On This Day — 23 December

2000s

2025

The crash of Harmony Jets Flight 185 killed all eight people on board, including the Libyan Army chief Mohammed al-Haddad in Ankara, Turkey.

Harmony Jets Flight 185

2023

A series of massacres targeting Berom civilians unfold in the Plateau State in Nigeria, killing over 200 people and further injuring over 500. No group claims responsibility.

2023 Plateau State massacres

2015

A bomb explodes at Istanbul's Sabiha Gökçen Airport, killing one airport cleaner. The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks claim responsibility for the attack four days later.

2015 Sabiha Gökçen Airport bombing

2008

A coup d'état occurs in Guinea hours after the death of President Lansana Conté.

2008 Guinean coup d'état

2007

An agreement is made for the Kingdom of Nepal to be abolished and the country to become a federal republic with the Prime Minister becoming head of state.

Kingdom of Nepal

2005

An Antonov An-140, Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 217 from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Aktau, Kazakhstan, heading across the Caspian Sea, crashes, killing 23 people.

Antonov An-140

2003

An explosion at the PetroChina Chuandongbei natural gas field in Kai County, Chongqing, China, kills at least 234.

PetroChina

2002

A U.S. MQ-1 Predator is shot down by an Iraqi MiG-25 in the first combat engagement between a drone and conventional aircraft.

General Atomics MQ-1 Predator

1900s

1990

History of Slovenia: In a referendum, 88.5% of Slovenia's overall electorate vote for independence from Yugoslavia.

History of Slovenia

1986

Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California becoming the first aircraft to fly non-stop around the world without aerial or ground refueling.

Rutan Voyager

1984

After experiencing an engine fire, Aeroflot Flight 3519 attempts to make an emergency landing at Krasnoyarsk International Airport but crashes, killing 110 of the 111 people on board.

Aeroflot Flight 3519

1979

Soviet–Afghan War: Soviet Union forces occupy Kabul, the Afghan capital.

Soviet–Afghan War

1978

Alitalia Flight 4128 crashes into the Tyrrhenian Sea while on approach to Falcone Borsellino Airport in Palermo, Italy, killing 108.

Alitalia Flight 4128

1972

The Immaculate Reception is caught by Franco Harris to win the Pittsburgh Steelers their first ever playoff victory, after defeating the Oakland Raiders.

Immaculate Reception

📅

1972

A 6.5 magnitude earthquake strikes the Nicaraguan capital of Managua killing more than 10,000.

1972 Nicaragua earthquake

1972

The 16 survivors of the Andes flight disaster are rescued after 73 days, surviving by cannibalism.

Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

📅

1970

The North Tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York, New York is topped out at 417 metres (1,368 ft), making it the tallest building in the world.

1 World Trade Center (1970–2001)

1970

The Democratic Republic of the Congo officially becomes a one-party state.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

1968

The 82 sailors from the USS Pueblo are released after eleven months of internment in North Korea.

USS Pueblo (AGER-2)

📅

1960

Hilkka Saarinen née Pylkkänen is murdered in the so-called "oven homicide" case in Krootila, Kokemäki, Finland.

Oven homicide

1955

The first film adaptation of Väinö Linna's novel The Unknown Soldier, directed by Edvin Laine, premieres.

The Unknown Soldier (1955 film)

1954

First successful kidney transplant is performed by J. Hartwell Harrison and Joseph Murray.

Kidney transplantation

1950

Korean War: General Walton Walker dies in a jeep accident and is replaced by General Matthew Ridgway in the Eighth United States Army.

Korean War

1948

Seven Japanese military and political leaders convicted of war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East are executed by Allied occupation authorities at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo, Japan.

Japan

1947

The transistor is first demonstrated at Bell Laboratories.

Transistor

1941

World War II: After 15 days of fighting, the Imperial Japanese Army occupies Wake Island.

World War II

1936

Colombia becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.

Colombia

1936

Spanish Civil War: The Spanish Republic legalizes the Regional Defence Council of Aragon.

Spanish Civil War

1919

Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 becomes law in the United Kingdom, allowing women to serve as lawyers, civil servants, and in other professions, as well as to serve on juries.

Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919

1916

World War I: Battle of Magdhaba: Allied forces defeat Turkish forces in the Sinai Peninsula.

Battle of Magdhaba

1914

World War I: Australian and New Zealand troops arrive in Cairo, Egypt.

World War I

1914

World War I: During the Battle of Sarikamish, Ottoman forces mistook one another for Russian troops. The following friendly fire incident leaves 2,000 Ottomans dead and many more wounded.

Battle of Sarikamish

1913

The Federal Reserve Act is signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, creating the Federal Reserve System.

Federal Reserve Act

1905

The Tampere conference, where Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin meet for the first time, is held in Tampere, Finland.

Tampere conference of 1905

1800s

1893

The opera Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck is first performed.

Hansel and Gretel (opera)

1876

First day of the Constantinople Conference which resulted in agreement for political reforms in the Balkans.

Constantinople Conference

1823

The poem "Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas," also known as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," is published anonymously in the Troy Sentinel.

A Visit from St. Nicholas

1815

The novel Emma by Jane Austen is first published.

Emma (novel)

Before 1800

1793

The Battle of Savenay: A decisive defeat of the royalist counter-revolutionaries in War in the Vendée during the French Revolution.

Battle of Savenay

1783

George Washington resigns as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, Maryland.

George Washington

1773

Moscow State Academy of Choreography is founded under the reign of Catherine II. It is the second ballet school in Russia after Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet.

Moscow State Academy of Choreography

1688

As part of the Glorious Revolution, King James II of England flees from England to Paris after being deposed in favor of his son-in-law and nephew, William of Orange and his daughter Mary.

Glorious Revolution