 6.
23 January, 2002
"American Taliban" John Walker Lindh returns to the United States in FBI custody.
23 January, 2002
Reporter Daniel Pearl is kidnapped -- and subsequently murdered -- in Karachi, Pakistan.
23 January, 2001
The Chinese Communist Party stages a self-immolation in Tiananmen Square to frame Falun Gong and escalate the persecution.
23 January, 1997
Madeleine Albright becomes the first woman to serve as United States Secretary of State.
23 January, 1996
The first version of the Java programming language is released.
23 January, 1986
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts its first members: Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.
23 January, 1985
O.J. Simpson becomes the first Heisman Trophy winner elected to the Football Hall of Fame.
23 January, 1978
Sweden becomes the first nation in the world to ban aerosol sprays, believed to be damaging to earths ozone layer.
23 January, 1973
President Richard Nixon announces that a peace accord has been reached in Vietnam.
23 January, 1973
A volcanic eruption devastates Heimaey in the Vestmannaeyjar chain of islands off the south coast of Iceland.
23 January, 1968
North Korea seizes the USS Pueblo, claiming the ship had violated their territorial waters while spying.
23 January, 1964
The 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the use of poll taxes in national elections, is ratified.
23 January, 1960
The bathyscaphe USS Trieste breaks a depth record by descending to 10,911 m (35,798 feet)in the Pacific Ocean.
23 January, 1950
The Knesset passes a resolution that states Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
23 January, 1945
World War II: Karl Dönitz launches Operation Hannibal.
23 January, 1943
World War II: British forces capture Tripoli in Libya from the Nazis.
23 January, 1943
Jewish-led Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
23 January, 1943
World War II: Australian and American forces finally defeat the Japanese army in Papua. This turning point in the Pacific War marks the beginning of the end of Japanese aggression.
23 January, 1943
Duke Ellington plays at Carnegie Hall in New York City for the first time.
23 January, 1941
Charles Lindbergh testifies before the U.S. Congress and recommends that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler.
23 January, 1937
In Moscow, 17 leading Communists go on trial accused of participating in a plot led by Leon Trotsky to overthrow Joseph Stalins regime and assassinate its leaders.
23 January, 1920
The Netherlands refuses to surrender ex-Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany to the Allies.
23 January, 1912
The International Opium Convention is signed at The Hague.
23 January, 1907
Charles Curtis of Kansas becomes the first Native American US Senator.
23 January, 1904
Ålesund Fire: the Norwegian coastal town Ålesund is devastated by fire, leaving 10,000 people homeless and one person dead. Kaiser Wilhelm II funds the rebuilding of the town in Jugendstil style.
23 January, 1899
Emilio Aguinaldo is sworn in as President of the First Philippine Republic.
23 January, 1897
Elva Zona Heaster is found dead in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. The resulting murder trial of her husband is perhaps the only case in United States history where the alleged testimony of a ghost helped secure a conviction.
23 January, 1879
Anglo-Zulu War: the Battle of Rorkes Drift ends.
23 January, 1870
In Montana, U.S. cavalrymen kill 173 Indians, mostly women and children, in the Marias Massacre.
23 January, 1855
The first bridge over the Mississippi River opens in what is now Minneapolis, Minnesota, a crossing made today by the Father Louis Hennepin Bridge.
23 January, 1849
Elizabeth Blackwell is awarded her M.D. by the Medical Institute of Geneva, New York, becoming the United States first female doctor.
23 January, 1793
Russia and Prussia partition Poland.
23 January, 1789
Georgetown College becomes the first Roman Catholic college in the United States (Washington, DC).
23 January, 1719
The Principality of Liechtenstein is created within the Holy Roman Empire.
23 January, 1656
Blaise Pascal publishes the first of his Lettres provinciales.
23 January, 1579
The Union of Utrecht forms a Protestant republic in the Netherlands.
23 January, 1571
The Royal Exchange opens in London.
23 January, 1570
The assassination of regent James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray throws Scotland into civil war.
23 January, 1556
The deadliest earthquake in history, the Shaanxi earthquake, hits Shaanxi province, China. The death toll may have been as high as 830,000.
23 January, 1546
Having published nothing for eleven years, Francois Rabelais publishes the Tiers Livre, his sequel to Gargantua and Pantagruel.
23 January, 1533
Anne Boleyn, mistress of Henry VIII of England, discovers herself pregnant.
23 January, 1510
Henry VIII of England, then 18 years old, appears incognito in the lists at Richmond, and is applauded for his jousting before he reveals his identity.
23 January, 1368
In a coronation ceremony, Zhu Yuanzhang ascends to the throne of China as the Hongwu Emperor, initiating Ming Dynasty rule over China that would last for three centuries.
23 January, 393
Roman Emperor Theodosius I proclaims his nine year old son Honorius co-emperor.

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January

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February

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March

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April

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May

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June

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July

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August

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September

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October

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November

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December

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