On This Day — 23 January

2024

Northwestern Air Flight 738 crashes after takeoff from Fort Smith Airport, Northwest Territories, Canada, killing six people.

Northwestern Air Flight 738

2022

Mutinying Burkinabè soldiers led by Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba depose and detain President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré amid widespread anti-government protests.

Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba

2018

A 7.9 Mw  earthquake occurs in the Gulf of Alaska. It is tied as the sixth-largest earthquake ever recorded in the United States, but there are no reports of significant damage or fatalities.

2018 Gulf of Alaska earthquake

2018

A double car bombing in Benghazi, Libya, kills at least 33 people and wounds "dozens" of others. The victims include both military personnel and civilians, according to local officials.

Benghazi

2018

The China–United States trade war begins when President Donald Trump places tariffs on Chinese solar panels and washing machines.

China–United States trade war

2003

A very weak signal from Pioneer 10 is detected for the last time, but no usable data can be extracted.

Pioneer 10

2002

U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl is kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan and subsequently murdered.

Daniel Pearl

2001

Five people attempt to set themselves on fire in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, an act that many people later claim is staged by the Chinese Communist Party to frame Falun Gong and thus escalate their persecution.

2001 Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident

1998

Netscape announces Mozilla, with the intention to release Communicator code as open source.

Netscape

1997

Madeleine Albright becomes the first woman to serve as United States Secretary of State.

Madeleine Albright

1987

Mohammed Said Hersi Morgan sends a "letter of death" to Somali President Siad Barre, proposing the genocide of the Isaaq people.

Mohammed Said Hersi Morgan

1986

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts its first members: Little Richard, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

1982

World Airways Flight 30 overshoots the runway at Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, and crashes into Boston Harbor. Two people are missing and presumed dead.

World Airways Flight 30

1968

USS Pueblo (AGER-2) is attacked and seized by the Korean People's Navy.

USS Pueblo (AGER-2)

1967

Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Ivory Coast are established.

Diplomacy

1967

Milton Keynes (England) is founded as a new town by Order in Council, with a planning brief to become a city of 250,000 people. Its initial designated area enclosed three existing towns and twenty-one villages. The area to be developed was largely farmland, with evidence of continuous settlement dating back to the Bronze Age.

Milton Keynes

1964

The 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the use of poll taxes in national elections, is ratified.

Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution

1963

The Guinea-Bissau War of Independence officially begins when PAIGC guerrilla fighters attack the Portuguese Army stationed in Tite.

Guinea-Bissau War of Independence

1960

The bathyscaphe USS Trieste breaks a depth record by descending to 10,911 metres (35,797 ft) in the Pacific Ocean.

Bathyscaphe

1958

After a general uprising and rioting in the streets, President Marcos Pérez Jiménez leaves Venezuela.

1958 Venezuelan coup d'état

1957

American inventor Walter Frederick Morrison sells the rights to his flying disc to the Wham-O toy company, which later renames it the "Frisbee".

Walter Frederick Morrison

1950

The Knesset resolves that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.

Knesset

1945

World War II: German admiral Karl Dönitz launches Operation Hannibal, the evacuation of areas along the eastern Baltic coast.

Karl Dönitz

1943

World War II: Troops of the British Eighth Army capture Tripoli in Libya from the German–Italian Panzer Army.

Eighth Army (United Kingdom)

1942

World War II: The Battle of Rabaul commences Japan's invasion of Australia's Territory of New Guinea.

World War II

1941

Charles Lindbergh testifies before the U.S. Congress and recommends that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler.

Charles Lindbergh

1937

The trial of the anti-Soviet Trotskyist center sees seventeen mid-level Communists accused of sympathizing with Leon Trotsky and plotting to overthrow Joseph Stalin's regime.

Moscow trials

1922

The first successful treatment with insulin is given to 14-year-old diabetic Leonard Thompson.

Insulin (medication)

1920

The Netherlands refuses to surrender the exiled Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany to the Allies.

Wilhelm II

1919

The First Regional Congress of Peasants, Workers and Insurgents is held by the Makhnovshchina at Velykomykhailivka.

Regional Congress of Peasants, Workers and Insurgents

1912

The First International Opium Convention is signed at The Hague.

First International Opium Convention

1909

RMS Republic, a passenger ship of the White Star Line, becomes the first ship to use the CQD distress signal after colliding with another ship, the SS Florida, off the Massachusetts coastline, an event that kills six people. The Republic sinks the next day.

RMS Republic

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.

Ålesund fire

1900

Second Boer War: The Battle of Spion Kop between the forces of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State and British forces ends in a British defeat.

Second Boer War

1899

The Malolos Constitution is inaugurated, establishing the First Philippine Republic. Emilio Aguinaldo is sworn in as its first president.

Malolos Constitution

1879

Anglo-Zulu War: The Battle of Rorke's Drift ends.

Anglo-Zulu War

1870

In Montana, U.S. cavalrymen kill 173 Native Americans, mostly women and children, in what becomes known as the Marias Massacre.

Montana

1849

Elizabeth Blackwell is awarded her M.D. by the Geneva Medical College of Geneva, New York, becoming the United States' first female doctor.

Elizabeth Blackwell

1846

Slavery in Tunisia is abolished.

Slavery in Tunisia

1795

After crossing the frozen Zuiderzee, the French cavalry capture 14 Dutch ships and 850 guns, in a rare occurrence of surrender of naval vessels to land forces.

Zuiderzee

1793

Second Partition of Poland.

Second Partition of Poland

1789

Georgetown College, the first Catholic university in the United States, is founded in Georgetown, Maryland (now a part of Washington, D.C.) when Bishop John Carroll, Rev. Robert Molyneux, and Rev. John Ashton purchase land for the proposed academy for the education of youth.

Georgetown University

1755

Moscow University is established (12 January 1755 O.S.).

Moscow State University

1719

The Principality of Liechtenstein is created within the Holy Roman Empire.

Principality

1656

Blaise Pascal publishes the first of his Lettres provinciales.

Blaise Pascal

1579

The Union of Utrecht forms a Protestant republic in the Netherlands.

Union of Utrecht

1571

The Royal Exchange opens in London.

Royal Exchange, London

1570

James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, regent for the infant King James VI of Scotland, is assassinated by firearm, the first recorded instance of such.

James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray

1565

The Deccan Sultanates defeat Rama Raya of the Vijayanagara Empire at the Battle of Talikota, resulting in over 100,000 casualties and the destruction of the capital Vijayanagara.

Deccan sultanates

1556

The deadliest earthquake in history, the Shaanxi earthquake, hits Shaanxi province, China. The death toll may have been as high as 830,000.

Earthquake

1546

Having published nothing for eleven years, François Rabelais publishes the Tiers Livre, his sequel to Gargantua and Pantagruel.

François Rabelais

1368

Zhu Yuanzhang proclaims himself the Hongwu Emperor, beginning the Ming dynasty.

Hongwu Emperor

1264

In the conflict between King Henry III of England and his rebellious barons led by Simon de Montfort, King Louis IX of France issues the Mise of Amiens, a one-sided decision in favour of Henry that later leads to the Second Barons' War.

Henry III of England

1229

The episcopal seat is moved from Nousiainen to Koroinen (located near the current centre of Turku) by the permission of Pope Gregory IX. The date is starting to be considered as the founding of Turku.

Nousiainen

971

Using crossbows, Song dynasty troops soundly defeat a war elephant corps of the Southern Han at Shao.

Crossbow

393

Roman emperor Theodosius I proclaims his eight-year-old son Honorius co-emperor.

Roman emperor