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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 October, 2004
Brazils "Operation Cajuana" launches its first rocket into space, the VSB-30, just 14 months after its space program was hit a deadly launch pad accident. A powerful earthquake and its aftershocks hit Niigata prefecture, northern Japan, killing 35 people, injuring 2,200, and leaving 85,000 homeless or evacuated.
23 October, 2002
Moscow Theatre Siege begins: Chechen rebels seize the House of Culture theater in Moscow and take approximately 700 theater-goers hostage.
23 October, 2001
The Provisional Irish Republican Army of Northern Ireland commences disarmament after peace talks.].
23 October, 1998
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat reach a "land for peace" agreement.
23 October, 1992
Emperor Akihito becomes the first Emperor of Japan to stand on Chinese soil.
23 October, 1989
The Hungarian Republic is officially declared by president Mátyás Szurös, replacing the communist Hungarian Peoples Republic.
23 October, 1983
Lebanon Civil War: The U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut is hit by a truck bomb, killing 241 U.S. Marines. A French army barracks in Lebanon is also hit that same morning, killing 58 troops.
23 October, 1973
The Watergate Scandal: US President Richard M. Nixon agrees to turn over subpoenaed audio tapes of his Oval Office conversations about the scandal. A United Nations sanctioned cease-fire officially ends the Yom Kippur War between Israel and Syria.
23 October, 1965
Vietnam War: The 1st Cavalry Division (United States) (Airmobile), in conjunction with South Vietnamese forces, launch a new operation, seeking to destroy North Vietnamese forces in Pleku Province in the II Corps Tactical Zone (the Central Highlands).
23 October, 1956
Thousands of Hungarians protest against the Government and Soviet occupation. (The Hungarian Revolution is crushed on November 4).
23 October, 1946
The United Nations General Assembly convened for the first time, at an auditorium in Flushing Meadow, New York.
23 October, 1944
World War II: The Battle of Leyte Gulf begins - The largest naval battle in history begins in the Philippines; and also, the Soviet Red Army enters Hungary.
23 October, 1942
World War II: The Second Battle of El Alamein starts - At El Alamein in northern Egypt, the British Eighth Army under Field Marshal Montgomery begin a critical offensive to expel the Axis armies from Egypt, never to return. All 12 passengers and crewmen aboard an American Airlines DC-3 airliner are killed when it is struck by a U.S. Army Air Forces bomber near Palm Springs, California. Among the victims is award-winning composer and songwriter Ralph Rainger ("Thanks for the Memory", "Love in Bloom", "Blue Hawaii").
23 October, 1941
World War II: Field Marshal Georgy Zhukov takes command of Red Army operations designed to prevent the further advance into Russia of German forces and to prevent the German armies from capturing Moscow. Burning of the Odessa, Ukraine, Jews: 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.
23 October, 1935
Dutch Schultz, Abe Landau, Otto Berman, and Bernard "Lulu" Rosenkrantz are fatally shot at a saloon in Newark, New Jersey in what will become known as The Chophouse Massacre.
23 October, 1930
The first miniature golf tournament was completed in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
23 October, 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. The first North American transcontinental air service begins between New York City and Los Angeles, California.
23 October, 1915
Womans suffrage: In New York City, 25,000-33,000 women march on Fifth Avenue to advocate their right to vote.
23 October, 1912
First Balkan War: The Battle of Kumanovo between the Serbian and Ottoman armies begins.
23 October, 1911
First use of aircraft in war: an Italian pilot takes off from Libya to observe Turkish army lines during the Turco-Italian War.
23 October, 1906
Alberto Santos-Dumont flies an airplane in the first heavier-than-air flight in Europe at Champs de Bagatelle, Paris, France.
23 October, 1870
Franco-Prussian War: the Siege of Metz concludes with a decisive Prussian victory.
23 October, 1867
72 Senators are summoned by Royal Proclamation to serve as the first members of the Canadian Senate.
23 October, 1864
American Civil War: Battle of Westport - Union forces under General Samuel R. Curtis defeat Confederate troops led by General Sterling Price at Westport, near Kansas City.
23 October, 1861
President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in Washington, D.C., for all military-related cases.
23 October, 1855
Kansas Free State forces set up a competing government under their Topeka, Kansas, constitution, which outlaws slavery in the United States territory.
23 October, 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).
23 October, 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 is executed on October 29.
23 October, 1739
War of Jenkins Ear starts: British Prime Minister, Robert Walpole, reluctantly declares war on Spain.
23 October, 1707
The first Parliament of Great Britain, i.e., the United Kingdom, meets.
23 October, 1694
American colonial forces, led by Sir William Phipps, fail to seize Quebec.
23 October, 1642
Battle of Edgehill: first major battle of the First English Civil War.
23 October, 1641
Outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641 - anniversary commemorated by Irish Protestants for over 200 years
23 October, 1157
The Battle of Grathe Heath ends the civil war in Denmark. King Sweyn III is killed and Valdemar I restores the country.
23 October, 1086
At the Battle of az-Zallaqah, the army of Yusuf ibn Tashfin defeats the forces of Castilian King Alfonso VI
23 October, 502
The Synodus Palmaris, called by Gothic king Theodoric the Great, discharges Pope Symmachus of all charges, thus ending the schism of Antipope Laurentius.
23 October, 425
Valentinian III is elevated as Roman Emperor, at the age of 6.

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