On This Day — 23 May
2000s
2022
Anthony Albanese of the Australian Labor Party is sworn in as the 31st Prime Minister of Australia after winning the 2022 Australian federal election, ending 9 years of conservative rule.
Anthony Albanese
2021
A cable car falls from a mountain near Lake Maggiore in northern Italy, killing 14 people.
Stresa–Mottarone cable car crash
2021
Ryanair Flight 4978 is forced to land by Belarusian authorities to detain dissident journalist Roman Protasevich.
Ryanair Flight 4978
2017
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declares martial law in Mindanao, following the Maute's attack in Marawi.
Rodrigo Duterte
2016
Two suicide bombings, conducted by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, kill at least 45 potential army recruits in Aden, Yemen.
Islamic State
2016
Eight bombings are carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in Jableh and Tartus, coastline cities in Syria. One hundred eighty-four people are killed and at least 200 people injured.
Islamic State
2015
At least 30 people are killed as a result of floods and tornadoes in Texas, Oklahoma, and northern Mexico.
Tornado outbreak and floods of May 23–26, 2015
2014
Seven people, including the perpetrator, are killed and another 14 injured in a killing spree near the campus of University of California, Santa Barbara.
2014 Isla Vista attacks
2013
A freeway bridge carrying Interstate 5 over the Skagit River collapses in Mount Vernon, Washington.
Interstate 5 in Washington
2008
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) awards Middle Rocks to Malaysia and Pedra Branca (Pulau Batu Puteh) to Singapore, ending a 29-year territorial dispute between the two countries.
International Court of Justice
2006
Alaskan stratovolcano Mount Cleveland erupts.
Stratovolcano
2002
The "55 parties" clause of the Kyoto Protocol is reached after its ratification by Iceland.
Kyoto Protocol
1900s
1998
The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland with roughly 75% voting yes.
Good Friday Agreement
1995
The first version of the Java programming language is released.
Java (programming language)
1992
Italy's most prominent anti-mafia judge Giovanni Falcone, his wife and three body guards are killed by the Corleonesi clan with a half-ton bomb near Capaci, Sicily. His friend and colleague Paolo Borsellino will be assassinated less than two months later, making 1992 a turning point in the history of Italian Mafia prosecutions.
Giovanni Falcone
1991
Aeroflot Flight 8556 crashes at Pulkovo Airport, killing 13.
Aeroflot Flight 8556
1980
The Shining, the psychological horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick, is premiered on 10 screens in New York City and Los Angeles on the Memorial Day weekend.
The Shining (film)
1978
A Tupolev Tu-144 crashes near the Russian town of Yegoryevsk, killing two.
Tupolev Tu-144
1971
Seventy-eight people are killed when Aviogenex Flight 130 crashes on approach to Rijeka Airport in present-day Rijeka, Croatia (then the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia).
Aviogenex Flight 130
1971
The Intercontinental Hotel in Bucharest opens, becoming the second-tallest building in the city.
Grand Hotel Bucharest
1960
A tsunami caused by an earthquake in Chile the previous day kills 61 people in Hilo, Hawaii.
Tsunami
1951
Tibetans sign the Seventeen Point Agreement with China.
Tibet
1949
Cold War: The Western occupying powers approve the Basic Law and establish a new German state, the Federal Republic of Germany.
Allied-occupied Germany
1948
Thomas C. Wasson, the US Consul-General, is assassinated in Jerusalem, Israel.
Thomas C. Wasson
1946
The start of a two-day tornado outbreak across the Central United States that spawned at least 15 significant tornadoes.
Tornado outbreak of May 23–24, 1946
1945
World War II: Heinrich Himmler, head of the Schutzstaffel, commits suicide while in Allied custody.
Heinrich Himmler
1945
World War II: Germany's Flensburg Government under Karl Dönitz is dissolved when its members are arrested by British forces.
Flensburg Government
1941
World War II: German paratroopers start a series of mass executions of Greek civilians in Missiria for their participation in the ongoing Battle of Crete.
World War II
1939
The U.S. Navy submarine USS Squalus sinks off the coast of New Hampshire during a test dive, causing the death of 24 sailors and two civilian technicians. The remaining 32 sailors and one civilian naval architect are rescued the following day.
United States Navy
1934
American bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde are ambushed by police and killed in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.
Bank robbery
1934
The Auto-Lite strike culminates in the "Battle of Toledo", a five-day melée between 1,300 troops of the Ohio National Guard and 6,000 picketers.
Auto-Lite strike (1934)
1932
In Brazil, four students are shot and killed during a manifestation against the Brazilian dictator Getúlio Vargas, which resulted in the outbreak of the Constitutionalist Revolution several weeks later.
Brazil
1919
Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji, a Kurdish sheikh and at-the-time governor of the Slêmanî Province of British Iraq, initiates the first Mahmud Barzanji revolt.
Mahmud Barzanji
1915
World War I: Italy joins the Allies, fulfilling its part of the Treaty of London.
World War I
1911
The New York Public Library is dedicated.
New York Public Library
1907
The unicameral Parliament of Finland gathers for its first plenary session.
Unicameralism
1905
Abdul Hamid II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, publicly announces the creation of the Ullah millet for the Aromanians of the empire, which had been established one day earlier. For this reason, the Aromanian National Day is usually celebrated on May 23, although some do so on May 22 instead.
Abdul Hamid II
1900
American Civil War: Sergeant William Harvey Carney is awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism in the Assault on the Battery Wagner in 1863.
American Civil War
1800s
1873
The Canadian Parliament establishes the North-West Mounted Police, the forerunner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
North-West Mounted Police
1863
The General German Workers' Association, a precursor of the modern Social Democratic Party of Germany, is founded in Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony.
General German Workers' Association
1846
Mexican–American War: President Mariano Paredes of Mexico unofficially declares war on the United States.
Mexican–American War
1844
Báb: A merchant of Shiraz announces that he is a Prophet and founds a religious movement. He is considered to be a forerunner of the Baháʼí Faith.
Báb
1829
Accordion patent granted to Cyrill Demian in Vienna, Austrian Empire.
Accordion
Before 1800
1793
Battle of Famars during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition.
Battle of Famars
1788
South Carolina became the eighth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
South Carolina
1706
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, defeats a French army under Marshal François de Neufville, duc de Villeroy at the Battle of Ramillies.
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough
1618
The Third Defenestration of Prague precipitates the Thirty Years' War.
Defenestrations of Prague
1609
Official ratification of the Second Virginia Charter takes place.
Second Virginia Charter
1568
Dutch rebels led by Louis of Nassau defeat Jean de Ligne and his loyalist troops in the Battle of Heiligerlee, opening the Eighty Years' War.
Louis of Nassau
1533
The marriage of King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon is declared null and void.
Henry VIII
1498
Girolamo Savonarola is burned at the stake in Florence, Italy.
Girolamo Savonarola
1430
Joan of Arc is captured at the Siege of Compiègne by troops from the Burgundian faction.
Joan of Arc
1308
Robert the Bruce, king of Scots, defeats John Comyn, earl of Buchan, decisively in the battle of Inverurie.
Robert the Bruce
1040
The Seljuks defeat the Ghaznavids in the battle of Dandanaqan.
Seljuk dynasty